Wireless hearing aid accessories enhance your hearing experience

This post originally appeared on Starkey.com

It’s no secret that hearing aids are essential for helping those of us with hearing loss hear to the best of our ability. But because hearing loss is complex and different for everyone, sometimes—even with our hearing aids in—certain listening situations may continue to be challenging. These typically include environments with lots of background noise and some distance between you and the person or thing you are trying to hear. Or a combination of the two.

This is where wireless hearing aid accessories can help. They can enhance the functionality of your hearing aids so you can more easily engage with the world around you.

Starkey’s most widely used wireless hearing aid accessories include our TV Streamer, Remote Microphone+, Mini Remote Microphone, Table Microphone, and Remote Control 2.0.

How wireless hearing aid accessories work

Below, we’ll dive into some specifics on each accessory. But before we do, let’s explore how they are generally designed to help you hear better in tougher listening situations.

Imagine you are dining out with a group of family members or friends. You’re able to enjoy conversation with the person sitting beside you, but because of background voices at other tables, dishes clattering, music, etc., you’re struggling to hear what the person sitting across the table is saying to you. (A similar scenario may occur while trying to hear another person speaking at a full conference table or a crowded lecture hall.)

Why? To put it simply: As the sound of this person’s voice travels from their mouth, across the table, and to the microphone of your hearing aids, it “mixes in” with the other sounds in the environment and therefore becomes more difficult to hear.

But what if the voice of the speaker across the table was picked up as soon as they spoke and sent directly to your hearing aids (while avoiding and eliminating all that background noise in between)? This is exactly how a Remote Microphone+ clipped to the person speaking or a Table Microphone placed between you and the speaker would have helped you hear them better in that listening situation.

Anywhere distance and background noise can create a challenging listening situation—a wireless hearing aid accessory can make all the difference.

Types of wireless hearing aid accessories

Let’s walk through the different wireless hearing aid accessories and how they enhance the functionality of your hearing aids and personalize your listening experiences. (And by “wireless”, we mean you can effortlessly link them to your hearing aids using Bluetooth® connectivity.)

• Remote Microphone+
  Clip this small, discrete accessory onto the clothing (e.g., lapel) of the person you would like to hear. When they speak, their voice is picked up by the built-in microphone and “streamed” directly to your hearing aids. You then hear their voice as though they are sitting right next to you, and the effects of the background noise are reduced.
  
  Ideal for: Speaking around the dining room table, in the car, restaurants, auditorium events.

• Mini Remote Microphone
  This accessory performs the same function as the Remote Microphone+, with the smaller size allowing it to be positioned even closer to the other speaker’s mouth as needed.
  
  Ideal for: Same as above.

• Table Microphone
  Place this accessory in the center of the table you’re sitting at within a group setting. Utilizing its eight built-in microphones, the Table Microphone will determine the primary speaker’s voice and stream it directly to your hearing aids—again, as though they’re sitting right next to you.
  
  Ideal for: Meetings, family gatherings, noisy restaurant environments where you’re with more than one companion.

• TV Streamer
  Connect this accessory to your television or other electronic audio source (e.g., computer, tablet, DVD player, cable box) and by picking up the audio signal, it will stream the sound of your entertainment straight to your hearing aids. You can also control volume by simply pressing the “+” or “-” buttons on the TV Streamer.
  
  Ideal for: Listening to the TV at a volume that is comfortable for you without affecting the volume other viewers need. You can even watch and hear with the TV muted to avoid disturbing others in the room.

• Remote Control 2.0
  Connect this accessory to your hearing aids to control their volume, change programs, and quickly access favorite features. It even comes with an optional lanyard, so you can have it handy for whenever you need it.
  
  Ideal for: Anytime and anywhere you think you’ll need to make adjustments to your hearing aids — especially for those who don’t use the My Starkey app.

Find the right wireless hearing aid accessory—it’s easy 

So with all these great wireless hearing aid accessories out there, how do you choose the right one(s) for your listening needs? The easiest way is to ask your hearing care professional. They can walk you through the options that will work best, based on your hearing aids and your lifestyle.

Reach out to them today—and enjoy the most enhanced and personalized hearing experience by tomorrow.

Contact Chicagoland Hearing today to learn more about your hearing health, wireless accessories and more.