Hearing aids pick up airborne acoustic signals, and can be switched to receive signals from an induction loop. Why haven鈥檛 they been designed to receive TV and radio signals directly?
鈥� The main reason hearing aids don鈥檛 pick up TV or radio directly is size. A TV aerial needs to be big to capture the signal, and it won鈥檛 fit into a hearing aid. Even with a strong signal, hearing aids use very small zinc-oxide batteries which have limited capacity, restricting their ability to perform the necessary tasks.
However, the industry is working to solve these problems. Hearing-aid and technology companies are working with the Bluetooth standards group to transmit and receive audio over the low-energy version of Bluetooth. Your hearing aid won鈥檛 receive TV or radio signals directly; rather, the audio will be wirelessly transmitted from your TV, tablet or phone to your hearing aid.
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The technology is also being designed to replace the current telecoil inductive loops in public places, providing higher quality along with the ability to listen to sound in stereo.
Nick Hunn London, UK
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淓ars tuned鈥�