Members LiveMusic Posted November 8, 2007 Members Share Posted November 8, 2007 What do you think of this... http://www.firststreetonline.com/product.jsp?id=69033 My mother is 82 and hard of hearing, has a hearing aid. If anyone is with her, it's almost unbearable, she has it so loud. She bought a gizmo from Radio Shack that amplifies sound but it was cheap. I told her I didn't think it would suit her. It didn't. The linked speaker above... I guess you could run the wire so the speaker is near her chair. That way, theoretically, the overall sound volume would be lower in the house since the speaker is near her. Plus, a hoped for improvement in fidelity. Looking at these specs, do you think it's any good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pk1fan Posted November 8, 2007 Members Share Posted November 8, 2007 It should work fine .Back in the day when I was doing TV repair the powered speaker next to the listener was a good idea . There are also wireless headphones that would do the trick also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 8, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 8, 2007 Would she be willing to wear headphones? Wireless ones, because they use a built-in amplifier, may not get loud enough (though some people do manage to use them in recording sessions) but there are a number of closed-back phones that get loud enough for the hardest of hearing. Give her a feed from a second amplifier (some TV sets have a pre-volume-control "audio" output) and others in the room can listen to the normal speakers at normal volume and she can get the headphones as loud as necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 8, 2007 Members Share Posted November 8, 2007 In my old house the TV was a long way from the couch and the audio rigging prevented me from using the mute control under some circumstances (since straightened out). I found that a wired (unwired would work, of course, as long as it, you know, worked) speaker sitting on the table near me provided a convenient way of being able to turn the volume down when I wanted as well as keeping the overall levels low. (In my old office/studio I had air conditioning that seemed to be wrecking my hearing. For 3 months of the year, I had a noise-induced ringing in my ears that seemed to drive the TV volume up, up, up.) One other thing -- many of today's TV's have suddenly discovered something vaguely like bass... as a consequence, some of them have diminished intelligibility. The speakers built into my set are such but happily there are bass and treble adjustments that can be controlled. On material that's hard to make out dialog on, I roll out the bass until it crisps up some. I also raise the treble when necessary. (And, actually, I also started using the little Cambridge 2.1 system I bought years ago and the [relatively] flatter response and extended high end helps greatly. Music sounds better and voices are more intelligible without dimming the bass too much.) Also, if you go with a remote powered speaker, keep in mind that your mom's TV may have dedicated outputs that can be controlled from set (so you can use its mute, volume, etc). My set has a toggle, IIRC, to either feed full volume to the external speaker or to use the internal volume control to control the master level sent to the speaker -- ditto the tone controls, IIRC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members franknputer Posted November 8, 2007 Members Share Posted November 8, 2007 Jeez...$99 for a narrow-band speaker? Go to the store & buy yourself the cheapest set of powered computer speakers on the shelf. Voila - lo-fi audio with a volume control. $20 or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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