Why is listening to TV so difficult?

There are three things that make the TV difficult to hear if you have a hearing loss:

• The distance we sit from it – sound loses energy as it travels through the distance, especially the parts of sound that give clarity to speech (i.e. the consonants). We generally sit further away from the TV than we would sit from someone we are talking to, yet we expect to hear it as well.
• We don't have the same visual clues to follow – in real life we may find that we miss some words, but often we can fill in the gaps by watching people's faces for clues. On TV, often the speaker is facing away from us or is even hidden off set. This makes it harder to fill in the missing gaps.
• Background Noise – most television programmes have some sort of background noise together with the speech, and usually it's music. This makes it difficult for someone with hearing loss to follow a conversation because their ears and brain have to pull out the speech from the background noise.

Things to Make the TV Watching easier

• Get your hearing tested and make sure you have the correct hearing aids for your hearing loss. If people complain that you have the TV on too loud, it may still sound normal to you. So get them to put it on at a volume that suits them and see how much you're missing.
• If your TV has a Sound Control option (usually in the menu) you can try adjusting the settings. Making sure it's on a Speech setting rather than a music setting (if your TV can let you decide) and perhaps reducing the bass or increasing the treble. If your TV is very old you, the speakers may be worn out and you may be better off replacing the set.
• If your television has teletext, why not use the subtitles? There is usually a button for this on your television's remote control (it used to be 888 on Teletext, but with digital TV this is often differrent). Check your TV's instruction manual.
• Try infrared headphones. They're ideal because they boost the level of volume for the television for the wearer without having to increase the volume for everyone else watching the television. And because they're infra-red, you won't be 'tied' to the television. The best devices use a SCART lead so that it doesn't turn the volume off as soon as you plug them in.
• An alternative to headphones is a Personal Listening Device. They have two parts to them... a microphone (which you can fix to the televisions speakers, or give to someone you're having a conversation with), and a receiver that hangs around your neck which either feeds into some headphones or directly into your hearing instrument.
• A home loop system. If you have a hearing instrument with a built-in telecoil, you can attach a loop system to your TV. The TV will be picked up directly by the hearing instrument instead of going through the microphone, so it brings the sound much closer to you.
• If you have a multi-program hearing aid, ask us if you can have a TV program set up on it.

For more information, why not call us on 01392 436714, or contact us through the website?