Wireless Headset for audio impaired

[vk3em]

Hi Guys,

I am trying to find a solution for my parents and their communication, and was hoping someone could help. My mother has a degenerative neurological disease like Parkinson's, that's impacted her speech, but not her hearing. Her speech is slurred and soft in volume. My father has poor hearing, but has good hearing aids. In most scenarios, they are trying to talk to each other (either at home, or out and about), but the low volume of my mothers speech combined with background noise and distortion, makes its too difficult for my Dad to understand, and he ends up needing to put his ear to her mouth to close the distance.

We have been to a speech therapist who trialled us with the a voice box amplifier, where the amplifier/speaker was worn around the neck, but the distortion of this device made it too difficult for my Dad to listen and understand, so it was a fail.

When my Dad has his hearing aids directly connected to the TV, he can hear fine. So now I am thinking some type of wireless intercom headset would be ideal. I have looked at something like the Sena Expand (https://www.sena.com/us-en/product/expand) but this model does not have any adjustment on microphone sensitivity. Without trying it, I am not sure Mums voice volume would trigger the threshold on the microphone audio switch.

Any ideas on other products that might do the trick?

[SiliconWizard]

When my Dad has his hearing aids directly connected to the TV, he can hear fine.

Can you tell us what he uses to connect his hearing aids to the TV audio? Are his hearing aids Bluetooth-enabled?

I think the best results would be obtained with wireless microphone systems such as ones used in classrooms and meetings that support hearing aids.

[IanB]

I learned from a friend that all hearing aids are not created equally. If you go to a hearing specialist they can help to choose a good hearing aid (and very importantly, adjust it to the needs of the individual user) for the best results. Apparently the difference between a basic hearing aid and a professionally fitted and adjusted aid is enormous.