Transmitter/receiver hearing assistance for watching TV etc

Electronics & Technology
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I have been having hearing tests for around five years and although my hearing has dropped off (one ear particularly), I am not hearing-aid status yet. Despite this, I am increasingly having a problem sorting out sounds and one notable area is in watching TV. As a result, I did some research on the internet and discovered Sennheiser has a product specifically design for people in my circumstances.

Priced in the $380+ range, I bought a Sennheiser Flex 5000. Powered by 240 volts AC, it has a base unit which plugs into the AUDIO-OUT of my TV. It also docks and charges a remote unit that is powered by rechargeable lithium battery. The remote unit has a pair of stereo earplugs which are independently fed sound by Bluetooth technology. The unit has press-button sound control which also turns the unit ON, and an independent OFF button.

From the base unit, separate volume levels feed the left and right ears and there is an interesting facility for setting sound clarity. Sennheiser call this ‘speech intelligibility’. I equate it to ‘sorting out sounds’ that I have difficulty doing myself. Further, the unit is independent from the volume of the TV itself. This enables my wife to listen at a lower volume, or for me to watch with the TV’s sound muted.

The Flex 5000 has greatly improved my ability to hear TV. Further, I’ve also discovered there is a lot of TV where you don’t actually need to watch the video, such as news. As a result, I can move about the house and remain ‘tuned in’.

The base unit is the size of a remote TV control but a little thicker. The remote unit has a spring clip to attach to clothing. However, the earplugs leave a lot to be desired. The quality is good, but the continual tangling of the wiring is a major annoyance. That said, it is possible to plug in any other compatible hearing device such as headphones. Sennheiser state ‘optimised crystal-clear sound combined with the highest comfort’. Well, the sound is great, but I think Sennheiser’s definition of ‘highest comfort’, leaves a lot to be desired. In the last decade or so, significant advancement has been made in earplug comfort and one would expect a sound-leader like Sennheiser to do better. Until you hear the sound, the earbuds look cheap and uncomfortable. The sound is their saving grace.

NOTE – a very recent look at Sennheiser’s site suggests the earplugs have been replaced by a stethoscope-looking earpiece. By comparison, Bose a while back produced a sleeping earbud with three fitting sizes that were so comfortable you could endure a night’s sleep with no irritation.

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The newer Sennheiser Flex 5000 is sold minus earplugs, its actually designed for people who want to use their own headset (if they already have a fantastic set of wired headphones for other purposes).
The “stethoscope” looking sets (such as the RS 2000 and RS 5000) has the same piece as the Flex 5000’s spring clip attached to the bottom of the remote unit, so it hangs down from your ears. Its an odd sensation, but surprisingly the audio from these sets is really fantastic with great fidelity and amplification. Also surprisingly the conical design of the earpieces is pretty comfortable and fits a really wide range of ear shapes and sizes.
For a set of headphones to provide you excellent audio (especially when you’re primarily using them for amplification) they need to seal well in/around your ears, and its not easy to do that with a generic in-ear solution.
Personally I prefer a circumaural solution like the Sennheiser RS 195. Its more comfortable and easier to move around in, AND the audio is again FANTASTIC!

I’d encourage anyone buying a headset for tv amplification to try before they buy (AFTER covid19 lol) different people like different things, and most retailers offering these products in brick and mortar stores offer devices to try.

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Thanks for your response. Things have obviously changed markedly in the relatively short time I’ve had mine, including the price. One saving grace about the poor fit plugs is that while I can hear better, my wife can also talk to me. And it’s not all about volume. The noise sorting helps a lot. Your system sounds great, but I think I need to go back to the store and see what options, if any, are available to me.

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Haha - not a lot of assistive listening device products aimed at the general consumer are going to help much with hearing other people while you’re trying to hear the tv.

If you’re ever “hearing aid status”, as you put it, overwhelmingly the best option if you want to hear the tv AND the people around you is a tv connection device which streams the audio directly through your hearing aids, particularly one with a sophisticated app based control that allows you to adjust the balance between the streaming device and the microphones on the aids themselves.
Although, the vast majority of the time a good set of hearing aids will do the job on their own.

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Many thanks again. As I suspect you’ve gathered, this is all relatively new territory to me. And while I might claim I’ve done my research, clearly it was not wide/focused enough. A significant aspect of research is knowing what the right questions are, and then being able to fight you way through the maze of those who don’t bother to address your question but found one word in your search parameters that was distantly related to their “barrow”. Your replies have been quite helpful.

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Another option thats probably a little bit outside of your thinking, is a product like these:

One way to describe them would be “hearing aid lite” - for people with a mild loss who need better sound and speech discrimination, but aren’t at the point of needing/wanting hearing aids, they’re meant to be a good choice, and they have a “customisable fit”, and you have complete control of the amplification.
I haven’t tried them myself, but I have heard brilliant things about them.
And for your TV - they have bluetooth!

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Yes, it has been outside my thinking, and what a product! I’ve spent quite a time on their site soaking up info and viewing YouTube clips. They cover many bases—noise cancelling, hearing in restaurants (that’s a challenge) and the ability to remained linked with people while watching TV. Again, it’s knowing questions to ask and making your research wide/focused enough. Thanks again.

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I rang Sennheiser Australia for spare parts to my TR840 TV listening device. It is quite a few years old and superseded with no parts available. However, they said they have a second-hand part and they will test, clean it and send it to me free of charge including postage. How good is that? Thumbs up to Sennheiser

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Depends on how many years “quite a few” is.

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Well done! Sometimes all you need to do is ask. I find many people (really many) have their first action to vent fury on the internet. Sadly sites like Product Review seem to be a forum for this. Fortunately, they also get well-structured comment as well. There are many products I’ve bought despite negative press on PR (and have served me well. I guess we all have different expectations. What does impress me is when a negative review is posted and the manufacturer posts a reply seeking to redress the situation. It is often very clear from these postings that the originator of the posting never contacted the manufacturer.

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