Hi Everybody! And hello to everyone else. smile.
I have Oticon MFI hearing aids, and I'm thinking about purchasing a small clip on bluetooth microphone to use with my iPhone when I'm in crowded, noisy situations so I can hear people better. I realize I can buy such a microphone from Oticon for two or three times the cost of a bluetooth microphone I could buy from Amazon or wherever..
Does anyone know if that would work, and does anyone have a mic to recommend?
smile. Thank you!
Bruce
Comments
Live listen.
You can find live listen in Notification Centre. Navigate to the status bar then 3 finger swipe up. I have a gesture assigned to 4 finger swipe up from anywhere but if you haven’t done that then the way to get there is from the status bar. Live listen is located in hearing devices. You may need to add this field if you don’t currently have it in your Notification Centre. Once you do, go to hearing devices then you’ll find live listen is available when you’re wearing AirPods or I assume your hearing aids too. As for microphones. I’m not sure how that would work with live listen, you’d have to play the mic sound through your phone then listen to it on your hearing aids but assuming you can get that working. Rode are the best microphones I know. The frequency curve means everything is very balanced and they are particularly good at picking up B’s and P’s extremely clearly where many microphones miss those sounds. They offer some great wireless microphones for around £200 I tried some of the £30 amazon wireless m microphones and they’re not really worth the money. The iPhone will be a better option by far. The only advantage to those inexpensive microphones is you can get them closer to peoples mouths than an iPhone but the sound quality really isn’t great at all. Rode wireless mics would be the way to go if you can play the microphones sound input through the phones speaker and therefore your hearing aids.
Thanks, Andy
I'll check out Rode mics, thanks. I did give live listen a try, now that I know where to find it, but there's too much latency. I'm wondering if I'll have the same problem with a decent Rode mic. I'll see if I can find a retailer with a satisfaction guarantee so I can return them if need be.
Joy!
Bruce
Bluetooth microphone
Oticon's ConnectClip has been quite good at transmitting a speaker's voice both close up and from a distance of about 20-30 feet, if memory serves me right. I found it very helpful in some lecture halls and restaurants. However, if the suggestions work for less money than ConnectClip, I am glad of it.
Latency might be the decider here.
It’s a shame but when hardware is designed for a specific use case, it tends to do very well at that use case. This means manufacturers can charge a premium and they do. I have a feeling that the way to go on this is to buy the correct hardware to do the job instead of trying to Macgyver something together for less. It might work but it will likely have downsides. Latency is probably going to be an issue here as the OP already said. The slight latency in Bluetooth from the phone to the AirPods is enough to make the sound less natural and thats always going to be a problem I suggested Rode because the quality of their mics is incredible but thats probably not the most important feature. Latency is going to be more important. If things can be returned then its worth trying to see if a solution can be had for less money but the proper solution may be the way to go if that fails.