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Deaf Gamer Help/show idea

Former Member

I'm 95% deaf and a huge xbox live fan. I have never been able to use a headset for team chat since gaming headsets are not large enough to fit over hearing aids or fit too close and cause severe feedback. I recenty got hearing aids

that are bluetooth enabled and figured out how to use them to get audio from xbox to hear the games in my hearing aids. I'm trying to figure out a way to be able to get voice chat capabilities and finally be able to use a mic and be

able to communicate with players. I've contacted all the big name companies like turtle beach about having something made with no reply other than no we do not make this product. While the market is small, there is a community of deaf players and many want to be able to use a headset. I'm trying to figure out some way to use my bluetooth ability to replace a headset but have no idea how to get the chat sounds from the controller to my tek connect device used to send signal to my hearing aids. The controller itself I wear around my neck and it does have a mic in it for using on cellphone calls. While I highly doubt it would be possible to use this configuration, surely there has to be a way to get the audio signal from voice chat that I could plug into then find a way to input chat with a mic. If anyone has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated, I lack the technical knowledge on how to go about this or if its even possible to do.

  • 0

    Can you give a run-down of the brand/model of each component you are working with?

     

    Sounds like you have the following :

    • Hearing aids
    • Some kind of controller, you refer to as tek?
    • Xbox

     

    Anything else?

     

    Sounds like an interesting and worthwhile hack. The hardest part, for anyone trying to help, is getting a hearing aid unit to test with. I know they can be quite expensive.

     

    -- Chris

  • 0 in reply to ckraft

    My hearing aids are made by Siemens. the Tek Connect is what they call the audio streaming device, it is a remote that I wear to control the volume, 5 presets to switch from bluetooth phone, tv, my xbox, and anything else I choose. It has a built in mic so I can use it like a hands free bluetooth device, its not the best but amazing technology for hearing aids nonetheless. I have a Tek transmitter which is a little black box with a 2.5mm stereo jack and got an adapter with 3.5mm to a 3.5mm jack to cinch for RCA so I can plug into an hdmi to RCA adapter to stream sound from the xbox directly to my hearing aids. I know you can get xbox chat cable that plugs into the xbox controller to use a regular one ear mic headset, but plugging into this only gives you chat sound, no game sounds. I don't know if you could use something like a quad head multi-cable to somehow get all the signals into the transmitter or if would just go haywire. Since I can use an RCA adapter I wonder if could just plug one into game sound and the other chat sound and get left and right channels so one ear got sound and the other chat even though that would be annoying and throw off ear balance. I know with the pro gaming headsets since my wife has one that you can hear both at same time and adjust the chat sound level and game levels for both ears. So there has to be some way to combine the signals then adjust them with some sort of controller. My other thought for the general hearing aid wearer who cannot afford these extremely expensive bluetooth hearing aids, is some way to make a larger headset that doesn't hug the ears and allows the sound to reach the top of the ear where the mics are located on hearing aids ( I wear behind the ear hearing aids) The remote alone costs $600 and the transmitter was $300. Hearing aids were $3000 each. Not cheap and only last maybe 4 years if you are lucky, downside of going digital from the analog ones I grew up with. If you need any more information just let me know. here is link to siemens site for the controller and transmitter so you can see what they are. http://hearing.siemens.com/us/en/products/accessories/tek/tek.html  http://hearing.siemens.com/us/en/products/accessories/tek/accessories/accessories.html

  • 0 in reply to Former Member

    Oh and I've tried setting game volume to 1 and chat 10 leaving game chat on speakers but the chat isn't loud enough for me to comprehend what's being said,game audio still overrides the chat audio.

  • 0 in reply to Former Member

    Justin,

     

    Have you tried to plug a headset line directly from the XBOX controller to your hearing aid? My grandfather would do that with his telephone routinely.

    Perhaps the audio jack from the XBOX controller can be easily adapted with off the shelf sizing components.

     

    As for the microphone, you could then use the XBOX Kinect as mic. It is extremely sensitive.

     

    Otherwise, making a device to adapt the controller signal should be fairly straight forward... before going down this road, let us know.

     

    Cabe

  • 0 in reply to Catwell

    I have hooked up hearing aids to controller, but then I have no game audio. There has to be a way to use some sort of audio mixer to get both audio signals and adjust the output levels like a gaming headset does. I've been talking with Xbox on this as far as how their settings are broken when using "speakers " as output for both game and chat. It is supposed to lower game volume for chat but doesn't do as claimed. I've been talking with some accessibility activists with little headway. Basically I need to find out how gaming headsets like astro and turtle beach control both outputs since you can adjust chat and game sound levels to your liking.

  • 0 in reply to Former Member

    Justin,

     

    I see. So you want ot combine the regular game sound output and the communication headset output.

     

    An audio mixer circuit/device would do the trick.

     

    I wonder if you can just use those gaming headset, like the turtle beach one that combines both area, to some the problem.

    I will look into this, as you should as well.

     

    We'll reconvene here later. image

     

    Cabe

  • 0

    Hi, I was wondering if a solution was found, I was googling and came across this post that describes the exact same issue I am having. I have similar hearing aids with bluetooth streaming capabilities.  I can get the xbox's audio no probelm in my hearing aids but I would like to be able to use the voice function on the controller as well.  I read about the mixer and would be curious what it is and how it would work.

     

    Any help, insight or suggestions would be really appreciated.

  • 0 in reply to Former Member

    I lost my job after posting this originally so I haven't gone forward with it since can't afford to experiment. I think the audio mixer route would work on the basis that's how gaming headsets do it. I've been talking with Xbox on how their settings are broken in that game sound and chat sounds do not change even when setting in game chat at max and game sound min.