By will-buy
Amazon has upgraded the Fire TV Cube set-top to transmit audio directly to assistive hearing devices, including content played on the tool and responses by the built-in Alexa voice assistant. The movies online player is the first to support Audio Streaming for Assistive hearing devices (ASHA), connecting with Starkey Bluetooth assistive hearing devices, along with other brands to follow.
ASHA Fire
The ASHA compatibility essentially turns assistive hearing devices into high-quality wireless earbuds, albeit without a microphone. The setup is in Fire TV’s accessibility menu and can be disconnected there or by holding down the home button on the remote to make the option appear immediately on-screen. The audio that will normally play via a TV or connected stereo speakers instead plays with the hearing aids, although Amazon suggests staying within 10 feet of the TV to keep audio quality. The hearing aids will have Alexa’s solutions to queries made with the handheld remote control as well, much like once the TV is linked to AirPods, Echo Buds, or any other hearables. The new feature could attract lots of new Fire Cube users as almost 29 million adults in the U.S. would take advantage of assistive hearing devices, based on the National Institute on Deafness along with other Communication Disorders.
“Through research, we've found that improving TV sound quality was one of the most requested features among hearing aid users,” Amazon explained inside a article. “Bluetooth assistive hearing devices interact with Fire TV on the system level, so that you can enjoy private audio out of your favorite streaming services, apps, and games, in addition to Alexa.”
Smart Hearing
Amazon implementing ASHA compatibility is sensible in an effort to boost accessibility, but sticks out for approaching the solution from the side from the TV, rather than the hearing aids. There’s been a boom in making hearing aids a lot more like wireless earbuds and augmenting standard hearables with hearing assistance. For example, Nuheara earned FDA registration because of its IQbuds^2 Pro earbuds this past year, while Olive Union has raised millions from VC investors and crowdfunding for smart assistive hearing devices that can perform like AirPods. Bing is rumored to be designing its very own hearables able to distinguishing individual voices inside a crowd, and code-named Wolverine. The demand correlates with rising bearable ownership generally, Voicebot's research found a 23% begin hearables ownership from 2023 through 2023 among U.S. adults. The new feature also serves Amazon’s continued focus on turning it's good TVs into smart home hubs dedicated to Alexa, including the recently redesigned Fire remote and new Fire TVs with far-field microphones so users can awaken Alexa such as the TV is an Echo Show smart display.
