Fire TV launches hearing aid pairing

Last week Amazon announced that’s its Retail Brand (private brand) streaming device the Fire TV Cube (2nd gen) now supports Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids, commonly known as ASHA. This makes Fire TV the first-ever streaming media player to support ASHA and allow customers to directly connect to compatible Bluetooth hearing aids. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that Fifteen percent (37.5 million) of Americans over the age of 18 reports some hearing loss and nearly 29 million US adults could benefit from using hearing aids. Through research, Amazon learned that improving TV sound quality was one of the most requested features among hearing aid users.

With this feature, hearing aids connect with Fire TV at the system level, so viewers can not only enjoy audio from their favorite apps but also Alexa, music, navigational sounds, and more. Here’s more on how to enable this capability:

Customers with compatible Starkey Bluetooth hearing aids can connect directly to Fire TV Cube for private listening, use the remote’s volume buttons to control the streaming audio level.
Bluetooth hearing aids connect with Fire TV on a system level, so you can enjoy private audio from your favorite streaming services, apps, and games, as well as
To pair your hearing aids, visit Fire TV Settings, Accessibility, select Hearing Aids, and follow the on-screen instructions to connect them, much like you would with Bluetooth headphones.
To control the streaming volume, use the Fire TV remote like you otherwise would. When you’re done with your movie, you can disconnect through a shortcut by pressing and holding the ‘Home’ button and selecting ‘Disconnect Hearing Aids.’
For an optimal experience, we recommend customers connect over a 5Ghz wifi network, within 10 feet and in line of sight to Fire TV Cube. Due to the small size of hearing aids, their radio antennas require closer proximity for the best connection. Customers with 2.4GHz wifi can still enjoy the feature, with range that varies depending on spectrum congestion.

By Christopher DurhamPublished On: May 3rd, 2022Tags: Fire, R-BASIC, R-PRO, SP-BASIC, SP-PLUS, SP-PRO

About the Author: Christopher Durham

Christopher Durham is the president of the Velocity Institute. Prior to this he founded the groundbreaking site My Private Brand. He is the co-founder of The Vertex Awards. He began his retail career building brands at Food Lion and Lowe’s Home Improvement. Durham has worked with retailers around the world, including Albertsons, Family Dollar, Petco, Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, Metro Canada. Durham has published seven definitive books on private brands, including Fifty2: The My Private Brand Project and Vanguard: Vintage Originals.