Home audio help for elderly.

[Need_help_now]

Hello,

I need help setting up a home audio system for an eldery couple. Their home audio isn't ideal for them. They watch tv and are awake at different times which leads to them watching it muted or on low volume so they can't hear it anyways.

They used to be able to use headphones on their tv but recently upgraded to a newer tv and it does not have a headphone jack. I am looking for an alternative to that though I do not know exactly how to do it to make it easy for them. They do not want to have to change settings in the tv menu every time they want to switch back and forth between the headphones and the tv speakers.

I saw a little box that has a switch in the front that acts kind of like a pass through between the HDMI sound and the headphones. I do not know if this would work or not especially with their setup and have never used one before so I do not know how good they are.


Current Setup:
Cable box Out HDMI ---> TV In HDMI
TV Out Optical ----> Sound Bar In Optical Cable


So would the box work with their current setup as being able to easily switch back and forth between the headphones and tv speakers by just using the switch on the box? Is there an easier way at all? What box is the best? Any info that relates to any of this would be good. Looking for something that will work with older headphones that actually use a 3.5mm jack rather than an optical cable.

 

[c4s2k3]

I haven't tried this myself, but I believe you can get a TOSLINK (optical) splitter. Run one optical to the sound bar, and one to a bluetooth transmitter. Then either get them a pair of bluetooth headphones, or a bluetooth receiver that can drive a pair of headphones. This gives them the option to turn off the sound bar and use the wireless headphones.

If you go this route, look for bluetooth transmitter that specifically supports "APTX Low Latency" (APTX-LL) to reduce any noticeable lag between the sound in the headphones and the picture on TV. Note that the receiving end (bluetooth receiver or bluetooth headphones) must also support APTX-LL.

I have bluetooth transmitter with optical input on my own TV and I use it with a bluetooth receiver driving my headphones and that works quite well. What I have not tried is using an optical splitter, but I have seen them around on amazon.

 

[Need_help_now]

bump.

 

[americanaudiophile]

Most cable boxes will have an RCA audio output that you can connect a headphone amplifier up to.
https/www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT-HA2-audio-technica-headphone-amplifier/dp/B00008B5U2/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1484588686&sr=8-10&keywords=headphone+amp
You would not have to change anything on the TV.