Amazon Smart TVs Can Now Stream Directly to Cochlear Hearing Implants

Amazon and Cochlear have just announced a new partnership, that brings delight to the TV-watching experience for people globally who use hearing implants.

Using the Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) protocol, Amazon smart TVs can now stream sound directly to Cochlear hearing implants.

The solution represents another step by Amazon in an effort to help make entertainment more accessible to people with hearing loss.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1.5 billion people globally live with hearing loss.

By 2026, more than half (51%) of all households worldwide are predicted to own a smart TV.

This Amazon collaboration will allow Cochlear implant users to more comfortably enjoy content from Netflix, Prime Video, and other streaming services, as well as local TV networks.

“TV is a big part of our lives; we get our news and information through television, our entertainment, sports, music,” said Cochlear director Ryan Lopez.

“When we started to work with [Amazon], what really came to light was their dedication to accessibility, effective communication, and collaborating on how we can combine these technologies. At Cochlear, we were really proud to be a part of this.”

“We send the audio in little packets over to the hearing device,”  explained Peter Korn, director of accessibility for Amazon Devices.

“The hearing device acknowledges receipt of those packets of audio, and then more are sent, and so on.”

Korn added that customers can sit within 10 feet or 3 meters of their TV and continue to enjoy entertainment.

Below are the devices that support Fire TV compatibility with Cochlear implants:

• Nucleus 8
• Nucleus 7
• Nucleus Kanso 2
• Baha 6 Max sound processors

ASHA-enabled Fire TV devices include Fire TV Omni QLED Series, Fire TV Omni Series, Fire TV 4-Series, Fire TV Cube (3rd Gen), and Fire TV Cube (2nd Gen).