Sony's TV Sound De-mumbler
This is a great little wireless speaker that enhances audio sent to it from a TV. It's primarily designed for people who struggle to hear the television clearly, but can prove useful to others as well.
Unfortunately many of the people who could benefit from a device like this will be unaware it exists, so perhaps it's something to consider gifting to someone who would appreciate it.
Can't hear the TV? This Wireless Sony Speaker brings the sound to you (YouTube)
Comments (38)
Great video Mat! I realize I'm late to the party (and I'm combing thru your archives), but I'm so curious to hear if your parents are using the speaker! My husband is hard of hearing, so this might be the ticket for him...
I have a hard time focusing on the audio from TV shows (I get distracted super easy) so I turn it up super loud. This would be awesome. Thanks for sharing :) How did your parents like it, if they've got it now?
Yeah, that's a kayak. It's more closed around the person, he's sitting down instead of kneeling and he has a double ended paddle.
Might think of one of these for my mother-in-law if I could stop her being terrified of pressing the wrong button and breaking it. Seriously, when the channel up/down button on her TV remote broke I had to explain very carefully how to use the number keys instead. I suppose I'll be the same with Direct Neural Connect or whatever's current if I get to 96...
My mum won’t even touch the remote - my dad has to change channels.
This solves a very specific problem that we tried to fix with wireless headphones. My mum is hard of hearing and she hates wearing them because then she can't really talk to anyone else in the room. Shipping one to Australia is a pain though.
The people factor is something many won’t fully appreciate. My mother wouldn’t dream of wearing any apparatus, including a hearing aid. My father can’t really walk, but however much I’ve tried to convince him, I can’t get him to use a mobility scooter. They both find any technology extremely difficult to operate. I’m hopeful the large on off & volume button combined with the simple electric kettle type charging will be simple enough to operate so they don’t just dismiss it immediately like they have with some other things I’ve bought to help them in the past.
Funny you use the device yourself. I sometimes use my Anker bluetooth speaker often to get "personal" audio as I go to the kitchen or bedroom. It's nice the volume isn't too loud and also close by, and it's better than earphones when running around. It that what you experience too?
Exactly. Its the same idea as putting a massive wall of speakers at the other end of a football pitch and standing at the opposite end. However loud you were to turn the speakers up it wouldn’t sound as clear as a small speaker placed a foot away. I’m a little surprised at the feedback to this video, it’s pretty muted. It doesn’t bode well for when it goes live on YouTube. I just thought it was an interesting idea worth sharing and based on my week of using it, it seems good at doing what it does. Like everything I feature, its not going to be useful to everyone. I’m just glad Sony tried something different.
Too many buttons on it. Any other manufacturers have a similar(cheaper) device?
For the record, the boat at 2:33 is a kayak
That depends on which side of the Atlantic you reside
I really like that power button.
Anything "accessibility" related gets the price inflated.
If you like it so much, it sounds like it IS for someone like you. You're a bit gray around the temples there, yes? :->
Useful idea, but I plugged a bluetooth transmitter into the TV optical and used a small bluetooth speaker for much the same result for less than US$ 80 total. I just can't see how US$ 215 is justifiable.
I wonder how many times granny has to phone you to go round there and re-pair the bluetooth or show her where the microUSB charge lead goes to make it worth the extra $$$ ;-)
I wonder if the sony speaker is running via bluetooth at least from the base to the speaker it self. It seems the reason theres no audio delay.
I have a hearing loss myself, and I confess I'm a bit dubious over how useful this is compared to a standard tv listener, or a neckloop/home loop system that can be used with more than just the tv. Even with the disability tax, £170 is excessive.
That's quite an impressive little box. The 'weird echo' you describe is called comb filtering and results from mixing a signal with a delayed version of itself. Considering it takes very little delay to become noticeable, it's quite an achievement on Sony's behalf that it isn't a problem. Digital signal processing (such as might be used to filter out non-vocal frequencies) often introduces latency into an audio path. Good job, Sony!!
I was also pretty impressed by the lack of any delay. It seems very well engineered, especially for a product that can be considered relatively niche. Good on Sony!
Useful gadget but it raises a couple of questions. As 2.4GHz is the most common frequency for wireless routers, does either interfere with the other? Do most TVs have the ability to use their own speakers and an external device simultaneously? On my LG, it appears to be one or the other.
I’m in a house with perhaps a dozen devices connected up over 2.4ghz. I didn’t notice any problems. However I’m not the target audience. My octogenarian parents currently have a 2.4Ghz-free home. As far as TVs go...there are just so many models out there (thousands?), so I made sure to highlight the function that the TV will need to have if the buyer needs simultaneous sound. I’m surprised your LG only does one or the other though, as my TV is a 2015 LG model.
This was a great video, and it’s nice to see a gadget that actually tries to solve a real problem. Seems like a nice design that harkens back to Sony’s golden years. (I found myself wishing for a more in-depth demo of Voice Zoom and Automatic Volume toggles; those were the things you don’t see often.)
It was a bit tricky to demo some things. I didn’t use the auto volume as I’ve never tried to watch TV in a loud environment...it’s a bit of a weird scenario. I left the Voice Zoom on throughout. I shot a demo of switching it on and off but it didn’t work well on camera as the button and the speaker are on different sides so it wasn't clear to the viewer when it was on or off. However since it just sounded clearer when it was on, and it’s on as a default it seemed silly to turn it off. I couldn’t imagine anyone buying a speaker that was supposed to make things sound clearer and then turning off a feature that makes that possible.
This might be a great new direction for your channel, since you have already done an explanation and review of nearly every retro tech format, finding very useful and interesting current electronics and gadgets that we didn't know existed and solve a problem and are well designed and well made, would be very valuable to us! - I would bet that this is the only review of this item on youtube, now I want one!
I’m always on the lookout for interesting and useful new gadgets. Unfortunately there aren’t that many that come out. Everything nowadays is smartphones. I’d be happy to review something along these lines every other video. So if you do come across anything, please let me know.
I am very interested in the results from your mum, my Dad has this exact problem, and he is skeptical that anything will succeed at what this device is trying to do! - So please let us know whether she likes it.
I’ll definitely report back here on how it works out. If she doesn’t like it, I’m only too happy to have it back.
Simple, and helpful. :D
Excellent review, Mat. Shame we didn't know about this when my father in law was alive. We all suffered when he was trying to watch TV. I'd have bought him one of these without hesitation.
I never really knew my parents had a problem until I went over to their house and they had the subtitles on the TV. My father said it was for my mother. Whilst subtitles are great, they don't work well with live programmes like the news as they lag behind by quite a few seconds. I hope this idea works a bit better for them.
Clever little thingy. Might just be something for my parents, even though they will most probably forget to charge the unit.
I expect my parents will do the same from time to time, although that would just mean they have to revert back to using the TV speaker on it's own for a few hours.
Excellent review of a fascinating device! I really like the way it clarifies the sound. Your video prompted me to investigate the audio options on my Sony tv, and there, buried in the options is ‘voice zoom’ which has a range of -5 to +5 and also a Night setting for clear sound at low volume level which is either on or off. I had a play, and there is a slight difference through the TVs own speakers, I suspect both functions are differentially boosting the higher frequencies. We always listen via an optically connected Bose Solo sound box which sounds fantastic, and neither the Voice zoom nor Night modes had any effect that I could hear through that. Also, they require too many clicks on the tv remote to access to be something you would change frequently. Certainly they offer nothing like the improvement the remote speaker you demo brings. Really intersting and well presented, as always, Mat.
The voice zoom will be using a few tricks that would almost act as the opposite to the voice removal button on a couple of the devices I've shown recently. As vocals are commonly mixed to the centre, I suppose it will be picking out what's being played on both channels equally and then boost that up. In addition like you say it will be enhancing certain frequencies that are specific to vocals. All in all it works very well.
Really neat product! I think the kitchen scenario would fit to a lot of people if they want to spend that amount of money for a mobile speaker.
In my house it cut out in the kitchen...but that's another room and my house is the opposite of a faraday cage when it comes to RF - I've got transmitters and repeaters all over the place. My parents don't even have WiFi - so I suspect they'll get a good range.