Some confusion Bluetooth

[GPM]

*Moderator - please move this if there is a better place for it.

Following is where my problem lies. The origin of the audio and the required final destination of the audio are fixed. The origin is a TV with a variety of output formats. The final destination is my smart phone Android. So that is SOURCE FROM TV, RECEIVE BY Android. Please only suggest a fix that will accomplish that goal.

I am aware of built in BT and BT xmit and receive, etc. What I cannot ascertain is if the BT receiver in my phone can connect to a BT transmitter that is taking an audio signal and sending it out in BT. The bottom line question is if android as a receiver will pair with the generic BT transmitter connected to whatever audio source. I do NOT want to transmit from my phone to the TV.

Thanks all

 

[Multicore]

I didn't think phones and TVs do that. There might be hacks that can allow it but unlikely and if so would be technical.

What would you do with the audio received on the phone?

 

[GPM]

The audio would be sent to my hearing aids. Currently the phone will send phone calls, music, audio, notifications, etc., to the hearing aids. I also bought the recommended BT device for sending from TV to hearing aids and it works but it sends by way of Low Energy BT directly to hearing aids and the only way to adjust the volume of what is playing is by manually changing the setting on the LEBT transmitter, with no way to mute it, or lowering the overall volume of the hearing aid. Neither one is a good solution for many reasons.

So if the phone is the hub, so to speak, then the TV content can easily be adjusted just like any audio source. And it will lower the volume or mute it if a phone call comes in. And the hearing aid app allows adjustments to the signal being sent from the phone to the devices. So everything works well for most all situations except getting from TV to phone which can then be adjusted and sent out to the hearing aids.

Thanks

 

[LTig]

In principle it should work, otherwise you could not use BT headset microphones for telephone communication.

 

[GPM]

Makes sense. I need to dig into it more. Thank you.

Still open to any knowledge or experience about this.

 

[Speedskater]

This hearing aid forum often discusses this type of problem.
https://forum.hearingtracker.com/categories

 

[somebodyelse]

The headset profile is limited to a single microphone. For stereo you need A2DP profile, and in this case you need the Android phone to support A2DP sink as well as the usual A2DP source, and routing audio from one to the other with volume control in between. Android used to support only A2DP source, so you needed patches like https://github.com/aystshen/Android-A2dpSink to add the sink part. Note that this required you to rebuild android, so not something many could do, and then only on phones with an unlocked bootloader. I don't know whether it's enabled by default on newer android.

A further complication may be the available bluetooth bandwidth - the same interface now needs to both send and receive audio. It may still be possible with some codecs if you have a good signal.

 

[GPM]

Speedskater - thanks for the link. There is good info there.

CLARIFICATION - I was trying to avoid discussions about the hearing aid part of things because that is working great.
The part that is NOT working yet is TV to BT on my phone. So I am needing to understand if I set up a BT transmitter with TV sound input is the android phone able to pair with that and receive the TV sound?

Thanks

 

[Vincent Kars]

It is very simple as your TV has BT already.
Pair it with a BT headphone. If the headphone works you know the TV BT is sending audio.

Pair the TV with your phone. If you can't get the audio to play, using a BT transmitter (doing the same as the TV BT) won't help you either because the phone doesn't work as a sink.

Technically it is possible but needs some coding https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27763756/android-device-as-a-receiver-for-a2dp-profile
Google "Android device as a receiver for A2DP profile"

 

[staticV3]

By default, Android devices cannot function as Bluetooth audio receivers (except for microphone input, which I don't think would work in this case).

To accomplish what you're trying to do, you'd have to modify the Android OS to add that functionality back in.

Fyi, I can pair my Samsung Buds+ with my LG OLED E7N and control volume with the TV remote.

If that does not work for you, then either the TV outright does not support volume control with Bluetooth output, or it does, but relies on the Bluetooth receiver having hardware volume control capabilities for this function, which your hearing aids may lack.

In any case, trying to pair some different Bluetooth headphones or speakers to the TV, to see if/how volume control via the TV remote works, could get you closer to a workable solution.

 

[GPM]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. For such a seemingly simple task it is like chasing your tail.

Here is what I intend to do:
1. Try everything possible with TV BT and android.
2. Find a preamp with remote control/app that I can use to adjust the volume before a BT device made expressly for hearing aids. It send directly to the hearing aids and it only has manual volume so isn't practical. And there is no mute.
3. I know how to code I just don't like it. And it could end up being another can of worms or several days of fighting with a syntax error or something equally frustrating.

FYI, you can always adjust volume using the earphone buttons but then if someone wants to speak with you, since there is no way to mute the BT content, if you turn up the hearing aid volume to talk, the now loud TV content makes it impossible to hear what someone is saying. Crazy.

I will post results good or bad.

Thanks again.

 

[GPM]

V Kars - that page describes exactly what I am trying to do. But I can also see it turning into something painful as android has versions on top of versions, you have to enable things, write code for config file, and there is no guarantee he has listed all the files/records that need touched.

 

[kemmler3D]

if I set up a BT transmitter with TV sound input is the android phone able to pair with that and receive the TV sound?

As @somebodyelse explained in somewhat technical language the answer is almost definitely no. Even if you can get the OS to support it, it's no guarantee that the bluetooth hardware in the phone supports receiving that type of data.

I used to sell BT speakers and headphones for a living and I never came across a phone that could receive bluetooth audio.

@GPM what kind of TV do you have, does it have BT built in?

Otherwise I think your preamp-to-BT transmitter idea should work. There should be headphone amps or similar devices out there with remote controls for volume...

 

[GPM]

kemmier - very helpful. I was hoping someone had some practical experience to give me a yes/no on this. My LG TV does has BT built in, and I have banged on it a few times but no luck. The phone will pair with it, but it is for sending content TO the TV. But I will dig in again to be sure there is nothing there that I am missing.

 

[coonmanx]

Have you thought about just using bluetooth headphones over the hearing aids. Then volume could be controlled from the TV remote or maybe the headphones would have some sort of volume control... And that would be separate from anything coming into the hearing aids from the phone.

 

[kemmler3D]

kemmier - very helpful. I was hoping someone had some practical experience to give me a yes/no on this. My LG TV does has BT built in, and I have banged on it a few times but no luck. The phone will pair with it, but it is for sending content TO the TV. But I will dig in again to be sure there is nothing there that I am missing.

I also have an LG TV, the CX model... I think you can select Bluetooth output from the Sound Out menu. I don't know the exact model of your TV but if it's recent there is a good chance you can connect the hearing aids directly.

 

[somebodyelse]

I also have an LG TV, the CX model... I think you can select Bluetooth output from the Sound Out menu. I don't know the exact model of your TV but if it's recent there is a good chance you can connect the hearing aids directly.

I think that was already covered in post #3 - as I read it the direct connection works, but is less than ideal for a couple of reasons. Unfortunately it seems the ideal isn't readily available.