Online retailer Amazon is expanding the accessibility features of its Amazon Fire TV streaming product. After Amazon introduced the option last April to send not only the audio tracks of video content to speakers and sound systems, but also to compatible Bluetooth Hearing aids, today the second phase of expansion follows.

A cochlear implant

The team behind the Amazon Fire TV today announced the expansion of hearing aids for users who depend on a so-called cochlear implant in their daily lives.

Cochlear implants (CI) are hearing systems that consist of two components: CI users wear a speech processor with microphone, power supply and magnet coil on their head.

In the inner ear, the signals entering here are then transmitted by the actual implant as electrical impulses directly into the cochlea and thus enable the extremely hard of hearing to process acoustic signals. The only requirement for the surgical procedure is an intact auditory nerve. Cochlear implants are often used in children born deaf, giving them the opportunity to learn a mostly normal language.

After hearing aids, now also CIs

CI carriers can now also receive their favorite streaming service directly. As Amazon announced today, the new CI support will be available on the Fire TV Cube (2nd and 3rd generation) and will work in conjunction with the speech processors Baha 6 Max, Nucleus 7, Nucleus 8 And Core Kanso 2 have it used.

Once configured, the Fire TV devices then transmit all audio signals, from navigation sounds to music streaming services, to the implants. For initial configuration, users do the following:

To pair a hearing implant, customers select “Settings” → “Accessibility” → “Hearing Aids” from the Fire TV menu and follow the instructions. Then connect your hearing aid as a Bluetooth headset. More information can be found here.