July sees the start of the Tour de France – arguably the world’s greatest cycling event. And cycling fanatics and armchair enthusiasts alike will tune in to watch the always-thrilling TV coverage.
But how do you enhance your experience of this exciting, fast-paced event?
Tony, from the UK, loves watching live sports, but he says subtitles can be problematic or almost non-existent during broadcasts of live sporting programs.
For this reason, he and others have found the Cochlear™ Wireless TV Streamer helps. “With the TV Streamer, it is so good to hear the commentary during a race, which adds enormously to my enjoyment. I can also hear the interviews with the athletes afterwards, which is a bonus,” says Tony.
Barry, a keen cyclist who lives in the US, agrees that streaming from his TV straight to his sound processors is a game changer when it comes to enjoying live sports.
He finds the captioning distracting for the action on the screen, which is why he uses his TV Streamer for most of his TV viewing.
“Captioning takes up a lot of real estate on the screen – I’d rather not have it on there and it’s delayed a little bit.
“And the range of the TV Streamer is great – at least 15 meters in my experience, so I can move around the house and still hear the TV audio crystal clear. I love that I can walk away from the TV, out to the kitchen to grab a bite of food or a drink and not miss a thing,” says Barry.
Greg, also from the US, plans to use his TV Streamer to tune in to televised live sports while cooking dinner. “Our kitchen faces away from the TV, so I’m going to start doing that.”
To watch at home, you can stream audio directly to your compatible sound processor* from a Cochlear Wireless Mini Microphone or Cochlear Wireless TV Streamer.
When you are out and about and don’t want to miss any of the commentary, you can stream directly from a compatible Apple® or Android device* without needing extra accessories.
If you’d rather be out on your bike in the fresh air rather than watching the Tour, recipients have helmets that allow them to wear their sound processors while out riding. It might require trying a few different helmets on to find the best fit, but they tell us it’s definitely worth it to be able to hear while cycling.
An avid cyclist, Barry is mad about taking to the trails regularly. He has both the Cochlear™ Kanso® 2 and Nucleus® 7 sound processors but prefers the latter for recreational activities as he finds they are a better fit with his helmet.
Meanwhile, Caroline from Canada, has no problem wearing her Nucleus™ Kanso® Sound Processor under her helmet and appreciates the feeling of safety of being able to hear while on the bike.
“I didn’t always feel safe riding with hearing loss. It can be a real hazard if you can’t hear fellow cyclists on the trails or cars on the road. But there was no need to worry. ‘Mo’ (my sound processor’s nickname – short for ‘more sound, more love, more life’) fits easily under my helmet.”
While Caroline may not have competed in the Tour, she is no stranger to endurance riding. Despite only discovering biking as an adult, she has competed in the ‘Trans Rockies Challenge,’ an epic 7-day 700 km mountain bike ride across the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
“It’s considered to be one of the most difficult mountain bike races in the world. A fraction of the starters finish.
“With my sound processor, my experience on the bike has been incredible and has opened a whole new world.”
* For compatibility information visit www.cochlear.com/compatibility
