Why We Still Need Roger Transmitters with Bluetooth Devices

By Vicky Papaioannou, Consulting Educational Audiologist

Graphics by Jenny Morrison

"I got new hearing aids or cochlear implant sound processors and they have Bluetooth! Why do I still need to use a Roger Transmitter?"

Vicky Papaioannou,

Consulting Educational Audiologist

Getting new technology is always exciting! Hearing aids and cochlear implant sound processors are able to do so much more than they used to be able to do. Roger and Bluetooth are both wireless technologies, but they do different things.

Roger is specifically designed to use with your hearing aids and cochlear implant sound processors. Bluetooth is a more general purpose wireless technology that is used with many different devices like headphones, cell phones and watches. Roger is designed to deliver clear speech to your hearing devices in noisy environments. It does this by adapting to whatever is happening in your environment. Roger prioritizes the easy understanding of speech in noisy environments.

Bluetooth sound quality is typically not as good as Roger in challenging listening situations like places with lots of background noise.

"Bluetooth sound quality is typically not as good as Roger in challenging listening situations like places with lots of background noise. "

The signal to noise ratio (SNR) refers to the level of speech (signal) compared to the level of background noise (noise). A higher signal to noise ratio means that speech is louder than the background noise. The larger the difference, the more audible speech will be. People with hearing loss need a higher signal to noise ratio than people with typical hearing in order to understand speech in noisy environments. Roger delivers a higher SNR than Bluetooth, making it a superior technology for students who are hard of hearing as they navigate noisy environments at school.

Comparing Features of Roger and Bluetooth

The table below compares various features of Roger and Bluetooth to help you better understand why you still need a Roger Transmitter, even if you have Bluetooth hearing aids or cochlear implant sound processors. I will go into further detail about each feature below the chart.

(1) Use

Roger is primarily used for people who wear hearing aids in order to improve their understanding of speech in noisy environments. Bluetooth is used for a variety of functions including audio streaming, transferring data, and connecting devices.

(2) Adaptive Technology

Roger is an adaptive system. This means that it is able to adjust the sound signal based on the noise level in the room where it is being used. Roger measures the room noise as well as the level of the speaker’s voice and adjusts the gain of the receiver in order to achieve a higher signal to noise ratio.

Most Bluetooth systems are not adaptive. They have a fixed amount of gain that cannot change as speaker’s voice changes or the noise in the room changes. This means that the signal to noise ratio is typically lower than with an adaptive system. This means that speech is usually harder to understand with Bluetooth than with Roger systems.

(3) Latency

Roger generally has lower audio latency or delay when compared to Bluetooth. Sometimes when a delay is too long, speech becomes hard to understand. A short delay can be crucial for clear communication in real-time. This is especially important for young children still mastering their language.

(4) Compatibility with Other Devices

While some Roger devices might have Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls, not all Bluetooth devices are designed to work with hearing aids specifically. Roger transmitters can have an infinite number of receivers attached while Bluetooth transmitters can usually only work with a small number of receivers. This is especially important when a student wants to connect to multiple different devices or teachers/peers!

(5) Power Consumption

Bluetooth technology consumes significantly more power than Roger. This means that rechargeable hearing aids may not last a full day when using Bluetooth. For hearing aids with batteries, the batteries will need to be changed more often which can get expensive.

(6) Transmission Distance

Roger transmitters can reliably be used even when the person speaking into the microphone is far away. Bluetooth microphones usually work only over shorter distances. Given the size of schools and classrooms, a Roger device capable of transmitting up to 50 metres is more valuable than a Bluetooth device limited to less than 20 metres. For transmitting over distances greater than 50 metres, Roger Repeaters can be added.

Although Bluetooth is a great feature to have in your new hearing aids to connect to your smartphone and other devices, I hope this article provides some clarity about why Roger transmitters are still a necessary tool for school!

Report abuse