Amazon Fire TV’s accessibility upgrade is a massive step forward

(Image credit: Amazon)

Devices like the Amazon Fire TV Cube may not top our list of the best streaming devices but they certainly make the cut. They are a great option for streaming content from a ton of the best streaming services. And now they just got a massive accessibility upgrade.

In a blog post, Amazon announced that select Fire TV devices will now work with Cochlear implants to allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing to more easily watch their favorite shows and movies. This accessibility feature is called Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) and is an open-source protocol. The feature is live immediately for compatible devices.

While there have been some solutions for hearing your TV’s sound with a hearing aid, the results can be mixed. You require either smart TV with built-in Bluetooth and a modern hearing aid or implant with built-in Bluetooth, or you need to buy a Bluetooth streaming box adapter or a telecoil that uses magnetic coils to stream your TV's audio signal into your hearing aid/implant.

ASHA on Fire TV is simple. If you have a compatible Cochlear implant and an eligible Fire TV device, you can now connect your implant directly to your Fire TV device simply by accessing the Accessibility menu on your Fire TV device. This will connect the implant to the Fire TV via Bluetooth at the touch of a button — much simpler than some of the existing solutions.

Again, this does play on the existing solution of Bluetooth connectivity to improve TVs for the hard of hearing and deaf communities, but ASHA is so simple and is intentionally designed for and by those communities. Now, it needs to be the standard going forward — not only for Amazon and its Fire TV devices but for all TVs. Especially since this solution is open-source.

A close-up of the Fire TV Cube (2022) with its blue Alexa bar glowing — (Image credit: Henry T. Casey / Tom's Guide)

Fire TV Cochlear implant accessibility: Compatible devices

At the moment, Amazon says that ASHA works with Cochlear Nucleus 8, Nucleus 7, Nucleus Kanso 2, and Baha 6 Max sound processors. It connects directly to the Fire TV device and is said to work with “movies and TV episodes available from Netflix, Prime Video, and other streaming services, as well as local TV networks.” It is unclear if there are series, movies, networks, etc. that ASHA is not compatible with.

In terms of Fire TV devices, the following devices are ASHA compatible: Fire TV Omni QLED Series, Fire TV Omni Series, Fire TV 4-Series, Fire TV Cube (2022), and Fire TV Cube (2019). Hopefully, more devices will be added to this list in the near future.

Malcolm McMillan is a senior writer for Tom's Guide, covering all the latest in streaming TV shows and movies. That means news, analysis, recommendations, reviews and more for just about anything you can watch, including sports! If it can be seen on a screen, he can write about it. Previously, Malcolm had been a staff writer for Tom's Guide for over a year, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), A/V tech and VR headsets.

Before writing for Tom's Guide, Malcolm worked as a fantasy football analyst writing for several sites and also had a brief stint working for Microsoft selling laptops, Xbox products and even the ill-fated Windows phone. He is passionate about video games and sports, though both cause him to yell at the TV frequently. He proudly sports many tattoos, including an Arsenal tattoo, in honor of the team that causes him to yell at the TV the most.