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

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Fire TV's Cochlear implant compatibility needs to be the standard for Amazon and everyone else

Watching a Fire TV using ASHA
(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.

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
Malcolm McMillan
Streaming Editor

Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made.