[IvanG]

I plugged in a microphone to aux jack in my '16 Sienna. Console display recognized it and I turned up volume but got zero sound from Sienna speakers. What's wrong? How do I use and external mic for voice?
Reason: I am totally deaf in my right ear and half deaf in the left so, when driving, I have a very hard time hearing my wife in the passenger seat. I was hoping that she could use the mic to and I could balance/maximize the sound to the front left speaker (factory JBL). Any help / thoughts on this or any way to get voice to speakers?
Thanks - Ivan

 

[jseyfert3]

There’s two reasons this (probably) won’t work.

1) The AUX input is expecting line level inputs, or approximately so. Microphones have very small outputs and require amplifiers to get to line level. Amplifiers for this are readily available, except:

2) You ever hear that high pitched squealing when someone gets a microphone too close to the speakers or someone turns the speaker volume up too high? There’s a really good chance that this is going to happen if you’re feeding in audio coming from in the van and playing it over the speakers. Perhaps not, if mic is positioned close to her mouth, turned down, and the speaker balance is shifted full left. But you’ll need to get an amp for the microphone to try that.

 

[h1k3rb]

Maybe something like this?

HYS 2 Pin Wireless Earpiece Two Way Radio Bluetooth Headset with PTT for Kenwood PUXING Baofeng UV-5R UV-5RA 888S Walkie Talkie

Buy HYS 2 Pin Wireless Earpiece Two Way Radio Bluetooth Headset with PTT for Kenwood PUXING Baofeng UV-5R UV-5RA 888S Walkie Talkie at Amazon. Customer reviews and photos may be available to help you make the right purchase decision!

www.amazon.com

 

[IvanG]

There’s two reasons this (probably) won’t work.

1) The AUX input is expecting line level inputs, or approximately so. Microphones have very small outputs and require amplifiers to get to line level. Amplifiers for this are readily available, except:

2) You ever hear that high pitched squealing when someone gets a microphone too close to the speakers or someone turns the speaker volume up too high? There’s a really good chance that this is going to happen if you’re feeding in audio coming from in the van and playing it over the speakers. Perhaps not, if mic is positioned close to her mouth, turned down, and the speaker balance is shifted full left. But you’ll need to get an amp for the microphone to try that.

Thanks for advice. I looked for an amp or preamp that would plug that would plug into the aux jack and then the mic would plug into it but couldn't find anything on amazon or elsewhere that looked like it would work in the car. Any ideas?
Or maybe a mic that would connect to the Sienna's Bluetooth sort of like my cell phone does.

 

[IvanG]

Maybe something like this?

HYS 2 Pin Wireless Earpiece Two Way Radio Bluetooth Headset with PTT for Kenwood PUXING Baofeng UV-5R UV-5RA 888S Walkie Talkie

Buy HYS 2 Pin Wireless Earpiece Two Way Radio Bluetooth Headset with PTT for Kenwood PUXING Baofeng UV-5R UV-5RA 888S Walkie Talkie at Amazon. Customer reviews and photos may be available to help you make the right purchase decision!

www.amazon.com

Thanks for the advice but I can't put anything in my one half-good ear since I have to hear traffic too. But, maybe there's a powered mic that would connect to the Sienna's Bluetooth system sort of like my cell phone does?
On Amazon, it looked like some of the Karaoke mics might work but I would just need a simple one just for voice. I know zip about audio systems or electronic so any advice would be appreciated.

 

[jseyfert3]

Thanks for advice. I looked for an amp or preamp that would plug that would plug into the aux jack and then the mic would plug into it but couldn't find anything on amazon or elsewhere that looked like it would work in the car. Any ideas?
Or maybe a mic that would connect to the Sienna's Bluetooth sort of like my cell phone does.

Okay, so you probably won’t find anything off the shelf. It’s not common for someone to want to plug a microphone into an aux input. Most microphones are plugged into microphone inputs. But I did some searching and other people have asked the same thing, but without many specific off the shelf solutions.

However, we know a couple things. AUX in is designed to be fed from something that normally powers headphones, right? Because AUX in is there so you can use an audio cable from your phone to play music in your car. Your phone is designed to drive headphones.

So what you need is a microphone amp or other microphone device that allows monitoring of the microphone via headphones. Something like this should work:

Behringer MicroMON MA400 Monitor Headphone Amplifier

Personal Headphone Amp and Monitor Mixer

www.sweetwater.com

Problem is it’s designed for the 3 pin mics used by professionals. I’m assuming you have a 3.5 mm jack on your mic. So you’d need an adapter cable for that. And it’s 12 volt powered so you’d need a cigarette lighter to barrel connector too. But it’s specifically designed to allow headphone monitoring of microphones, so it should work. Simply plug the mic (with adapter) into the mic input, then run an audio cable from the headphone jack to the aux in on the radio.

Bluetooth, well I’m not sure how your 2016 with JBL audio does things, but my 2014 with factory audio (not JBL) is terrible in general at Bluetooth audio. Sounds like crap when I’m on the phone. I struggle to hear calls with marginal audio quality. Since you have hearing issues, I’d avoid Bluetooth based solutions. Even with good setups, the audio quality with Bluetooth is greatly reduced. I had a 2020 Silverado with decent audio and I originally used Bluetooth for phone calls before I started using Apple CarPlay, which is wired. Audio quality on phone calls got so much better when I switched to CarPlay.

That said, there’s no way I know of to link a Bluetooth mic to the speakers, short of Bluetooth mic to a phone, calling another phone that’s connected via Bluetooth to the radio. This is a very clunky solution that would seriously degrade the audio over a wired solution.

I can try to look around some more when I get home later and see if there’s something more plug and play for trying to do this.

 

[jseyfert3]

Karaoke mics may work. Did you have a link to one or more? I can take a look at them if you’d like.

 

[Geezer1]

I suggest that you consult a hearing aid specialist to see if they can suggest a solution. For example, my wife's hearing aids allow her to accept and reject phone calls, converse, and hang up without touching her iPhone. Assuming that you wear hearing aids, maybe there is a solution that would allow you to communicate with your wife in your Sienna via Bluetooth through your hearing aids.

My wife's hearing aids can also link with our televisions although she instead uses wired headphones. My wife bought her last several sets of hearing aids at Costco. Costco provided information on how to link her hearing aids to our televisions and to her iPhone..

Our 2014 Sienna didn't have a particularly quiet interior which often made it difficult for my hearing impaired wife to hear me. We replaced the Sienna last week with a vastly quieter vehicle that has noise reducing double pane glass on all its windows. We can easily hear each other in the new vehicle but that might not be a plus. I loved the Sienna for its utility but we no longer needed it due to changes in family circumstances and I was tired of driving a minivan after 8 1/2 years with it.

 

[IvanG]

I suggest that you consult a hearing aid specialist to see if they can suggest a solution. For example, my wife's hearing aids allow her to accept and reject phone calls, converse, and hang up without touching her iPhone. Assuming that you wear hearing aids, maybe there is a solution that would allow you to communicate with your wife in your Sienna via Bluetooth through your hearing aids.

My wife's hearing aids can also link with our televisions although she instead uses wired headphones. My wife bought her last several sets of hearing aids at Costco. Costco provided information on how to link her hearing aids to our televisions and to her iPhone..

Our 2014 Sienna didn't have a particularly quiet interior which often made it difficult for my hearing impaired wife to hear me. We replaced the Sienna last week with a vastly quieter vehicle that has noise reducing double pane glass on all its windows. We can easily hear each other in the new vehicle but that might not be a plus. I loved the Sienna for its utility but we no longer needed it due to changes in family circumstances and I was tired of driving a minivan after 8 1/2 years with it.

Thanks Geezer1 - good thoughts - appreciated - I'll do that on my next visit to the hearing dudes. Here are some extra ,,,,,,,,,,,,, in case you ever need them;-). I use to many and need to stop.

 

[IvanG]

Okay, so you probably won’t find anything off the shelf. It’s not common for someone to want to plug a microphone into an aux input. Most microphones are plugged into microphone inputs. But I did some searching and other people have asked the same thing, but without many specific off the shelf solutions.

However, we know a couple things. AUX in is designed to be fed from something that normally powers headphones, right? Because AUX in is there so you can use an audio cable from your phone to play music in your car. Your phone is designed to drive headphones.

So what you need is a microphone amp or other microphone device that allows monitoring of the microphone via headphones. Something like this should work:

Behringer MicroMON MA400 Monitor Headphone Amplifier

Personal Headphone Amp and Monitor Mixer

www.sweetwater.com

Problem is it’s designed for the 3 pin mics used by professionals. I’m assuming you have a 3.5 mm jack on your mic. So you’d need an adapter cable for that. And it’s 12 volt powered so you’d need a cigarette lighter to barrel connector too. But it’s specifically designed to allow headphone monitoring of microphones, so it should work. Simply plug the mic (with adapter) into the mic input, then run an audio cable from the headphone jack to the aux in on the radio.

Bluetooth, well I’m not sure how your 2016 with JBL audio does things, but my 2014 with factory audio (not JBL) is terrible in general at Bluetooth audio. Sounds like crap when I’m on the phone. I struggle to hear calls with marginal audio quality. Since you have hearing issues, I’d avoid Bluetooth based solutions. Even with good setups, the audio quality with Bluetooth is greatly reduced. I had a 2020 Silverado with decent audio and I originally used Bluetooth for phone calls before I started using Apple CarPlay, which is wired. Audio quality on phone calls got so much better when I switched to CarPlay.

That said, there’s no way I know of to link a Bluetooth mic to the speakers, short of Bluetooth mic to a phone, calling another phone that’s connected via Bluetooth to the radio. This is a very clunky solution that would seriously degrade the audio over a wired solution.

I can try to look around some more when I get home later and see if there’s something more plug and play for trying to do this.

Thanks! I was hopping for a simple solution but such a thing doesn't seem to exist. Meanwhile, I'll give your option some further consideration.

 

[IvanG]

Karaoke mics may work. Did you have a link to one or more? I can take a look at them if you’d like.

I've seen some online and may try that route. Only problem is that they look clunky & stupid & pink.