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Headphones for Hearing Loss

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Headphones for Hearing Loss

I have severe high-frequency hearing loss, up to 85 dB at 6-8KHz and 60 dB at 3-4KHz. Lower than that my hearing is close to normal for my age. I use hearing aids and the style I have won’t work with headphones. I have the equalizer on the KX2 set to boost the highs, OK with an external amp & speaker but it is not enough with the headphones I have. Any experience/recommendations with headphones that have a built-in equalizer or treble boost? SSB operator. (KX2 #3007, KXPA100 #2802)

Keeping Watch-
shu

Joe Shuman, NZ8P
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Elecraft mailing list

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

Following with great interest - as have a similar issue
On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 11:24:41 AM EST, Joseph Shuman via Elecraft <[hidden email]> wrote:

I have severe high-frequency hearing loss, up to 85 dB at 6-8KHz and 60 dB at 3-4KHz. Lower than that my hearing is close to normal for my age. I use hearing aids and the style I have won’t work with headphones. I have the equalizer on the KX2 set to boost the highs, OK with an external amp & speaker but it is not enough with the headphones I have. Any experience/recommendations with headphones that have a built-in equalizer or treble boost? SSB operator. (KX2 #3007, KXPA100 #2802)

Keeping Watch-
shu

Joe Shuman, NZ8P
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Ken Widelitz-2

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

I use the Heil PARS with Bose QC35 headphones which are far and away the
most comfortable cans I have ever used. Until I got them, I gave up on cans
and just used earbuds. My hearing loss is mostly limited to my left ear, so
I break out the left audio stream to the PARS and adjust volume so it is
centered in my head.

73, Ken, K6LA / VY2TT

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 8:24 AM Joseph Shuman via Elecraft <
[hidden email]> wrote:

> I have severe high-frequency hearing loss, up to 85 dB at 6-8KHz and 60 dB
> at 3-4KHz. Lower than that my hearing is close to normal for my age. I
> use hearing aids and the style I have won’t work with headphones. I have
> the equalizer on the KX2 set to boost the highs, OK with an external amp &
> speaker but it is not enough with the headphones I have. Any
> experience/recommendations with headphones that have a built-in equalizer
> or treble boost? SSB operator. (KX2 #3007, KXPA100 #2802)
>
> Keeping Watch-
> shu
>
> Joe Shuman, NZ8P
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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H.R. Freeman

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

I have moderate to heavy hearing loss after spending 10 years on the
flight line around jet engines. Rock and roll didn't help much either. I
like the open air Yeasu YH77sta in the shack and on filed day when you
need to talk with a logger. They do not interfere with my Phonak over
the ear aids.

Harry NK9R

On 1/26/2021 11:22 AM, Joseph Shuman via Elecraft wrote:

> I have severe high-frequency hearing loss, up to 85 dB at 6-8KHz and 60 dB at 3-4KHz. Lower than that my hearing is close to normal for my age. I use hearing aids and the style I have won’t work with headphones. I have the equalizer on the KX2 set to boost the highs, OK with an external amp & speaker but it is not enough with the headphones I have. Any experience/recommendations with headphones that have a built-in equalizer or treble boost? SSB operator. (KX2 #3007, KXPA100 #2802)
>
> Keeping Watch-
> shu
>
> Joe Shuman, NZ8P
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
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David Woolley (E.L)

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

Firstly, nothing above about 3.4kHz is relevant for communications, and
for typical SSB that is down to about 2.7 to 3kHz.

However, with a large hearing loss, you really need to find a solution
that uses the hearing aids, as digital aids will have safety features
and dynamic range compression that will minimise further damage to your
hearing.

You didn't mention which style you had. Whilst open fit would be common
for people with good low frequency responses, I'm not sure that they
would be used with that level of loss. I have full moulds, because I
have an atypical loss in one ear, so I'm not sure of the limitations of
open fit, but as they normally bypass the low frequencies, they may be
unsuitable for a direct audio feed.

I'm not sure to what extent that also applies to receiver in the canal.

I suspect the direct bypass means they are less stable against feedback.

For full moulds, and over the ear, I think you would normally get the
options of electrical connections to audio shoes, induction loop,
bluetooth (and 3.5mm audio) adapters that you wear on the body and send
a very short range transmission to the actual aids. Some aids would
directly support bluetooth.

Incidentally, it may well not be well known, but hearing aid
prescriptions generally under-compensate by about a factor of two in the
dB values, so an aid for a 60dB loss would, typically, only have 30dB
gain at the frequency in question.

--
David Woolley

On 26/01/2021 16:22, Joseph Shuman wrote:
> I have severe high-frequency hearing loss, up to 85 dB at 6-8KHz and 60 dB at 3-4KHz. Lower than that my hearing is close to normal for my age. I use hearing aids and the style I have won’t work with headphones. I have the equalizer on the KX2 set to boost the highs, OK with an external amp & speaker but it is not enough with the headphones I have. Any experience/recommendations with headphones that have a built-in equalizer or treble boost? SSB operator. (KX2 #3007, KXPA100 #2802)
>

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David Bunte

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

Shu -

Please allow me to add my thoughts to the discussion. My hearing loss is
not profound, but when I started using hearing aids I had to ditch my
Yamaha CM-500 headset, as its over the ear style rubbed against the behind
the ear receiver in canal style of my hearing aid. That made for a LOT of
unwanted noise. I went to an on the ear headset and have been very happy.

That might not do the job for someone with severe hearing loss because the
mic for the aid is in the unit behind the ear. I use the Bluetooth
capability of these hearing aids for phone calls and it is amazing how good
it sounds... better than using the phone in a more conventional manner. My
hearing aids do allow me to boost the high end, and I can adjust the levels
between the right and left aid. These units are Phonak Audeo P90 units. I
had to pay big bucks because they are not covered by any of my insurance.
My brother-in-law just got a pair like these through the VA at no cost to
him... he thanked me for paying my taxes.

The option of piping your rig into your hearing aids might be the solution
if you have that option.

Best of luck and very 73 de Dave - K9FN

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 11:24 AM Joseph Shuman via Elecraft <
[hidden email]> wrote:

Phil Kane-2

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

On 1/26/2021 11:40 AM, David Bunte wrote:

> The option of piping your rig into your hearing aids might be the solution
> if you have that option.

My aids are Phonak Audeo as well - high priced devices that are behind
the ear with receivers in the outer canal. I also use a Phonak
CommPilot device with a loop that hangs around my neck and feeds signals
to the aids by induction. The Comm Pilot is Bluetooth paired with my
mobile phone for hands-free operation and has a 3.5 mm "Audio Jack" that
permits me to feed audio from external devices with a suitable cable.
The audio feels like it's inside my head, and the aids' primary function
of boosting external sounds is reduced slightly but not eliminated.
Batteries in the aids last about a week if disconnected while I sleep,
and the CommPilot is put on charge at that time as well. Not much of a
learning curve. Works well with my computer and radios.

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

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Jim Brown-10

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

On 1/26/2021 1:24 PM, Phil Kane wrote:
> My aids are Phonak Audeo as well - high priced devices that are behind
> the ear with receivers in the outer canal.

Several comments here. First, hearing "doctors" who sell hearing aids
get a 100% commission for what they sell, doubling the cost to the
buyer. When my XYL was looking for aids, several ham friends who also
happen to be engineers, recommended Costco. I went with her to the
appointment to check her hearing and prescribe aids, and I took the same
evaluation as she did. I was also present when they "tuned" the aids she
bought a few weeks later. As an audio professional, I had to learn a lot
about human hearing, and I was VERY impressed with every aspect of the
process. They used excellent instrumentation, and the people doing it
knew what they were doing. AND -- Costco sells top quality aids without
the 100% markup, so the cost is half of what we would pay to an
audiologist's office.

Second, the aids she bought (about $3K for the pair), can be programmed
for multiple settings, which can be recalled and tweaked from an app
that runs on her Android phone and on her iPad, but the iPad app is
superior to the Android app.

Third -- a good friend who has severe hearing loss asked for help
setting his K3 to compensate. My advice to him was to set RXEQ for
maximum cut of all bands below 1 kHz and max boost of the remaining
bands. He reported that it works well for him. When doing these tweaks,
I suggest varying the 1 kHz setting "by ear." Also, set the IF bandwidth
for 500 Hz-3kHz audio bandwidth.

Finally, I strongly recommend that Wayne build "hearing impaired"
settings into K4 firmware. I'd be happy to consult with him on this.

73, Jim K9YC
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Elecraft mailing list

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

Thanks to everyone. A lot of good experience and advice to consider.

Keeping Watch -
shu

Joe Shuman, NZ8P
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Rick Bates, NK7I

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

I may have missed or forgotten it; but does the computer portion of the
K4 (the network chip specifically) allow for BlueTooth audio from the RF
portion so one could use a BT headset (hearing aids)?

I have a BT headset with a (no boom) mic used on a iPhone that would be
awesome to retask for phone on the K4 audio. Two less wires on the desk...

73,
Rick NK7I

PS if not, one for the want list?

On 1/26/2021 4:45 PM, Joseph Shuman via Elecraft wrote:

> Thanks to everyone. A lot of good experience and advice to consider.
>
> Keeping Watch -
> shu
>
> Joe Shuman, NZ8P
> ______________________________________________________________
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Elecraft mailing list

Re: Headphones for Hearing Loss

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

After reading the replies and trying out some options, I decided to try what John (K4TOO) suggested. I was amazed at the results of using the bone conduction headphones. My HF hearing loss is a result of machinery noise from the Submarine service with associated tinnitus. Basically I have 24/7 cicadas in my head, louder than normal speech volume. In my case, the conduction pathway apparently compensates for the tinnitus to a large extent so that speech under the band noise became much more discernible. On the down side, the conduction headphones were lousy for listening to Pink Floyd. Thanks to John and all who contributed.

Keeping Watch-
shu
Joe Shuman, NZ8P

Unless someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It’s not. -Dr. Seuss

> On Jan 26, 2021, at 11:41, John Sublette (K4TOO) <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hey Joe,
>
> Have you tried the bone conducting headphones? I'll put a link to a wired pair on Amazon. I have the Aeropex from Aftershokz that are bluetooth which I like very much. However, I don't have the same condition you do - but I've heard from those that have hearing loss that a set of bone conducting headphones allow them to hear so much more than they're used to. Let me know what you think. -John.
>
> https://www.amazon.com/AfterShokz-Titanium-Conduction-Headphones-AS401XB/dp/B01N2OOJY8
>
> 73,
> John (K4TOO)
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 11:23 AM Joseph Shuman via Elecraft <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> I have severe high-frequency hearing loss, up to 85 dB at 6-8KHz and 60 dB at 3-4KHz. Lower than that my hearing is close to normal for my age. I use hearing aids and the style I have won’t work with headphones. I have the equalizer on the KX2 set to boost the highs, OK with an external amp & speaker but it is not enough with the headphones I have. Any experience/recommendations with headphones that have a built-in equalizer or treble boost? SSB operator. (KX2 #3007, KXPA100 #2802)
>>
>> Keeping Watch-
>> shu
>>
>> Joe Shuman, NZ8P
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>> Message delivered to [hidden email]