Music and over the Ear Headphones

#63

I must agree with Tiny Tech Tips, I’ve purchased the Bose QC35 11 Noise Cancelling over the ear headphones. They are terrific in my opinion and really do cancel out noise when traveling by plane. For us Aussies to get to the UK it’s roughly 23 hours, and to the US west coast it’s 15 + hours depending where we decide to go. Prior to purchasing the headphones I used to travel without my HA’s in, but this made communication very difficult.

Those little earbud thingy’s the airlines give you with HA’s in are the most uncomfortable things ever for travel… Plain disgusting, no thought given at all to people with hearing issues.

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#64

Just noticed that Consumer Reports Online has a very detailed report online on using headphones with hearing aids posted on 8/24/18. You will only be able to access the link (I think) if you subscribe to CR Online ($20 per year):

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#65

I’m using Beyerdynamic DT 770s over Marvel 90 Rechargeables, with a custom music program which is copy of the regular music program with wind feedback turned off in the software. I don’t get any feedback with this setup.

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#66

Why would you not use the built-in music program through Bluetooth streaming or a TV connector connected to your music playback device?

#67

Yeah, you would think that because it is the hearing aid reproducing the sound that there would be no difference/advantage to playing headphones through the aids rather than direct streaming but it doesn’t work that way, at least for me anyway. Headphones sound better.

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#68

I agree with Mark, my headphones sound much better than streaming through my hearing aids. The sound was better when I was running the Power Domes which aren’t vented, but now that I have a custom silicon mold with a decent sized vent I have lost a low of the lower frequencies. We’ve tried several things with the programming to bring it back, but it’s just not the same.

#69

Because the hearing aids can’t supply the bass that headphones can.

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#70

Agree on bass. I don’t know whether it’s worth it but my headphones come with an equalizer function and a number of presets for the equalizer. I just leave the equalizer set at “FLAT”

#71

Use ear bud tips on your HAs with a good seal and bass is very good.

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#72

I have had Stax Electrostatic SR3 “Ear Speakers” for over 40 years and they still put out awesome sound. But headphones with this technology need a dedicated Electrostatic amplifier to drive them and the combination was dreadfully expensive! But once you slip them on your are taken to another world. I don’t know if anyone even makes electrostatic headphones any more, but for clear, transparent sound, there is nothing quite like them. Another great thing about these earphones is that the pads are covered with a special kind of leather that never wears out and never needs replacing.

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#73

could you clarify do you use integrated equalizer or installed it separated, as a plug in or addon?

#74

Just using the one that is in the music app.

#75

I must have missed this comment in first participating in this thread. I accidentally added the Acoustic Phone program to my Quattro’s and sure enough, every time I put on my Surface Headphones over my HA’s, I activated the phone program because of the headphone magnets. Usually when I went into the Smart 3D app on my smartphone, I could switch the program back to the program that I really wanted to use with my headphones but after awhile I decided that I really had no use for the Acoustic Phone program since none of our regular cordless phones have enough magnetic flux to activate the program and so I just got rid of the phone program.

I see people have commented on headphones activating landline phone programs in threads here at least as far back as 2011 - so it’s something to look out for if you need a phone program but also want to wear headphones over your HA’s. You’d think in a HA app, they’d offer a way to turn the Phone program on or off - so it’s there when you want it but off if you want to use headphones, etc.

Hearing aids turning off when I put my headphones on
#76

The suggestion to try before you buy is good. But please, in the interest of fairness and local businesses, buy where you try.

3 Likes
#77

I had this problem when I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 195 headphones. These headphones are the only ones that I have come across that are so powerful that even with “profound” hearing loss, I am still able to listen to voice and music clearly with my hearing aids removed. But with my hearing aids installed and the signal turned down a bit, I can also hear music and spoken word very clearly. I liked them so much I had my audiologist take the automatic triggering of the Telecoil function out and put in a separate program so that I could trigger it only by pushing the program button on my HAs.

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#78

I have Bose QC35’s and they work pretty good.

I recently tried the new Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 (BT) at an airport accessory store and A/B testing them for fit and comfort, they felt better than my QC35’s. Felt like they had a bigger earcup footprint and it felt more comfortable than the QC35’s after 3 or 4 hours of in-flight usage.

Didn’t have a chance to really dig into the audio performance or figure out the Augmented Reality features.

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#80

Hello Mark. Success, yes. Part of my day job involves checking quality of speech and occasionally music, Unassisted hearing aids are, of course, misleading at best. No bass, compressed etc.
So I use open backed headphones (Sennheiser HD580) on top of Phonak Naidas, switched to telecoil. The earmoulds have quite large vents, so I hear good bass and middle direct from the cans, and upper range from about 2k via the Naida’s prescribed boost.
I have experimented with just the headphones, adding EQ for more top end - but without dedicated dynamic control they can sound a bit painful. Don’t want to stress fragile ears!

#81

I had better add to my post of today: apparently some hearing aids switch to telecoil when they sense the magnets in headphones. Might help, or might not if you preferred to use the mics so you could hear family etc.

#82

Even some hearing aids like the ReSound Quattro’s, which don’t have telecoil functionality per se, give preference to the hearing aid near the receiver of a classic landline phone and have a “Phone Now” function that turns down the external mics exposed to the room environment on the other ear. I turned off the “Phone Now” function in the fitting software so it wasn’t activated by the magnets in my over-the-ear BT headphone “speakers” and one can ask one’s HCP if a similar OFF switch is available and/or under smartphone app control for one’s HA’s.

The funniest thing about Phone Now is that at one point ReSound actually provided a small disc-shaped magnet in the product box and instructed the new user to glue/tape the magnet in the vicinity of the phone receiver on the touchscreen of your smartphone!!! Talk about people worrying about bezels, camera/speaker notches, … and now you want them to glue a magnet to the face of the phone!!!

I was disappointed. I didn’t find a magnet when I first opened the Quattro box in October, 2018. I think some provider on the forum (Um_bongo?, Neville?, …) mentioned that they and other providers were simply removing the magnet before handing over the HA’s to the new user as it just confused new users. But maybe ReSound finally wised up and realized that the idea of taping a magnet onto your $1K beautiful smartphone screen is a bit ludicrous unless you’re amongst the 10%, 5%, 0.1%??, that truly need this functionality…

#83

Oh dear! I wouldn’t want to be without a coil. Desktop telephone receivers don’t reproduce very well as you’ll know: magnetic pickup is far cleaner. And coil is needed for loops in theatres, retail checkouts etc.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind sticking magnets any old where if it helped to hear! But surely a push switch works well enough for the occasional call.