Abram Baily has almost completely answered the question I’m posing here with a great article on noise-canceling headphones. Can Hearing Aids Be Used With Noise-Canceling Headphones?
I am about to take the plunge and get fit with ReSound Linx Quattro 9 61’s (the rechargeables). They have a dust/moisture rating of IP58 - yet the user care guide says that they should be transported and stored at less than 90% humidity (nothing about use, except not wetting with water during cleaning).
So I like to work out at a Gold’s Gym in a cool area of the gym near the punching bags - and there are also some relatively noisy treadmills or noisy folks talking, encouraging each other to do more reps, etc. Often not a very quiet environment.
In the past, even wearing earbuds that are somewhat occlusive has not been enough at times to block out enough of the noise to enjoy a podcast or streamed music.
I figure for my degree of hearing loss, I may want to go with open or vented domes to avoid the “voice in tunnel” sensation. So therefore, I might want to wear active or passive noise-canceling headphones over my ReSound Quattro’s. The inside of the headphones and the HA’s themselves are likely to get quite sweaty during a 1- to 2-hour workout.
So the worrisome thing about the end of Abram’s great article is that it concludes with: “To reduce moisture damage, ensure you purchase IP-rated hearing aids, preferably IP68.”
I’m worried about the “reduce” part - I’d like the article to read “eliminate” ! Since it’s the second digit that describes water-resistance (the first is for dust), the ReSound Quattro’s with an IP58 rating ought to hold up pretty well. I’ve seen posts here on various brands and models where people have worn HA’s while doing salt-water sailing and said their particular HA’s have held up well. I guess my planned use of headphones with HA’s is almost an immersive experience! (pardon the intended pun).
Any opinions of whether I’m headed for trouble a couple of years down the road?! (Asking this before I go plunk down a bunch of bucks $$$ for noise-canceling headphones to screw my $$$$$ HA’s).
BTW, if it makes any difference, I’m planning on BT streaming to my HA’s while wearing the headphones purely for noise-blocking purposes although I guess I can test the listening experience streaming to the phones instead and seeing what a podcast or music sound like when picked up by the HA’s inside - opinions of that welcomed, too). Sorry if my perceptions are dumb - never having worn HA’s or noise-canceling headphones, I’m not sure what to expect, especially when the two are used in combination - presumably, since I have relatively big ears that stick out a bit from my head - with the right headphone cushions, etc., there will be adequate room for Quattro 9 61’s behind the ear while wearing glasses (although after cataract surgery in both eyes, I will no longer have to wear glasses for a workout if keeping them off will noticeably improve the ear seal and noise cancellation).
Thanks for any advice, especially from users who’ve been down this road with HA’s rated similarly for water-resistance. The “8” rating means something like resistant to submersion to a depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. Hopefully, since sweat should not be “pressurized” to a depth of 1.5 m (!), HA’s with an “8” water resistance reading should be able to stand up to a humid environment for an hour or two with no ingress, etc.