Bluetooth earphones

In message snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>, Peter James snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com writes

Sympathy!

I am currently using Bluetooth from a modern LG TV but with a gifted Bose headset. There is no TV sound output with blue tooth in use.

I have high range hearing loss but find this set up acceptable. There was a discussion in here about lip sync but I don't find this much of an issue. I struggle with film background music swamping quiet speech but I guess this is inescapable:-(

My wife, who also has hearing problems, was gifted a plug in headset for Christmas. This plugs in the back of our vintage Panasonic lounge TV. it has independent volume settings allowing the TV to be audible to others or turned down. STAGG SHP-2300 cost unknown.

In general moderate deafness is accompanied by massive HF attenuation. You probably want to get some HF boost into whatever you use. Bluetooth/non bluetooth is probably irrelevant

What you need is some sort of graphic equalizer on the iMac. I am not familiar but it seems that there is one that can be enabled for DVDs

For deafness most people seem to need as steadily rising response from

Before spending money, try fiddling with that and what you have.

Further to that, try this

https://eqmac.app/

I think it is a fairly personal thing. I use the type with a linking wire because they have better battery life than the individual ones, and are more difficult to lose. I give mine a hard time and sometimes only get six months out of a pair, so I refuse to pay the silly money for "hi-fi" ones. I mainly listen to BBC radio: world service, 4, and 4e.

I have had these for 15 months and they were only a tenner

At 73 I've lost high frequencies a bit. For music, I can't really distinguish them from my Mordaunt Short speakers which were reasonably high end in their day. They don't match the bass from my TV soundbar woofer when it is wound up, but then I don't particularly watch disaster movies or listen to hard rock or orchestral music.

They are probably not quite as good as the wired Sony headphones that I use to monitor recordings, but are much more convenient!

With recent devices supporting the later Bluetooth standards, and decent quality kit, there ought not be *much* difference - other factors like the quality of the headphone amp and transducers will have far more impact. (I am fussy about audio quality but can cope with decent BT headphones)

I use a pair of Sony CH700 over ear headphones for late night TV etc. These are "mid price" and more than adequate sound quality IMHO, and have very large ear cups that you may find can accommodate your hearing aids.

If using without your hearing aids, then it might be worth playing with the equalisation on the computer to tweak the frequency response to batter match the bands where your hearing is most affected. IIRC there is an app that you can use to tweak the equalisation in the headphones should you not be able to do it at source.

I have a 60dB notch at 4.5kHz

It would be hard to make one of those. Isn't nature clever?

Bill

There are induction loops that couple the signal directly to the hearing aids. (These need to support the "T" or telephone setting.) The loop fits loosely around the neck, and leaves the ears free.

A severely deaf friend uses one, and is happy, as are the neighbors. This is a system where the TV feeds into an infrared sender, and a neck receiver feeds into the inductive neck loop. Sennheiser 830, but ICBW.

Perhaps this is an option?

Thomas Prufer

I tend not to like ?in ear? things so use headphones.

In one of Amazon?s ?specials deal? weeks, I bought a set of BT headphones - they seem to be * DOOAUS- for about £20.

• The label is stylised DOOAUS is my best guess.

I find them more than acceptable as regards sound quality. They are comfortable - at least for a few hours, the most I would normally wear them- rechargeable, range seems good.

I?ve only tried linking them with one of those cheap USB plug in adaptors which is a fiddle due to the adaptor - they are always hit and miss in my experience unless you are using an active device like a phone etc. With two dumb devices, eg headphones and a USB adaptor it generally takes a few tries.

If you want something smaller, I bought Senior Management a pair of the Apple Bud things. She loves them. Very neat etc but not cheap.

Crikey. Can you hear anything above that?

I can hear the 10kHz track on my audio test CD

I don't know what hearing aids you are using, but there are also of corse made for Iphone hearing aids to consider when they come up for renewal. I've never tried any of the Apple wireless phones, but unfortunately, I concur with the low cost phones you generally get, if they are over ear ones. There is often sibilance and a compressed dynamic range apparent. Its OK for listening to non critical content, but often they have a protection for the ears in the form of a limiter, so if you need them loud you will be out of luck unless they have an app where such things can be turned off, but there is no guarantee that the phones won't sound bad if you crank them up.

Another problem with Bluetooth headphones and speakers of the cheaper kind is latency, so if you, say lip read to help the visual and audio are not synchronised. I tell you this latency plays havoc for blind people like myself trying to operate the phone or tablet via voice oice over as you find that you swipe too far before you hear your choice.

I think the latest is Bluetooth 6, but 5 was OK if it was implemented well. Certain expensive Sony and other noise cancelling headphones I have heard are indeed very good and have plenty of headroom, but it comes at a price. Brian

I do feel that if made for Iphone hearing aids work with their desktops as well aas their portable devices, that may be the way to go. You might have better control of the frequency response in the app for the aids. Note these are not made by Apple, just that they have support for Bluetooth and other helpful bits.

Brian

The problem is that the set up of the brain occurs when we are young, so it seems unable to compensate for these changes due to the nerve cells on those likkle hairs in the ear. I can hear up to about 9Khz, but I used to hear up to about 13 or so, with an awareness above that. The curve has also gone quite wobbly over the last 10 years or so. As long as I can hear people talk though... Trouble is that there is now that tinnitus problem of high pitched notes, which can make it hard to hear in an already noisy environment like a pub or room with echo. What you need is a gun microphone attached to your ear! Its amazing how less understandable people are when you do not have any sight of their lips. That is probably why we have a problem with telephones!

Brian

That, Charles, is weird...

"Weird" is a bit harsh:) I think it's *rare* compared to age-related loss but a well-known (and sometimes congenital) loss.

I've a pair of those - pretty good, and as you say, big and comfy. Couple of things:

The noise cancelling is not very good. Bought them for air travel and didn't make much difference to any of the annoying noises.

Pretty much all of the 'features' - things like tone controls - are only accessible via a phone app.

Yup agreed - on the plus side it is very unobtrusive and does not lower the audio quality noticeably, but as you say, not particularly effective either! (not an issue for my application though)

I did try a cheaper Boltune branded set that actually had quite effective NR - but it was a bit more obtrusive. (they also had a bunch of other party tricks that drove me mad!)

The higher end Sony sets are supposed to be much better at NR.

Same as many it seems...

It has been suggested that rifle shooting at school (long before anyone thoug of ear plugs) might be the cause.