Hearing aide and headsets what is a good match?

[Blueadventures]

I was speaking with a flying friend on Friday and he mentioned that he has a new set of hearing aides and his Bose 10 headsets are uncomfortable noise level wise.  

 

Are there any head set types that are better or easier to adjust for hearing aides?  (I don't have hearing aides so don't know myself.)

 

Any experiences and advice welcomed.

 

I told my friend about this group and suggested he join it and ask the question.  I'm just asking in advance for him.

 

Regards Mike

[spacesailor]

I have a " remote " for my stereo ear-aids .

But while flying ( training ) I never used them as the headset squeezed them into my skull .

spacesailor

[skippydiesel]

Always a bit suspicious about asking for a friend - just joking.

 

My guess is that much will depend on the type of hearing loss. If it's just a volume thing, it's likly that the headset can be turned up to make good any loss of hearing.

 

My David Clark headset has left/right volume control, so I tend to turn my transponder volume to full and then  reduce that to what I find comfortable on the headset.

[spacesailor]

It doesn't help ( volume increases ) for the many sufferer's of.

" industrial deafness ".  Only three frequencies  damaged ( by adjacent machinery ) that stops Me hearing ' parts ' of words , with the quiet sound .

The louder the sound , the more problematic it becomes .

spacesailor

 

 

[Blueadventures]

 

Speaking with my mate last night and he said that his hearing aides are still play up with his headsets; and that the Phonak TV blue tooth adaptor works great for his TV.  Looks like he may be able to setup a connector that plugs into his headset hearing plug and powers from a USB supply.  Has anyone done something similar.  (I'm thinking that should be able to maybe splice a male headset plug to the lead that has the male pins at each end?) My friend lives 2 1/2 hours away so always hard to assist him.  His head set is Bose 10 that he likes to use and also has a set of Bose 20 but prefers the 10's.  Any helpful comments appreciated.

 

 

Edited November 4 by Blueadventures

[sfGnome]

You mentioned in the original post that it was noise that bothered him. What type of aids does he use? Are they the type that hang over the ear with the control/battery part behind the ear? If so, they might be reducing the seal so that he has noise leakage and reduced noise cancellation, and in that case, no amount of mucking around with other electronics will solve it. 
 

Another (expensive) option is to get a new headset with built in hearing correction so he removes the aids when wearing the headset. My headset ran a brief hearing test and now boosts the higher frequencies where my hearing loss is.

[Blueadventures]

8 minutes ago, sfGnome said:

You mentioned in the original post that it was noise that bothered him. What type of aids does he use? Are they the type that hang over the ear with the control/battery part behind the ear? If so, they might be reducing the seal so that he has noise leakage and reduced noise cancellation, and in that case, no amount of mucking around with other electronics will solve it. 
 

Another (expensive) option is to get a new headset with built in hearing correction so he removes the aids when wearing the headset. My headset ran a brief hearing test and now boosts the higher frequencies where my hearing loss is.

Thanks I just sent a message asking that info, also what is the brand and model of headsets with built in correction an approximate cost?  He could buy them.  He has a mate that flys into his strip (Just north west of Bowen) and he wears hearing aides and not issues so I've asked him to try his headsets. Thanks for reply.

[RFguy]

I have made a prorotype of one intercom box  (for GA aircraft) that takes care of boosting specific frequencies to suit the user, in a dynamic context sensitive manner. So that sources with lots of HF (high frequency) do not get boosted, but content lackin gin HF do etc.

Inserted in series with headphones and mic. 

 

But this is domestic use ? JUst boosting some frequencies and not others..

Many TVs now have equalisers (like the three band low, medium and high)

all my TVs do.

That will be the best place to start. you can also turn on voltume equalization to avoid quiet passages

what's really required is a dynamic equaliser that tries to maintain a specific amount of energy in specific frequency bands.

 

on headphones for aircraft. :

 

Whereas plain old headsets seems to generate the same amount of audio in the 'cans for different brands, the noise-cancelling type headphones seem to be all over the shop with respect to the amount of soound prooduced for a given input

This is not unexpected given the type of algorithms and as an implementation engineer this is something some how they;ve f**cked up because its an obvious problem.

 

-glen

Edited November 5 by RFguy

[Blueadventures]

2 hours ago, sfGnome said:

You mentioned in the original post that it was noise that bothered him. What type of aids does he use? Are they the type that hang over the ear with the control/battery part behind the ear? If so, they might be reducing the seal so that he has noise leakage and reduced noise cancellation, and in that case, no amount of mucking around with other electronics will solve it. 
 

Another (expensive) option is to get a new headset with built in hearing correction so he removes the aids when wearing the headset. My headset ran a brief hearing test and now boosts the higher frequencies where my hearing loss is.

He has the behind the ear type.

[RFguy]

I'm not fully sure I understand the question.

 

He has bluetooth capable  connected heading aids  that he uses  IE they have bluetooth aux input facility ?

He flys ?

He wants to use hearing aids with his aviation headset ?

[facthunter]

The bit that goes in your ear is a good fit. A special mold is taken of YOUR ears to ensure that it is. Nev

[Blueadventures]

1 minute ago, RFguy said:

I'm not fully sure I understand the question.

 

He has bluetooth capable  connected heading aids  that he uses  IE they have bluetooth aux input facility ?

He flys ?

He wants to use hearing aids with his aviation headset ?

For flying (Vixxen) he uses Bose 10 headsets and is wearing his hearing aides.  The fit (Comfort) of the hearing aide is good. He finds the words are unreadable, volume is good just unable to understand the words, tone pitch etc.  So makes it hard to understand the radio traffic.  This has only been an issue in the last about 18 months.

 

At home for TV he uses the Phonak TV connector to hs hearing aides via Bluetooth and the words are ecellant so he would like to maybe connect his aircraft radio to his hear aides the same.  I was thinking / asking if its worth trying to make a connection plug using the Phonak cord with its usual plug one end and a headset ear piece pug on other end so they can be fitted up and powered via USN in panel.  Just a guess at a fix.  Cheers

[Blueadventures]

14 minutes ago, facthunter said:

The bit that goes in your ear is a good fit. A special mold is taken of YOUR ears to ensure that it is. Nev

Just spoke to him as I wrote reply to RFGuy.   The hearing aides are comfortable, however the receiving radio words are somewhat garbled and he at times cannot understand them.  He is a very experienced GA and now RAA pilot and this has only been an issue in past 18 months, and he's up to date with hearing aide checks.

 

Tv reception via the above device is great and would be good if he can connect similar in the Vixxen.

Edited November 5 by Blueadventures

[BurnieM]

What changed in the last 18 months ?

 

Its either him (his hearing) or 

some fault in the hearing aids or 

some fault in the headset or 

some fault in the radio or 

some interference in the plane.

 

I would start by getting a non-hearing aid user to test using his headset, radio and his plane.

If the fault still occurs I would start swapping things one at a time. I would probably start with the headset.

 

Putting another device in the path would probably be the last thing to do.

 

Edited November 5 by BurnieM

[Blueadventures]

1 hour ago, BurnieM said:

What changed in the last 18 months ?

 

Its either him (his hearing) or 

some fault in the hearing aids or 

some fault in the headset or 

some fault in the radio or 

some interference in the plane.

 

I would start by getting a non-hearing aid user to test using his headset, radio and his plane.

If the fault still occurs I would start swapping things one at a time. I would probably start with the headset.

 

Putting another device in the path would probably be the last thing to do.

 

I'll be up there doing the annual for him, the last week of this month or first week in December, due 5 December.  I'll also take some headsets of differing brands to try as well. thanks.

[skippydiesel]

Looking for hearing loss information;

 

I understand (?) that hearing loss can manifest as;

1. Low volume - hearing aid that ups volume will be useful
2. Inability to zero in on conversation (too much background noise interference) - aid that increases volume just makes matters worse.

 

If my limited knowledge is correct (?) ;

1. The the volume control on the radio and headset should help - hearing aid may be better removed.
2.  No idea what might help.

😈

 

 

[RFguy]

OK. MIke so he just needs, on the headset side

- GA earphones plug  to 3.5mm stereo line  socket (with the appropriate resistors in there to get the levels right for the line level input) since the headset is a few volts and the line audio is a 0.15V
?
send me his address I'll make something up .

[skippydiesel]

RFguy - If you don't find out what sort of hearing impairment the pilot has , all your efforts may be for "0"😈

[Moneybox]

I tried hearing aids, top of the wazzer from Specsavers but they didn't fix anything. All they did was amplify all sounds and in many cases reduced my chance of carrying on a conversation in noisy environments. When I went for my Class 2 medical I failed the usual tone tests but I passed a verbal test with flying colours. The best thing for me is to raise the volume slightly. Some people speak gibberish on the radio anyway and then I have trouble. 

[facthunter]

The BEST ones work on the frequencies you have Lost. Usually above 5000 hertz. Nev 

[Moneybox]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

The BEST ones work on the frequencies you have Lost. Usually above 5000 hertz. Nev 

I can't even sleep without the cicadas as a constant background noise. I'll be sitting at my computer on the dining room table while Mrs M is watching TV in the lounge. She'll call out "Cant you get that?" "Get what?" I say. "The oven, surely you can hear that, you're sitting right beside it". I have no chance on those tones.

 

I've been annoyed by a leak in the suspension airbags on the bus. It's been giving me trouble for months but even spraying detergent water about it remained a mystery. When we came home from the farm on Wednesday I asked Mrs M to take a look. I said the RR airbag is continually going down can you see if you can hear a leak. She said as she walked up "There's air coming out up the front." It's a tiny 1/8" hose running to the gauge in the dash. She heard it from just approaching the vehicle but that's one noise I simply cannot hear.

 

We never had access to ear plugs or ear muffs in the first 30 years of my trade and it didn't seem all that important at the time. I've now got a nice Bose A20 headset and they seem to do the job.

 

 

[facthunter]

It IS worthwhile to get a PROPER test and the right Kit for you, I was a Sceptic for a long while. I was watching TV in my room last Night with the aids on This morning without Aids and the sound left where it was #9.  I could really not hear it at all. I had to go to #34 TO HEAR IT . BIG difference. Nev