lend me your ear(phone)s

October 24, 2006 4:28 PM

headphone choice for non symmetrical hearing: my father is mostly-deaf in one ear. He wears an in-ear hearing aid that works well. He would like to find the following...

either over-ear noise-cancellation headphones that will work with a hearing aid (so far, every type he's tried gives him huge amounts of deafening feedback when it interacts with the hearing aid), or a pair of in-ear headphones that have separate right/left volume controls, or some combination of the two.

My uncle got out his soldering iron and made him a pair using ipod earbuds and a home-made volume control, but they're not too sturdy, and he'd like something more comfortable to wear in his ear.

Ideally, comfortable over or in-ear 'phones with the volume controls - i think that noise reduction is secondary, although he likes the idea of it if they are over-the-ear models.

Any ideas? We've looked high and low and haven't found any headphones except for giant studio sets that have independent volume controls.

posted by luriete to health (4 comments total)

I can't recall the brand, but I had some around here somewhere *digs thru junk* that I got a few years ago from a classical music mail-in offer as a free gift that were smallish (and had the small jack), over-the-ear, and had independent volume controls. I'll hunt around and get back.
posted by vanoakenfold at 5:54 PM on October 24, 2006

Found them. The only identifying mark I could find was "Digital" (which I thought was weird since they are analog style) but it turned out to be the brand. Try hunting up "Digital Stereo Headphones" or "GE HP23840". I found this pair online.

The pair I have (that I got for free) is missing the plastic pin(s) that hold one earpiece onto its respective arm, similar to the way a watch face unit connects to its wristband. If your dad or uncle can figure out a way to reaffix it, I'd send it to you outright -- I haven't used them in quite some time and don't have a particular need for them. No shipping charge either =D
posted by vanoakenfold at 6:10 PM on October 24, 2006

For in-ear headphones, you should check out Etymotic. They make hearing aids as well as very well regarded headphones (I've never tried them myself), though I'm not sure if they have a model with separate L/R volume controls. Might be worth sending them an e-mail to find out, though.
posted by nixxon at 7:10 PM on October 24, 2006

If your dad's aid has a T coil (not all ITEs do, but it might), you could try this. Even if you're not in the UK, you could probably find something similar.

Actually, his audiologist is the person to ask.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 7:26 PM on October 24, 2006