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Using Hearing Aids and Ear/Headphones - what works for you?

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Hi there,

I have now been wearing my hearing aids for almost 3 months and have really gotten used to them and love them. The only thing I am finding a bit cumbersome is listening to music or podcasts with headphones when I am out and about.

I have the Oticon More 1s () and while they do have the Bluetooth functionality to stream music and podcasts etc. I do not find the sound quality satisfactory when out and about as they basically have no noise cancelling functionality and the sound isn’t “full” enough for me.

I mostly listen to music or podcasts when out for walks or walking around the city to meet people. What I have tried so far is:

  1. I had the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pros before getting my hearing aids and love them for sound, noise cancelling and for phone calls while I am out and about. Using these in-ear headphones doesn’t really fit over my hearing aids now as I am using the Grip Tip domes so the headphones don’t fit in properly anymore and noise cancelling doesn’t work as well.
    I am aware that doing it this way I am not benefitting from the hearing aid as such as the sound isn’t amplified over the microphones, but that is okay.
    Solution to this: As the hearing aids don’t really help in this way anyway, I just take out the hearing aids and put headphones in. But obviously for better sound this is not the ideal solution. Also it is a bit cumbersome taking hearing aids in and out all the time.

  2. I just bought the Soundcore Life Q35 over ear headphones. They had pretty good reviews so I went to test them. So far I am really not that happy with them. I feel like the sound isn’t loud enough overall when I am outside. Noise cancelling works okay but when I am walking outside with them I can hear my feet stomping on the ground. There is also a bit of feedback when putting them on and off, which is of course to be expected. Feebdack is okay though for when I have them on and listen to music.
    Overall I still really prefer the in the ear headphone solution.

I was wondering if you had any more ideal solutions for this? Any tips and recommendations are very much appreciated!

Thank you!

8 people in this conversation9 min readJump to latest
@Mosby said:

I do not find the sound quality satisfactory when out and about as they basically have no noise cancelling functionality and the sound isn’t “full” enough for me.

Which domes are you using on your More aids…OpenBase, or Double Vented Bass Domes?

Your loss warrants Vented Bass domes due to your sloping loss at 2000hz IMHO. If you currently have OpenBase domes the majority of your Bass sounds will just leak out.

I don’t use any headphones over my hearing aids so can’t offer any further suggestions.

Good Luck

David

Do you have an iPhone? If so, maybe try the AirPods Pro as you can adjust them to your ? Your loss is a bit severe so they might not provide enough gain, but they should still be better than regular earbuds.

I don’t have them as of yet, and may wait for the 2nd generation to be released to try them out, or at least buy the current ones cheaper when the new ones are released.

In reply to @berettadm1

Hi David,
I am actually using the Grip Tips with Vent as I am finding these the most comfortable and also the best fitting. Before that I tried the vented bass domes but in terms of the size I found them either too small or too big and the Grip tips were perfect in the end. But yeah, quite a lot of the Bass sound leaks out as you said.

image

In reply to @jcw11

Thanks jcw11 for the advice! I am actually not that unhappy with my earbuds from soundcore (even without benefitting from the aids). But I am finding it a bit annoying to be taking my hearing aids in and out all the time when wanting to use them as I cannot really wear them on top of my aids…This is why I considered over the ear headphones but they didn’t do the job either.

Sometimes you can find headphones to go over your hearing aids. I’ve seen ones that are big enough to encompass the ear and the hearing aid. Unfortunately, this requires either trying on before you buy or a lot of buying and returning.

Hi MisTrae. This is actually the case with the Soundcore Life Q35. They fit quite comfortably around my ears and aids. But I am not super happy with the sound and volume and find it quite annoying that I can kind of hear my walking - or stomping more like :joy:. This might have to do with a not so perfect fit but I am not sure.
So not ideal yet!

Ideally I would like to have a solution that doesn’t require me to take out my aids (whether I am benefitting of them or not, I am aware that I’d only benefit from them if the ear phones would cover the aids and their microphone).

Not so easy anyway!

As a Teacher of the (who ironically lost hearing AFTER I was teaching for 11 years), I call that the /Headphone Hokie Pokie. “You take the hearing aids out, you put the hearing aids up, you put the headphones on and you listen all around…” Never did say my students didn’t think I was a little nuts​:rofl::rofl:

@Mosby said:

I have the Oticon More 1s (RIC) and while they do have the Bluetooth functionality to stream music and podcasts etc. I do not find the sound quality satisfactory when out and about as they basically have no noise cancelling functionality and the sound isn’t “full” enough for me.

Ok, here’s what you need to do.

  1. Get custom earmolds with “select a vent”.
    Your hearing loss is quite severe to profound, and earmolds would be very helpful, and fit much better
    than domes. Select a vent allows you to basically keep the lower frequencies from leaking out.
  2. Have your audi set up the Oticon MyMusic program which is specifically designed for boosting bass &
    treble. Also, in the fitting software have him set up max bass in the end fitting section for the phone.
  3. When you’re out & about, mute your hearing aids. If they’re the rechargeable model, you’ll need the
    Oticon On app or the ConnectClip, or Remote control to mute.
  4. The On app has a equalizer when you are streaming, use it to crank the bass, and decrease the mids,
    and highs.
  5. Enjoy yourself!

Hi flashb1024!

Wow! I am mindblown :smiley: and I also have a few questions.

First, I already had the MyMusic program, so that is sorted, I also have the app so that is perfect too. BUT I never knew that I could mute the aids while streaming music and that this would at least not amplify my surroundings. So this is just such a helpful and clever tip! Thank you so much! And using the equalizers is a super idea too. So all of this is really, really helpful and has already quite improved the sound.

Now to your first point: My hearing loss is actually only severe in the higher frequencies, my lower frequencies are in the normal range. Therefore I use the grip tips with vent for more natural sound (see an image below)

image

I really do not like the feeling of occlusion which is why I went with the open ones. I have considered getting customised earmolds and have an appointment with my audi next Friday to discuss options. Is the “select a vent” the earmold itself? Or how does it work? I just looked it up but couldn’t quite figure out what exactly it is. The thing is - when I am not streaming music, I do still want to have a rather open vent compared to closing the molds off. When streaming music thoug, quite some of the sound leaks out. So it is a bit of a dilemma! But if you had any suggestions for this, let me know!

Really appreciate the advise and am learning so much on here!

This is not helpful, at least to the OP, but this is the main reason I still buy the style. I can put headphones on with no problems. Also I can hold my phone up to my ear. Call me old school but for now that’s what I do.

Maybe once I can afford a new pair I will enter the streaming age. I did try streaming about 5+ years ago but the quality back then was mediocre and the batteries didn’t last very long. One thing I will say though, sub 1GHz radios sure have a lot of range compared to Bluetooth. I could stream audio all over my house and yard from a central source. Once the novelty factor wore off, I never used streaming again.

I spent part of yesterday listening to music on my Plantronics Backbeat Pro headset (1st generation) over my OPN 1 aids. Sometimes it works for me (like yesterday), sometimes not. I changed the program in the aids to ‘music’ and adjusted the volume in the aids and the headphones to minimise feedback issues and bring the sound into some kind of balance.

You need some kind of remote control for the aids (the Oticon App is really temperamental on my phone and with my aids), you need to push the headset a bit higher on your head to give the aids more room, and I find it a bit physically tiring. I think the headset might be pushing the wire into my ear at some point. A very large headset would be ideal- if one exists. So, very hardware-dependant but doable. Newer generation aids with better feedback control might do a better job.

In reply to @Mosby

@Mosby said:

Is the “select a vent” the earmold itself? Or how does it work? I just looked it up but couldn’t quite figure out what exactly it is. The thing is - when I am not streaming music, I do still want to have a rather open vent compared to closing the molds off. When streaming music thoug, quite some of the sound leaks out. So it is a bit of a dilemma! But if you had any suggestions for this, let me know!

I had the S-A-V kit a couple years ago. I don’t see it currently listed, but your audi should be able to find them.
Actually, the’re just a set of plastic shafts which come in different diameters, to decrease the size of the earmold vent. For music, you’d want to use the largest plug to close off the vent, or one to completely occlude it.
In a pinch, maybe a toothpick would do.

Another option is (this is a wild one), use your domes, and carefully insert Hearos foam earplugs in to your ears. Just don’t force them in too much.
You’ll get a infinite labyrinth bass enclosure, that’ll rock your ears!
I used to do that to really get noise cancelling & super bass!

@d_Wooluf said:

you need to push the headset a bit higher on your head to give the aids more room, and I find it a bit physically tiring. I think the headset might be pushing the wire into my ear at some point. A very large headset would be ideal- if one exists.

@d_Wooluf Not sure how large the earcups on the Plantronics are, but the Sennheiser Momentum III, Sony, and Bose all have large earcups that cover the entire ear with your aids on.

When I had the OPN 1’s I had no problem with with the Senns.
Feedback could be an issue with Noise Cancellation, though.

I had the same problem as the OP–thin sound, no bass, wind noise–with my KS6 . I found that Aftershokz bone induction headphones solved my problem. I get full, rich sound in both music and streaming books and podcasts. When I’m on my bike, I activate the Outdoor program to reduce the wind noise. Another advantage is that, because my HAs are on and unobstructed, I have situational awareness that I wouldn’t have with headphones over my ears blocking the sound of cars approaching from the rear and horns blowing or other bicyclists belling me or shouting to announce that they are passing me. The Aftershokz are not perfect but are a HUGE step up in both sound quality and volume compared to my HAs.

A quick update on this. I have since returned the Soundcore Life Q35 over ear headphones and have then tried out the Sony WH-1000XM4 over ear headphones and it is a huge difference. Barely any feedback and the fit is comfortable with the hearing aids in. Really happy with the solution. I think the issue with the Soundcore ones was only the fit of them, they were great headphones other than that just didn’t really suit my head size I suppose :smiley:

I had another appointment with my audiologist to explore options on customised molds and he recommended to not go with them as he was saying that they would definitely give me the occlusion feeling - even with vents as they go in deeper. He thinks the Grip Tips are still the best option and I do have to say, that I definitely wouldn’t like the occlusion feeling so am happy to stick with the grip tips!

Thanks for all the other tips on this topic though, much appreciated!

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