HELP - Amplified headphones needed due to hearing loss

[mal]

Hi Guys,

As a sign of getting old I had my annual hearing test yesterday and found that I have lost another 12% of my hearing and now need hearing aids in both ears. Cannot wear the hearing aids with headphones as causes a lot of feedback.

I asked the audiologist about my hobby related to my hearing and really confirms what I feared after Corfe last year in that when I checked other guys deep signals but could not hear them.

The issue has manifested itself as a result of deep finds being missed by myself. What is happening is that with my hearing loss I still get the finds to about 8" but the small signals I now cannot hear.

Did an air test with a small roman (Yes I know that it is only a guide) and was amazed at how soon the signal that I could hear dropped off but the Etrac was still indicating deeper using the visual on the screen.

So the question is " What are the best amplified headphones I can get my hands on for to boost the volume"

I have my Etrac volume on full and my Blue Max headphones on full but still missing the small whispers.

Can Des and Minelab help in any mods to the ETrac or does someone know which headphones give the best boost in volume. Or can anyone fit a amplifies to headphone?

Many thanks for you help.

Slàinte,

Mal

[DDazzzle]

Have you had a look at the amplifier on Docs Detecting Supplies, reviewed by Oldbeechnut on Youtube

[Iron Mask]

Hi Mal
I think some headphones are "hearing aid compatible".
Maybe Gordon can fix you up a set of Gogphones as I am sure they are "hearing aid compatible".

[rEDFOOT]

Contact Kevin at Staffordshire Detectors and ask for information on Black Widow headphones the only headphone which carry a warning on the volume available they also have individual volume controls so if one ears hearing is worse than the other you can simply adjust the volume

blackburns@19-masefield.freeserve.co.u

[bryan r jones]

what mate

[rocky529680]

Just an idea Mal but the loadest phones ive ever experienced were the standard ssue Koss phones but i have seen a volume switch mod service on this type of headphones on this site

[coenwolf]

les (rocky) used to make some really loud ones but i don't know if he's still around or doing it ,don't know much about your blue max headphones but you really need extremely well fitting ear defender type phones then fitted with decent speaker cones (maplins do some really good mylar ones) i have high frequency hearing loss and need two in ear hearing aids ,but you should not need them when using headphones as there is no air loss between the headphones and your ear drums ,its the air between the audio signal and your ear drum that loses the signal ,so the headphones actually should work as hearing aids in practise .so to sum up i would suggest the problem lies more with your headphones than your hearing

[bottletop]

Covert radio equipment uses a coil of wire connected to the earphone socket of the radio. There are two types, one is a loop worn around the neck of the user which works with either ear, the other type is a rectangular coil in a plastic block around 1" x 3" and sits on the shoulder.

If your hearing aid is "loop compatible" you could try a few turns of thin insulated wire connected to a 1/4" jack plug and see if it works. From memory a loop of a dozen turns worked, but I haven't worked on covert body worn radios since the early 90s so can't help further with number of turns, levels etc.

My Safari doesn't have a lot of audio, so maybe it's not enough to drive a loop. The Garrett Ace series are very loud by comparison.

I am sure there will be someone who can make a loop to test in your local club, or perhaps there is someone reading this with a Minelab and hearing aid who can try it and let us know if there is sufficient audio to drive a loop.

Dave

[Slow_n_low]

Mal ask Mr Brun to send you the details of the booster he has, the one we were testing at Corfe, and where he got it, even if you were just about completely death this would pump the volume up so you could hear it :thumbs:

[des]

Mal,

I tried a set of "Nuggett Busters" recently at Joan Allen...
nearly took 'me 'ed orf'...LOUD..!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There's a Volume adjust on them.
@ £69.00

Regards

Des

[marcinch1979]

Black Widows should do the job.

[bfodnes]

Mal ask Mr Brun to send you the details of the booster he has, the one we were testing at Corfe, and where he got it, even if you were just about completely death this would pump the volume up so you could hear it :thumbs:

Completely death...... Thats a good booster....

I was thinking.

If you hear the good signals down to 8 or about and missing the ones deeper.

Setting gain to max should turn off the weak modulations on the deep finds letting all sound off like on surface.

What you dont ned now is a vco or any modulation on deeper targets.

I think the sunray golds will be good for you.

[Slow_n_low]

No i think headphone wise he will have problems finding a pair, the booster im on about is what they use in the gold fields, if you have it accidently set too loud you have to throw the headphones violently off your head and thats not on the loudest setting :P

[coenwolf]

i don't think he will neil ,i have a very deep suspicion that he will find its his headphones that are faulty or worn out ,repaired to many in the past for that reason .a certain manufacturer 's products don't stand the test of time .
best in this case to try someone elses headphones for a day out .

as i have explained many times in the past i suffer from high frequency hearing loss which makes some conversations untenable also t.v virtually useless as whats right for me is no good for the wife and son ..BUT AND ITS A VERY BIG BUT for detecting purposes it does not make a blind bit of difference .after many years of attending audioligy clinics and asking the questions i feel i now know the answers .

when you hear a sound i.e birds singing (i can't hear that) the sound is transmitted to your ears travels down the ear canal where minute hairs turn it into a audible signal for the ear drum .now in the case of most hard of hearing people that bird call (or whatever) is corrupted while travelling through the air and does not reach the ear canal so you either mis hear it or hear nothing at all .simple so far .

now in the case of detecting the hard of hearing person is firstly blocking out all those half signals and off target noises from his ears ,the sound that comes through the speaker cones is transmitted directly to the ear canal and to the ear drum .it does not matter whether its loud or quiet its a pure signal and will be picked up the same as if your wearing a hearing aid sometimes better .

in 95 % of the cases where people have asked me to repair there headphones the cause is either damp from rain/sweat affecting the cones ,a intermittent faulty wire in the lead/dry solder joint,or corroded wire .with the fact that lots of people carry on detecting in the rain these days ,protect there detector but forget about the headphones getting a soaking its a common problem .sweat is the biggest danger as it contains body salts and is extremely corrosive so those little holes that let the sound out also let corrosion in .thats why i am 90% certain mals problem lies with his headphones

[Slow_n_low]

Eyyy 8O cant hear ya what we need is that bloody Mal to come back on his thread :rausch:

[mal]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the replies.

My headphones do have a volume control which is on MAX. ET set up as loud as I can get it before becoming unstable. The headphones are fine and have no issues.

I went back to Audiology last week for fitting of my new hearing aids and they said that it is something that a volume increase would only resolve if it was at the high end frequency where my hearing is lacking.

My new hearing aids have been calibrated to a certain frequency boost curve and the audiologist said that if I boost across the spectrum with a general volume increase it would be far too loud at the mid to low end frequencies and would not help for listening to quiet sounds.

One thing they did do is to give me a programme to try with the headphone and the tuned the digital hearing aids for audio feedback.

I will give this a try in next few weeks and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again for all the replies.

Slàinte,

Mal

[coenwolf]

mal as i said ,i suffer from the same frequency problems ,i would thoroughly recommend that you try to borrow/use someone elses headphones for a hour or two .you may well think yours are fine and working perfectly but as i tried to explain last night its a gradual deterioration of components same as your hearing is a gradual loss rather than a total failure .theres a certain company that makes headphones that tends to make them to a price rather than top spec and i find these suffer far more than others !!!

[g-clooney]

Spin a disc ,do one ,Theres a detectorist called Lancastrian[he goes on other forums ] who if mute ,he showed me one he uses, when he turned his machine on ,it nearly blew my eardrums off ,see if i can findthe link for you

[g-clooney]

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[Iron Mask]

I made a set with the same speakers as the Sunray Pro Golds. Apperantly they are compatible with hearing aids. You canb try them at Corfe Mal.
I think mine are every bit as good or better that the Sunray.
Thanks to Gog for the speaker tip. The speakers are commonly used in telephones.

[Slow_n_low]

I forgot about those at Sinadisc, those headphones really are loud, they also do a booster for hard of hearing people :thumbs:

[spidow]

if your hearing aid is an oticon spirit zest as fitted by the NHS they have a connection shoe fitted to them and you can connect a link from your detector straight to your hearing aid and not use headphones , look on google at the oticon web site the connection shoe can also be connected to a phone or radio

[spidow]

Go to connevans ltd for more information on hearing aid connections they make one to connect to detectors

[lancastrian]

Spin a disc ,do one ,Theres a detectorist called Lancastrian[he goes on other forums ] who if mute ,he showed me one he uses, when he turned his machine on ,it nearly blew my eardrums off ,see if i can findthe link for you

ha gmp and adx250 more than 3 times loudest i love the sound very loud at deeper.small finds

[dave the ferret]

Dave the ferret here,join the club ,have just had bte hearing aids fitted on nhs,headphones no good,now use opticon shoes on my hearing aids,and fm genie lead,with my 3030,and its great can here tones and everything else too. Got all my bits and bobs from www.connevans.com hearing aid experts,good luck mate.............