Using Headset with Hearing Aids…

[Norman CYYJ]

I find it absolutely amazing the technology that they can package into such a small space and including rechargeable battery.

[Radioflyer]

Piperj3...as you say, the telecoil is required. OK, but please confirm/explain, where does the electromagnetic transmitted signal come from? Is it emf energy from the headphone speakers? If so, I wonder how effectiveness varies with different headphones, anr and non anr.

[Piper J3]

Telecoil was originally developed for hearing aids to improve sound quality when using land-line telephones; hence, the name Telecoil. Now with Bluetooth cell phones, the audio is “streamed” directly to the hearing aid and Telecoil is not required.

Telecoil is essentially a half-winding of a transformer with other half-winding being the voice coil in the headset speaker. EMF inductance transfers signal from one winding to the other.

I have only used Telecoil hearing aids with ANR headset. I would imagine that non-ANR would work well also, but you would not have the double effect of noise reduction. The ANR headset cancels background noise, and then when using Telecoil, the hearing aids microphone is muted, so the hearing aid essentially becomes an ear plug that blocks sound from entering the ear canal.

Flying is largely visual, but to truly enjoy, the ability to clearly communicate with passengers, hear radio, and not be droned-out by engine noise enhances the experience.

[Radioflyer]

Piperj3, right, that's what I thought. Thanks. A friend was discussing hearing aids and mentioned that his audiologist did not think hearing aids would work with headsets...that he would have to remove the AIDS while flying. I guess the audiologist did not factor in the old telecoil possibility.
This topic should be in the general section and might even be a good article in Sport Aviation or Kitplanes.

[Pilot135pd]

Originally Posted by Norman CYYJ

My problem with the in ear headset is that I need the hearing aids to correct for the frequency loss. The ground controller was now a female and I could only make out maybe one out of ten words. !

Only hearing 1 out of 10 of her words is why I'm still with my girlfriend !!

[Dugaru]

I wear hearing aids (behind the ear). When I fly, I just switch them out for my Quiet Technology Halos. This has worked great for me. Caveats that I can think of are (a) not everyone likes in-ear, it's a subjective thing, and (b) I don't need a ton of frequency boosting; people who do need that probably need hearing aids under headphones.

I will say that if you ARE able to use the in-ear headsets, I think they are just a better mousetrap than headphones. My next pair will probably be a CQ, as they advertise here, a buddy really likes his, and I've had trouble getting maintenance support lately from Quiet Technology for a wire that I broke.

Originally Posted by Check6

Disclaimer....I do not wear hearing aids. But just a thought, have you tried the CQ headset in the ear headsets? I would reach out to them and see what they are doing with pilots that wear hearing aids. It may be worth a try and they stand behind the product that if it does not work they will take it back. They are excellent to deal with and it is an outstanding product. It's like all the other stuff we use in these planes it takes a little trial and error to make it perfect for us. They are a VAF advertiser as well.

[scard]

Originally Posted by Dugaru

My next pair will probably be a CQ, as they advertise here, a buddy really likes his, and I've had trouble getting maintenance support lately from Quiet Technology for a wire that I broke.

Doug,
When you are ready to switch, I'll have a headset for you. And I'm not aware of anyone ever having a problem getting support from CMW

[Handclutch]

Originally Posted by Radioflyer

Piperj3, right, that's what I thought. Thanks. A friend was discussing hearing aids and mentioned that his audiologist did not think hearing aids would work with headsets...that he would have to remove the AIDS while flying. I guess the audiologist did not factor in the old telecoil possibility.
This topic should be in the general section and might even be a good article in Sport Aviation or Kitplanes.

With my earlier hearing aids I had to remove them - they couldn’t cope with the feedback - but my current aids with higher processing speeds work just fine. However, I use the telecoil setting for all the reasons others have outlined. It gives the best performance by far.

Jack

[Blw2]

I'm a relatively new hearing aid user.... Phonak Marvel M-90's for a couple years now. I'm a rusty pilot and haven't flown since I've had them more than a few times. I didn't really have any feedback issues with them under my old flightcom headset, but mostly I ended up just taking them off and turning the volume up. Felt like they were inside the ear cup but not a of of extra room so I wasn't sure how well they'd be picking up the sounds inside the cup. Was looking for something with a bit bigger cup.
It never even dawned on me to try the t-coil!
To date, I use the t-coil through an FM receiver with a neck loop, to hear the audio system at church.... but otherwise I have not run into a single place to use it. My phone at work is a landline but it doesn't power it...and no other phones I have do it. Never found a looped room either.
Anyway, I'll have to give it a try in the headset!

oh...any suggestions for headsets you like that fit over the ear well enough to include the behind the ear aids?

[RFSchaller]

Amazon has over the counter in-ear hearing aids that are essentially just amplifiers for $100 or less. They seem to work well with my Bose A-20 and A-30.