Noise cancelling ear buds -- winnner!

Hmmm.
Interesting.

I might have to give them a tumble!

I wear earbuds probably 10 hours a day almost every day.
Telco equipment rooms are usually pretty noisy and I have to clear troubles with remote testers frequently, so needless to say earbuds are a topic near and dear to my heart.
When I'm not on the phone I'm either listening to a podcast or an audiobook.
I've looked and looked but I haven't found a single set of wireless units that have been worth a crap (for under $150) and the last thing I need in the world is another device that requires charging, so I treat earbuds like I do reading glasses.
Buy them fairly cheap, but stay away from the dollar brands.
Repeat as necessary following loss or breakage.
On the rare times that I listen to music, Bluetooth has always left me disappointed either in audio quality or mic performance for when I have to use my phone as a phone.

While I was shopping with my beloved CFO the other day I noticed that they had JVC Gumys on the discount rack for 6 bucks with a mic.
Those are the ones that come in Ford Fiesta inspired colors and look like they shouldn't be worn after Jr. High school.
You'll never find the black ones in the discount places (I had a choice of mint blue or pink.)

I bought a pair for yard work and I immediately noticed that they actually sound pretty dang good.
Surprisingly good for 7 dollar buds!
I then noticed after four trips up and down my front lawn with the lawnmower that I hadn't bothered to place my ear muffs over my ears!!
These little guys aren't noise rated, but they seem to block out noise about 75 percent as well as the 29dB muffs that I usually wear to protect my fragile hearing.
When I'm in my office I can listen to a podcast with the volume at 10-15 percent.

Something to think about as a backup....

 

i read about noise canceling earbuds that also acted as hearing aids, now that's something i could use.

 

Huh?

 

exactly.

 

The young folk are desperate to get the hearing loss we spent years developing for ourselves!

 

Just turn off, or remove my hearing trumpets...

 

my favorite is weddings. you sit at a table of 10, for hours, with the music so loud you can't converse. s suppose they want you on the dance floor, but i usually wind up in a hallway chatting with other dance averse folk.

 

Custom moldeds are pretty great.
Westone Model ES49 Custom Musician Ear Plugs (FREE Impression Kit + FREE Shipping Included!) (One Pair) - Professional Lab Custom Molded Ear Plugs
I got mine done in a doctor's office ( THEY take the impression of your ear.)
I think it was like $140 all inclusive.

 

[Speaking generically about control systems, not specific to these particular products] The quieting comes from two different methods -- passive (mechanical) filtering, and active electrical cancellation. The former functions best at high frequencies, declining in performance at the low end. The later works best at low frequencies, and would be expected to decline at about 20dB/decade as frequency increases. The 'passband' you notice is likely the crossover region of least noise rejection.

On top of that, the active cancellation works best on constant steady-state droning noise. While human speech may be droning in a psychological sense, it is not at all constant or steady-state in the physical sense to which the device responds.

 

I forget the brand, but there is a nice $12 ear plug that has a little metal filter thing in it. They work quite well to make all sounds quieter without making things sound muffled. (they attempt to decrease sound evenly across all frequencies, same goal as the Westone's).

While not strictly speaking 'noise canceling', I find them pretty pleasing, and they're much cheaper than other solutions.
They're tiny (vs noise canceling headphones that some people use), and not a huge expense if lost.

 

For those of us that wear hearing aids, try finding a decent set of headphones!

Ear buds are all the rage, but I already have something in my ears!

 

I don't understand.
What's the problem ?

 

Modern hearing aids sit over or in the ear canal and amplify the frequencies that are not heard very well. With headphones, the deaf person can keep the hearing aids in and still hear music etc from the audio source. Taking the hearing aid out would reduce the quality of the audio.

 

Right, so keep them in and get a good set of headphones.
Or do hearing aids make the audio in headphones too eq'd ?

 

I already have ear molds in my ears and there is no room for ear buds too.
There should be a Hearing Aid Compatibility standard for headphones.ear buds much like there is for cellular phones.

Hearing aid compatible phones: What to know before you buy

Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC) Definition

 

Another pet peeve of mine.
I really don't think it's myself getting older. But it seems not just local bars...but everything is getting louder. I don't even know how the younger generation really socializes unless they are texting each other while sitting in most environments because just about everywhere you go, everything is ear drum busting loud.

When I was a kid, my Dad and I would go to basketball games. I learned a lot about the game, as he would point things out to me during timeouts and at 1/2 time.
Today?
Even if the crowd is actually subdued, they pipe in so much music at such high volume there is no chance to really talk to anyone, even seated right next to you.

Seems more and more places I go, seem to think the best environment is one in which nobody can talk to each other, because the volume of everything around them has to be so loud.

I'm really not Anti-Volume. But I don't see why it has to be loud everywhere, all the time.