Tag Archives: hearing damage

Our guide on different options and why you might need the Faller OSKAR

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Struggling to hear what people are saying on TV? Who isn’t these days. Aside from slight tinnitus, my hearing is pretty good. Yet, there are so many films and TV shows where the sound department has somehow decided that the audio soundtrack and sound effects are more important than what is being said between the characters. So, for those with hearing loss or issues that impact being able to listen to speech, this must get very, very annoying.

What’s the most common solution? Turn it up!

However effective this may be for many viewers, others in the room may not be as open to this tactic. And making everything louder can only make things worse in the long run. There are plenty of ways to improve the overall sound quality coming out of your TV such as soundbars, home theatre systems and TV headphones (wired or wireless).

With the way most of these shows are mixed, the speech can still get lost very easily…

What about soundbars?

Soundbars will certainly improve the sound quality of your TV, the problem here is that they improve the sound as a whole. Soundtracks and effects included. Now most of these soundbars and AV setups will improve overall clarity, which will in effect make dialogue clearer. Yet, with the way most of these shows are mixed, the speech can still get lost very easily, and for those with hearing loss, the extra clarity more than likely will not be enough.

Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash

Will TV headphones come to the rescue?

For a lot of situations – yes. TV headphones do a great job of improving sound quality for the user, not only improving the sound as a whole, plenty of TV headphone models out there will have features and settings that focus on speech, making it a lot easier to understand dialogue. So, what’s the issue here then? Headphones are great for solitary TV sessions. They are not as well suited for watching TV with others – and many of us like to watch TV with our family, friends and even pets. Don’t tell me you have never had a little chat with your furry friend in front of the TV.

Not great when others want to watch the TV too.

The problem with wires

Another issue with headphones, is that wired headphones require a headphone socket to be used. Not all TV’s have a headphone socket and for the ones that do, using that socket tends to cut the sound from the speakers entirely. Not great when others want to watch the TV too. Wireless TV headphones on the other hand manage to get around this problem by using an optical connection which does not cut the speakers off.

What if you struggle with hearing TV dialogue, enjoy watching TV with others and have been told that if you turn the TV volume up again, you’re out!

SoundMAGIC WP10 wireless TV headphones

Well, there is another option

There are a handful of brands releasing TV speakers catered to those with hearing loss and designed to enhance TV speech. One of those brands comes out of Germany and is called Faller, who has just released the OSKAR TV speech enhancing speaker here in the UK. This is not a soundbar, and unlike typical soundbars, the faller OSKAR is much smaller, and sits on top of a docking station that charges the speaker and also acts as a wireless transmitter. This allows you to use the speaker up to 30 meters away from the TV or any other audio source you choose such as a radio, computer or even a smartphone. The beauty of this is that you can place the OSKAR close to where you sit, bringing the speech enhancing technology directly to you. This type of speaker ticks all of the boxes:

  • Improve speech clarity and enhance dialogue
  • Watch TV with others without affecting their viewing
  • Sit in comfort with no need for headphones or straining to hear the TV
Faller OSKAR – Portable TV Voice Enhancer Speaker with Dialogue Clarifying Technology

Making TV a lot more enjoyable

In testing the Faller OSKAR myself – full review here – I realised that I was using this speaker a lot more than I thought I would. The OSKAR makes watching sports on TV a lot more enjoyable. I have always found that the commentary can easily get lost to the background crowd noise. Using the OSKAR meant that the commentary was crystal clear, while my TV still brought the stadium sounds to the room. Then, when I needed to go into the kitchen, I could bring the speaker with me so I didn’t miss anything.

Whether you watch TV on your own or with others, the flexibility, comfort and ease of using the Faller OSKAR makes it the ideal TV viewing companion…

I found that it also works great for late night viewing, especially when you don’t want to wake up the kids! I could keep the TV volume low while using the OSKAR to deliver its enhanced audio without sound leaking into the other room.

So what am I trying to say here?

If you suffer from hearing loss, are annoyed with not being able to hear dialogue on TV and want to enjoy watching your favourite shows with friends or family (or pets), then there are options out there. Just make sure you know what you are buying, and that more volume and better sound quality does not always mean easier to understand speech. Whether you watch TV on your own or with others, the flexibility, comfort and ease of using the Faller OSKAR makes it the ideal TV viewing companion for those who have had enough of resorting to subtitles.

Interested in all things Faller? Check out more News and Reviews here!

More about Faller here!

Ultimate Ears Loud Enough – earphones safe for children

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Earphones Safe for Kids

Ultimate Ears Loud Enough earphones have been designed especially for children, with hearing safety in mind. These clever little earphones keep your kids hearing safe by controlling volume and reducing sound pressure levels.

Ultimate Ears Loud Enough childrens headphones are available in a range of fun colours, including Plum, Blueberry and Mint and can be found at the HiFi Headphones online store.

If you are concerned about the hearing of your children when they wear headphones or earphones for long periods, then the Ultimate Ears Loud Enough earphones are for you. With children using portable MP3 music players, such as the iPod, and gaming devices, such as the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, for hours at a time it is wise to consider the damage this could be doing to their sensitive hearing.

High Quality Sound

Despite the safety features Ultimate Ears Loud Enough headphones provide full, detailed sound in a small and lightweight ear piece. Ultimate Ears have a long history working in the music industry and developed the Loud Enough earphones with sound quality in mind.

The Loud Enough earphone was developed especially for kids aged 6+ who listen to their headphones while in the car, playing video games, watching movies, walking to school or just hanging out with their friends.

More Information

For more details on Ultimate Ears Loud Enough earphones and a range of other Childrens Headphones please visit the HiFi Headphones online shop.

Is long term iPod earphone listening safe?

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We often get asked about earphone and headphone safety here at the HiFi Headphones store.

The question is, are in-ear headphones safe, and do they cause hearing loss or damage?  Especially of concern is the safety of children if they listen with earphones for long periods of time.

In-ear sound isolating earphones (also known as ear canal earphones or in-ear monitors – IEMs) create a seal within the ear canal that blocks out external noise. The concern is whether ear canal earphones cause sound pressure levels that are too high and therefore cause hearing damage. Below is our opinion on the subject.

Poor Fitting Ear Buds

If you listen with badly fitting earbuds, such the standard iPod ear buds, then there is a tendency to increase volume to drown out external noises. This means you are exposing your ears to unnecessarily high sound pressure levels.

If you wear correctly fitted ear canal headphones that seal out external noise you have a lower volume delivered to your ear drum as you are not competing with the external noise.

De-Sensitisation Of Your Ears

A good way to illustrate this is the example of listening to the radio while driving a car on a long journey. Because of the external road noise you gradually turn the volume up and up to drown it out. The following day you come back to your car parked on the street, turn the key and get quite a shock when you hear how loud the radio is. While you were driving the previous day your ears became de-sensitised to the increases in volume level. This is what happens with poorly fitting earphones.

Air Tight Seal – does it create too much pressure?

So, if it’s true that ear canal earphone form an “air-tight seal” then surely no matter what level the volume is the pressure between the earphone and the ear membrane has nowhere to release itself and is, therefore, dangerous to the fragile ear membrane?

No, not at all. Your eardrum experiences pressure differences all the time – that’s how it works! When a sound wave hits your eardrum, it causes a momentary increase in air pressure on that side of the eardrum, which causes the eardrum to move and the volume of the sound you hear is proportional to the pressure. Your eardrum can’t tell whether the pressure it experiences is due to a speaker 3 metres away or an earphone transducer 1cm away, and it doesn’t really matter – the only real difference is that the transducer is only having to move a very small volume of air to get the same effect as the speaker moving a very large volume of air.

If you were to seal a full size bass driver in an airtight seal to your eardrum and turn that on then yes, you could massively over pressurise the eardrum – but the miniature transducer in an ear canal earphone only moves tiny distances by comparison, and so it only introduces tiny changes in pressure.

Headphone Safety Summary

Exposure to high sound pressure levels for any period of time can permanently damage your hearing. Obviously you should always take care when listening with headphones or earphones. Many famous musicians have admitted that they have permanently damaged their ears by listening to headphones in studios for extended periods of time at unnecessarily high volume levels.

Our opinion is that a good quality set of ear canal earphones that fit well are safer than a poorly fitting set of standard iPod ear buds.

More Information

For more information on the different types of headphones and earphones please see our Headphone Buying Guides or visit the HiFi Headphones online store for a huge range of in ear headphones.