Hearphones for Unilateral Deafness from Sudden Hearing Loss?

[DC Hearer]

A couple of things to add:

-Since I already have only partial hearing, I'm not a fan of using any type of headphone or hands-free device in a car while driving.  These are no different, mainly because you don't pick up anything on your "bad" said in "Everywhere" mode, which is the mode you presumably would want while driving.  Plus, my phone normally connects to my car's stereo via bluetooth, but it will stay connected to my Hearphone instead if I'm using it - so, even worse, you can't hear everything anyway, and your music is playing directly into your one good ear.  You could solve that specific issue by un-pairing the Hearphone so the phone plays through the car's stereo and your Hearphone still works, but that would get old after one time, in my view.

-Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any way to control the "blend" of the right/left channels in "Focused" and "Forward" modes by playing around with the balance.  Muting the "bad" side shuts down those microphones completely.  I'm sure this could all be controlled via software/firmware updates, but Bose would have to do it.

-Unless you use the device all the time, size is an issue.  The carrying case is relatively compact, but would not fit in any pants pockets unless you are wearing huge baggy pants with big pockets, so now what do you do with the Hearphones when you want it with you, but not use it all the time?  The only decent alternative is to wear it, but take the earpieces out.  That is one another are where my old hearing aids win out - I had a tiny case for them that easily fit in a pants pocket.  Could even fit a spare pair batteries in there, as well. Whether those spare batteries were actually good, or duds, was a crapshoot.

-Sound quality playing music from my phone is great.  However, still getting occassional BT disconnects, so these are going to get exchanged.

[ZC]

Since in directional modes it already outputs speech picked up by the other earbud’s mic, it sounds like just a balance control to be added, and the latency is not too long.

At least Bose is listening. I suggested same thing to IQBuds, but no response. Although IQBuds doesn’t have directional modes yet, this mono mode by itself will help my single sided deafness for sure.

[DC Hearer]

Having used my Hearphones for a few weeks now, here are my mid-term impressions.  Will make a final decision before the end of the month (when the return period ends), but likely will keep them:

First, the "bad":

-There is a BT problem using these and an iPhone X.  Both the Hearphones (I'm on my second one) and iPhone X are using the latest software/firmware, but I get intermittent and brief disconnects, which are mainly annoying because of the voice prompt letting you that the connection was been lost and then re-established.  Sometimes it will go for hours without a diconnect; sometimes it will happen 3 times in 30 minutes.  Hopefully it's a software issue that can be addressed via an update.  My iPhone's connection with my car is rock-solid; same with my Airpods, but those have a special chip which aids the connection.

-Per an earlier post, I do not believe using any earphone/headphone while driving a car if a good idea if you have unilateral deafness.  There's just no situational awareness (at least for me).  The Hearphones (and this may be a "good") make using them in a car annoying at best because the BT connection between my phone and the Hearphones take priority over a BT connection between my phone and car.  I personally would not recommend using the Hearphones while driving.  If they are really necessary for situational awareness while driving, then a visit to an audiologist or ENT probably is in order.

-Ergonomics are not great.  The neck piece twists with some frequency, and I wish Bose made them in a larger size to accomodate those with thick necks.  Having two separate wireless units, one for each ear, would be ideal, but that's probably a few years away even if Bose continues to pursue this market.

-Finally, if you are not using them constantly, having to carry them around in a case (if you don't want to wear them) is a pain.  No other way around it.  My personal use case is that I don't need them during most of my day, because I'm either using a phone headset or am in small meetings where the hearphones don't make a significant different.

Now, the GOOD:

-I can hear and participate in conversations that I've never hear before in crowded, noisy situations (think food court restaurant with hard surfaces bouncing noise all over the place).  My $3,500 Phonak CROS hearing aids didn't allow me to do that.  Frankly, because of the combination of noise-cancelling, directional microphones and setting, and the "World Volume" control, I believe I'm actually able to hear these conversations better than somebody with normal hearing, which is a real turnabout.  I've found the Hearphones to pretty sensitive to high-pitched sounds (e.g., dropped piece of silverware), so I adjust the tone setting accordingly, and it really help.  This benefit alone makes the Hearphones worth it.  Without it, I'd return these quickly.

-You can pretend to be listening to somebody when you are realling listening to your music playlists!

-The inline "remote" has enough buttons to duplicate a good deal of the functionality of the app, so it's nice to be able to make certain adjustments without having to pull out your phone.  The app, of course, allows you do to a lot more, but not having to use the app all the time is nice.

-If you have these with you, they take the place of noise-cancelling headphones (I use the QC 20i, with the right earpiece cut off, when flying) and a wireless headset for calls (although I prefer Airpods for size/convenience when noise-cancelling is not needed).

If you have single-sided deafness, the Hearphones are definitely worth a try.  

[Mom]

First, thank you for moderating a very good community forum. In an earlier post you suggested turning the volume balance to ‘50’ on one side. My question is whether the noise cancellation remains intact on the ‘0’ side?  What is the effect of ‘muting’ one side on noise cancellation for that side? Thanks again. 

[ST]

Hi Mom!

Thank you for joining us in the Bose Hear Community, and thank you for your kind thoughts.

This is an interesting question, and a new one around here.  The answer:

The noise cancelling function is unaffected by the BALANCE setting. Specifically, noise cancelling is not affected by muting one side or the other. 

Here is a related discussion: Bose Acoustic Noise Cancelling™ technology and World Volume 

Have I answered your question? If so, what is the next question? 

ST

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@Mom wrote:

First, thank you for moderating a very good community forum. In an earlier post you suggested turning the volume balance to ‘50’ on one side. My question is whether the noise cancellation remains intact on the ‘0’ side?  What is the effect of ‘muting’ one side on noise cancellation for that side? Thanks again. 

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[mforster]

I realize this is an older thread, but I just wanted to add some thoughts as a single-sided deaf (SSD) user of these hearphones.

First, I've owned them for several months now and use them daily. They're very good overall headphones, great for noise cancellation, phone calls, listening to music, podcasts, TV, etc.

Second, at the risk of repeating what some others have said, here are my observations on what should be added as an option for us SSD:

• Allow individual microphone gain control, on a per-microphone basis. As I am 100% deaf in my left ear, I may want the gain on the left-side microphones to be 100%, while the right side microphones can be at 0% or 20% or something. Experimentation could happen if we had this granular level of control
• This comment is directed at the disabling of certain mics when in "Everywhere" mode. Allow individual microphone control, regardless of mode. Perhaps a "custom" mode that would allow us to toggle on/off individual mics (this could be the same as setting the gain on the mics to 0%)
• Allow this to be enabled (even if it's not perfect, we can live without perfect) even if one earbud is out of our ears. Why? Because human beings see us with two earbuds in and might think that we don't want to be talked to, or that we won't be able to hear them anyway. For example, I would like to be able to keep the left-ear (deaf ear) earbud out. This would signal to others (who don't know I'm SSD) that I am interested in hearing the world around me, and available for conversation. Their words would hit my deaf ear, but would also hit the left-side microphones and route into my right-ear which would have the Bose earbud in

I am happy to help Bose beta test these features and I'm sure there are many in online SSD communities that would be interested in doing the same.

[Watney]

Thanks so much for your post. I am also completely deaf in my left ear. Your comments echo my thoughts precisely. At the risk of bringing out the comment police, I also am willing to test developing finer controls. Please listen Bose and help us. Thanks again!

[ST]

Hi, mforster.

Welcome to the Bose Hear Community.

It sounds like you're getting good use out of your Hearphones. That's terrific.

Thank you for your suggestions. We can't comment on what may or may not be coming in the future for Hearphones. 

Please know, we are watching, and read every word here. We're grateful for every contribution and request.

Thank you,

ST

[ST]

Hi, Watney.

Oh, please don't fear the comment police. We want to hear what you have to say.

Thanks for your offer to test developing finer controls. We haven't announced any testing programs but if we do, we may turn to the community for help.

Did you get your Hearphones? How are they working out for you?

ST

[Watney]

Hi ST,

Thanks so much for listening. You asked about my experience. I have not purchased the headphones for the reasons mforester explained in bullet #3.

I need to be able to leave one earbud out, so I appear approachable. There's nothing more off-putting than talking to someone with headphones on. Removing one lessens the drama.

In other words, without more controls I know they won't work for me. I remain hopeful. Thanks again for listening. Greatly appreciated!