Introduction
 
Since we last looked at headphones many new products have become available.  We get many letters from our members about these products so we thought it was time to take another good, detailed look at them.

We tested a range of widely available corded and cordless headphones ranging in price from £7.50 to £75. Corded headphones connect to your TV or stereo with a long wire, whereas cordless headphones have no wires and work using either infrared or radio transmissions (see Buying Advice for more information).

Most of the cordless headphones we looked at were the ‘closed-cup’ design, which fit completely over the ear. These are good at reducing external background noise, although some users may feel ‘isolated’ from other people in the room when wearing them. ‘Over-ear’ headphones sit on the ear, so you can still hear what’s going on around you. These tend to ‘leak’ sound which may annoy others if the volume is high and generally users find them less comfortable to wear. 

Whether closed cup or over-ear, comfort is an important consideration when buying headphones. We asked our volunteers to assess the headphones for this as well as ease of use and sound quality.

If you wear a hearing aid, you may think that headphones are not for you, but some headphones produce a magnetic field that your hearing aid may pick up when switched to ‘T’. If you wear two hearing aids, this can be an added bonus as you can listen in stereo (other products, such as inductive earloops, also let you to do this).
Remember, there are other listening solutions, such as conversation aids and loop systems. Choosing these will depend on the extent of your hearing loss and whether or not you use a hearing aid.