RNID: For deaf and hard of hearing people.

Headphones - June/July 2005

Our user trial highlighted many differences between the headphones and found that few were without fault in either their controls, sound or comfort. In fact, one of the most important factors to consider with these products is comfort – especially if you are watching a long film.

Here we give you the comments of both our hard of hearing user panel and our experts.

  • Ease of use

    Corded headphones
    Radio Shack

    These were comfortable to wear and fitted well around the ears and over hearing aids. “A perfect fit,” said Robin, but Jamie disliked the material  “It makes squeaking noises which my aids then amplify!” Easy to adjust for size, but there were many controls which users found difficult “They’re just too fiddly for me,” was Bev’s assessment. Most users found the sound satisfactory and quite clear.

    RNID

    These simple, lightweight headphones were really easy to adjust and use. People without hearing aids found them reasonably comfortable, but those with aids did not. Jamie sums it up “They simply perched on my aids, so they were tricky to keep in place and uncomfortable to wear.” For such compact headphones they had “remarkable range and tone” commented Kevin, and Robin enthused “They sounded very clear with classical music”.

    Sennheiser

    The earpieces are nicely padded but small, making them less comfortable to wear. “They are too tight on my head,” complained Kevin, but most found them okay after a while. Easy to set up and adjust for size, the separate volume control was also very popular. Everyone preferred it to having volume controls on the actual headphones. The sound had a good range and was quite deep.

    Cordless headphones
    Philips

    Our users found these closed cup headphones very comfortable. “I could wear these all night,” said Kevin. Jamie added “They are very padded and sit well over my ears and hearing aids”. Our panel thought they sounded “very clear” and Kevin  remarked “These are tuned exactly to my hearing loss”.

    Sony 

    Another popular and very comfortable pair. All our users found they fitted well, were a good weight and very comfortable to wear. They automatically fit your head, but unfortunately the controls were difficult to use. Robin sums it up “I could hardly find the controls, they are very small and there’s a guard around the volume control". Very good volume and sound quality. Popular with our panel but let down by the controls.

    Thomson

    The padded earpieces were quite small but still pretty comfortable to wear. Our panel disliked having a manual tuning control and frequently got it confused with the volume control. Despite this, overall they found them reasonably easy to use. Very clear and sharp sound which all our users enjoyed. “You hear the whole range of the classical music,” enthused Robin.