Making Headphone for tv (wired or wireless)

[wany]

I had a my friend father ask me to make a wired or wireless headphone for his TV the guy has a hearing. Anyway i wanted to make it wireless.
The unit must be able to be adjustable to my hearing level for different shows with the TV normal sound not affected for other persons listening at the same time, or with the TV sound right down like when I am listening when everyone is asleep.

I was thinking of taking sound right off the speaker wires.
I can make a wired system easy but i rather make it wireless. Any ideas on what headphone i could use that would make this job easier.

 

[MikeMl]

Radio Shack and others make IR stereo headsets. They work well. They expect "line" input from an RCA jack on the back of the set.

Be careful hacking into the set. A simplistic set not be transformer isolated from the AC line, so you might be creating a huge shock hazard. Use audio-coupling transformers (8Ω to 500Ω if going wireless, 8Ω to 30Ω if hard wiring to a headset).

 

[wany]

I didn't want to use IR i rather go with blue tooth. What i was thinking about was to use wireless headphone that plug directly into to a stereo jack. So what you would have to do is port a stereo jack from the internal speaker to the outside of the tv and then plug in the wireless base to that jack and that basically it.
I have seen some sony head set with the ability to plug directly into stereo jacks, I have only seen them online i would have to go to radio shack and see what they have available i rather examine the headphone in person before i buy it so buying online would not be an option

 

[Sceadwian]

I would recommend against buying such products at Radio Shack as they'll cost too much. Be careful what and where you buy as this should not be very expensive and people will try to sell you too much product at a bloated cost, especially Radio Shack and BestBuy.

Try doing a Google search for Bluetooth stereo audio transmitter and Bluetooth stereo headphones. For headphones you're going to be looking for over the ear style headphones, to avoid disrupting other people.

The type of input the transmitter has is almost irrelevant as you can buy simple adapaters to meet whatever the output of your TV has. Any even moderately recent TV should have audio out jacks on the back that work independently of the TV volume control.

 

[gary350]

The one Radio Shack sells comes with only receiver for $99.95

The local ear doctors sells the same thing as Radio Shack only difference it come with 2 receives for $149.95

I bought the $149 model. I figured one could be on charge while the other one is being used. It has volume control and a balance control. I use the balance to turn the volume up all the way on my left ear. Sound has to be 60 db for my right ear and 120 db for my left ear for me to hear it. It also has a tone control. It is working great for me I can hear things I have not heard in years.

I almost forgot to mention this dual unit comes with a microphone so it can be used like a hearing aid or you can watch TV with the microphone option. It also has a phone jack so you can plug in extra speakers. I plugged in some pretty nice computer speakers to the head phone and it works great. I put a speaker on each side of my chair. It has to be the type of speakers with a built in amp that plugs into 120 VAC.

 

[Sceadwian]

Could you link something to the units your purchase? They shouldn't cost that much. You shouldn't have spent more than 75 dollars total for such a solution... Or did you mean two headsets? If that's the case it's not a bad purchase.

 

[gary350]

Could you link something to the units your purchase? They shouldn't cost that much. You shouldn't have spent more than 75 dollars total for such a solution... Or did you mean two headsets? If that's the case it's not a bad purchase.

75 Dollars????? Tell that to the people that sell them if they will come down on the price I will buy more. The way I look at it is like this, I can not build them myself for $150 so it is worth it to me. When I was young I was also stupid I would have spent a week trying to save a dollar building this and I would have spent more $$$ than it was worth and ended up with a gizmo that would probably work ok. These days my time is worth more than $$$ so I will not build one. When you get older you will understand.

 

[wany]

I feel the same way about time vs money.... Why build it and waste all that time when you can buy it...., ANYWAY can you send me a link of the head phones you speak of

 

[Sceadwian]

Apparently you guys don't know how to comparison shop... This is what I found in 5 minutes using Google.
GE Bluetooth® Portable Stereo Transmitter - GE Bluetooth - Jasco Products Company for 33 dollars.
**broken link removed** for 42.61 including shipping.

With shipping costs for the 33 dollar transmitter it's gonna be just a bit over my original estimate, and the transmitter has the ability to be battery powered so it goes anywhere he goes. An adapter for 3.5mm audio plug to the typical RCA plugs of a TV will cost you less than 5 dollars. Buying audio video equipment at Radioshack is like burning half of the money you spend.

 

[flat5]

"I bought the $149 model. I figured one could be on charge while the other one is being used. It has volume control and a balance control."

That's two receivers with volume and balance controls and recharger.
If a well made good quality sound product, not a bad deal.

 

[wany]

When i did some research last night i found
**broken link removed**

I looked at some reviews (video) on it and it seems to be good

 

[gary350]

Hi

I found my head phone box today. Here is a link TV Ears - Wireless TV Listening Device - Doctor Recommended

I have the dual system. The dual system comes with several options not included with the single system. It has microphone that allows the head set to be used as a hearing aid. You can use the microphone to watch TV too the advantage to this is it lets you hear room sounds too and you do NOT need the transmitter at all. The transmitter is also the battery charger for the 2 head sets.

I use mine without the microphone so the signal is transmitter directly to the head set. My wife loves to talk during TV so I can not hear a word she is saying and that makes her mad. I love it. I can't stand to have someone talking and I can not hear what is being said on TV I just as well watch TV with the sound turned completely OFF.

Gary

 

[crutschow]

I use mine without the microphone so the signal is transmitter directly to the head set. My wife loves to talk during TV so I can not hear a word she is saying and that makes her mad. I love it. I can't stand to have someone talking and I can not hear what is being said on TV I just as well watch TV with the sound turned completely OFF.

Gary

So, there is an upside to being hearing challenged (is that the politically correct term?).