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Pocket size homemade hearing aid with ear phones.

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gary350

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I have some TV ears I use to watch TV I can hear sounds on TV I have not heard in 25 years so I think I can build my own hearing aid that will work. I can not watch TV without TV ears or ear phones plugged into the TV.

I want to build a shirt pocket size hearing aid with 2 ear phones and a mic. I need a volume control for each ear. Those tiny ear phone people use on Ipods might work.

What do you guys suggest for an all in one IC to build a hearing aid?

What about a mic do I need 2 mics or 1?

I want it to run on rechargable batteries.

I am open to suggestions?
 
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If what you have works why do you want to make your own?
 
Bell and Howell have a "hidden" hearing aid for sale for $10.

It looks exactly like those bluetooth cellphone earsets that folks wear.

That may be an idea.
 
Most deaf people have reduced sensitivity to high audio frequencies caused by loud noise at work, guns in a war or loud rock and roll "music" . Then the hearing aid has an equalizer that boosts only the high audio frequencies, not all audio frequencies.
 
Most deaf people have reduced sensitivity to high audio frequencies caused by loud noise at work, guns in a war or loud rock and roll "music" . Then the hearing aid has an equalizer that boosts only the high audio frequencies, not all audio frequencies.

Yes, I know that, that is the problem I have. Sound has to be louder than 120 db for me to hear it in my left ear and about 60 db for me to hear it in my right ear. Hearing aid sales people refuse to sell me a hearing aid for my left ear but simple ear phones work fine for me on TV so why won't a simple amplifier work too. I need to find my hearing test results I have a high freuquency hearing loss is a certain range. If I turn the TV up loud it is just loud I can not understand what is being said but ear phones work great for some reason. My audio technology friend says it has to do with the frequency range of the TV speaker and the tiny little ear phone operate best in my hearing loss range. So all I need for a simple experement is to build a simple one IC amp with a mic and volume control on each ear phone try it and see if it works. Very simple experement.
 
You should see an ear doctor for him to measure your hearing loss at all (voice) frequencies from a few hundred Hz to about 8kHz. They don't care about music frequencies from 20Hz to 20kHz.
If you don't then you are just guessing.

Too much sound level might destroy the remains of your hearing.
 
You should see an ear doctor for him to measure your hearing loss at all (voice) frequencies from a few hundred Hz to about 8kHz. They don't care about music frequencies from 20Hz to 20kHz.
If you don't then you are just guessing.

Too much sound level might destroy the remains of your hearing.

I just said that. I have the ear doctor test results. I get my ears tested every few years been doing that for 30 years. What does this have to do with the best IC to build an ampilifer. I must be on the wrong forum I thought sure this was the electronic project forum. The problem with my left ear is the 3 tiny bones are gone from sinus infections the results of living in Tennessee the sinus capitol of the world.
 
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The "best" IC for a hearing aid depends on how much you are wiiling to pay for low noise.
The selection of a circuit depends on the impedance of the earphones since an opamp by itself cannot drive low impedance earphones.

You say that you have had many ear tests but you did not say how much level you need at many frequencies.
You don't even know if your earphones will produce enough level without burning themselves or the remains of your hearing out.
 
Unless you show us your test results there will only be guess answers.
It would also be helpful to see the hearing loss progression since you started your tests 30 years ago. Also: why did you get tested so often for so long (occupation?)
There are thousands of ICs out there to do the job but you have to realize that a DIY unit will not be smaller than a pack of cigarettes (oh ja, smoking is a contributor to hearing loss (I hear)).
E
 
If you are going to secretly PM each other then why is this thread on a public forum?
 
Unless you show us your test results there will only be guess answers.
It would also be helpful to see the hearing loss progression since you started your tests 30 years ago. Also: why did you get tested so often for so long (occupation?)
There are thousands of ICs out there to do the job but you have to realize that a DIY unit will not be smaller than a pack of cigarettes (oh ja, smoking is a contributor to hearing loss (I hear)).
E

Ear testing is a requirement at work. Now I am retired and I have not built anything on my electronic work bench in many years. I will have to search for my last hearing test results I have no idea where it is but it has to be here some place.
 
Gary, it's no wonder that no one will sell you a hearing aid for your 120db ear... Anything that can produce THAT much sound is actually damaging your hearing more, even if that's what it takes to hear in that ear, you are effectively deaf in that ear because any time you are exposed to something you can hear it will further damage the nerves or cilia, even 90db is up there and will cause more hearing damage over time.

Basically what this means is that you have a finite number of hearing experiences left in your life, anything that can reproduce a decent fidelity will also further degrade the hearing organs. You could in theory and in practice produce a device that will give you near perfect hearing... for maybe a few dozen hours worth of time, at which point you'll be totally deaf. You perception of sound has NOTHING to do with the damage that is occurring to the nerves and cilia that are the most easily damaged portions of the human ear.
 
The ear doctor says a bone conduction hearing aid will work fine for my left ear only problem no one makes and sells one. They did bone conduction hearing tests on me and I can hear fine with that.
 
You can buy bone conduction earphones but for some reason they are kind of expensive. But they would be the safe way to go.
 
You can buy bone conduction earphones but for some reason they are kind of expensive.
They are expensive because hardly anybody needs them so they are custom-made to order, not mass produced.
The ear doctor also gets some of the profit.
 
No, they are readily available for standard use. Just expensive. But I'll look around some more for DIY types.
 
If you go on EBay you will find this set for $20. They sent me specs like this.

**broken link removed**

I can't explain the difference in price.

Let us know if you like this idea and someone can whip you up an amp.
 
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