Comment by infogulch | Hacker News Reader

Comment by infogulch | Hacker News Reader

I gave up on both in-ear and over-ear headphones, everything I tried would either fall out or become uncomfortable after enough time and I hated having to constantly fiddle with it. I finally broke down and dropped $160 on the "bone conduction" AfterShoks Aeropex that doesn't cover the ear canal, but pushes against and conducts sound through the bone right in front of your ear. It's been my favorite personal audio purchase ever. It's marketed towards athletes, but it works wonderfully even for pedestrian use-cases like video calls. This is the first headphones product I've ever been able to just put on and just "forget" that they're on for a whole day.

I like that it doesn't block sounds in my environment, it means I can remain aware when exercising outside and I don't get snuck up on in the office, but I can understand why that would be an anti-feature for some people (or maybe use actual ear plugs for that purpose?).

https://aftershokz.com/us/products/aeropex

I have mild tinnitus. Most of the time I don't notice it. It becomes wildly apparent when I'm wearing in-ear headphones. I've always assumed this was because outside sounds are blocked by in-ear headphones and I get to "hear" my tinnitus more effectively. I get the same effect walking down the "foam" aisle at a local fabric store where ambient sounds are dampened. (That aisle is spooky, makes my entire head feel strange, and I avoid it religiously now.)

The worst part is that the awareness of my tinnitus persists for hours or even days afterward. I keep hearing it even after the earphones are removed. A few minutes of in-ear headphones and I have at least hours of awareness of my tinnitus.

I like being able to listen at lower volumes with in-ear headphones but I can't stand being aware of my tinnitus. I end up listening to earbuds or over-ear headphones at higher volumes than I would for the in-ear versions.

With that all said, these bone conduction earphones sound interesting. Do they allow you listen at volume levels comparable to the sealing-type in-ear headphones? I understand that in an environment with loud ambient sound increasing the volume would likely be necessary, but I'm wondering if the "bone conduction" does a better job cutting thru ambient noise.

Does anybody else have a similar situation with tinnitus as I've described here? If so, how do you cope with it?

I’ve had tinnitus for ~20 years. I’ve tried everything (as far as I can tell), and by far sound therapy has been the most effective. It’s basically the same techniques used to manage chronic pain, but used to teach you how to minimize and even ignore the perception of tinnitus. It’s not a quick fix, but I went from being constantly consumed by my symptoms to not realizing I have a constant ringing in my left hear almost all of the time, and being ok with the ringing when I do notice it.

The other thing that had worked has been tinnitus masking hearing aids. It’s basically noise cancellation for tinnitus. It’s not perfect and I don’t use it anymore, but when I was learning how to deal with tinnitus it was valuable in giving me temporary symptom relief.

I cannot say anything wrt tinnitus, but I do own some aftershockz headphones as well.

They're extremely interesting, mainly because they're so different but there are a few caveats... The sound quality is pretty lack lustre if you don't plug your ears somehow, especially the base is very shallow otherwise. It's a very entertaining experience when you literally plug you ears with your fingers and the sound quality as well as loudness increases, because the sound waves get reflected back by whatever you plugged your ears with. I generally use significantly more expensive headphones though, so maybe I'm just spoiled.

It really doesn't cut through ambient noise in my experience, it's more like background sound unless your ears are plugged, so noisy surroundings will make it impossible to listen to the headphones as well.

Agreed, I did the same! I do still get fatigued wearing them, but it takes a bit longer. I love it for city walks / cycling where it's important to be aware of my surroundings.

My pair of Aeropex came with a pair of foam earplugs in the package for this exact reason. They're not meant to be musical headphones, but they are amazing for listening to podcasts while exercising or doing chores around the house. I should have bought a pair when they first came out instead of waiting until this year to do so.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com