The odd behavior started more than seventy years ago when my Dad placed Mom's engagement ring on a small porcelain mouse that nestled in a piece of porcelain cheese.
My parents were married in 1952. They didn't yet own a television and no one had game consoles or iPads. Nothing to do. So, my mom began to collect mice. Lots of mice. Not hyperactive rodents that required the cleaning of cages, or a hungry cat, but the kinds of inanimate mice you might find at a gift shop. Or a jewelry store. Or at Woolworth's.
Along with mice, my parents also collected children. I'm the oldest of the five and I saw Mom's mouse collection impact us all.
"Gee, what should we give Mom for Mother's Day?" A mouse! "How about her birthday?" A mouse! "Christmas?" A mouse? "What should I make in my art class?" Always a mouse. They were often handmade from popsicle sticks, bits of felt, and construction paper. Over the decades, my Mother collected more than 700 porcelain, metal, plastic, glass and child-made mice. She was easy to buy for.
Unsurprisingly, all of us kids began to collect our own stuff. Crystals, camels, armadillos, frogs and lots of Smurfs. Over these many years, we've all geared back a bit. However, my younger brother seems to collect power tools and I still collect things to hear by.
I love my eclectic collection of headphones, ear buds and nowadays, my Made For iPhone hearing aids. These days, I keep six different pairs of listening devices in my immediate vicinity.
The most important? My hearing aids. I began wearing my Oticon Opn S 1 miniRITE hearing aids more than three years ago and they are the first thing I put on every morning and the last things I put away at night. Because they do seamlessly connect to my iPhone, they are almost always in constant use. I'm lucky because the minuscule hearing aid speakers rest deep inside my ear canals which means I can use all my other devices in tandem if I wish.
I also own AirPods Max, Sony LinkBuds, AirPods 3, AirPods Pro and Apple Beats Flex. All of these can be utilized while my hearing aids remain in place.
So, why would I need anything other than my Oticon hearing aids? They do a really good job of connecting to my iPhone, which is by far my most important device. VoiceOver is quite clear and there is no noticeable lag. Music is also fairly decent as what gets streamed is adjusted for my hearing loss. I can discretely hear messages arrive and I can easily understand any caller via my hearing aids. I listen to books, the news, and everything else that comes through my iPhone 13 mini to my hearing aids. Since they are basically invisible, I get to play in my own little private world. It's great!
Where do I find my current hearing aids lacking? Well, on phone calls, I have to talk into the bottom of my 13 mini to be heard. And, although the music is reasonable, it isn't rich and full. And, my hearing aids do not support the new Spatial Audio and there is no way to adjust volume, take a call, or initiate Siri without handling the iPhone.
Out of curiosity, and my desire to write a new blog, I began to track how I used my other listening devices. I discovered that I use the most expensive set the least. I have the beautiful blue AirPods Max, and I also own a really nice case that I bought from Waterfield Designs to keep the AirPods Max protected and pristine. The sound quality is excellent and they are quite comfortable for something so large. But, the size is part of the problem. You cannot just pop them in your ears. I have to zip open the case, extract the headphones and pull them over my head like an undershirt. Putting on headphones should not be like dressing in the morning. Truth is, they mostly stay in the case.
The Sony LinkBuds were my most recent purchase. They were reviewed pretty favorably on AppleVis, with a few thoughtful caveats, and I wanted to give them a try. I was most intrigued by the idea that, because of their unique design, you would always be aware of ambient sound while you were wearing them, and I liked the idea that volume could be set to adjust automatically depending on the noise around you. I also liked the fact that once you put them in your ears, they tend to stay put. However, the Sony Link Buds were disappointing to me when I wanted to enjoy music. I'm a bit of an audio snob. For me, the musical reproduction was a bit muddled, flat and thin. These days, my Sony Link Buds are now solely paired to my retired iPhone 12 mini for those occasions when I want to use my older phone.
I've always enjoyed the classic AirPods. My newer AirPods 3 work well with my music as they have great sound reproduction, and I enjoy playing my mandolin on the porch along with my tunes because ambient sound is unhindered and I can hear both the music and my instrument.. Unfortunately, AirPods 3, like the first two versions of the standard AirPods, are inordinately affected by gravity. They regularly leap from my head onto my lap, or into the cushions on my wicker chair, or all the way down to the redwood patio planks which will always nail me with their splinters when I sweep my hands on the deck trying to find the darn AirPods. I cuss a little when that happens.
I've also been a big fan of AirPods Pro ever since they were introduced. My AirPods Pro are excellent for music, they work beautifully with spatial sound, and are easy to manage with the controls on the stems. You can silence the outside world or let ambient sound flow in with simple controls. For something so convenient and small, they are superb! Unfortunately, I can't wear them everywhere because they are also prone to jump out of my ears at seriously inopportune moments. As much as I enjoy listening to books or music all day, I don't wear them when I work outside or wheel the trash cans down to the curb. When the AirPods Pro take flight, I might be walking next to the grass, where I'll never find them, or down my very steep driveway where they could bounce all the way down into the street. I love their sound quality, and I am certain I will buy the next generation of the AirPods Pro when they come out, but I doubt I will ever dare wear them outside.
Finally, that leaves me with my Beats Flex. They are the least expensive of my Apple head phones, but they have turned out to be the most flexible. The Beats Flex have the two ear pieces connected by a flexible band that goes around the back of my neck. And, that flexible soft plastic band is what makes them so darn useful. I cannot lose them. The ear pieces have soft replaceable tips so that you can choose what will keep them snug in your ears. If one ear piece pops out, it doesn't fall. It is still connected to the neck band. Just slip the ear piece back in your ear and keep listening. Even cooler, you can pull out both ear pieces and leave them draped around your neck. In fact, the two ear pieces have magnets in them so that they will hold together making them even less likely to get lost. And, when the magnets have engaged each other, the Bluetooth connection goes away until you pull them apart. They work fine, even with my hearing aids in place and I really love them.
So, are there downsides to the Beats Flex? Yes. Music played through them is a tad duller, not as crisp. And, the new Spatial audio features don't work with them. Even so, their utility and price tag make them a great match for me, day or night. For instance, I love to fall asleep listening to Old Time Radio shows. So, I keep an extra set of Beats Flex in the bedroom. In the morning, I can always find the headphones.
I'm not sure I will ever grow out of collecting new headphones. And, I'm betting my brother continues to collect power tools forever. However, later in life, my dear Mom finally quit caring about collecting new mice. She switched to collecting moose. Really.
I've been writing for AppleVis, off and on, since 2015. Even though my articles have been less frequent of late, I still go through the site every day looking for new ideas, good questions, thoughtful feedback and useful podcasts. What a great resource!
This is my twenty-eighth blog for AppleVis. Previous contributions include "Onward Through The Fog: iPhones and Hearing Aids," "Think Dainty: The iPhone 12 mini Kicks Butt," and "A Dozen Dozen: Dreaming of iPhone 12 and iOS 14."
Please do share your own listening experiences in the comments below. Heck, I'd enjoy knowing what you collect, too!
Comments
found a way not to lose airpods
probes which go over the stems of the airpods and so I never lose them.
I found on Amazon a plastic wire which goes around my neck and has two
Regarding Whistle Stop
Oliver,
Thanks for your note. I must confess that I would probably love my hearing aids, even if I did not have a hearing loss. There is something really cool about being able to listen to anything from my phone, at any time, with no one else aware. Of course, real hearing aids are expensive, making the price of Apple devices look really cheap. However, at least in the States, some hearing aids will soon become available in regular drug stores and I imagine some of those will work with mobile phones. I hope the price is right for those who want to hear better and for those who just want to hear more. I enjoy the best of both worlds -- I have really good hearing aids, and I have really good headphones. Life is grand!
Like you, I find the upcoming new AirPods Pro a very hopeful thing. If they promise much more than what we currently enjoy, I'll be getting a pair. I must keep my collection up to date.
Great to hear from you,
Morgan
I'm eagerly awaiting the…
I'm eagerly awaiting the second generation Air Pods Pro to drop. Fingers crossed that they fix the issues with the noise cancelling mics that cause them to crackle and/or make the horrible high pitched feedback noise when you try to adjust them in your ears. I've had mine replaced twice for this and Apple won't replace them again since I already used that extended replacement program once which I suppose is fair. Might as well just wait for the new ones.
I thought about just getting a set of Air Pods 3, but I do like the noise cancellation of the Pros. My pros work fine if I turn the ANC off so there's probably not really a point. Maybe I'm lucky, but the wired ear pods -- and therefore the regular Air Pods -- fig great for me! I could walk around with wired ear pods in and forget they were there. One time I took them out at a restaurant to get up for something, and instinctively reached for the wired remote to turn the music down and then remembered I didn't have them in. lol
The Beats Flex sound like a more improved version of the beats X which I loved! It was awesome being able to just throw them around my neck and easily put them in when I wanted to listen to something on my phone, and then just clip them together when I was done. A new version of Beats Flex combined with the ANC, spatial audio and transparency of the Air Pods Pro would be an instant buy for me.
I, too, have a pair of blue Air Pods Max and love them, but they get uncomfortable after wearing them for a while because they're so heavy. I still think Bose is the king of noise cancelling over ear cans. My old QC35s were the most comfortable headphones I've ever had. I do love the iOS integration of Air Pods though.
RE: In Your Ear, Bud: "What Are You Wearing?"
Good morning to you, Morgan and to your lovely wife:
I was delighted to see another post from you yesterday when I signed in. Sorry for my late response. My hands got quite busy and I didn't even get a chance to read your latest missive until now.
Regarding earbuds, I, too am a music snob and truely require the best possible sound I can afford. Of late, I have been utilizing the Tozo12 earbuds, found on Amazon, for about $35.00. Admittedly, the top end sound profile leaves a bit to be desired, but they do sound pretty decent, with a nice low end thump, even though they are dirt cheap. I have purchased two sets, as I use them hard and run out of battery before running out of talking power or music or book time. (shhh, usually is talking power).
I chose these buds, while waiting for the 2022 latest Beats Pro Fit to drop some time within the next couple of months. I conducted a search, using the terms best fitness earbuds for music lovers and came up with the Beats Pro Fit. I read many reviews comparing the current generation AirPods to the Beats Pro Fit and found that I think I will prefer the Beats Pro Fit for my needs/preferences. I was also considering the Bose T700 and their wireless counterpart earbuds, but I really like my music hot, and in your face, with just as much base as I can get, without it becoming muddy. (After all, when working out, I need all the musical driving inspiration I can get to put on a hard sweat and beat my body back into suybmission.) The reviews I read indicated that the AirPods and Bose product lines both tend to dampen things down too much. The Beats Pro Fit has the new Apple 1 chip, (I think is the name), and will have the Find My feature built into them. Can't wait to try them when they drop
Regarding ear buds jumping suddenly out of my ears, I experienced the same problems as yourself. Not so much with the Tozo12's but with the Jabra Elite Active 75T earbuds. This was my first forray into the land of wireless earbuds and I was highly disappointed in that, no matter how still I was, those little buggers would go anywhere but stay in my ears as I commanded them to do. I went through all eartip options and found that the small works best for sound isolation, but keeping them in place simply didn't work for me. Sadly, I returned them.
When I purchased the Tozo12's, I also found a magnetic leash from MEOWAV, specifically for what is called stemless earbuds, such as the Tozo12's. This thing works beautifully. you simply press the stem of the bud through the loops and drape it around your neck. When you don't need the buds, pull them from your ears and drop them down the front of you. The magically strong, little magnets do their job and snap the buds together like an electronics necklace. I have vary long hair and find no grabbing from the cilocone leash around my neck. I forget the darn thing is on most of the time. I couldn't be happier.
Whenever I purchase the Beats Pro Fit, I will certainly be utilizing a leash like the MEOWAV. Such a simple device makes all the difference for me. No longer am I swearing at my earbuds because they have the audacity to drop from my ears, at an inconvenient time, just when the jams are hot, or I'm not paying attention, and heaven forbid, they could drop into the toilet. LOL But, fear not, should the Tozo12's do such an egregious thing as to drop somewhere nasty, these darn things can actually be completely emersed in soap and watter. Now how cool is that? Who would have thought that I could just wash my earbuds whenever the need should arise?
Thanks for reading my long musings on my earbud experiences.
Please continue to blog here on AppleVis. I truely enjoy reading whatever you are of a mind to talk about. It seems that, every time you write, I seem to recognize your post, even before I know that it is you who has written. Keep up the great work and happy listening to whatever brings you joy and lifts you up, whether a good book or the latest piece of musical inspiration.
Sincerely,
Roxann from Michigan.
Response to John Covici
Howdy John,
Thanks for sharing your solution to the lost AirPods dilemma. As much as I appreciate the quality of their sound, I really hate hunting for lost AirPods when they take a dive off my ears. Which product did you buy? Roughly, what was the cost? Do you have to remove the "safety harness" before charging?
Great hearing from you,
Morgan
Response to Brian Giles
Brian,
Gracious! It's been quite a while since you and I communicated. Great to hear from you.
I watched the "Far Out" announcements today and it was good to see the AirPods Pro are being updated. It sounded promising enough that I am pretty sure I will order a pair. And, I must admit I love that they have built in volume control.
You are right that the Beats Flex is very similar to the old Beats X. I've owned both, and I much prefer the Beats Flex. And, the old Beats X were much more expensive! I like the Beats Flex for both their utility and price.
Finally, I appreciate your comments about the AirPods Max. They are truly excellent, but rather like putting a live tuna in a household aquarium. Big, lively and entertaining, but just too unwieldy. I'll be looking forward to some new second generation AirPods Pro. Delightfully small, more powerful and the same price as before!
Brian, I really enjoyed hearing from you again. What a treat!
Best wishes,
Morgan
Response to Roxann Pollard
Dear Roxann,
You made our day with your note. Dee Dee and I both are always hoping that you will see my latest blog and drop us a message. Wonderful hearing from you again. And, we always learn something new from you. I still marvel how you live in the city I know best in Michigan, where my maternal grandparents lived, and where I would see them as a child. It was also one of the places where my Mom was raised, the other being Holland.
My apologies in being a tad delinquent with my response. Your letter was fun and quite informative. I love learning about handy gadgets, by name, so that I can check them out as well. I learned a lot of useful stuff from your recent note.
I have not written as much for Applevis of late as I should. As much as I read AppleVis, I have been slow in completing many initial works that finally time-out. I hope to do better. I must confess that I have been spending a whole lot of my spare time focusing on my mandolin playing, so I will use that as my excuse. I'm an old violinist, first learning to play that glorious instrument in 1963. However, I discovered about six years ago that a mandolin is tuned exactly the same as a violin, which I had never known, and I decided that I needed to play one. My mandolin always sits to the right of my comfy chair and my Apple Magic Keyboard always sits on the glass table to the left. I guess my right-handedness shows in that I do pick up my mandolin quite a bit. Still, I love writing for AppleVis and did start on a new blog when I finished this current one. Hopefully, I'll reach to my left a bit more often and get it finished.
Roxann, it is a real pleasure to hear from you. What a treat!
Warm wishes from Dee Dee and me,
Morgan
RE: Response to Roxann Pollard
Hey Morgan, so glad that you are spending time with your music. I find that music is such an incredible inspiration, motivator, a soother of the soul, and so much more. As a vocalist and musician, I understand your passion. It's nice that you are keeping yourself challenged in learning a new instrument.
As far as post frequency, you just take your time because whenever you do finally post, it's always worth my time so I don't mind the wait. I wish we could sit and have coffee together. For some reason I feel as if I already know you and your sweet wife. Maybe you two will have to make your way back to MP.
Talk to you soon.
How do you cope when
... you are navigating somewhere less familiar with a guide dog, wearing aids and trying to hear navigation on an iPHONE app?
So I'm working my seventh guide dog from GDB; I've used guide dogs since I was 19 and am now 65 with hearing loss. My aids are great at rendering VoiceOver directly in my ears, but as soon as traffic gets loud, they also start blasting VoiceOver, so I cannot hear anything else. I've tried turning off BlueTooth and simply holding the phone up to my ear, but now it's hard to give my dog hand signals and it's a little scary having both hands occupied.
For me, the DSP in my aids, which are Costco KS8 seems to be very sensitive to environmental noise. As soon as the environment is loud, the aids volume increases.
Has this also been your experience, or do I just have cheap aids? If you have to hold the phone while using a dog, do you have a secret for keeping it close to your ear with your hand still free?
Response to Deborah Armstrong
Dear Deborah,
Thank you so much for writing. We have much in common. I am also a GDB guide dog user, am over 65 and I also live with a hearing loss. And, I think I understand the difficulty you documented.
As I note in the blog above, I not only wear hearing aids, but I often supplement what I hear with other ear buds or headphones. Now, the particular shape and fit of my hearing aids help make that possible. I wear Oticon Opn S 1 miniRITE hearing aids, which are known as "receiver in the ear" models. That is, the cashew-shaped body of the main hearing aid, with it's built-in microphones sits atop my ear, hidden away behind the external cartilage. A nearly invisible wire, that no one ever notices, go forward from the hearing aid around the front of my ear and then snakes into my ear canal. At the end of that little wire is the "receiver," which is quite small, that produces the amplified and enhanced sound that I listen to. Because the receiver fits so neatly into the ear canal, I can literally wear the devices I list in my article above at the same time my hearing aids are in place. It is this capability that allows me to solve the problem you described.
Most of the time, I am only wearing my hearing aids. They work well when I am moving about in the world or when I am just listening to my environment. And, since my hearing aids also work so well with my iPhone, I can get by without needing anything else. However, there are circumstances when I really want to separate the sound from my iPhone from the outside, real world, environment.
Let me describe one of the ways that I solve the same problem you've described.
I would leave my hearing aids set at whatever sensitivity I thought would serve me best with ambient noise, such as traffic. I would put on my Beats Flex headphones and turn them on. In my case, the hearing aids automatically disconnect from the iPhone and the iPhone would then channel VoiceOver and Map sounds through my Beats Flex. So, now the hearing aids are only feeding me the ambient sounds of my surroundings and the Beats Flex are now playing any VoiceOver or map details. So, the volume on my Beats Flex are not affected by anything my hearing aids might be doing. In your case, you mention that VoiceOver gets too loud. For me, I can manage VoiceOver volume with the volume buttons on my Beats Flex without changing my hearing aids at all. And, frequently, I will just use one of the Beats Flex ear pieces so that I limit the sound from my phone to one ear. For example, if traffic was on my right side, I might only use the left ear piece to hear directions from my phone. I also could use my AirPods, but they are too likely in my case to drop off my ear at an inconvenient moment. The Beats Flex are connected by the soft cable around the back of my neck and the odds of dropping them are very small. Bottom line, if your hearing aids and iPhone don't work as well as you would like in tandem when you really need to different streams of sound, you might try doing what I do.
I should explicitly note that I am no expert on hearing aids, hearing loss or how others might work their guides with varying sound inputs. However, in my particular case, I find my approach works very well.
Deborah, it was great hearing from you. Your question is a great one and, perhaps, what I suggest works for me might also help you find a workable solution. I also know that GDB has an excellent help line and might have some other suggestions as to how you can best manage your technology while working your pup.
Aren't guide dogs great?I love seeing the world through my dog's big, beautiful, brown eyes.
Warm wishes,
Morgan
how do you use an earbud earphone in the same ear with hearing a
I think I must be missing something; I have a single hearing aid, and it sounds much like the one Morgan described. There is the part that goes pretty deeply into my ear canal, with a wire connecting it to the part that sits slightly behind and over the ear, resting behind the outer ear cartilidge. Problem is that the microphone is in that outer part; An earbud fits in my ear on top of the inner part of the hearing aid, but the hearing aid doesn't pick up any sound coming from the earbud, as the microphone is outside the ear. So, how is the sound from earphones getting to the hearing aid microphone?
I also use earphones for my Victor Reader Stream to read books and my laptop to avoid driving my husband crazy, in addition to the bluetooth connection between iPhone and hearing aid. But, I have an open ear, so it's not currently a problem. But, I expect I will need to step up to having hearing aids in both ears and worry about how to manage my other audio devices, especially the Victor, which has no bluetooth capability. I'll appreciate insight and ideas on this. Thanks.
Tina
Response to TJ
Howdy TJ,
Great question about using both headphones and hearing aids at the same time. The devices I described in the article above can all fit comfortably in my ear, or over it while my hearing aids are also in place. In one scenario, my hearing aids are in charge of piping in the ambient noise and local human voices, while my headsets pass along what is coming from my phone. You're right that the sound going to standard buds, wired or not, will not be loud enough for your hearing aid microphones to pick up and process. Still, if I am playing my mandolin while listening to music through my headphones, I often mute the hearing aids just because I prefer the sound of my instrument when not being processed by hearing aids. Of course, that might be an indication that my playing just isn't all that palatable and I like hearing a bit less of my own music.
One cool thing is that the AirPods Max do fit over my hearing aids, so my hearing aids can easily capture what is coming from the headphones and do their processing magic on whatever I am listening to from my phone. But, admittedly, they are my least used headphones.
Now, since you have a Victor that sounds like it cannot talk to Bluetooth, I am guessing that you have wired ear buds. If they hang on the ear cartilage and do not go too deep into the ear canal, I'm betting you could still use them, even if you are wearing two hearing aids.
But, if you find the right, feature rich, hearingaids that connect to your iPhone, you might as well use those hearing aids for everything.
Take care,
Morgan
,
I Don't Use Earbuds Anymore...
Responding a bit late here to say that I too, constantly found myself picking up earbuds and gently placing them back in my ears. This was way before I got my first Mac, and most probably way before Apple started making earbuds. All this to say, they're not for me. I actually went through a number of headsets before settling on what I currently own, which I'll get to in a bit. But my previous headsets either got stolen, or fell into the garbage and were sadly disposed of for good. But I now have the Aftershockz Open Air blue-tooth headset, which I heard about awhile back on the Serotalk podcast and which I really like. I currently have a somewhat clogged right ear probably due to a build-up of earwax, and this headset does a nice job even with that ear unable to hear to a certain degree. I have an appointment though to get the remaining wax out of there, and am hoping that's all that needs to be done.
Howdy Ekaj
Ekaj,
I'm really glad that the Aftershockz headset works so well for you. I have heard very positive things about them from many other blind users. And although I do love the sound that comes out of my new AirPods Pro, the most recent version, I have had them bounce off the floor more than once. For keeping track of my sound devices outdoors or at night, I still prefer the Beats Flex. Gravity does not grab them and hide them away at inopportune times.
Thanks for your update on this older blog. I always enjoy hearing from you and learning what technology works best in your circumstance.
Cheers,
Morgan