[Elecraft] 10 dB or 3?

[Gary Smith]

In 2015 I had Shingles of the facial nerve 
(Ramsay Hunt Syndrome) and it caused me to 
lose 100% of my hearing on the right. Some 
came back but I have a -85 dB loss in my 
right ear and what I do hear is not what 
you hear but attenuated. Noise of any kind 
makes it difficult to hear and I have a 
pretty much world class stereo that helps 
greatly in hearing music but...

Enter BOSE QC35 headphones...

They are absolutely a Godsend when it 
comes to hearing. I've been using Bose 
headphones for years but the noise 
cancelling ability with these are the best 
yet. For computer, cell phone & TV I use 
its Bluetooth but for the K3s I plug in 
and this new generation of QC from Bose 
allows them to be passive or with noise 
reduction.

As passive headphones they use no power 
and work just fine, they do cup the ear 
entirely and fit/act much like the ones I 
use with target practice.  When plugged 
in, Bluetooth is defeated and when you 
power them on, the background sound 
disappears. My old Alpha is 1' from my 
head & on my good ear, with the Heil & 
Sony headsets, the fan is competing with 
faint signals. With the noise cancelling 
turned on, the fan noise is non-existent. 
I think I might hear the very faintest 
motor noise but I can't swear to it. The 
fan noise is totally gone.

I don't think there is a microphone option 
when plugged in but when I use the 
headsets with the cell phone & I'm next to 
the amp, nobody I talk to can hear the fan 
so the noise cancelling truly works with 
the microphone as well.

I got these from Bose as my old QC15 
developed a problem and they don't repair 
out of production headsets but they give a 
generous price on a current set when you 
exchange your broken one. I even bought 
the YL a pair of the QC35 II for 
Christmas, they're that good. They have a 
30 day trial if bought from Bose. I will 
say the included plug is miserably short 
and I had to buy a longer one from Amazon 
but it's a hefty cable and was 
inexpensive.

I should add, when you turn on the noise 
cancelling & I'm listening to a faint CW 
signal, there is apparently zero loss of 
signal volume or quality, it's just that 
all the ambient sound and the sound like 
listening to a seashell you get with over 
the ear headphones just vanishes.

YMMV

73,

Gary
KA1J


> To add to what Don said,
> 
> Restaurant noise levels are a plague for me.  With my hearing loss the
> noise level just shoves everything to sound like noise with no
> intelligence detectable.
> 
> I note that some now have cc activated on TV's with sound turned down
> to keep background sound lowered.  That allows patrons to follow
> sports or news programs without everyone raising their voice to
> compete with the TV.  Background music is just noise if I want
> conversation with anyone.  Finer restaurants go to some lengths to
> produce the "quiet atmosphere" for fine dining.  The restaurants that
> cater to twenty-something crowd seem to relish in making it loud.
> 
> It really gets to me when they play loud music in the restrooms -ugh.
> 
> Running the ham radio in the car or truck is challenge because I need
> the volume too high for my wife's comfort.  Do not wear a headset as
> this might compromise my driving (ability to detect presence of other
> vehicle).  But then I try to operate in the "parked mode" as
> distracted driving is not wise.  Same for cellphone use while driving
> (illegal in some states).
> 
> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>    http://www.kl7uw.com
> Dubus-NA Business mail:
>    dubususa at gmail.com 
> 
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