Getting round poor hearing problems

[Arcadian]

Hi everyone

Unfortunately I’m definitely not a techie nevertheless I would very much appreciate some advice as to what options are or are not available for poor hearing now that I’ve just bought a laptop Win 7 64bit ….

I’ve not the best of hearing due to a sporting accident years ago, basic hearing aids unfortunately being of no help at all, so it’s always been sub-titles etc. when watching dvds if they’re ever available which is often rare. The core problem is I can’t distinguish much pitch at all sounds always coming across very muffled, so to get round this when watching on my pc I first bought some powerful speakers that helped a bit but not only were too loud for others nearby, most sounds still remained muffled as well.

However my last pc was Win XP Home and I eventually found that by clicking on a radio button called I think “boost” or “on-line” or something similar in the audio panel as against the radio button to click on for microphone, the stereo jack needing some sort of boosting to overcome something, my stereo headphones which also have volume control dials worked just fine improving things by almost 50/60% and not disturbing anyone !

I’ve now just bought a laptop Windows 7 64bit and the speakers are fine but as before still too loud for others, but unfortunately apart from “Headphone Visualization” which I’ve clicked on in Realtek HD Audio Manager, the sounds from the headphones are just as quiet as they were before I found the “boost” (?) button on XP and still no use at all….

Hope I’ve managed to explain it sufficiently well enough for some of it to make sense, as I would really appreciate some advice in laymans’s language to know whether I can repeat the same operation again on my laptop or not ?

Many thanks in advance....

 

[fireberd]

The "Boost" option in Audio is for the microphone, NOT the "playback" (speakers/headphones, etc).

If its not loud enough, I would suggest getting a small headphone amplifier to boost the signal.

Here is an example of a headphone amp (I know nothing about this other than I found it doing a google search).
T613-BNC (T613BNC) Headphone Amplifier & Splitter

 

[Arcadian]

That's the word - "amplifier" ! It worked just fine. Is this possibly something to do with "impedance" so that I know in future....?

Great very many thanks !

 

[fireberd]

I doubt that impedance has anything to do with it. I've used all types of headsets with a PC and they all work OK (I have a recording studio). The PC's headphone output just needs amplified to be loud enough for your.

 

[Kari]

Control Panel > Hardware and sound > Sound, right click your Audio Device and select Properties. Check if changing the Enhancement settings will help you.

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Kari

 

[smarteyeball]

In addition, if you switch to VLC media player instead of the default windows player, you can double the volume over whatever controls you maximise in windows. Very handy for low audio issues.

And if an amp is too awkward, what of headphones? Not ideal of course.

 

[Kari]

In addition, if you switch to VLC media player instead of the default windows player, you can double the volume over whatever controls you maximise in windows. Very handy for low audio issues.

And if an amp is too awkward, what of headphones? Not ideal of course.

+1. Very good idea.

VLC Player also has a quite good built-in equalizer to further enhance the audio signal.

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I use VLC Player as my main media player because it plays just about anything you throw to it, without additional codecs. One feature I like very much is the VLC Player's ability to to play network streams. If you for instance would like to open a Youtube video in VLC to get that 200% volume level or to enjoy some other VLC features, simply select Open Network Stream in Media menu, type or paste the URL of that Youtube video and watch.

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Want to save that Youtube video locally on your PC? Click Record and it will be saved on your Videos folder.

VLC Player free download: VideoLAN - Official page for VLC media player, the Open Source video framework!

Kari

 

[Arcadian]

Control Panel > Hardware and sound > Sound, right click your Audio Device and select Properties. Check if changing the Enhancement settings will help you.

View attachment 265659​

Kari

Lots of very useful information indeed many thanks everyone !

Firstly as in the attachment I don't seem to have anything else in Sound other than Realtek....? But must try the idea of increasing the volume in VLC using headphones first to see if I can hear any better before buying an amplifier I think.

As you so rightly say I've always used VLC because there are so many great options especially sub-titles etc., but as I've only had Windows 7 for a couple of weeks I'm still finding my way round so no idea how to make it the default player ?

As a side issue I had no end of problems on my old XP when viewing old movies ( there are some really great Forties and Fifties b/w classics all free) as to how to synchronise the sub-title file downloads, which also come free but separately from just about anywhere, though I was getting somewhere with VLC. Unfortunately it just got too complicated to follow in the end as the titles were either too early or too late keeping up with the actor's lip movements. But now I'm on Win 7 I'm hoping it might be easier ? Looking forward to trying out the streams idea too....

Edit: how do you get a screen pic onto the thread as I'd intended ?

 

[Kari]

Firstly as in the attachment I don't seem to have anything else in Sound other than Realtek....? But must try the idea of increasing the volume in VLC using headphones first to see if I can hear any better before buying an amplifier I think.

Simply right click that Realtek High Definition Audio device you have to open a context menu, select Properties and follow the instructions given.

As you so rightly say I've always used VLC because there are so many great options especially sub-titles etc., but as I've only had Windows 7 for a couple of weeks I'm still finding my way round so no idea how to make it the default player ?

If your Control Panel is using Category View, click Programs > Default Programs. If Control Panel is set to use Icon View, click Default Programs.

Now click Set your default programs:

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Select VLC from the list, click Set this program as default:

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Click OK to save settings.

That's it. Full tutorial here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2630-default-programs-set-programs-default-associations.html

Edit: how do you get a screen pic onto the thread as I'd intended ?

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9717-screenshot-paint.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

Kari

 

[Arcadian]

Many thanks Kari all sorted especially the "Enhancements" panel which even has a "pitch" level adjustment so can't wait to try it.... !!

Thanks again everyone

 

[Kari]

You are welcome, hopefully you get it as you need to.