TV Ears Single Headset Personal Listening System

Rating:
Summary: Best thing since closed captioning.
Review: I'm hearing impaired, and very often television shows (especially older ones) don't have closed captioning. This is also maddeningly true with some of the newer movies, even from big studios. There's a law regarding closed captioning, but sometimes producers simply don't follow it. It's frustrating.

I have tried several headsets over the years with varying degrees of success. Bringing the sound directly to your ear vastly improves your ability to understand what is being said (it actually helps to use a headset instead of a hearing aid when trying to improve comprehension - I don't understand the physiology of it, but it works). What's unfortunate is that most headsets aren't designed for the hearing impaired. They're designed for people who want to listen to music as they roam around the house. This means that the headsets aren't optimized for voice enhancement, and instead deliver quite a bit of bass. Bass tones don't improve comprehension, they lessen it.

That's where TV Ears comes in. Yes, the name is a bit silly, but these things really do work. The first time I used them I had the silliest smile on my face, because for the very first time I was understanding what was being said *perfectly*. The sound quality was magnificent, and the voice enhancement that the product brags about is spot-on.

There's an added bonus.

TV Ears says that most theaters use the same technology that they do. I wasn't sure I believed that, so continued to use the (most often) old and sometimes dysfunctional headsets that theaters provide. Fed up with watching theater employees throw headsets into bins, and at least a 50/50 shot that when the movie started I was going to have to go back and exchange the headset, I tried the TV Ears. They worked. Instead of simply "booming" the sound, it was just like at home. They enhanced what was being said. I go to movies all the time, so now I "never leave home without" them. They're better than American Express. <wink>