Author Topic: Aftershokz  (Read 1795 times)

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Aftershokz
« on: 25 March, 2021, 07:40:30 pm »
I want to buy some Aftershokz headphones, for use when doing Zoom meetings, because I have poor hearing, and headphones and my hearing aids, do not get on. If I wear normal headphones and no hearing aids, I can't hear my own voice, which I hate, and it puts me off my stride at important meetings. I currently use the speakers, but this means I have to shut myself in the office to avoid noise nuisance to Mrs W, and vice versa.  I believe they (Aftershokz) will work well, but they only seem to do bluetooth ones, and I'd rather just use wire, rather than magic radio.  As its my desktop PC I'm sat at doing Zoom, obviously it doesn't have bluetooth.  How do I provide that, in a simple "plug into a USB port" way? 
Wombat

Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #1 on: 25 March, 2021, 07:43:12 pm »
You can get a Bluetooth dongle, about a fiver, from that Amazon.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #2 on: 25 March, 2021, 08:15:50 pm »
Can't you use software to play back your own microphone through your headphones? There is a setting in Windows to listen to a microphone.
Though it may have a bit of lag, could be annoying.

Or connect it through some sort of mixer device.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #3 on: 25 March, 2021, 08:16:37 pm »
Barakta has a similar problem - with her hearing aid set to DAI[1] for meetings she can't hear herself speak and ends up shouting.  She's taken to using an older, less clever, hearing aid on her less-good side just to get a sense of her own loudness.

But yes, to Bluetooth-ify a desktop, you just need a USB dongle.


[1] I think you can program them to mix some room sound with the DAI program, but you'd need to go back to the audiology computer to turn it off again, and what's the point in being a hearing aid user if you can't turn them off in response to annoying sounds.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #4 on: 25 March, 2021, 08:20:34 pm »
Can't you use software to play back your own microphone through your headphones? There is a setting in Windows to listen to a microphone.
Though it may have a bit of lag, could be annoying.

I think that's only viable with a purely analogue signal path.  Back in the 1990s my SoundBlaster Live! could mix the recording and monitoring audio separately, but when we tried to do the same for barakta (see above), neither of her machines could. 

There are few things more distracting than hearing yourself delayed by more than the tens of milliseconds that could pass for an echoey room and less than the several seconds it takes to be effectively another person talking.  Bluetooth is right out.

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #5 on: 25 March, 2021, 09:15:01 pm »
Having just grasped that a Bluetooth dongle should just do it without fiddling, and that they're so cheap, one will be ordered pronto, as will a set of Aftershokz. 

So simple it hadn't occurred to me to check.... oops.
Wombat

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #6 on: 25 March, 2021, 09:22:11 pm »
can't hear herself speak and ends up shouting

If this is the symptom, I'm not sure Aftershokz are the solution - my wife uses Aftershokz to listen to music while running and she does tend to shout if she wants to communicate while wearing them...

I think they're one of those products that sound like a better idea in theory than they live up to in practice. YMMV - I know they have a lot of fans round these parts.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #7 on: 25 March, 2021, 09:25:41 pm »
can't hear herself speak and ends up shouting

If this is the symptom, I'm not sure Aftershokz are the solution - my wife uses Aftershokz to listen to music while running and she does tend to shout if she wants to communicate while wearing them...

To be fair, that's the nature of music.  It doesn't pause to listen when you start talking.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #8 on: 25 March, 2021, 09:27:54 pm »
To be fair, that's the nature of music.  It doesn't pause to listen when you start talking.

FPWM.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #9 on: 27 March, 2021, 07:22:00 pm »
Update:

I'm wearing the Aftershokz now, listening to a youtube video of a couple doing a tango whilst I'm doing this.  £7 dongle from Amazon, Aftershokz Openmove.  For some reason my brain was not acknowledging that USB can connect pretty well anything, not just data transferring of sticks etc., silly as my PC has wireless mouse, and, until recently, keyboard too.  Keyboard died after 10+ years, so new Cherry wired one boight.

I can't rule out buying the headset version with a boom mic for the extended Zoom meetings I have, but that's not a major problem as I use a decent mic anyway.  Some of my Zoom board meetings can last from 0930 to 1700, so battery life will be an issue, but with a quick top-up while we have our lunch (while still working) I think I'll manage.  Thanks for guidance, YACF!

I can hear Mrs Wombat in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and I can hear myself speak, which was the main aim. 

I'll also pair them with my phone, which reminds me that I need to pair my car nav/entertainment thingy, with the new phone too.  I had to replace my ageing Sony Xperia Z5 which was still fine, because its too old to do wifi calling, and as our phone signal is so poor here, I'm missing calls from my ancient mother (which distresses her), and also not getting OTP codes from her bank when trying to pay for stuff for her, so I bought a monster Xiaomi thing with a battery that seems to last me 5 days.
Wombat

Re: Aftershokz
« Reply #10 on: 27 March, 2021, 07:54:35 pm »
I have the headset with boom mic. Better life is excellent.With maybe an hour of meetings each day, will last the whole week easily just sitting there on standby most of the time, not even being turned off when the laptop is off, just reconnects automatically when it sees the laptop in the morning. And when is does need charging it is impressively fast. All that is good as it does have the annoyance that it is disconnected from the PC whilst charging. I have worn it for occasional 4/5 hour sessions without any discomfort.