by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote,
I am almost deaf in one ear. I have trouble hearing music via headphones that play different parts in each ear piece—specifically when I am listening to my iPod with the earbud headphones. Is there a product out there for people who can only hear out of one ear that will play both stereo channels out of just one ear piece? I’ve searched the Internet and couldn’t find anything. Surely I’m not the only one with this issue.
Excellent question. You definitely are not alone. Fortunately, I have the answer you need.
What you want to do is feed both stereo channels into a single earbud that goes to your good ear. (You won’t be hearing true stereo—as that takes 2 ears—but you will hear everything on both stereo channels combined together into the one earbud).
Here’s how you do this. There are two options.
The neatest would be if you could find a single earbud wired to a stereo plug. I’m not aware of any so it may not be possible to find any. (However, if you were hard of hearing and wore a hearing aid in your better ear, you could switch to t-coil mode and use a single Music Link (which is wired to fit a stereo jack).
The other way is to get two things—a , and a stereo to mono adapter from Radio Shack (Part No. 274-374, $2.99). Then plug the adapter into your iPod and the earbud into the adapter. Now you’ll hear both channels in the one ear.
Note that there are two versions—the EAR 013 (above) and the EAR 013T. The EAR 013T has an extension tip that better fits into your ear canal. However, any single earbud with a mono plug will work if you happen to have one kicking around.
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Addendum: For a more elegant solution—source of an earbud with stereo jack—see our article Hearing Stereo with One Ear (good solution).
We have developed a single earbud that mixes both the left and right channels of stereo audio into one ear. Go to http://www.scansound.com/single-stereo-earbud.htm to view our “1-BUD”. This will be especially helpful to those who have lost their hearing in one and want to use a single earbud for both audio channels from their iPod.
I can certainly identify with the woman who asked the question about the one hearing ear bud. I also lost my hearing, in one ear, 2 years ago after brain surgery. I recently received an MP3 player as a gift and was looking all over the internet for such a single ear piece where you could hear both channels in your good ear. It’s good to know some one makes such a device. Like you said it wouldn’t be stereo but at least you could hear both channels in mono. You mentioned iPODs, would it also work on MP3 players? Thanks so much! Tim Olivetti
Hi Tim:
You betcha. The dual channel single earbud works with all audio devices that have a stereo jack. It doesn’t matter what kind of audio device it is whether an iPod or MP3 player or computer, or radio or TV, etc.
Thanks for the ideas that go beyond mono. Mono shorts out the signals from each channel into a dull mix. I am glad to hear there are devices to get stereo into one ear. I think the single ear, over time, can be trained to discriminate two channels, even if just a little. I’m going to give it a try.
Just lost the left ear to menieures.
Hi George:
I think you have the wrong idea of what is happening. With a stereo jack to a single earbud, all that is happening is that both stereo channels are mixed together into one mono signal. As far as your ear is concerned, you are only hearing pure mono now.
Neil
I have otosclerosis in my right ear (therefore very little hearing) but normal hearing in my left ear. I’ve just been given an iPod for Christmas and am intrigued to read about the single mono earbud option. However, I’ve also been experimenting with cranking up the volume all the way, then wrapping a bit of tape around the left earbud to mute the sound. For the first time in 20 years — with the right volume amplified and the left volume muted — I’m able to hear something that vaguely approximates stereo! However, I noticed that I got a headache very quickly. Can the high volume damage my right ear, even though I don’t actually hear much? Should I give up on my fantasy of hearing stereo and go for the mono earbud instead? Thanks!
Last night I built my own single ear head phone and for the first time in nine years I enjoyed my Ipod using headphones. Is there anyone out there that can build my design?
Hi Thomas:
How does your design differ from others already out there?
Hi;
I believe that the stereo-to-mono adapter as described by Dr. Neil is all that is needed in conjunction with ‘normal’ stereo earbuds. I presume that the normal earbuds will simply direct mono output to both buds once being plugged into the adapter. Even though one bud isn’t heard, the combined signal should still be heard by the one ear that works.
Further to my comment above, I purchased the adapter and used it with my regular stereo earbuds. All of the blended sound is directed to the Left earbud, (and none to the right), which happens to be perfect for my hearing condition (Deafness in one ear). So for me, there is no need to purchase the single mono earbud.
One alert, however – – in Canada, the Source (formerly Radio Shack) are no longer restocking the adapter. I was fortunate enough to purchase their last one ($.99).
Deaf in right ear since birth and have, for the past few years, used the head-phone jack on my TV.
Didn’t take long to notice something wrong – whatever was on the right channel I lost and, after a while, this was driving me nuts.
Tripped over the Scansound ear buds mentioned above by Barry Leeper and they did the trick so, if you’re deaf in one ear and need an in- or on-ear device, go to scansound. Prices for even their most sophisticated earphones are very, very reasonable.
The solution I finally ended up with was to get two adapters.
A 3.5mm stereo plug to mono socket adapter
then put into that a 3.5mm mono jack to 3.5mm plug adapter.
This way you get a (combined stereo) mono signal going to both headphones… you can then either choose to cut the cable you don’t need (saves battery power) or leave it as is.
^ second adapter should read 3.5mm mono jack to stereo socket
http://www.scansound.com/1-Bud.htm#1BUDPRO
Earbuds for People who are Deaf in One Ear
and Those Who Want to Hear Stereo Music in One Ear
purchased from Barry arrived in a day or two i got two pairs and i think i’m going to order a pair or 2 of the buds that go over the air i have been deaf in one ear since about first grade theses earbuds are great
thanks
mark
Brilliant! I’ve been deaf in my right ear since birth,will be ordering 2 buds from scansound🤘
Have been using one of the ibud single ear units from http://www.scansound.com. I bought two different units from them. The gold/silver/white one sounds the best but I have not tried any of their new pro models. I will be ordering a pair soon. These single bud units from scansound are much clearer than the stereo to mono adapter, I don’t know why but I tried the adapter first and it takes much of the life out of the music, not so with the units I bought from scansound. I have been deaf in one ear for 7 years now and have very loud Tinnitus in my deaf ear. So.glad someone is making these earbuds.
All –
SSD (left) audiophile since age 6 (45 years ago)
I purchased the Scansound Deluxe bud to see how they compare to my Sony earbuds. While very good, we are still talking Mono and they simply do not compare in bass and brilliance.
Talked to Barry at Scansound (great guy) who is heading to the CES show in Vegas (this week 1/6/11) to find a manufacturer to produce two speaker channels into one bud – this is the only way we are going to get all the sound provided by having both channels into one ear.
Thanks Barry – will keep an eye/ear open for that upgrade – from all of us SSD’s – we thank you for your efforts and wish you great luck.
GS
Nipomo, CA
Re: Scansound.
I bounght three sets of the 1-BUD Earphone Set. All three of them broke within a month. The bud casing on the first one seperated when I was trying to change the ear fitting when I just had it out of the box. I thought it might be a one off so I tried the next one. I was relatively careful with it but after about a week the second one broke in the ame way. The third lasted about 2 weeks more. If it was just one going wrong I would go back to them asking for a replacement but it looks like a design flaw to me. I don’t want a replacement now. But I would steer others away from this product. It sounded good but…
Disappointing as I only have one ear and was excited to try their product!
Fergus
we had exactly the same priblem with the Scansound headsets. loved the functionality but both the onebud and the much more expensive model broke within 5 months. looking fr an alternative that delivers stereo in one ear butvcant find anything.
Update from my earlier post: sorry Fergus and Arnie had such bad experiences but I’ve been using Scansound’s buds for four years and have had only one problem – casing separated. A little Krazy Glue applied with a toothpick solved the problem.
I should mention that in those four years I’ve treated these buds very roughly: it took some time, but I managed to wear out one wire connection by constantly moving and twisting and twirling the wire, which finally snapped after 18 months. Put shortly, I’ve had good luck with the products durability. So, I stand by my original post: Scansound’s buds are as good as they get.
My problem is – I need an over the head one, I wear a set of SkullCandy over my hearing aids currently, in the T switch mode.
I’m a bilateral hearing aid wearer, but in November, I’ll have a cochlear implant.
In addition, these earbuds won’t work if we wear digital hearing aids to fill in the tones that we can’t hear.
For me to wear an earbud, I’d have to take my hearing aids out. (not to mention that I’ll be deafened in the one ear as a result of cochlear implant surgery)
Any suggestions other than those big clunky DJ headphones?
I purchases one of the premium 1-Buds but was dissatisfied with the sound quality. Barry recommended the MXP-RM top of the line unit with the microphone as having superior sound quality. I still find that it is very bass heavy, like the first one I tried and does not sound as good as the Panasonic bud I was using with the Radio Shack adapter. The Panasonic (and most other buds) have much better mids and highs. I do like the built in mic for use with my phone, though.
Try the 221 Single Ear Stereo earphone from Sensaphonic. I ordered a set several months ago and the sound is fantastic! And the noise canceling effect is great too…sounds just as good as my Bose except I can hear the whole song not just the bass or treble! The only drawback is the price..$450.00..but it is worth it to me as I use these daily. You will have to get a mold of your inner ear made from an audiologist..maybe $20.00 and they will custom make a earbud that fits snugly in you ear and you won’t even notice it after awhile it is that comfortable. Well that is my 2 cents!
Greetings. I didn’t get to read all the comments…
I lost hearing on one ear. I need a ear bud that is monaural. However, it is for my smartphone, so I’ll need it for phone calls too. Do any of these devices do that?
Hi Daniel:
Any earphone/earbud that is wired with a stereo plug will work to hear both stereo channels in just one ear. They will work with smart phones to hear music. To use a smart phone as a phone you hear with the earphone/earbud and talk into your phone as you normally would. (In this case, you don’t have an external microphone on the earphone cord so your phone doesn’t switch into headset mode–thus your phones internal mic remains active and works just great for phone calls.)
Regards
Neil
This guy is making and selling stereo headphones where the left and right audio channels are in one ear of the headphone duplicating the stereo effect of headphones on one ear.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Stereo-Headphone-For-Unilateral-Deafness-Dual-L-R-Stereo-Channels-in-Single-Ear/283070395742
Hi Jules:
Thanks for the “stereo” link. This is a really cool idea. It’s not true stereo of course, but I think it’s the closest anyone has come to simulating stereo when you only have one ear.
Cordially,
Neil
I can hear both left and right channels of a headphone in one ear and I can directional cues with these headphones with one ear while playing video games.
Left is up and right is down and if I hear the sound on the up side I know I am being approached from the left side of the video game.
So being deaf in one ear – this headset has restored almost all the ways I used headphones before my hearing loss.
Thanks for the reply and I hope this helps someone out.
Do they make a wireless earbud for for single sided hearing? I need one for the left ear.
Hi Alvin:
I don’t know whether they make one or not, but maybe someone else reading this can help you.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m deaf in the left side, and I just buy 2 and use one. though uncomfortable, and not all functionality is usable(buttons on both sides and stereo) but on the plus side, while I’m using the right sided earbud, the left one charges, and I just endlessly change between them…
Only 12 years too late but: I (deaf in one ear) have set up both my Android phone and my Windows PC to combine both the left and right channels, and to send them to both sides, then you don’t need any special hardware. No idea if you can do that with iPhone. And I’m sure there will be devices out there for which you cannot do that.