I am nearly deaf, using the computer audio out 3.5 mm plug for earbuds I often can not hear the audio while attempting to watch a youtube video. Many persons do not carefully record their audio nor use closed caption.
I need to use earbuds rather than playing the sound through a speaker because I have to have the volume up so loud no-one can stand to be in the house. I turn the computer volume to the max, and the video playback to the max and can barely hear audio. It would be nice to have some range that I can turn up or down.
I have looked for circuits that will actually amplify the sound without blowing the little earbuds to pieces. I do not know the impedance of the earbuds but figure they are far lower than the 8 ohms for a regular speaker. I do wear blue tooth enabled hearing aids but the computer does not send the audio signal via blue tooth. They use blue tooth for the keyboard or mouse.
If I did have a device that could connect to my hearing aids through blue tooth, I would still need a way to control the sound level to make up for the wide variation in sound recording levels. I could write a list of ideal specifications like...
1. Simple
2. just plug into the 3.5 mm jack on the standard device such as phones, computers, etc.
3. A volume control knob
4. An automatic gain control that could level out all signal levels to a standard level so the volume control would simply be for controlling the level.
5. A bypass connection to go to an external speaker when watching a movie with someone (it would be nice to still have the ability to use my earbuds at the same time.
Issues:
1. The quality of the sound does not make much difference to me, I cannot distinguish the high fidelity nuances of music any longer. But the tone level can be very critical. When thinking of an equalizer the higher frequencies are completely gone, as are much of the lower frequencies. My hearing aids are tuned to optimize the level for my hearing. There is still the problem that the audiologist is not able to give enough volume to frequencies I am lacking because of the hearing devices feedback causing a squealing sound. I can't hear the squealing but people run out of the room when it happens. So they set the level as high as they can.
2. Headphones are uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. The light ones seem to easily get dislodged, the expensive ones have a pressure that pushes against the head causes an ache in the head.
3. Blue tooth is wonderful, more than a few times I have gotten up forgetting I have the earbuds in and the cable yanks them out of my head.
4. I did not lose my hearing until I was an adult and a bit to close to a bomb going off. (A lot of soldiers have this problem)
5, I know there are commercial devices but I am not certain they will do what I am trying to do.
6. I originally thought an ic amp that ran on 5 volts with a volume level control that I could pug into the USB to get the power, the audio jack to get the signal, and an output jack to plug in the earbuds. Seems simple but would like some guidance. I am not sure where to find that guidance.
Appreciate any pointers,
Mike