You could go with a headphone splitter but I have no idea how well these would work.

My best advice would be to invest in good quality headphones with dual volume controls. Here’s a list from a quick search.

I live where Koss headphones are made. My grandpa had a pair of high quality Koss that had this feature. The sound was crystal clear perfection.

EDIT: Here’s the link to Koss Dual Volume search listings.

The splitter, I believe is for two people who want to share the same mp3 player. You and I listening to the same iPod, for example.

I will check out the link you found, however. Thanks.

Yes, but that’s how people do this on the cheap @gailcalled. You buy 2 single earbuds and plug each one into the dual splitter.

I’ll have a look. I was able, thank you very much, to send this question to Koss to get their opinion. So I am on the right track.

Are you using an iPhone? There is a balance slider built-in (under settings/general/accessibility).

I want them for an old-fashioned Sony portable CD player. I listen to audio books in bed in the dark as a way of fighting insomnia. The problem is when I roll over and have my good ear squashed in the pillow. I set the volume for my good ear, of course.

Much more easily done in software than hardware, I think. A true hardware volume control requires a pre-amplifier that needs its own power, meaning battery. A passive potentiometer might work but physical requirements such as connections and housing still means add-on box, unless it’s already built into the equipment.

Every iPod/iPad/iPhone device has a software balance control, though linearity at the far ends of the scale is unpredictable & probably varies from system to system. This would matter if your hearing differs between ears greatly.

Theoretically you could add one series resistor to the good-ear side of the headphone connector, though it will take some trial-and-error to settle on the right value (I’d start with 100 ohms). The volume control might have to be set louder than usual to drive a higher total impedance. Resistors are small enough to fit inside many connector housings, if you’re handy with a soldering iron.

How about this?

Dear @gasman: Am I handy with a soldering iron? Could I add a one series resister to the good-ear side? Can I drive a higher impedance? 100 ohms? Those are rhetorical questions, I assume?

Thanks for taking the time, however. Do you make house calls?

@tom_g: That has possibilities although I keeping rereading the text in order to ensure that I understand it. So far, I am batting about 500.

@Milo Is there also a partner @gailcalled?
If not or when partner doesn’t mind/isn’t bothered by it (by the tunred up volume), gail could try the following: put one shell not over/on the ear but on the skull (above or besides the ear), and turn the volume up when desired.
The ‘bad’ ear will get enough sound, and the good ear will hear less but probably (adjust a little when this is not the case) it will be quite balanced.
With in-ear buds it could work too, but then she’ll have to take the bud out of the good ear and hang it over her ear shell (the wire works wonders then).

@gailcalled Sure, if you happen to live next door, lol. I missed the off the shelf part of the question.

Target has earbuds under $10 w/ volume control. Amazon sells a Koss standalone volume control for $7.77 – that might be your best bet for hardware balance controls. It still creates an awkward tangle of cords, not to mention an extra plug & jack connection.

There are more expensive headphone amplifiers w/ rechargeable batteries, but I didn’t see any that specified a balance control – just volume and EQ. (EQ, if you don’t know all the jargon, is short for equalization, which is a more refined version of treble & bass controls.)

I’d still look at software. Surely you can set a balance control “slider” somewhere in your system?

Please refresh my memory… is your hearing loss conductive or sensorineural?

If I am recalling correctly and it’s a conductive loss, you might want to try bone conduction earphones: http://www.aftershokz.com/, http://www.audioboneheadphones.com/, http://www.iheadbones.com/—those are the 3 that came up in a web search, I have no knowledge or information on any of them in order to make any specific brand recommendations.

@hearkat; Predominantly conductive. I can, for example, hear my phone on speaker with my bad ear.

I am thinking about the controls on my high-quality binoculars. I can fine-tune each eye with a different dial before using the main control..

Thanks, everyone. You’ve been helpful but not elementary enough. I will call my audiologist on Monday.

I have a Sony Walkman with its own volume control and a set of cheap earbuds with a single jack that plugs into the Walkman. I don’t bother with balance control since I use it for books and not music.

I am having trouble understanding how the Koss standalone volume control connects. Do you plug the earbuds jack into it and then its jack into the Walkman?

@gailcalled Yes, I think that’s how it connects. Btw I’m not sure the Koss device has a balance control, either, since it’s not mentioned in the specs, so might not be of much help.

I sent emails to both Koss and Senheisser and got unhelpful boilerplate back.

:This looked promising until I discovered that it was out-of-stock.

I have found forums where viewers have asked this same question. Everyone has shared his/her frustration with the products now available. Several years ago there were more and better choices. All discontinued now.

@gailcalled – The bone conduction is the ideal solution, since the sound vibration travels through the bone, bypassing your malfunctioning middle ear; you won’t need separate volume controls if your residual inner ear (cochlear) hearing is fairly symmetrical with your other ear.

In the 70s and early 80s I remember having headphones with individual VCs, but I highly doublt you’ll find anything like that now.

@hearkat: David Pogue in the NYT loves them for everyone and makes a persuasive case fror spending $90. He also mentions that they are also better for audio books than music.

I will brood a little more but this does sound good.

Remember, that I do not have stapes in the bum ear, just a malfunctioning titanium prosthesis.

I just found this quote on the “Audio bones” home page.

“For hearing Impaired. Take out your hearing aid, and place headphones on the bones in front of your ears. Turn up the volume to a comfortable level – and enjoy. Since Bone Conduction bypasses your ear drums, many people with hearing loss are able to hear clearly and comfortably with Audio Bone and no hearing aid.”

@gailcalled – That is correct for people with conductive hearing loss. Malfunctioning stapes or prosthesis, the loss is caused by the middle ear’s inability to conduct the sound into your inner ear. The bone conduction bypasses the malfunction and the sound vibrations go directly to your inner ear. When testing bone conduction, we put the oscillator on the mastoid process – the prominent bump on the skull behind the ear, so the sound is being generated close to the cochlea. There may be a little loss of fidelity by placing the oscillator in front of the ear, but it wouldn’t be much, because the skull bones carry sound very effectively.