vmsea

Are you saying you can hear "tss tss tss" sounds in an AIRPLANE? over the engine droning sounds?? wow..
I know exactly what you are talking about.. but I've heard that only in quiet places like a waiting room, library, maybe even on quiet streets.. but never in an airplane..
That's very sensitive hearing.. impressive actually


Exactly. I use my Shure. I don't hear a thing but the movie/music, and no one hears any leaks from it. Great earbuds..

Yaatri

The following edits, indicated by [***] are by the moderator to comply with the FlyerTalk rule that we discuss the topic, not the members:
[***] I know they could not have been loud because neither the FA, despite her initial claim, nor the person seated next to em, nor I could hear any sound from the head phones when they were off my head. It would be impossible to. [***]
You nor, anyone else has any way of knowing how loud the head phones were. did you know how loud the sound was?

The issue was how some people will complain about almost anything even when there is nothing to complain about.
Quality of sound is not the only issue with headphones/microphones.

If the only way something provided by the airline can be used is at the expense of someone else, then of course, the airlines is responsible. Logic and clear thinking is your friend. If your reclining gets int he way of someone behind you, you can't really blame the recliner for reclining their seat. [***]. If the headphones are poorly regulated or the they don't respond linearly to volume control, it's entirely the airline's fault, even if one assumed the headphones were loud, which they weren't.

Science Goy

If someone else could hear them and be bothered by them, they were too loud by definition. If it was impossible for you to use the headphones without bothering somebody else, it was your responsibility to NOT use the headphones.

Headphones don't disturb people. People disturb people. (to borrow from an unrelated and far more contentious mantra )

[Deleted by moderator to conform to edit of previous post.]

PTravel

It's not a question of good or bad, but of open or closed design:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headpho...or_closed_back

Open back headphones, whose use on airplanes dates back to the old Sony Walkman days, can, absolutely, be heard by other passengers when they are turned up high. Indeed, it can be quite annoying because all that will be heard is the higher-frequencies, making a sound not unlike crickets.

No, it's easy, and I've heard it often. I'd also note that I'm in my late 50s, my hearing has started to fall off, and I STILL can hear open-back headphones on planes if they're loud enough (most often used with cheap MP3 players, DVD players and distributed by, at least, UA and CO for in-flight use.

CyBeR

To be honest, I don't know because I've never had this problem myself.

I was speaking generically, not specifically about this issue on airframes.

vmsea

hahah ok cool. I've never had this either.
I don't mean to question anyone.. learned something about the open/closed design.
I'm just amazed someone can hear noise beyond the engine noise. The engine droning drives me nuts if i don't have my Shures on.

Bebedeer

If I can hear another person's headphones across the aisle and one row back they are too loud!

Yaatri

What basis is there that someone could hear. That's what has been repeatedly mentioned here.
Anyone one can complain. Their complain was invalidated when no one could hear anything. Neither FA, nor the neighbour nearest to the headphones could hear anything when the headphones were taken off. It would help to read what's been posted repeatedly instead of going on one's whims.
Wrong assumptions wrong conclusions. No disagreement that people disturb people. Words don't convince people, reading them does. Please do try and read. I's youir responsibility to read befpore responding.

Ancien Maestro

I find some of the earphones are designed having sound distributed at an angle in the earbud.. rotating the earbuds sometimes help correct volume..

ralfp

I hear music from other passengers headphones all the time. That's because I have abnormally good hearing (as in "normal", relatively undamaged). People using earbuds will almost always use far higher volume levels on aircraft than they would on the ground. They do this to overcome the engine sounds you mention, thereby negating much of the engine noise's masking effect.

Also, engine noise is not purely "white". Sounds from headphones can be at frequencies not well masked by engine noise.

^

If someone several seats away from you can hear your headphones, you should be worried about your own hearing. Either it's damaged already, or you are in the process of damaging it.

Be selfish... worry about your own hearing. I can hear my iPad just fine on its lowest volume setting using my Ety hf2 headphones, even on an aircraft (though I sometimes bump it up a bit). Get a set of good in-the-canal earphones. You'll protect your own hearing (they let you use much lower volume levels) and avoid the original problem.

IMHO, any discussion about bothering others is for philosophical purposes only. My hearing is too valuable. Isn't your's worth far more than the $100-300 you'd spend on a good pair of in-the-canal earphones?

N.B. I am not an expert on [psycho]acoustics or hearing, but I am relatively well versed in those subjects.