CIST involves playing music into your ear so that your brain re-learns how to hear. I suggest using good headphones. Here are a few reasons:
- You need to be able to reproduce all the frequencies that your ear needs to learn, and this may include very low frequencies that some cheaper headphones do not reproduce.
- You are going to be listening to music at least 6 hours a day and bad headphones can cause fatigue due to harsh frequencies.
- You need headphones that are physically comfortable.
- Some of the time what you are hearing will not make sense, it may sound distorted, it may sound confusing to you. You may be tempted to think ‘my headphones are not working’. So you need headphones that you can trust. This is a psychological battle so you need everything in your favour.
Which headphones work well?
Forget wired headphones. If you are needing to wear them for 6+ hours a day the wire will be too constraining. I started with my wired Bose QuietComfort 15s and eventually I broke the lead because it kept catching on things as I was working.
This site suggests using over-the-ear ‘headphones’ rather than in-ear earbuds. I would agree to a point. But more important is to use what is comfortable for you.
The Sony headphones below are over the ear, plus they also have noise cancelling. This means they are also blocking out background noise to your good ear. I found them to be very good.
Picture your good ear – it has a has a wax plug in it, then the physical headphones, plus the extra noise cancelling. Really good at stopping extra noice.
If you do use in-ear buds, only use one – in your bad ear. And put a wax plug in your good ear.
Here are some headphones that I tried and the verdict for each set. (Ranked in order from best to worst).
#1 – Sony WH-1000XM4 or WH-1000XM5
Absolutely amazing.
Physically comfortable even after long periods.
Good bass response.
Good clarity across all frequencies.
No fatigue even after 12 hours of continual listening.
Excellent noice cancellation to stop external noise.
The WH-1000XM4 sound just as good, and can be picked up directly from Sony as a refurbished model quite cheaply.
The WH-1000XM5s are great for CIST because they also give you a decibel meter on you iPhone app. It tells you the level at your ear. I found this to be amazing for CIST.
It can be very hard to tell the audio level in your ‘bad’ ear. You want it loud enough to hear but not so loud that it damages your ear. The actual level that is displayed on the phone tells you the dB level at your ear so that you can make sure the level is not too loud (eg keep it under 65dB). If you don’t have this you need to pull the earplug out of you good ear, flip your headphones around, check the level is OK with your good ear, flip the headphones back, then plug the good ear again.
#2 – Bose QuietComfort® Earbuds II
These are much better than the Apple AirPods Pro.
Good frequency response
Good bass response.
Very comfortable, can leave them in all night.
These are what I am using for running and for night listening. I can just put one in my ‘bad’ ear and plug my good ear.
#3 – Boss Quiet Comfort 25
These headphones are also great! They can be found for around $100 – $200.
They also reproduce the full frequency range including bass.
Very comfortable (perhaps even more comfortable than Sony – softer ear pads and lighter).
Slightly less clarity than the Sony ones. Can sound ‘muddy’.
I found that while the Sony headphones blocked out more noice, the Bode were quieter. This is just a comport thing. But the Sony had some background hiss. The Bose were perfectly quiet!
#4 Rode NTH-100
These are wired so that it limiting for CIST, but I had a pair I was using so have included them in the review.
Sound quality is OK. Not as great as I was expecting, but good frequency response enough for CIST.
They start to feel very heavy after long hours of listening. Also they and gave me a slight headache doe to their strong grip.
Also my clip broke so not too sturdy.
Last – Apple AirPods pro (2nd Gen)
I am an Apple fan (I run https://macintoshhowto.com) so I was very disappointed to find these top of the range Apple in ears were lacking in bass response. No good for CIST.
They do not reproduce the bass well enough. When you turn the bass up the AirPods seem to limit it.
Noise cancellation was less than the Sony. I was disappointed.
Also when the battery goes flat they start beeping every few minutes which is annoying when you have sensitive ears.
CIST and SSHL 