[pkadidlo]

I am a musician with significant hearing loss, trying to protect the hearing I have left by using IEMs onstage. I currently use a universal fit pair of M-Audio IE30s which I run off the headphone output of a digital mixer (MOTU Ultralite Mk3). I specifically chose the MOTU because I can create discrete mixes of all my audio sources (vocal mic, stereo keyboard, room mic) for both the FOH (front of house) and my IEMs. The other advantage of this unit over most any other mixer/headphone driver is that I can put a parametric EQ on just the headphones output and increase the mid and treble frequencies (2K and up) in just my phones without making the sound guy listen to that brilliance. Most people would not want to listen to the curve I need to hear a cymbal tap or shaker, but, hey, it is what it is.
 
My question: I would like to move up to a high quality custom molded pair of phones and am wondering if there might be a company that can make custom tuned IEMs that already compensate for high frequency hearing loss so that I could use them with a variety of sources (iPod, computer) and not have to rely on outboard EQing to restore the highs I'm missing. I know it might seem like a waste to buy audiophile phones when I have such dramatic hearing loss. But I love music and I love playing music, but miss so much about what I used to enjoy when I can't hear the highs.
 
Using IEMs has made it possible for me to enjoy playing live music again, both by minimizing the ear-shutdown syndrome of playing on stage that is only made worse by high-freq loss, as well as by allowing me to selectively mix what I need to hear from myself and the rest of the band in isolated phones. The frequency response remains the only challenge at this point, since I can't strap my MOTU mixer across every device I might want to use the IEMs with!
 
Thanks for any suggestion from the forum.
 
Phil

 

[Danz03]

Sorry to hear about your loss of hearing.
I think that depends on how much treble boost you need, it's probably possible to fine tune IEMs by small amounts, but anything more than 10dB would be much harder. I haven't come across many portable high end EQs but maybe this would help? I've never used it myself but I think this maybe what you are looking for.
 
http://www.interstatemusic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_202412

 

[Kunlun]

Etymotic er4 with custom eartips would be perfect for you.
Get an ipod 5.5 gen and rockbox it--then you'll have a nice EQ system, too.