[fudge_brownie]

My son is 23 years old and developmentally disabled. He loves listening to his music - Backstreet Boys are his favorite - using his personal boom box. When he travels he takes a portable CD player with him and headphones. When using headphones the issue is volume, he is not cognizant that he may be hurting his ears, certainly not capable of testing the volume and turning it down as he "adjusts". Rather it plays at what I feel is an excessive level.

Are there headphones that provide proper sound dampening for the best quality but yet have a method to limit volume, preferably a method that can be secured or at least made tamper proof with sealant or glue?

This is not for a music connoisseur so sound quality is not as important as volume control and lockout.

 

[redshifter]

i'd suggest a high impedence headphone that is closed. maybe the hd250-250? the high impedence would keep the decibles down even at max volume. if they are closed he might not want to turn it up if there is a lot of noise around.

 

[Tim D]

Some Sony gear has AVLS, and a lot of european portables have similar volume restrictions. They are not 'intelligent' volume limiting systems however, but a low-sensitivity phone + portable of that sort should do it.

 

[odaen]

Try importing a music player from the Uk. Quite a lot of them have volume caps on so that they comply with EU regulation.

This combined with a pair of low volume headphones would work.

Edit: That post above was posted before I started typing btw.

 

[Necros]

I guess you could glue the volume control at a fixed safe level, if even after using the above phone specs..

 

[gsferrari]

Just remove the volume control from the outside and install it inside the boombox and out of reach. Set it at a certain level and seal it with silicon sealant.

Alternatively you can cut the wires from the volume control and hardwire them inside the boombox with another equivalent pot where you set the volume. This way he will still turn the volume control but the volume will not increase. I think this might be equivalent to "cheating/fooling" him and I dont know how this will be interpreted - take it as a humble suggestion.

It is also easy to make a simple circuit that will simply cut out all sound if the volume is too high. until volume is turned down the system will not play sound.

 

[Cthulhu]

Or you could put just put resistors in series with the volume control to attenuate the volume at max to what you deem is a safe level?

Edit: If you cap the volume control to a measureably safe level (get a volume meter or something and make an approx measurement) then he can still adjust the volume so everything will still work as normal - avoiding the "tricking" problem.

AVS style gear is another option.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cthulhu Or you could put just put resistors in series with the volume control to attenuate the volume at max to what you deem is a safe level?

Sometimes the best solution is the simplest...and most of the time I cannot seem to think of it without getting twisted up in all complications.

This is the best solution IMO.

 

[Jmmmmm]

What about getting headphones with an in-line volume control. Plug them in, source on max vol., and turn down the in-line volume to the max acceptable, then make the in-line volume knob unchangeable. You could do this by taping the knob, gluing it, physically breaking the switch, etc.

 

[jjcha]

Hmm - I hope no one takes offense, but just in case the original poster doesn't speak "headphone-geek" like the rest of us, here's a translation:

1. Get a pair of headphones that just can't be played loud out of normal equipment like boomboxes or portable CD players. redshifter suggests the "Sennheiser HD250", because it has high impedence, which means (in plain English) most portable CD players/standard boomboxes have a hard time reaching loud volumes even at "max" with headphones with high impedence. redshifter also suggests this model because it is a "closed" headphone. These types of headphones, as opposed to "open", generally are good at keeping outside sound from coming in. As a result, your son might be happier listening to lower volumes, because the headphones won't need to fight against outside sound leaking in.

2. Tim D suggests a portable CD player or boombox with AVLS - which stands for "auto-volume limiting systems". Sony puts these (or at least used to) into many of their models. I actually had one - it's activiated by a little switch on the player that you could glue "on" or otherwise break, so it stays on. Tim D warns though that these systems aren't perfect, but this, coupled with a headphone like the one redshifter suggests might be the best approach.

3. odaen's post is in plain English =). Just some background info from me - the EU does regulate things like portable CD players and imposes a limit on the max volume. Do your research though to make sure the model you're buying does do that.

4. gsferrari and Cthulu start talking about going into the hardware and rebuilding/working it with various approaches. If you're interested in this approach - I can't help you, because it's all a foreign language to me...

Best regards,

-Jason

Postscript:

I really like Jmmm's approach - some headphones have volume controls built in. So what you do is test it out - put the CD player on max volume, then lower the volume control on the headphone to an acceptable level. Then break the volume control on the headphones. That way, he's only able to control the volume on the CD player, and even at max volume it's already at an acceptable level. I know Sennheiser makes a number of inexpensive headphones that have this feature. The PX-40 and MX-550 come to mind.

 

[Cthulhu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmmmmm What about getting headphones with an in-line volume control. Plug them in, source on max vol., and turn down the in-line volume to the max acceptable, then make the in-line volume knob unchangeable. You could do this by taping the knob, gluing it, physically breaking the switch, etc.

I agree with jjca that this is a great solution - its only not the best if you want to preserve the maximum illusion of control.

 

[zaack]

Buy something like the Ety P-S adapter (w/c has resistors wired on the line to increase impedance and making them harder to drive to ear-splitting levels)...
that'll decrease the volume on most headphones to a safe level.
this is what gsferrari and Cthulu are talking about..

 

[hugz]

This is a tricky problem.

The sollution of using a headphone with an in-line volume control is good as long as your son is not going to be frustrated at not being able to use the in-line volume control. In-line volume control means that there is a volume control located on both the cd player and on the headphone cable. This means that you can turn down the volume on the inline control and glue it in place, and no matter how high he turns the cd player up, the inline volume will still be low and wont damage his hearing. The obvious disadvantage of this is your son may be frustrated if he notices that there's a volume control that's glued into place and is interfereing with his music control.

The hardware sollutions (eg adding resistors to the volume) are the best sollution if you know someone who can do it for you. If not it's probably too complicated and i wouldn't bother with it

Good luck

 

[Cthulhu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaack Buy something like the Ety P-S adapter (w/c has resistors wired on the line to increase impedance and making them harder to drive to ear-splitting levels)... that'll decrease the volume on most headphones to a safe level. this is what gsferrari and Cthulu are talking about..

an adaptor cable would be removeable unless you soldered it on, and give the game away. Plus resistors are insanely cheap if he already owns a soldering iron (which may, or may not be true)