[moophus]

Especially with foam tips, getting that perfect seal is an art and it takes time, only to be ruined by:
 
"Hey.....hey.... HEY!!...."   with painful hesitancy, you pull out one side of your in-ear monitor, awaiting the important dialogue to follow..  "What was the name of that youtube video?"
 
Apparently someone at Shure was just as much annoyed as I am in such situations and have included a Push-To-Hear unit on their top of the line IEM's.
 
I've always wanted to implement this in software since it really is a simple function.  I found a program called Autohotkey which lets you script multple functions into a single keypress.
 
So, I got it to work great with this script:
 
==start file==
 
 
^+1::
 
send {Media_Play_Pause}
 
soundget mic_mute, MICROPHONE, MUTE
 
if mic_mute = ON
{
   soundset, 0, MICROPHONE, mute
}
else
{
   soundset, 1, MICROPHONE, mute
}
return
 
==end file==
 
On the keypress of CTRL+SHIFT+1 , this script pauses my music and unmutes my microphone.  If pressed again, it mutes my microphone and resumes my music.
 
Works brilliantly!!
 
It can also compile the script into a single executable which runs on startup.
Of course if you are using an external DAC you will have to address the exact Device you want to mute/unmute and also the correct device you want to pause/resume.
 
I have also mapped the keypress to an unused button on my mouse (logitech) and it works a treat.
 
Anyway, thought I might share my findings. Enjoy.