Hearing Problems

[Anonymous]

Hearing problems, long post:
I was at our local treasure club meeting before Christmas. I looked around the room and didn't see many young people. The majority of the men and women present were at retirement age. They probably have more time to get out and treasure hunt that the young executive who may be more interested in other sports. It came time for the drawing and as they called the numbers, I noticed that people around me had trouble hearing the speaker. Many of them were asking, what did he say? As we get older, we lose our ability to hear. That's only natural. Since this hobby depends a great deal on how we interpret sounds, it's essential to be able to distinguish the slight differences or nuances of sound.
I have been metal detecting since the early eighties. My first machine was a White's 5900 DI Pro. That should take you back. In the past 25 years, I have seen my own hearing deteriorate. This was probably due to flying a Navy jet.
When I purchased an XLT a few years ago it came with a choice of modulation on and off. I also had a choice of many sound frequencies so I could pick the one I could hear the best. I didn't realize how important this was until I purchased an MXT.
Reading Monty's post about the new 8 in. Excelerator coil brought this fact to mind. He said it hit harder (louder or better) on the deeper coins than did the 950! This was a pleasant surprise!
For people like us with hearing problems, we don't need modulation. White's didn't do us a favor. I can tell you why they have this wrong. If we are in a park or on the beach, we are hearing the sounds of life around us. Children laughing and yelling, dogs barking, the sounds of birds and the sounds of normal conversation. When people ask us a question or try to communicate with us while detecting, we can't hear them because we have to totally block the sounds of life around us. Having to wear full coverage earphones just so we don't miss those tiny whispers of deep targets is silly. Look at any teenager going down the street. He is wearing an I-pod and listening to music from 20 to 20,000 cycles. He is hearing everything that the music has to offer plus he is enjoying conversations with his friends, he is enjoying his surroundings and all the natural sounds. He can also hear approaching danger which we cannot. It

 

[Anonymous]

Been detecting since 1973 and used many differnt detectors and headphones. I used to use the cheapies phones,but when I got my Teknetics Mark 1 i knew I had to have a set that gave good volume and tone quality, so I tried the Depthmaster Superphones and was not impressed at all. When I switch to the Sovereign i found the Gray Ghost, Timberwolfs work the best, but the Timberwolfs had the best volumes for us that need it. I have tried many differnt heaphones for my Explorer and tried the Depthmaster black box where your headphone plug and was not impressed. I found that Doc in Vegas sold a amp for the gold detectors that will work with other detector too that will increase the volume for us that need it, works excellent for my Explorer. Now when i use the MXT I find my Timberwolfs and the new SunRay Pros are excellent without a amp and just treid a new set of the Troy Shadow Pro headphones which may be the best I have seen for they are built to last, no switches to switch for differnt detectors as they will work on all, great volume, great tones seperation for detectors that use tone ID.
Like you say as we get older our hearing gets worst, so we have to find headphones that will work for us so the youngen dont kick our butt with good find.
Rick

 

[Anonymous]

Well, without a doubt you are correct ... on several points! <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
In six days I will start my 41st year using these blasted "metal/mineral locators" and, to be certain, I wish this <EM>'seasoned phart'</EM> could move as well as I could "way back when" .. and hear the subtle little sounds like I used to be able to!
I was told in April of '94 by a small flock of doctors who had reviewed my X-rays that they all expected to be dealing with a patient "<EM>at least 65 to 75 years old..</EM>" due to the degenerative back disease associated with my spine. A month later I turned 45 and I can guarantee you that eleven years later my body has <EM>'aged'</EM> me to a more crippled-up state than many my age.
I used to hunt a lot (and I still do) and was able to take a pause in the woods and ear all the slightest of rustling of leaves, scampering of squirrels, chirp of distant birds, and footsteps of my quarry. Those sounds elude me today, and have for a while.
I was told once by a doctor that some of my hearing loss might well be attributed to all the hours I had sspent listening to the audio blasts of my metal detectors, and I guess there could be some truth to that. Some of the loss, however, I attribute to five near-hit incoming mortar rounds in Viet Nam, but most certainly to all the years I used to go shooting without hearing protection, or very poor hearing protection.
In the summer of 1982, almost twenty-three years ago, I was tested for a summer hire, temporary civilian job at Hill AFB in Utah. I was told that I could be hired for a temporary job, but failed to pass the hearing test to qualify as a full-time employee at the base. Then, and for the following four years, my annual testing there netted the same results ... accompanied by the testers telling me <EM>"you are deaf!"</EM>
Those nearby ambiant sounds that tend to override the desired audio you would like to hear can sure be annoying! This is one reason why I prefer certain metal detectors over others, and why I have always evaluated various headphones and/or audio enhancing products.
Personally, I don't care for the Depthmaster Superphones. They didn't impress me with overall performance, or even build quality. I have used several of the Depthmaster and Depthmaster Plus accessories on a variety of detectors through the years but only felt they helped me on a couple of models.
My best hunting buddy in Utah has used a Depthmaster with his Tesoro Toltec 100 ever since they came out. My personal preference, however, has simply been to get the best headphones I can. I have a set of White's K/W Pro that (again) I need to send off to Koss for some fixing before longer detecting jaunts get started this year. The audio on them is very good and they are my 'back-ups.'
They used to be my primary-use headphones but that was until I use a set of Killer B 'Wasp' and have been sold on them ever since. The limiter switch on them gives me the option of which detector model to use it on because not all models need, or benefit from, the clipper circuit (or Depthmaster units).
I never hunt with Modulation 'OFF' on the XLT due to some of the quirky litte electronic noises I hear in operation. Careful listening can detecting the circuitry turning on and off, so to speak to respond to some targets. I prefer to use a good modulated audio unit, and that is one of the things I lkjke about the XL Pro and XLT over the MXT.
I almost always hunt with the MXT cranked up to a gain of +3. Yes, there are times I like a lower Gain setting due to a noisey evironment, but as you inrese the Gain control you also increase the Target Volume and audio Saturation (or Modulation 'Off' in efect). I really enjoy the MXT for a lot of applications, but ... I wish it would have had a peaked Target Volume, like the XL Pro, or a separate adjustment such as on the XLT. To get the benefit I want (need?) of the better Target Volume I have to accept and deal with the noisier operation of the increased Gain.
Your best statement, I felt, was the following:
<EM><STRONG>"<FONT COLOR="#ff0000">I'm only saying what works well for me. This forum has taught me a lot in the last couple of years and I know that sharing ideas is what really counts.</FONT>"</STRONG></EM>
This is perhaps a main reason why you and I and many others seem to hang around these forums and respond as often as we do. Hoping to help someone.
All the best to you! Now, I am off to detect!
<EM><STRONG>Monte</EM></STRONG>

 

[Anonymous]

I forgopt to comment on this statement:
<STRONG>"Reading Monty's post about the new 8 in. Excelerator coil brought this fact to mind. He said it hit harder (louder or better) on the deeper coins than did the 950! This was a pleasant surprise!"</STRONG>
Sometimes the coil selected does a LOT to help enhance the audio performance from a detector. I think the 950 is an 'OK coil. Plain and simple, it does what it was designed tk do, and does it okay for most applications. But I have preferred the 5.3 Eclipse on the MXT out of all the White's coils because I seem to get a little better 'HIT' with it, too, on the deeper targets than the 950.
Widescan coils don't always work as we would like, but I am very VERY impressed with the audio response I get from this 8" EXcelerator! I think one of the reasons I get better deeper-target performance than the 950 is partly due to the handling of the higher mineralization I hunt in, and partly due to the fact that I can get a good audio 'hit' with less coil sweep than the 950.
I was working a park early Sunday before work where the typical ground has a phase reading of 78 in the exposed raw dirt mount from mole digging, but less than five or six steps away it was 85 or 86 due to the exposed or rock, or rock that was just under the lawns surface by an inch or two.
Okay, now I am off to White's and a day of detecting.
<EM><STRONG>Monte</STRONG></EM>

 

[Anonymous]

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