An Unusual Headphone Shopping Trip
I still wonder what the member of staff must have thought!
Sometimes, I come up with unusual solutions to problems. After what I did today, I think you’ll see what I mean.
The Shopping Trip
This afternoon, I went to my local Currys store, looking for a cheap pair of headphones to destroy. (Well, modify. The reason will become clear later!)
The scene in the shop reminded me of an episode of Mythbusters, when they went to buy a trombone. I loved the part when they told the shopkeeper that they planned to blow it up!
(You can find a clip of that episode here on YouTube.)
Normally, I don’t like it when the staff in a shop come over and want to help me. But I didn’t mind too much on this occasion.
I explained that I was looking for some cheap over-ear headphones, and didn’t care about sound quality, because I wasn’t going to be playing anything through them. I went on to describe how I planned to dismantle them, and mentioned that it would probably void the warranty.
I think my zany sense of humour was lost on them…
Thinking that they understood I wasn’t going to be using them in the usual way, I was a little surprised when they asked if I wanted wired, or wireless.
Before long, I found a reasonable pair of headphones. They weren’t too expensive, and they were quite comfortable.
Unfortunately, they were not in stock. So I went over to the gaming section, and eventually settled on a basic gaming headset for £20.
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| The ADX Firestorm H01 gaming headset — it had no idea what lay ahead! |
Rain Noise
During the recent stormy weather, I’ve been struggling to sleep. My bedroom has a bay window which gets battered by wind and rain. Even worse: ever since the small flat roof was ‘renovated’ by a roofer earlier in the year, any rainfall now results in a loud dripping sound, as the rain falls from the roof onto the windowsill below.
The roofer was supposed to do nothing more than replace the roof covering. But when they found the wood was rotten near the edge, they cut it back without telling me. Unfortunately, due to the reduced overhang, the rain no longer misses my bedroom windowsill.
So for the past several months, every time it rains, I have to tolerate an annoying ‘tap, tap, tap’ sound on my windowsill.
I used to think that my sensitivity to noise has reduced as I’ve aged, but this has made me think again. It’s reminded me of being a child, when I could not sleep due to fences rattling, rain in plastic gutters, or distant railway noises etc.
When I complained to the roofer, he told me that his roofing work could not be the cause!
When I persisted, he threatened me with violence — not exactly great customer service! That resulted in more sleepless nights, even when it wasn’t raining.
Wind Noise
As if the rain noise wasn’t enough, there is now another noise when it’s windy.
The silicone sealant above my window has failed. So every time there is a gust of wind, it makes a sound that resembles someone playing a comb and paper. (If you’ve not heard of that, here is a Wikipedia page describing it.)
Indecision
So why didn’t I get someone else to fix the roof, earlier in the year?
I’m not sure if it’s an autism thing, or an ADHD thing. But I often struggle to make decisions.
(See: Welcome to my Autistic Mind and Decision-Making Problems and Autism.)
One excuse is that I was considering whether to move house. And it seemed wasteful to fix something that would not increase the value. Also, I don’t seem to have much luck when it comes to finding good tradespeople.
During the summer, there wasn’t too much rain. So I didn’t think about it very much. But I’m regretting it now — I wish I’d got it fixed.
Temporary Solution
I’m a side-sleeper, so putting a pillow over my exposed ear was usually enough to block out the dripping sound. But the pillow tends to fall off, and can make me feel too warm.
Now that there is the wind noise as well, it’s getting to be too much.
I have a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, which are very good at blocking out the weather noises. However, I can’t sleep on my back, so they’re of no use to me during the night.
At one point, I discovered that my noise-cancelling headphones block out the weather sound adequately, even when switched off.
So I wondered: what if I were to buy a cheap pair of over-ear headphones, dismantle them, and use elastic to hold one ear cup over my exposed ear, while I sleep on my side? (I know I could have used ear defenders instead, but headphones tend to be softer and more comfortable.)
And that’s what I bought the headset for.
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| The headset, after I took it to pieces. |
I felt bad, dismantling a working product. I made the mistake of trying out the headset before I began. Even though it’s cheap, and not as good as high-end headphones, it seemed decent for the price.
I had to remind myself why I’d bought it, and about all the sleepless nights.
I still hope to get someone to address the source of the noise at some point, but that will take time.
I’ve now finished preparing the headset for use as a sort of earplug — wish me luck!
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| The end result: a single ear cup, to block out noise when sleeping on my side. |
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The author first published this article on Medium. It was added here on 18 December 2021.
All photos taken by the author.
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