Amplified Headphones for the Hard of Hearing: TV, Phone and Everyday Options Compared (UK)
A note on what this site is. Ovara sells a personal sound amplifier, which is one of the options compared below. Nothing here is medical advice. If you notice a change in your hearing, book an appointment with a hearing-care professional first.
"Amplified headphones" and "amplification headphones" are what people type when the television, the phone or the laptop is too quiet for them and too loud for everyone else. The phrase covers three quite different products, and the right one depends on a single question: is the difficulty tied to one screen, or does it follow you around the house? This guide goes through the options available in the UK, what each costs, where each falls short, and when a headphone is the wrong tool altogether.
The three things people mean by amplified headphones
| Option | What it amplifies | Typical UK price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wireless TV headphones | The television only, via a base station | £40–£200 | One person, one sofa, one screen |
| Amplified stereo headphones (with a volume boost or speech-clarity setting) | Whatever they are plugged into: phone, tablet, laptop, radio | £20–£120 | Calls, podcasts, video on a device |
| Personal sound amplifier (behind the ear) | The room: TV, people, the laptop, the outdoors | £30–£150; ours about £74 | Difficulty that moves from room to room |
1. Wireless TV headphones: the cheapest complete fix for one screen
A base plugs into the television's optical or headphone output and sends the sound to a headset by radio or Bluetooth. You set your own volume; the room keeps theirs. The well-known UK ranges are Sennheiser's RS series, Avantree and the supermarket own-brands, and the better ones add a speech-clarity mode that lifts dialogue above the soundtrack, which is usually the actual problem with modern television mixing.
Two things to check before buying. First, the connection: many new TVs have no headphone socket, so you want a base that accepts optical (Toslink) audio, and some sets need the TV's audio output switched from "TV speakers" to "external" in the sound menu. Second, whether the headset is the over-ear kind or the lightweight under-chin "stethoset" style; the second is far more comfortable for people who wear glasses. If the television is the whole difficulty, this is the answer, and our guide how to hear the TV better without turning up the volume covers the free settings to try first.
2. Amplified stereo headphones: for the phone, the tablet and the laptop
These are ordinary headphones with more gain and often a tone control that lifts the speech frequencies. In practice most people get the same result by turning up the volume on the device and enabling its accessibility features: iPhones have "Headphone Accommodations" that tune the balance to your ears, Android phones have "Sound Amplifier", and both let you push the maximum volume higher in the accessibility settings. Try that before spending anything, because the limits below apply to both routes.
The limit is the source. Amplified headphones only amplify what they are plugged into. Take them off and the room is as quiet as it was. For calls specifically, an amplified landline handset is often the better buy, and our guide to every type of assisted listening device covers those.
3. A personal sound amplifier: when the difficulty follows you around
If the television is hard, and the conversation at the table is hard, and the person on the other end of the laptop call is hard, you do not have three problems. You have one, and headphones solve a third of it. A personal sound amplifier is a small device worn behind the ear that makes the sound around you louder and clearer, with a volume dial you set yourself and a mode switch for quiet rooms and busy ones. It goes where you go, and it is the only option in the table that handles the room rather than a cable.
It is also the option with the clearest limits, and we would rather state them than have you find out: it boosts all the sound around you, it is not tuned to your individual ears by a professional, and if you struggle to follow conversation even in a quiet room the right first step is a hearing-care professional, not a purchase. What it is and how it works is in what is a personal sound amplifier; how to get it to sit right is in the fitting guide.
Loudness, and why "amplified" should worry you a little
Every product on this page makes sound louder, and loud sound from any source can harm hearing with enough volume and time. Headphones are the riskiest of the three, because the driver sits on or in the ear and the volume boost is exactly the feature you bought. The habit that protects you is the same for all of them: start at the lowest setting, raise it until speech is comfortable and stop there, and take the headset off for a few minutes each hour. The volume question is covered properly in are hearing amplifiers safe.
How to choose, in one minute
- Only the television: try the TV's speech-enhancement setting, then a wireless TV headset with an optical base. £40 to £200.
- Only the phone or laptop: the device's own accessibility settings first, then amplified stereo headphones if you still need more.
- Calls in particular: an amplified landline handset; some councils provide them.
- The room, wherever you are: a personal sound amplifier. The Ovara™ Sound Amplifier is about £74 with 30-day returns, because how a device feels in your ear cannot be judged from a photograph.
- Conversation is hard even in a quiet room: a hearing-care professional first, before any of the above. In the UK that is a GP referral or a high-street check, often free.
The honest summary
Amplified headphones are a good answer to a narrow question and a poor answer to a wide one. If you can point at the single thing you cannot hear, buy the headphone that plugs into it. If you cannot, because the difficulty is the room and not the screen, the device you wear is the one that helps, and it is the one we make.