Which are the best headphones for excluding external sound ?

[gamba]

I had an MRI scan yesterday.

The patient is provided with headphones so that the staff can speak to the person being investigated inside the tube. Also, & much more necessary, is the other use for them in order to reduce the noise output from the scanner to the patient, which , at times is almost more than one can bear & can last for up to 40 minutes ! This for patients who are in many cases already seriously unwell. At times this is similar to standing alongside a pneumatic drill or piledriver - plus a variety of other noises, all at exteme volume.

On emerging, shaking & deaf, from the 'tube', I asked to have a look at the headphones provided for this purpose. They were pathetic. A magnificent new hospital with all the latest equiptment & all they could provide were a tatty old pair of phones with little more than the remnants of padding remaining. I was appalled & made my feelings clear. I also conveyed the same message to a more senior member of staff, that they should have them replaced.

I have a feeling that little or no action is likely to be taken, in spite of my request, so I thought I'd give them a month or so & if nothing happens will purchase a more suitable pair of ' cans ' myself, & ( if they don't cost too much ! ) present them to the department. This not for or to the NHS, but out of sympathy to others having to undergo this ' torture .' I know for sure my own wife would not survive this treatment & there must be many more even less likely to survive such an ordeal.

So, please, any suggestions for a really effective pair of ' cans.'

[umslopogaas]

You have my sympathy, gamba, I had one of those a few years ago and its not a pleasant experience. They offered me a choice of music and I opted for some Mozart, but heavy metal would have been more appropriate, Mozart was completely obliterated by the noise of the machine.

I no longer use headphones, having moved to a house sufficiently isolated that I can make as much noise as I like without upsetting anyone. However, for many years I did use them, since I lived in a tiny flat with many neighbours to upset. I still have them, Sennheiser HD 530 II. I dont suppose that model is still availably, but if there is an equivalent modern Sennheiser, I think they'd be a safe bet. These are of course corded phones, I believe there are cordless ones but I've never investigated. Also, it is possible that they wouldnt be usable in an MRI scanner, the signals might interfere with the machine (or the machine with the signals).

[Paul Sherratt]

http://www.scansound.com/index.php/mri-noise-reduction-headphone.html

[Resurrection Man]

I admire your altruism but I fear that any expenditure will not be put to good use because no metal is allowed inside the MRI scanner, I thought? Or maybe it's only certain metals...otherwise anyone with amalgam fiullings would have a problem!

EDIT: Reading the link above, I see that MRI specific headphones exist...but my point is still moot.

[MrGongGong]

I had an MRI scan yesterday.

The patient is provided with headphones so that the staff can speak to the person being investigated inside the tube. Also, & much more necessary, is the other use for them in order to reduce the noise output from the scanner to the patient, which , at times is almost more than one can bear & can last for up to 40 minutes ! This for patients who are in many cases already seriously unwell. At times this is similar to standing alongside a pneumatic drill or piledriver - plus a variety of other noises, all at exteme volume.

On emerging, shaking & deaf, from the 'tube', I asked to have a look at the headphones provided for this purpose. They were pathetic. A magnificent new hospital with all the latest equiptment & all they could provide were a tatty old pair of phones with little more than the remnants of padding remaining. I was appalled & made my feelings clear. I also conveyed the same message to a more senior member of staff, that they should have them replaced.

I have a feeling that little or no action is likely to be taken, in spite of my request, so I thought I'd give them a month or so & if nothing happens will purchase a more suitable pair of ' cans ' myself, & ( if they don't cost too much ! ) present them to the department. This not for or to the NHS, but out of sympathy to others having to undergo this ' torture .' I know for sure my own wife would not survive this treatment & there must be many more even less likely to survive such an ordeal.

So, please, any suggestions for a really effective pair of ' cans.'

having had several long sessions of MRI fairly recently I have sympathy for your plight (I had to spend an hour and a half in it on one occaision)
however apart from the Scansound ones on the link above you can't have anything metallic so these are pneumatic like the cheapo plastic ones they use
I had a long conversation with the technicians about wanting to record the sound of the scanner and basically as its a massive set of electromagnets it will kill anything you take near it !

Actually I found that I quite enjoyed listening to the sounds the scanner makes (hence wanting to record them) maybe i've spent too much time listening to esoteric Japanese noise music ?

But you have my sympathy ..............

[gamba]

Thank you all - your combined advice has been very useful. As I have already mentiond, I'll tackle the authorities in a month or so.
Ultimately, I would, as I have said, be prepared to donate a suitable pair to the department as I find it hard to live with the image of the really old & infirm being subject to such treatment. I was surprised to find a reference on google mentioning that the very latest in MRI equipment not only being much more effective but also being louder than ever before ! ( Our hospital is very new with the latest of everything ! ).



Again, my thanks.

gamba

[mercia]

my sympathies too. I think my worst experience was, having been inside for half-an-hour, the technicians realised no images were being produced and had to start again. unfortunately I believe the more powerful the machine the louder the noise but the better the images. I would prefer industrial ear-protectors as worn by airport workers or pneumatic-drill operators, with no piped music.

[MrGongGong]

my sympathies too. I think my worst experience was, having been inside for half-an-hour, the technicians realised no images were being produced and had to start again. unfortunately I believe the more powerful the machine the louder the noise but the better the images. I would prefer industrial ear-protectors as worn by airport workers or pneumatic-drill operators, with no piped music.

Sometimes you just have to "embrace the chaos" rather than self medicating with Bruckner

[Paul Sherratt]

>>with no piped music

All piped music is hell.
And then there is Classic FM ...

[Dave2002]

I have a feeling that little or no action is likely to be taken, in spite of my request, so I thought I'd give them a month or so & if nothing happens will purchase a more suitable pair of ' cans ' myself, & ( if they don't cost too much ! ) present them to the department. This not for or to the NHS, but out of sympathy to others having to undergo this ' torture .' I know for sure my own wife would not survive this treatment & there must be many more even less likely to survive such an ordeal.

Sounds grim. I doubt that I could cope, even for a few minutes. I'd want an emergency "ejector seat". I was once put in another scanner, and strapped in. I broke free! I only went back in on condition that I was not strapped, and promised to keep as still as possible, which seemingly worked. Do these things work if they anaesthetise the patient so that he/she does not experience the dicomfort and anxiety, or does the patient have to be conscious? I might just cope with a PET scanner (virtually silent and a much larger radius "tube" and not so wide) so not so constrained, and the radiation doses used are pretty small with a very short half life. Are PET scanners used nowadays?

[Simon B]

Having experienced an MRI scan, I add myself to the list of sympathisers!

In my case it was a brain scan (to my surprise, they found something - i.e. a brain rather than the empty space I was expecting!). As I recall, this meant that the headphones weren't an option. Moreover, I had to keep my head absolutely still for the considerable duration, which meant it being wedged/strapped for enhanced enjoyment. I found that the key to not having an attack of claustrophobia was to on no account open my eyes so that I was never confronted with the inside of the tube mere inches from my face...

The noise is pretty intense - I was provided with a pair of foam barrel earplugs, which would be my preferred option were I to have another scan. Used properly, these can reduce the sound intensity far more than insulating headphones - 25dB+. I presume that patients get a sub-damaging total sound dose over the course of a scan or proper protection would be obligatory. Anecdotally I'm not convinced though, as it seemed awfully loud to me despite the earplugs - which I'm used to deploying correctly as they're the same as those I use sometimes when playing orchestral percussion.

As others have mentioned above, ordinary headphones (or electronic devices of any description) are a complete no-no anywhere near an MRI scanner. MRI scanners generate seriously intense magnetic fields. Their strength is such that metal objects in the vicinity can be subjected to tremendous mechanical acceleration (i.e. turning them into lethal projectiles) or intense heating (potentially causing serious burns). This isn't just a theoretical risk, the forces/energy involved are serious and people have been seriously injured and killed in this way. Don't believe me? A quick search of reputable sources should turn up evidence - e.g. the US FDA has http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Sa...&utm_content=4

I'll spare you the details we were given as undergraduates of what happened to someone who ignored protocol and accidentally ended up in a lab with similar oscillating magnetic flux densities to those inside an MRI scanner and was still wearing his metal watch when the electromagnets were powered up. Not nice...

I'd hope that if (with the best of intentions) Gamba, or anyone bought any device as discussed, the hospital wouldn't let it anywhere near an MRI scanner. I wouldn't want to go anywhere near it in the absence of a strict safety protocol that ensures they know what's going in or anywhere near it, where it came from and can be sure it's safe.

Your best bet might be to offer to make a donation toward the purchase of a new set - which will probably be expensive for what it is due to the above.

[gamba]

Simon B,

Sounds quite frightening ! Earplugs would not have been acceptable in my case anyway, as the staff were passing information to me re. the progress of the procedure & any instructions through the headphones.

[mercia]

the staff were passing information to me re. the progress of the procedure & any instructions through the headphones.

oh yes, I'd forgotten that aspect of it

[Mahlerei]

I went for an MRI a few years back without realising how narrow the tube was; within seconds I had an attack of claustrophobia and requested they stop. The form asked me all sorts of silly questions - was I pregnant, did I have shrapnel from a war wound - but didn't ask if I was claustrophobic. The only way they got me back in there was with a dose of Tamazapam; then it was such a trippy experience, like that psychedelic sequence from 2001. All I needed was some Ligeti to go with it. :)