Can anyone recommend computer headphones?

@joyces, I can explain what you may or may not have experienced. Your audiologist should be your go-to person whenever you have a problem with any product that they sell to you. Don't give up on them when you have a problem. The manufacturer specific products (hearing aid, remote mic, streamer, etc) are setup by the audiologist. So, you mentioned that you had a remote mic and it wasn't strong enough. Chances are, it was setup by your audiologist incorrectly. Hearing aids are programmed to NOT make your hearing worse. They do that by limiting the volume. When you use a manufacturer specific remote mic, it has its own profile programmed into your hearing aid. You would have to make sure your aid was in the remote mic program when you want to use the mic. The same is true for a telecoil. You have to make sure your aid is in the telecoil program mode when you are using your telecoil to pick up the signal from and induction loop. The audiologist programs how much input comes from the hearing aid mic, remote mic, or telecoil. The hearing aid smartphone app may give you control over these inputs. For example, when I use my remote mic, I have to put my hearing aids in the remote mic program. Since we may want to be able to hear the person next to us, the hearing aid microphone needs to work. My phone app lets me control how much signal can come in from the hearing aid mic and how much can come in from the remote mic. I may not want to hear the person next to me so would give ALL input to come from the remote mic. Your app or hearing aid may not give you this functionality so your audiologist would have to program your aid to your needs.
Now, regarding your question on an induction loop. First, you do not need a Pocketalker if you have a telecoil. Keep in mind that the telecoil needs to be activated by your audiologist. If you have a telecoil program, then you have the telecoil inside your aid. Even if you do not have a telecoil program, you may still have the telecoil in the hearing aid, its' just not been activated by the audiologist. In your case, the Pocketalker would be used if your hearing aids die. It's an amplification device, same as a hearing aid, but with a built in telecoil. You would use it with headphones or earbuds. Note that the older Pocketalkers did not pick up the signal from an induction loop. The Pocketalker 2.0 will.
Let me know if there's something that I haven't covered enough
Tony in Michigan

Tony, thank you! Good info. I thought about the Pocketalker for meetings, one of my great challenges. The mic I tried to use was paired with my aid, but just didn't have much ability to pick up sound. Tried it in groups, but it wasn't strong enough to pick up voices around a table. Because the groups are discussing technical stuff, I've found that even Live Transcribe muddles the "strange" terms, leaves me wondering what in the hell's being discussed. <g>

At present, I'm afraid to set out even for the little 60-mile drive to the nearest city and my wonderful Costco woman, plus, of course, there are no meetings at present. My situation is made difficult due to the fact that Meniere's offers distortion, recruitment, and, perhaps hardest to understand, fluctuation from hour to hour, day to day. Right now, I need to get the crises under control, so hearing problems need to wait until I can move around the world comfortably, with the assurance that I won't do a face plant!

Sorry for the delay in responding. Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread 🙂

@johnbishop, I’ll check into Plantronics, thank you for the suggestion.

@ner, your idea of trading hearing aids for headphones is basically what I had in mind. Though I’ve worn hearing aids for decades, I don’t have them currently (and won’t be visiting an audiologist any time soon). I can't hear much of anything through the computer speakers, so I will need to reply on headphones for now.

@IndianaScott, thank you for the tip, I'll check into DJ headphones as well.

@tonyinmi, you make a good point about using technology that works with hearing aids which are programmed for your specific hearing loss. But currently headphones are my only option. Even once I get hearing aids, I think it would be great if the audiologist could also provide a separate device with the same program as used in your hearing aids, but that you could plug into the computer and use with headphones.

@julie04, thank you for the info about neckloops. I’ll check out Williams Sound, once I get hearing aids again.

@joyces, I read print books all the time - it's a nice break from working on the computer all day - so there are still some of us out there 🙂

@ner - 'rely on headphones' not 'reply on headphones', sorry 🙂

Wow, @nancsw, I'm sorry you find yourself in this jam during the lockdown. What a terrible ordeal. Let's hope you catch a break sooner rather than later. and can get back to a more normal hearing capability.

Thanks for your post. I think you ask an excellent question, though I don't know if the HOH forum is the the best place to get the answer you seek. We are all very HA-dependent and perhaps we don't track solutions that don't involve HAs (and our responses reflect that). Still, I am interested in this and hope if you get a good tip about headphones off list you will post it.

I am interested in headphones because, while my HAs do flow the sound from Apple mobile devices, bluetooth support is unavailable for my Apple laptop, as far as I've been able to determine. If I am missing something I hope someone will correct me and send me to a better source of information. I would love to be wrong about this!

I listen to numerous webinars and online workshops/classes for professional education. These are not streamed like entertainment through a TV. Sometimes I can dial in on my iPhone and listen while watching the Powerpoint slides or other display on computer--but not always. So if I can't bluetooth the speaker via phone, and the computer speakers are inadequate, what other options are available if I want to hear the content better? I think headphones may be the thing, no? So do post if you get a good recommendation, though you may need to ask hearing people about it.

Hey Scott, do you wear hearing aids with these DJ headphones? If so, what brand/model did you get? Do they have a mic built in?

There should be a grass root movement to update induction loops to digital technologies. There are gotcha's with the current very old analogy loop technology that can be eliminated by a digital based design. The new digital loop should be a licensed royalty-free industry wide standard (something along the public domain models of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth standards). Ages ago, there were industry wide standards for FM assistive listening system channels. Unfortunately, there was no successful efforts to maintain and modernize the FM assistive channels for technological advances. Thus, allowing manufacturers to get away with developing proprietary connectivity solutions, for brand differentiations and profitably high prices.

Your idea, Julie, of the simple manual sounds great to me except for one thing: would it not quickly become outdated?

Yes. This is why most of the manuals have been those printed by suppliers. Technology changes rapidly.

I use a Drop HD-6xx over the ear headphones. They are an "open back" design equivalent to the Sennheiser HD 650.I wear it over a cochlear implant and a hearing aid on the the other ear. I found the "open back" causes less feedback on the hearing aid side. A CI by nature do not have feedback issues. This headphone does not have a builtin microphone.