Deaf in one ear. How to get Win 7 to play mono sound

[bilklb]

I am deaf in my left ear.  I like to watch movies and listen to DVDs on my computer, but I cannot get Win 7 to play mono sound, so I know I am missing out on some of the sound.  I have spent most of my life on or within a few miles of Air Force Bases with active runways.  It has taken its toll.  I am about 99% deaf in my left ear, and 40% in my right.  I have Breakaway sound enhancer, which is great at increasing the volume, but I still cannot hear out of my left ear.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Geek-9pm]

Using headphones thee should be enough volume. Have someone make a pad to tie the two channels together. But a simple jumping two channels directly together will cause distortion in some cases. Two  4.7 ohm resistors would make a suitable pad. Get some parts at a local electronic store.

But you should be able to do this inside the control panel. Here is a picture from my XP laptop. I just now set it to m mono speakers.

[Salmon Trout]

Stereo to mono adapter (for headphones or external speakers). Plug into stereo jack and plug headphones or speakers into the outlet.

[Geek-9pm]

Yes, but those things increase distortion level slightly.Better to mic internally using software.

[Salmon Trout]

Yes, but those things increase distortion level slightly.

How do imagine they do that? They are just passive components. Do you just make this stuff up as you go along?

[Geek-9pm]

How do imagine they do that? They are just passive components. Do you just make this stuff up as you go along?

You do not connect the outputs of a stereo pair together without altering the stability or quality. The stereo output is from two amplifiers with disparate inputs each expect a passive load. The headphones are passive, the amps are not.  That is why I mentioned the use of a resistive pad. Do you want to change this thread into a treatise on why that is true?

To the OP. I also am an oldster. I have worked for years in professional audio. My recommendation is do it in software. or make a pad. If you tie the outputs together for amps that deliver more that one watt of power you may get distortion. But if you do not notice any distortion,  then it is OK.

[Salmon Trout]

A typical PC sound card puts out about 2 W per channel RMS maximum. I think any (notional) distortion caused by commoning the left and right outputs is going to be swamped by the distortion introduced internally by the sound card. I really don't think this is going to matter.

[BC_Programmer]

The issue in question is that the OP basically can not hear an entire channel, so really, even if this alleged "distortion" occured, it would probably be as ST noted negligible and the end result is that they will hear all of it no more having explosions occur to the left and hearing a faint muffled explosion in the right ear.

A 'software" solution could probably be achieved using the system sound control panel and changing the balance, as well. Some programs like to override this, for whatever reason, though.

I have worked for years in professional audio.

You know the more fields you claim to have worked professionally in the less believable they all become.

[Geek-9pm]

Do your homework, BC.
He can get it done in the software. Forget a hardware thing.
Some laptops did not have stereo speakers, there is setting  to get left and right audio mixed to the single speaker.
Is that hard to understand?

[BC_Programmer]

He can get it done in the software. Forget a hardware thing.

With the exception of  using the balance controls (which many programs override for no reason, which means that each app will have to be configured to use that balance) There isn't a software-based method of doing this. If there was, you no doubt would have mentioned what it was, instead of simply saying "there is a software solution". Yes, you mentioned using "Audio Properties" but- and I know this may come as a surprise, but Windows 7 doesn't have the same configuration options. Additionally, I just tested your "solution"  (with an available XP machine I have, switched to "Mono laptop speakers" using the Left-center-center sound test using the  binkster audio test And guess what? "This is the left channel" was spoken out of my left speaker, the right speaker was silent, and "this is the right channel" was spoken out the right channel. I have no idea what the setting does, but if you have stereo speakers it doesn't do squat. If you are going to offer a solution, you should test to make sure it actually works before becoming indignant.

Some laptops did not have stereo speakers, there is setting  to get left and right audio mixed to the single speaker.
Is that hard to understand?

If you are talking about the setting I just tested and confirmed to do NOTHING AT ALL to either channel when using stereo speakers then, no, it doesn't mix the audio at all. I find it hard to understand how you would believe this to be the case unless you didn't actually test and do YOUR homework to try to confirm that both your audio channels were the same. Afterward, I changed the balance all the way to the right, and that didn't work either, it just basically muted the left channel. So that is out as well.

Do you just make this stuff up as you go along?

It sure seems so.

[Salmon Trout]

Geek has taken to sending me plaintive PMs saying things like "Computer PSUs do have ripple". Welcome to my block list, Geek. I was right - he is turning into Billrich.

[jason2074]

I am about 99% deaf in my left ear, and 40% in my right.  I have Breakaway sound enhancer, which is great at increasing the volume, but I still cannot hear out of my left ear. 

Bilkb, do you used hearing aids in your condition? Have you tried using other free softwares such as VLC or Winamp with Headphones or Computer Speakers and using the Mono/Classical Preset then adjusting certain Balance and Volume?

[ROBLMOORE]

I know this is an old post but people may still be looking for an answer, and I have found it

About two or three months ago my left speaker in the laptop died. It did not bother me because most games and music seemed to sound just fine with one speaker. Movies and such usually get routed through the headphone jack  to the surround sound system. But today I wanted to listen to a podcast and there was no sound. Windows volume meter showed there was infact something playing but it was not coming out the right speaker. I tried playing something else and it played fine. So I figured that the pod cast must be playing only out the left channel. So started my quest, to set windows 7 up to play sound in mono. Going to playback devices and configure for the speaker only had a stereo setting.  I have a realtek driver loaded and nowhere could I find a mono setting.
So I finally ended up at the realtek site and downloaded a generic vista/win7 driver.
It did not want to install because the driver was not signed. I uninstalled the old driver. I tried again to install the generic driver I had just downloaded without success. So finally I decided not to use the setup.exe and instead double clicked on alcupd.exe (the driver update program). Success. Only thing is that because I uninstalled the laptops sound driver, I no longer have any of the environment or equalizer settings. Not a big deal for me, If I need them I will just reinstall the laptop sound drivers. So I right click on the speaker icon in the taskbar and choose playback devices, then the properties for the headphone. I renamed headphone to Internal Speaker. Then under enhancements I chose Headphone virtualization. Success, now can hear both the left and right channels on the one good right speaker, with just slightly less volume.
I was able to hear my podcast just fine with the new settings.

So I guess "Headphone virtualization" equals Mono sound. Hey it works for me, maybe it will work for you.

[patio]

Bump of the Month finalist...

[Geek-9pm]

A typical PC sound card puts out about 2 W per channel RMS maximum. I think any (notional) distortion caused by commoning the left and right outputs is going to be swamped by the distortion introduced internally by the sound card. I really don't think this is going to matter.

Salmon Trout, I have great reset for you. You skills amaze me.
*censored*.. what you  just is the dumbest thing I ever heard.

As said earlier , each output IC wants a passive load. It e has to be a evasive pad to join two outputs. Two small resistors will do. About 4 to 10 ohms for each channel.

Somebody draw him a picture.

EDIT: In windows you can force mono output.