Whispers Communication for tour?

The whispers used on my last tour used earbuds/headphones with a 3.5 mm jack. One of the tour members with hearing aids brought their own over the ear headphones with a 3.5mm jack to use with the whispers.

There are bluetooth adapters with a 3.5mm jack that you can buy. People typically use them on the plane. Here is a discussion about the whispers that might be useful:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/whisper-systems

I wear hearing aids. I find that the best method for me is to remove one aid and put it safely in a case in my crossbody bag. Then I wear the whispers earpiece (or my own over-the-ear earpiece, which I find more comfortable) in that ear. I can adjust the volume so I hear quite well. The hearing aid in my other ear allows me to hear sounds on the street, etc.

Sometimes the guide has an over-the-ear earpiece available, but not always, so I bought one on Amazon. Some people find that they can wear this over their hearing aid. I don’t find that very comfortable, hence I remove one hearing aid.

There is a gadget called an AirFly that can be plugged into the Whispers and which will make it Bluetooth compatible, However the AirFly will not pair with all brands of hearing aids. It will work with AirPods. I tried this once and found that there was a slight delay that caused an echo if I was standing very near the guide. This was very annoying, so I went back to the system described above.

Thank you so much, this info is very helpful. really appreciate it

HI, just fyi when you say you called Whispers for info, I just wanted to share ...on all the RS tours 'Ive been on(except Portugal) the device brand was "Vox". I think the term whisper set gets used generically, and as you indicate, there is a brand called Whisper. We were just on one of the England tours and they were Vox branded. The guide had over the ear ear pieces as an option. Personally, I bring my own wired ear buds as they fit me much better than the cheapie standard "in ear" buds they provide. We did have some folks using blue tooth transmitters attached to the Vox , but would encourage you to call the Rick Steve's office for your specific tour date.

Monica
I am confused by the responses above. I have worn hearing aids on our tours for the last three years.
I have not experienced a "RS Whisper" system that had bluetooth capabilities. However there is a system called "AirFly" that you can plug in to the whisper system instead of the ear phone they supply. You can then "pair" Bluetooth ear pods, headphones, etc.
However, I have not been able to get my Rexton Aids to pair to it. Other brands maybe capable of pairing. Check with your hearing aid manufacturer. Instead I use my Apple Airpods with it. Plus i use the Airfly and Airpods plugged into the airplane's system during the flight..
Definitely take your own listening devise to plug into the whisper. It takes a 3.5mm stereo plug ( the most common).
Hope this help
Twelve South
Amazon AirFly Pro 3 | Wireless Transmitter/Receiver

If your hearing aids have standard bluetooth (not Bluetooth Low Energy/BLE), they should pair with an Airfly. My husband's Phonax hearing aids have standard bluetooth. The dual Airfly worked great for the two of us. All I used was one wireless over-the-ear bud. He connected directly to his hearing aids and carried our shared Whisper/Airfly.

If you are close to the guide, you will hear them both live and a little delayed. I just solved that by not being too close to the guide.

I have Oticon hearing aids. They do not pair with Airfly to pair with the RS whisper systems. I do as Renee described, take one hearing aid out and place it in a zipped pocket while leaving one in to hear street noise. It is what it is.

Hi Margie,
So you are the other person with Oticon! haha! Just joking - my doc says I'm the only one of her patients with Oticon but it's a great fit for me. Thanks for the info about them not pairing w/ airfly. This will be my first trip in April with using the Whisper system.

~Mitzi

I appreciate all these ideas. I wear hearing aids and really need them. I can leave the left one in but if I remove the right one, the whisper earpiece doesn't turn up enough to hear well! I experimented with the airfly which is supposed to work with my hearing aids but it would not pair. So, my solution for this upcoming RS tour (South Italy in three weeks!) is a cheap on the ear set. It allows ambient sounds so I'll still hear street noise but be able to use the whisper set plugged into the earphones. They are small enought to fit in my small fanny/cross body bag. Here is a link.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004T8R2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I just finished the 14 day Best of England and was able to easily use the Whisper earpiece while still wearing my hearing aids. Worked like a charm. The earpiece is small and snugly fit over the hearing aid. Maybe not for everyone but it worked for me.

I don't have hearing issues but the normal earphone RS supplies is too large for my ear canal. The tours in 2016/2018 supplied an alternative "over the ear" earpiece that worked really well for me. Subsequent tours supplied a piece that didn't really work out too well.
I found the 2016 version was available and cheap too. It's an "over-the-ear" D shape earpiece: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W7YNG5M?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title