An app to pause music in order to speak to a person while listening to music on earphones?

[el_gallo_azul]

Rather than stopping playback (podcasts, music, movie, anything that's playing sound into my earphones), extracting the earphones from my ears, and saying, "What?", I want to "push a button" that pauses the playback, and uses the Android device's microphone to enable me to hear the person.

I have an external device, a Shure Push-To-Hear Attachment (SEPTH), but I'd rather use the capabilities that the Android device already has, which would include pausing playback instead of merely silencing playback.

I haven't found an application that will do what I'm after, and I'm not even very sure how to search for it.

Any suggestions?

 

[chanchan05]

I don't think there's an app that can do as of now. All options for that I've seen is on specific earphone models only, like the Gear Icon X.

 

[el_gallo_azul]

I don't think there's an app that can do as of now. All options for that I've seen is on specific earphone models only, like the Gear Icon X.

Gosh. It would be tricky to isolate it to only one earphone model. They'd have to install some kind of hardware dongle, I suppose.

I'll leave this post here for a while in case it does exist. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't, because it would be so handy.

 

[chanchan05]

Gosh. It would be tricky to isolate it to only one earphone model. They'd have to install some kind of hardware dongle, I suppose.

I'll leave this post here for a while in case it does exist. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't, because it would be so handy.

What I meant was, it's not an app, it's a feature of the earphones themselves. I think it's called "sound pass-through" on some models.

 

[tommo47]

You haven't said what device you have but my HTC devices have that functionality. When I'm listening to music with earphones I can make or receive calls and the music pauses for the duration of the call. I usually use the TRRS microphone equipped earphones that come with the device. When using TRS earphones the device microphone remains active.

It may, of course, be yet another of the many significant differences between devices/manufactures/carriers .

Edit - ignore above - see below

 

[Hadron]

The OP isn't talking about calls though - I think they want to press a (software) button on the phone and use the phone mic to hear what someone physically present is saying.

Now personally I think it would be quicker to pause music (through button on the headphones or just unplugging them) and remove them from one or both ears than to pull the phone out of a pocket, unlock it, find the software button and press it. And then keep the phone in my hand so the mic isn't muffled by putting it back in my pocket. So I'm not so convinced of the utility of such an app.

It also requires one app interrupting another. For phone calls the music app monitors whether you are in a call and pauses itself - it's not the phone app pausing the music. That's why the music player has telephone permissions, not so it can make calls but so it can tell when another app is doing so. So this hypothetical app has to do something different (though that shouldn't be impossible, as there are ways of implementing music pause controls outside of a specific music app).

But all told I'd be less surprised than the OP if this doesn't exist.

 

[Spec2nirvash]

Certainly a good idea. I have a battery powered Ryobi headset that suppresses gunshots but has active mic pass-through so you can hear other people talking without having to remove the headset. It has a 3.5 mm line in that you could attach a bluetooth receiver to. In order to work as OP stated, all one would need to do is install a switch to open/close the microphone feed. But pausing music simultaneously would require more engineering, but could be done without using an app, me thinks....

 

[el_gallo_azul]

It's very difficult to remove one or both earphone/s from the ear/s. I use sound-isolating earphones, which means you carefully put them in as you would earplugs. "Sound pass-through" is exactly what I am avoiding. That is why I currently use the Shure Push-To-Hear Attachment (SEPTH) when cabin staff approach to talk to me every 5 minutes on flights.

This has nothing to do with differences between devices/manufactures/carriers. It applies to any headphones or earphones, and any Android device (with microphone, which most do have) that can play audio through those headphones or earphones.

On my Samsung device, I can currently tap the "Home" button twice to start the camera, without needing to unlock the phone or do anything else first. I grab the phone and tap the button twice, and the camera starts.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

The Pause button on the 1More Triple driver earhones does that, pauses programs so you can talk. It doesn't use the microphone though.

 

[el_gallo_azul]

The Pause button on the 1More Triple driver earhones does that, pauses programs so you can talk. It doesn't use the microphone though.

My earphones isolate too well for me to be able to converse without taking one or both out.

 

[psionandy]

Would something like this work.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.it4you.petralex

Not sure if it would pause the music... But you may be able to use tasker or something like it to glue the two apps together if it doesn't

 

[el_gallo_azul]

Would something like this work.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.it4you.petralex

Not sure if it would pause the music... But you may be able to use tasker or something like it to glue the two apps together if it doesn't

I didn't see that (and similar) apps before I made this post. They might be useful, and it might indeed be possible to get Tasker (or similar) involved to get the functionality I'm after, but I'm inclined to see if it's possible without too much time and effort on my part. In my experience, making anything more than a very basic Tasker task requires too much maintenance for it to be worthwhile. For example, every factory reset (required all too often, in my opinion, due to others' apps) means troubleshooting and repair every time.

I appreciate the suggestion - thanks.