Erik  and all

     If you are at all interested, I followed up Erik's advice and did find some earphones that could be made to work. An inexpensive earbud of the variety I was looking for is the Sony MDR-EX33LP. With careful removal of a bit of plastic, it works quite well. I was not at all encouraged by the sales person where I searched who was quite emphatic that there were no earplugs that could be extended in the way I wished and I was reduced to trying to peer into those sealed packages.

Ed Wall