Hearing aids and high fidelity

[furnitureguy]

There is currently a related thread on hearing loss – which prompted me to post.
Having worked around loud machinery all my adult life - I have had a hearing loss in the high frequencies for many years. Several years ago I got hearing aids, but all they did was turn up the volume on unintelligible garbage – very frustrating and of no real value.
I recently heard there has been huge technological improvements in hearing aids. So I got retested, and got a new pair (rather expensive –over $6,000!) To let me slowly adjust to them they were only turned them up to compensate for about 1/3 of my loss. Last night I sat down in front of my AR-10pi’s and did an A/B test – with and without the hearing aids. I was amazed at what I had been missing. I was accustomed to the loss and did not think I was missing that much. The difference is ASTOUNDING! I can’t wait until they are turned up to replace my entire hearing loss.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[Satcom123]

Well like you and many others that had to ware hearing aids had those amplified one's. I have one with a 3 band equalizer built in but it can only be adjusted by a computer hook up at the audiologist's office. These HA were $600.00 each. About every year and a half the amp goes bad and you have to spend a hundred for that.

I did some reading about different HA (hearing aid), They have come along way. They have some that were developed for musicians and people that play in orchastras. The cost for them at the time was around 3000.00 dollars a piece.

Would love to have something like that.

What brand are they?

 

[medicmike]

Glad to hear you have a positive result. I was fitted with custom in the ear hearing aids which also produced a masker sound to cover up the ringing or tinnitus I have. This was back in the early 80's. They were not much, the sound was not natural at all. I have no doubt there are much better quality products out there today. Enjoy

 

[audiodon]

The key is to protect what hearing you have left during your work day without the hearing aids in. If your ears keep changing, it might be hard to have the hearing aids keep up with the rate of change.

 

[furnitureguy]

Satcom - the brand is Starkey. I have no idea if these are similar to the ones developed for musicians. All I know is they have made a difference that I would not have imagined. I have no way of knowing how well these compare to hearing naturally with good ears. I will not do any serious music listening without them now. If it weren’t for the fact that I have a well-documented hearing loss – I would never have afforded these. State industrial insurance pays for them
I am in the pleasurable process of going back and listening to all of my favorite music - to see what I have been missing. I used to think I could compensate by turning up the treble – NOT TRUE!
One really interesting thing…... I think we all know smells will activate memory. For me the smell of a blooming laurel bush will instantly conjure up memories of my Great-grandfather’s place (1950’s). I put on Sergeant Pepper’s yesterday. When this album came out I listened to it at least twice a day for over a year. There is no piece of music I know better – played it countless times on my Saunsui 5000x and AR-3a’s. Hearing this album with all the harmonics back in place brought back a flood of memories from my teenage years (1960’s). I listen to this album on a regular basis and while it brings back memories - not such vivid ones as my listening did yesterday.

Don – I am still enjoying the Sony SACD player!! Yes I do wear hearing protection in the shop. I have heavy duty ear muffs with noise canceling circuitry. Its amazing how quiet they are. Not at all like the hearing protection that was around when I was young – which the noise just pierced right through.

 

[manookjs]

This is a thread that I can relate to. I was reintroduced to audio again when about 3 years ago I had my hearing tested and becasue of age and unprotected shooting lost a lot of my higher frequescies. I was fitted with some behind the ear aids that were able to not amplify everthing but only add the higher frequesncies that I was missing. The brand name is Phonak (no affiliation) but I'm sure ther are several brands on the market that are as good. Mine were about $4,500. Well worth it!

Modern technology is wonderful and I now have my audio passion rekindled!

I too never knew how much was missing. A blessing??? I guess so but I am spending way too much now for audio gear.

 

[furnitureguy]

I was fitted with some behind the ear aids that were able to not amplify everthing but only add the higher frequesncies that I was missing. The brand name is Phonak (no affiliation) but I'm sure ther are several brands on the market that are as good. Mine were about $4,500. Well worth it!

Modern technology is wonderful and I now have my audio passion rekindled!

I too never knew how much was missing. A blessing??? I guess so but I am spending way too much now for audio gear.

Yes - that’s the same as mine - behind the ear and only amplifying the frequencies that I am missing. My previous hearing aids were fitted in the ear and I relied on them to amplify everything. This is truly a blessing!! I had no idea these would work so well. The main reason for trying the “new” hearing aids was to better understand human speech – it’s very frustrating to go to a movie and understand very little of the dialog –or makes sense of conversation in an auditorium (with lots of background noise). The ability to really hear music again was a gift!. I can’t wait untill they adjust my hearing aids to compensate for all of my loss – even more sound that will be there!

 

[manookjs]

That was my reason too! I could not hear my wifes voice in a restaurant or crowded room and like you, movies and television were interesting trying to make up what the story line was about just by watching! Came up some with some wierd stuff! I didn't really think about the music until I got them and started listening to my surround sound that I threw together with some old and inexpensive speakers and a low end 5.1. Even they sounded so different. It was the start of improving my TV set up and it grew to my 2.1! However, the down side is that I can now hear my wife. Just kidding, she a sweetheart!

 

[Redikilowatt]

Thanks for the post, FurnitureGuy!
It is encouraging to hear (heh, heh) about the improved technology. A combination of noise (cotton mills) and genetics caused significant hearing problems for several members of my family. Mom tried many hearing aids over the years that provided minimal improvement. The "in-ear" models lacked power and "behind the ear" models did not meet her fashion standards and weren't much better. All required frequent tuning and their life expectancy was about three years. The hearing aids normally cost $2-3000 and batteries had to be replaced weekly :sigh:

Glad you regained hearing and the joys of music

Roger

 

[Rodzilla]

i don't wear or hopefully need hearing aids yet,but they sure have come a long way...when i recently met my new landlord i noticed he some pretty futuristic looking ones on,i figured he obviously had some hearing loss and never really thought much more about it...

a while later attempting to have a conversation with him on the GF's Iphone i accidentally hit the screen with my cheek or ear...i don't know but i somehow managed to hang up on him anyway.face to face afterward in explaining what had happened...he mentioned that tho he also used an Iphone,that never happened to him...his hearing aids are Bluetooth enabled...honestly i thought this was the coolest thing i had heard in quite a while,it never would have occurred to me that they might make such a thing, but what a natural combination of technology...not only useful as a headset for your phone,but custom tailored headphones for music as well...i was actually almost a bit jealous LOL

 

[luddite]

I've been thinking about this problem a bit recently, since several of the guys I work with have developed bad hearing and one of them rues the loss of music enjoyment. I supposed that if I set him up with a 12 band equalizer and a really good pair of headphones he might be able to adjust it to hear the music again a lot better. This would work wouldn't it, as long as there is something left in the ears to pick it up?

 

[Rodzilla]

I've been thinking about this problem a bit recently, since several of the guys I work with have developed bad hearing and one of them rues the loss of music enjoyment. I supposed that if I set him up with a 12 band equalizer and a really good pair of headphones he might be able to adjust it to hear the music again a lot better. This would work wouldn't it, as long as there is something left in the ears to pick it up?

i suppose it would...but it would depend on the severity of hearing loss,if the guy's been to an audiologist and tested,he should know or at least be able to ask where his problems lie and what ranges to tweak...whether a regular graphic EQ with 10-12db range is flexible enough to compensate i guess depends on their personal situation,a parametric EQ would likely be a lot more useful for this sort of thing

i guess the danger is the same as any headphone use,a bit too much volume and they could actually cause more damage...some care and understanding of just what they're doing would definitely be in order