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I recently posted about having found that I have moderate to severe hearing loss (-70db from 4KHz and up) and that my entire system was sounding pretty dull. After reading previous threads on this forum and seeing an audiologist, I have been trialing a pair of Semens 5bx hering aids.
There are three programs available on this model: Universal, HD music, and Noisy Environment. Volume level and bass/treble balance are adjustable in all modes, and directionality can be adjusted in Universal mode. Universal is good up to 8KHz, HD Music up to 12KHZ, and I'm not sure about Noisy Environment (which concentrates on sounds close to you and in front).
Today is my second full day. On the first day, I found them somewhat erratic in terms of consistency and they seemed kind of 'hot' in the sound range in which you would hear paper crumbling. They were kind of annoying at times. But today, I sat down and did some serious music listening in an otherwise quiet environment. I was wowed and pleased at what I was able to hear and the extent to which the hearing aids seemed to turn back the clock to a time when I could actually hear pretty well. All the subtleties such as as triangles and background high hat clicks were back, and spacial presentation was really quite good. I think that my brain must be getting used to using the hearing aids, since the annoying qualities seem to be gone today.
All I can say is that if you are testing hearing aids, give yourself some time to adjust to them before drawing conclusions.
Now all I need to do is to pay for them! Ha ha!
Oh, yes! I almost forgot. The hearing aids are programmable through your IOS or Android devices.
Edits: 07/24/16Follow Ups:
due to being in the military (artillery) and working as an consulting engineer around factory machines, etc. He has tried several types of aides but none have allowed him to recover his hearing enough to enjoy music, movies or even casual conversation (especially in a crowd). The doctor stated early on that he shouldn't expect a miracle because he had neglected his hearing loss too long and his brain had essentially shut down certain connections with his ears.
Time is important - do not allow your hearing loss`to go untreated as in most cases, the sooner you address it, the better the outcome.
"The doctor stated early on that he shouldn't expect a miracle because he had neglected his hearing loss too long and his brain had essentially shut down certain connections with his ears."My audiologist told me the same thing. That letting your hearing go for too long makes it at least partly unrecoverable.
Edits: 07/27/16
I am 72 years old with a hearing loss and wear Widex hearing aids. I switch to their music program when listening to music. I like them very much. My audiologist recommended Widex for listening to music, from a variety of manufacturers that she could supply. Hearing aids require programing, and good audiologist is vital for critical music listening. Prior to the Widex I used another brand of hearing aids that also had a music program and had good results.The downside is that the best aids are costly. In my case an equal investment in my Hifi system would not come close to what I get from my hearing aids. I suspect that there are a lot of folks that could have a similar experience.
Edits: 07/27/16
Wouldn't be without them. I tried Oticon aids first but was very disappointed in how they handled music.
But I wish I had a better audiologist. She's bright and good and I don't think they are trained to deal with music.
That's the real key, I think.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
NT
I had Resound hearing aids. They also had a music program that was very good.
I would add that my audiologist has fitted several classical musicians with hearing aids with good results.
So all this info relates to vinyl how?
..funny this topic came up. Just this weekend I played with a string quartet on a mini tour in Arizona. Not one of us musicians could tolerate the awful sound of hearing aids...we all tried them and gave them back. The sound is poor digital...the glorious natural sound of real music is slammed and formed into various programs of ugliness. The truth is that some of the best hearing aids claim frequency response to 20, 000 hz, but the mike of aids go to 6000 hz. I encourage all who need hearing aids to were them, but remove them for music listening.
Sorry Sgreen, I must strongly disagree with your advise that all who need hearing aids should remove them for music listening.
I respect that you are/were a professional musician, violinist to be specific. My good friend Carter has spoken with you and I believe he said you are now retired or semi-retired.
As you well know, hearing is a very complex sense and there are huge variations among individuals. That means differences in hearing loss, frequencies affected, and evenness of hearing response, all before we even discuss the quality of fitting for aids.
My hearing is normal below 1K but declines above that to nothing above 8K. If I were to attempt to play my music at a level where I recovered those diminished frequencies I doubt very much if anyone else in my house or my neighbors would like it. And of course I have no control to increase volumes when I attend any concerts.
When I was fitted for my aids the manufacturer's recommended settings for music were unacceptable to me. Maybe that was what you and your quartet friends experienced? So I had to work with my audiologist to "fine tune" custom settings over several frequency ranges to identify levels that allowed unamplified instruments to sound natural to me. Unfortunately that was time consuming but worthwhile to me. Remember modern hearing aids can do more than simply increase levels.
Perhaps some folks with moderate hearing loss might be happier listening to music without aids. Others might be content with manufacturer settings for music and keep their aids in place with that setting. But some of us needed to use hearing aids go to the effort of custom settings. Sorry, one size does not fit all.
I offer this for the benefit of others since Sgreen apparently found his own best answer.
"The piano ain't got no wrong notes." Thelonious Monk
I'm not encouraging anyone to wear or not wear their hearing aids....I only write to say that musicians that I talk to have rejected them for the results that they get in wearing them. Like everything else, if they work for you....fine. The hearing aid manufacturers have a long way to go to correct hearing to become the "normal" perception of sound...they only act as a crutch to ease the lose.
"I encourage all who need hearing aids to were them, but remove them for music listening."
The latter part is what I responded to.
"The piano ain't got no wrong notes." Thelonious Monk
After looking at the correction curve shown to me by my audiologist, I asked whether a loud sound (such as a cymbal crash) would be portrayed accurately. She replied that it would depend on the level , in decibels, at which it was supplied. In other words, there is compression baked into the sound correction curve.
The programming tries to correct your hearing by a certain decibel level at the different frequency ranges...say, at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 KHz...and so on. Some models have 8 correction points, some have more. The more correction points available, the better the potential to give you a more natural sound. But these are prescription devices and so the makers are compelled to protect you from excessive sound pressure. So the higher the average decibel level of the sound, the less boost they will give you at various frequency levels.
Say for example you are listening to music at an average sound pressure level of 65db. Suddenly there is a snare drum crack that would normally register at 90 db. Your hearing aids will compress it to something like 80db to protect your ears. So this is sound compression, and I found it occurs at all listening levels to some extent. The higher the sound level, the more compression is used.
I have concluded that listening at moderate sound levels will result in a more natural sound.
I've been through the mill of hearing aids for about eight years. I think they "can" be made to work well with music. The problem is with the audiologist. You must first find someone who really understands the technology well and who then knows what music should sound like. The most difficult aspect of all is to put the two together and have them sync up.
I'm in the boonies, kind of, and I haven't found that particular audiologist who can do it all. So, it's a problem for me.
Worth pursuing, but can be frustrating.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
Interesting report Mcmann57. It is good you seem to be acclimating to them.
However we are all different so no surprise that some of your experiences are different than mine.
I heartily agree about allowing time for our brains to adjust to the changes. I also expect that may continue well beyond the second day.
You are fortunate if you found a device where the factory music setting works well for you, I did not. Therefore I've gone through a somewhat lengthly process of customizing one setting for music. That can take much longer than the ear-brain adjustment process. :^(
Also I didn't realize any aids extended to 12K, I thought 8K was the standard upper limit. Still, even that captures most of the overtone range.
Now I can only hope any other Inmates with hearing issues will note your comment, "I was wowed and pleased" and they will take your advice about giving yourself some time when shopping and adjusting.
"The piano ain't got no wrong notes." Thelonious Monk
Go this page and look especially at the third paragraph. I found that in HD music mode, I could hear much more musical detail than in the Universal mode which is oriented towards speech recognition.
http://www.hearingreview.com/2016/03/signia-unveils-primax-hearing-aids/
I noticed the same thing when I first started wearing hearing aids several years ago. Things like crinkling paper, doors latching and car doors locking automatically were almost painfully loud and would startle me. The brain adjusts quickly and it is nice to hear those highs, although I wear them less than half the time for music, especially live, unamplified music, where I find them too directional. I mainly wear them to hear conversations and TV.
NT
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