hearing aides

[MindfulMan]

I've worn hearing aids for the last 30 years. These are Widex (made in the Netherlands), and were $5K.
As others have said, get the best that you can afford !

 

[Mongo59]

My first trip to an audiologist was disappointing.
They told me that hearing aids would do me little good since my hearing was so imbalanced.
One good ear would sense the bad ear's aid through the bone before it was loud enough to help the bad ear.

Lifelong shooter, but I also had a sound reinforcement company for over twenty years, traveling around doing several big concerts every week.

My ears have been abused dramatically for most of my life, even though, during my sound company days, I tried to protect, but it still had to be head splittingly loud for Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple or Iron Maiden concert tours.

Second trip to an audiologist, three years ago, I did more research and chose the top Dr.
Insurance covered $2k but I went with an upscale version resulting in out of pocket at $3K. That got me wireless charging, re-programable as my ears continue to age, tiny in ear product that actually made a huge difference.
And they amplify clean tones without distortion.

During that ten year hiatus between audiologist visits, I did try some CVS shelf units, even in the $200 price range. Almost worthless. They distort!
I'll be 69yrs old next week.

I went and saw AC/DC right after the "Those about to Rock" in Lakeland, Florida. I think I was the only one in there without cotton in my ears...

 

[Malware]

I do, mainly so I can fit in some soft plugs, then cans on top to do a little more.
I've done that for half my life, way before hearing problems showed up.

that's exactly what I'm doing now - trying to save as much as I can and delay getting hearing aids as long as possible and probably longer than I should

 

[Mongo59]

So far my ears are doing fine. I can hear everything but my wife...

 

[ditcherman]

I have some ‘mid range’ I guess, Eargo, and definitely not as good as Costco, but also way better than something that is 2-600$.
I’ve seen two camps of people; those with insurance go to an audiologist and spend 6k, those without go to Costco and spend 2-3k, and both end up with great hearing aids.

 

[Midwestjimbo]

Some places aren't actual audiologist, just a hearing aid dispensary. That will make a big difference in your results. Programming is key the best benefits.

 

[loudgroove]

My first trip to an audiologist was disappointing.
They told me that hearing aids would do me little good since my hearing was so imbalanced.
One good ear would sense the bad ear's aid through the bone before it was loud enough to help the bad ear.

Lifelong shooter, but I also had a sound reinforcement company for over twenty years, traveling around doing several big concerts every week.

My ears have been abused dramatically for most of my life, even though, during my sound company days, I tried to protect, but it still had to be head splittingly loud for Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple or Iron Maiden concert tours.

Second trip to an audiologist, three years ago, I did more research and chose the top Dr.
Insurance covered $2k but I went with an upscale version resulting in out of pocket at $3K. That got me wireless charging, re-programable as my ears continue to age, tiny in ear product that actually made a huge difference.
And they amplify clean tones without distortion.

During that ten year hiatus between audiologist visits, I did try some CVS shelf units, even in the $200 price range. Almost worthless. They distort!
I'll be 69yrs old next week.

Lol, I'm sure most on here won't understand these questions. But I have been curious in the last few years about hearing aids. I am under no illusion that some day I will need them. My dad and my grandpa both needed them, And I choose a loud profession to work in. I also have had tinnitus for the last 10 years or so. I have learned to tone it out. First is there any natural compression? Are the polar patterns more omni or more binaural? Are you able to hear 10k to 20k and even all the way down to 20 to 40 Hz range? I have noticed that I have never seen a mix engineer wear them. Would that be the day I would have to give it up? Or what is your opinion of mixing with them? Sorry to hit you with so many questions. lol

 

[Trapper Jim]

Yes to HA. I have went through the metamorphosis of both greedy merchants, rip off artist and highline since 2013.

Finally got new ones by Phonak and love them. Can hear like a youngin again. However, with the introverts, drugged up, thick tongued dialect, hooks and ring lip piercings, split tongues, studs through the tongue and cheek bones along with ballooned Botox lips, I can’t understand any of em.

You wan phrieyyxxxs widdat?

 

[Expat]

<expat nods head> “ sounds good”

I am thinking of trying out the apple ear buds. They have noise cancellation and also can function as hearing aids

 

[ditcherman]

<expat nods head> “ sounds good”

I am thinking of trying out the apple ear buds. They have noise cancellation and also can function as hearing aids

I won a pair in a raffle. I'm not sure they're updated to that although they're the latest model...
Looking forward to trying them out like that, although I'm not much of an earbud guy. These do have a lot of setting to let background noise in, which is what I need.

 

[ditcherman]

Lol, I'm sure most on here won't understand these questions. But I have been curious in the last few years about hearing aids. I am under no illusion that some day I will need them. My dad and my grandpa both needed them, And I choose a loud profession to work in. I also have had tinnitus for the last 10 years or so. I have learned to tone it out. First is there any natural compression? Are the polar patterns more omni or more binaural? Are you able to hear 10k to 20k and even all the way down to 20 to 40 Hz range? I have noticed that I have never seen a mix engineer wear them. Would that be the day I would have to give it up? Or what is your opinion of mixing with them? Sorry to hit you with so many questions. lol

No to all your yes/no questions, with Eargo.
As far as mixing/engineering, it just depends on your standards I suppose. Once it's gone, it's gone. I'm a one trick pony, running sound for my church, and have been doing it long enough that I can do it by feel, almost. Not like I'm deaf but certainly have frequency loss.
As a professional you may be able to push through in that same way.
Once it's gone, it's gone.

I thing a prograde level earbud type of thing will have a much better chance of reproducing a full spectrum than any hearing aid; just like most of your questions went over most heads, most hearing aids are going to give people back what they need, most of which we don't even realize we've lost. (As opposed to giving back a full spectrum. I could be wrong.)

My oldest video/cinematographer professional son notices that my youngest farmer professional son and I have very similar frequency loss areas.

Did I mention once it's gone, it's gone? Take care of yourself young man. Like your livelihood depends on it.

 

[loudgroove]

No to all your yes/no questions, with Eargo.
As far as mixing/engineering, it just depends on your standards I suppose. Once it's gone, it's gone. I'm a one trick pony, running sound for my church, and have been doing it long enough that I can do it by feel, almost. Not like I'm deaf but certainly have frequency loss.
As a professional you may be able to push through in that same way.
Once it's gone, it's gone.

I thing a prograde level earbud type of thing will have a much better chance of reproducing a full spectrum than any hearing aid; just like most of your questions went over most heads, most hearing aids are going to give people back what they need, most of which we don't even realize we've lost. (As opposed to giving back a full spectrum. I could be wrong.)

My oldest video/cinematographer professional son notices that my youngest farmer professional son and I have very similar frequency loss areas.

Did I mention once it's gone, it's gone? Take care of yourself young man. Like your livelihood depends on it.

I'm well aware of the once it's gone. I do wear earplugs often, and keep them in my gig bag for anyone else that wants them. I'm 52 right now and both my dad and grandpa already had substantial hearing loss at this age. I feel very lucky to have most of my hearing intact to be able to do what I do. My grandpa was a foundry worker and I'm sure there was no hearing protection in his time. My dad was a cross country truck driver and listening to his trunk rumble everyday. I'm sure those were the main factors with their hearing loss. Thanks for your reply.

 

[BeDome]

Lol, I'm sure most on here won't understand these questions. But I have been curious in the last few years about hearing aids. I am under no illusion that some day I will need them. My dad and my grandpa both needed them, And I choose a loud profession to work in. I also have had tinnitus for the last 10 years or so. I have learned to tone it out. First is there any natural compression? Are the polar patterns more omni or more binaural? Are you able to hear 10k to 20k and even all the way down to 20 to 40 Hz range? I have noticed that I have never seen a mix engineer wear them. Would that be the day I would have to give it up? Or what is your opinion of mixing with them? Sorry to hit you with so many questions. lol

No way to give your questions a solid try without getting quite wordy.
For everyone else, I'll assume a TLDR at first glance.

I have read a bit about tinnitus. I've had some trouble with ringing or roaring for thirty years. I was still working in sound reinforcement when it became noticeable to me.

One set of theories suggests tinnitus is caused by our own brains, not our ears. Almost akin to phantom limb syndrome, where even many years after losing a limb, your brain still makes ones lost limb hurt or itch.
In one study, they presented that the brain is used to hearing tones in the upper registers and after some hearing loss, the brain "makes up" the sounds it's missing most.

Crazy stuff going on out there with electrical stimulants to tongue and ears, with claims to restore some of the brains ability to ignore background noises and focus more fully on the sounds, such as speech or low intensity sounds, after some time spent in these therapies.
John Hopkins is one, but there seem to be lots of universities working on these issues.

As far as compression, I think we both know that tiny digital sound reproduction equipment has some degree of compression and limiting factors built in.
With the cheaper units, I could here the compression functions "pumping" and that was not tolerable.
The better units are not as noticeable and I believe "do less" overall signal compression due to having a higher quality programming, being more specific to the needs of each ear individually.
I dropped serious coin to be rid of that effect!

As far as polar reproduction patterns, you need both ears to identify such tendencies in open air, but I think I know what you're getting at.
Since the hearing aids (good ones) are designed specifically to infuse one ear at a time with "missing" tonal ranges, there is no sense of any dispersion patterns between the two devices.
But, in moving the devices around inside my inner ear they do not seem to change tone or effectiveness much, as earbud type things do when you wiggle them around trying to get a better sound.
So, I would presume that the actual polar patterns presented by the individual inside-the-ear transducers are about as close to an omnidirectional field as possible.

On my first follow up visit, two weeks after being fitted with the devices I chose within my own budget, I sat for another extensive set of hearing tests, as apart of the final "fitting" and programming processes.
I could hear 18K in one ear and my half dead hear could hear 16K, whereas before my "good ear" was only capable of hearing 14K and my dead ear petered out at 8K.

So, I gained a full octave in my dead ear and about 1/3 octave in my good ear.

They don't really like to give out those numbers, assuming it's because some dummy Karen types would not understand any of it and want their money back if their hearing was not "internet said so" perfect.

In both ears, I am still able to hear below 100Hz, normally, no aids, but after so many years of training and experience, I can easily distinguish, with both ears, the lowest tone on their test equipment, which was 16Hz at my new Doc's place.

I haven't done live sound for real in about ten years, but I have offered my assistance to a friend who does permanent installations in homes, churches and small venues.
He calls me in for subwoofer installs, such as one well off fellow who wanted an infinite baffle subwoofer system in his attic for his movie rig. Heard one somewhere; wanted it.

We built a pyramid that would exit through his 3'x3' opening in the ceiling. Pyramid was heavily constructed, dual layer plywood, well braced, tied into the rafters at five points, supporting sixteen Dayton 15" IB drivers.

He had a decorative grille on the ceiling opening he liked, but our LFE system would make the thing whistle at around 80Hz. Horrible! I was first to notice it.
We had another cabinet finish guy come in and recreate a snazzy grille from wood for the client which matched our specifications and did not whistle at all.

This was about a year before I got my new hearing aids, but I could still balance, tune, EQ and match the rest of his system.
Never had any problems with low frequencies.

I mentioned distortion in the lower shelf units that I tried before I sprang for the better hearing aids, but being more specific for the benefit of any who get this, the cheaper units introduced IM and upper order harmonics that made my teeth itch!

At first, I was afraid that this is just how it's going to be, but not so. Good clean, "High Fidelity" excellent resolution hearing aids are available, but they're not cheap. No more so than that Luxman preamp I traded for a couple of years ago.

About mixing with some kind of hearing aids, I am convinced after still having success, knowing my hearing was not what it used to be, I believe that the analytical part of your brain is your special gift and as long that part of your craft is still well honed and functional, you can make it work either way.
Only sound tech I ever worked with who used aids was the Brit engineer for the Chieftains, and he did a great job!

 

[Dean C.]

For the younger folks here please take this as advice to always wear your hearing protection people, once Tinnitus starts it NEVER stops. Only you can make the choice to protect yourself, and you can get 100 3M disposable earplugs for like $30~. My personal suggestion is always over ear muffs with electronic hearing

 

[Creedmoor]

What did you say?

I heard they were going to buy us new Michelins or something like that.

 

[Creedmoor]

So far my ears are doing fine. I can hear everything but my wife...

That's called selective hearing, the only known cure is divorce.

 

[Creedmoor]

For the younger folks here please take this as advice to always wear your hearing protection people, once Tinnitus starts it NEVER stops. Only you can make the choice to protect yourself, and you can get 100 3M disposable earplugs for like $30~. My personal suggestion is always over ear muffs with electronic hearing

We wear both, I buy the 3M pistons for disposables.

 

[loudgroove]

No way to give your questions a solid try without getting quite wordy.
For everyone else, I'll assume a TLDR at first glance.

I have read a bit about tinnitus. I've had some trouble with ringing or roaring for thirty years. I was still working in sound reinforcement when it became noticeable to me.

One set of theories suggests tinnitus is caused by our own brains, not our ears. Almost akin to phantom limb syndrome, where even many years after losing a limb, your brain still makes ones lost limb hurt or itch.
In one study, they presented that the brain is used to hearing tones in the upper registers and after some hearing loss, the brain "makes up" the sounds it's missing most.

Crazy stuff going on out there with electrical stimulants to tongue and ears, with claims to restore some of the brains ability to ignore background noises and focus more fully on the sounds, such as speech or low intensity sounds, after some time spent in these therapies.
John Hopkins is one, but there seem to be lots of universities working on these issues.

As far as compression, I think we both know that tiny digital sound reproduction equipment has some degree of compression and limiting factors built in.
With the cheaper units, I could here the compression functions "pumping" and that was not tolerable.
The better units are not as noticeable and I believe "do less" overall signal compression due to having a higher quality programming, more specific to the needs of each ear individually.
I dropped serious coin to be rid of that effect!

As far as polar reproduction patterns, you need both ears to identify such tendencies in open air, but I think I know what you're getting at.
Since the hearing aids (good ones) are designed specifically to infuse one ear at a time with "missing" tone ranges, there is no sense of any dispersion patterns between the two devices.
But, in moving the devices around inside my inner ear they do not seem to change tone or effectiveness much, as earbud type things do when you wiggle them around trying to get a better sound.
So, I would presume that the actual polar patterns presented by the individual inside-the-ear transducers are about as close to an omnidirectional field as possible.

On my first follow up visit, two weeks after being fitted with the devices I chose within my own budget, I sat for another extensive set of hearing tests, as apart of the final "fitting" and programming processes.
I could hear 18K in one ear and my half dead hear could hear 16K, whereas before my "good ear" was only capable of hearing 14K and my dead ear petered out at 8K.

So, I gained a full octave in my dead ear and about 1/3 octave in my good ear.

They don't really like to give out those numbers, assuming it's because some dummy Karen types would not understand any of it and want their money back if their hearing was not "internet said so" perfect.

In both ears, I am still able to hear below 100Hz, normally, no aids, but after so many years of training and experience, I can easily distinguish, with both ears, the lowest tone on their test equipment, which was 16Hz at my new Doc's place.

I haven't done live sound for real in about ten years, but I have offered my assistance to a friend who does permanent installations in homes, churches and small venues.
He calls me in for subwoofer installs, such as one well off fellow who wanted an infinite baffle subwoofer system in his attic for his movie rig.
We built a pyramid that would exit through his 3'x3' opening in the ceiling. Pyramid was heavily constructed, well braced, tied into the rafters, supporting sixteen Dayton 15" IB drivers.

He had a decorative grille on the ceiling opening he liked, but our LFE system would make the thing whistle at around 80Hz. Horrible!
We had another cabinet finish guy come in and recreate a snazzy grille from wood for the client which matched our specifications and did not whistle at all.

This was about a year before I got my new hearing aids, but I could still balance, tune, EQ and match the rest of his system.
Never had any problems with low frequencies.

I mentioned distortion in the lower shelf units that I tried before I sprang for the better hearing aids, but being more specific for the benefit of any who get this, the cheaper units introduced IM and upper order harmonics that made my teeth itch!
At first, I was afraid that this is just how it's going to be, but not so. Good clean, "High Fidelity" excellent resolution hearing aids are available, but they're not cheap.

About mixing with some kind of hearing aids, I am convinced after still having success, knowing my hearing was not what it used to be, I believe that the analytical part of your brain is your special gift and as long that part of your craft is still well honed and functional, you can make it work either way.
Only sound tech I ever worked with who used aids was the Brit engineer for the Chieftains, and he did a great job!

Thanks for the reply. The main thing I was concerned about as far as compression was the rooms noise floor being at such a higher level that the frequencies that the room resonates at would be causing cancellation or a doubling effect, making it harder to mix. Or just sounding like an omni mic with a brick wall limiter on it at the extreme. In my 20's I had my hearing tested thru OSHA. And my right ear at 10k and above was exceptionally above average with my left ear being normal. I feel like I still have it due to running pink noise thru monitors and walking by them with one ear facing them, then turning around and having the other ear facing it. My right ear still sounds brighter. And 8k has and still is my pain frequency. lol. But anyway, thanks for your response. I'm sure we are boring a lot of people. lol

 

[loudgroove]

That's called selective hearing, the only known cure is divorce.

I told my ex-wife that her voice wasn't musical and thats the reason I don't hear her. lol But you are right, and she is my ex wife. lol

 

[Ziggidy]

Something to remember, if it has not been said yet.

Nothing will ever replace your hearing. What God created, man cannot duplicate. IOW, you will hear better with earring aids but it will never be as good as the originals.