Author Topic: Hearing Aids  (Read 2976 times)

Offline Brap

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Hearing Aids
« on: July 03, 2019, 09:54:02 AM »
Tough topic but started to notice a potential need for these -- not for listening to 2-channel but just in general.  Did not know where to post this but just wondering who has them, tried various ones and recommendations?  Starting to investigate.  Maybe all those college years of crappy speakers at high volume levels in the Frat house and of course, <10th row for several concerts.
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Offline rollo

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2019, 10:56:35 AM »
  WHAT ????   :rofl:  Kidding aside maybe Jimbones can help out.



charles
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Offline Brap

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2019, 11:09:10 AM »
Yea h-- suck.  I have used the excuse of "selective" hearing with wifey and it has worked for a few years up to now :roll: However, now with a TV on and people in the room, too many sounds and getting a bit more difficult to differentiate.
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Offline rollo

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2019, 11:16:29 AM »
Yea h-- suck.  I have used the excuse of "selective" hearing with wifey and it has worked for a few years up to now :roll: However, now with a TV on and people in the room, too many sounds and getting a bit more difficult to differentiate.

   Yup. The good ones are not cheap 5K and more. I prefer selective hearing and my own TV of course.


charles
contact me  at rollo14@verizon.net or visit us on Facebook
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Offline S Clark

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2019, 01:15:13 PM »
Most hearing aid vendors have no idea about hi end musical sound. Their products are naturally set to yield the best understanding in the human voice range.  THIS IS CRUCIAL-- Find an audiologist that will listen to your concerns and make an effort to meet your needs. This isn't likely to be a Cost Co. off the shelf buy
I just did an extensive multi month trial with two brands, Resound and Widex.  In both cases the representatives spent hours with me tweaking the programs to make music most realistic.   In the end, although the Widex tonality was best, I bought the Resound for imaging and accuracy in bass regions.  Both units were about $6500.
When I first talked with the Widex regional rep, he though his stuff was top of the line because he had Classical, Pop, and Jazz settings. After I instructed him that he had much to learn, he agreed to research further.   On his second effort, he even came to the house to tweak the unit as I sat in my sweet spot.  Although we finally got the imaging acceptable, the complete lack of bass below about 100 hz was  deal breaker. 
« Last Edit: July 03, 2019, 01:28:10 PM by S Clark »
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Offline Brap

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2019, 01:22:36 PM »
Great information -- thanks much. Thus far my listening  without augmentation is still OK with my 2 channel set-up. I have not noticed any changes with imaging / soundstage with both sets of speakers and volume levels have not had to been increased.  It's just when in crowded situations, TV on that things start becoming confusing and lose focus. I had a test about 2 years ago and all was OK but maybe degradation has started. Time to go back for another 1-1/2 hour test.  Appreciate your suggestions.
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VTA ST-70
Parasound Halo P5
Oppo 105
Rega P3
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Offline S Clark

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2019, 01:31:07 PM »
Great information -- thanks much. Thus far my listening  without augmentation is still OK with my 2 channel set-up. I have not noticed any changes with imaging / soundstage with both sets of speakers and volume levels have not had to been increased.  It's just when in crowded situations, TV on that things start becoming confusing and lose focus. I had a test about 2 years ago and all was OK but maybe degradation has started. Time to go back for another 1-1/2 hour test.  Appreciate your suggestions.
It sounds like your hearing is much better than mine, so you might not need to go to the extremes that I did to improve you musical listening.  Still, find an audiologist that will listen to your musical concerns. 
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Offline Nick B

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2019, 06:18:55 PM »
A few years ago, someone recommended Costco and the good quality.  I made that recommendation to a family member in So California who got an excellent price at Costco and was very happy with the quality. I never asked what he paid for them, but I know in Utah a few years ago they were less than $2000
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Offline S Clark

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2019, 07:03:54 PM »
A few years ago, someone recommended Costco and the good quality.  I made that recommendation to a family member in So California who got an excellent price at Costco and was very happy with the quality. I never asked what he paid for them, but I know in Utah a few years ago they were less than $2000
Costco usually has all but the latest models,  and offers sizeable discounts if your goal is the standard-- better interaction in conversation, both one on one and in noisy environments.  In my case, it was invest in a pro willing to spend 6-10 hours with me, or call it quits on high end stereo and sell off everything but my wife's Alexa. 
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Offline mresseguie

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2019, 10:40:32 PM »
Hi, Guys.

I just bought my first pair 3(?) weeks ago. I am trying out the Costco Premium 8.0 hearing aids (made by Resound). I've been back twice to tweak sounds - mostly because of a reverb issue while I'm outdoors. These cost $1599 plus another $300(?) for a wearable microphone, a drying kit, and a Bluetooth transmitter that connects to electronics via RCA connectors. I have not yet tried the transmitter.

So far, I have definitely benefitted from wearing these. My hearing in restaurants, crowded venues, in our house with 20 guests, etc. is much improved. I'm still trying to determine if my music hearing is better or more screwed up. Part of my problem is that I hear differently with the hearing aids, so some sounds are 'weird' now. I say 'weird' because I couldn't hear them before, so my brain needs time to retrain itself.

I'm treating this brain training as if it were a new pair of speakers that require 500 hours to burn in. I'm not rushing it nor am I being too picky with sounds for now. I'm listening mostly in background music mode rather than the sweet spot.

One huge benefit for me is that my right ear is no longer hyper-sensitive to certain sounds. I have what is called 'hyperacusis'. It's a really irritating condition where the brain over-reacts to loud and/or high pitched sounds. Many musicians suffer from hyperacusis. In really bad cases, it can be quite debilitating. I've had this condition for about 3 years now. I've treated it to good effect with pink noise therapy, acupuncture, and Chinese Herbal medicine. My hearing aid helps to block the <potentially> irritating sounds.

I've got something like three months to figure out if these hearing aids are right for me. I can return them for a full refund or exchange them for different models. There is a 'music listening' mode and an 'outdoor music venue' mode, but I haven't tried either more than a couple times. I may go to the lengths that S Clark went, but I'm not in a hurry to do so. I'm seriously considering giving all my headphone/earbuds/headphone amp to my son and his GF because I don't see much need for them anymore as these hearing aids are Bluetooth capable. [No. The hearing aids do not sound as nice as my HD650s.]

 I hope this info proves helpful to you (or any interested lurkers).

Michael
« Last Edit: July 03, 2019, 10:43:27 PM by mresseguie »
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Offline Guy 13

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2019, 07:41:05 PM »
Hi all,
I hope I am in line with this topic.
Jus want to share something about earing aid.
Well, up to now (71 years old) I still consider myself luck not to need an earing aid.
However, two years ago I bought a signal generator to test - evaluate mys system
performances...
I found out that my earing is limited to about 8 to 10KHz.
The low end is almost 20 Hz of course, I have to increase the level to hear it.
(For the low end, I've used the GR Research V1 that I own and like.
That's it and that's all.
Back to regular scheduling.

Guy 13

 
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Offline S Clark

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2019, 08:28:56 PM »
Hi, Guys.

I just bought my first pair 3(?) weeks ago. I am trying out the Costco Premium 8.0 hearing aids (made by Resound). I've been back twice to tweak sounds - mostly because of a reverb issue while I'm outdoors. These cost $1599 plus another $300(?) for a wearable microphone, a drying kit, and a Bluetooth transmitter that connects to electronics via RCA connectors. I have not yet tried the transmitter.

So far, I have definitely benefitted from wearing these. My hearing in restaurants, crowded venues, in our house with 20 guests, etc. is much improved. I'm still trying to determine if my music hearing is better or more screwed up. Part of my problem is that I hear differently with the hearing aids, so some sounds are 'weird' now. I say 'weird' because I couldn't hear them before, so my brain needs time to retrain itself.

I'm treating this brain training as if it were a new pair of speakers that require 500 hours to burn in. I'm not rushing it nor am I being too picky with sounds for now. I'm listening mostly in background music mode rather than the sweet spot.

One huge benefit for me is that my right ear is no longer hyper-sensitive to certain sounds. I have what is called 'hyperacusis'. It's a really irritating condition where the brain over-reacts to loud and/or high pitched sounds. Many musicians suffer from hyperacusis. In really bad cases, it can be quite debilitating. I've had this condition for about 3 years now. I've treated it to good effect with pink noise therapy, acupuncture, and Chinese Herbal medicine. My hearing aid helps to block the <potentially> irritating sounds.

I've got something like three months to figure out if these hearing aids are right for me. I can return them for a full refund or exchange them for different models. There is a 'music listening' mode and an 'outdoor music venue' mode, but I haven't tried either more than a couple times. I may go to the lengths that S Clark went, but I'm not in a hurry to do so. I'm seriously considering giving all my headphone/earbuds/headphone amp to my son and his GF because I don't see much need for them anymore as these hearing aids are Bluetooth capable. [No. The hearing aids do not sound as nice as my HD650s.]

 I hope this info proves helpful to you (or any interested lurkers).

Michael
Michael,
I suspect that you'll come to view your Resound as money very well spent.  The standard music program has some weaknesses that my provider overcame.  The Resound engineers were looking at tone, but paid little attention to spacial clues and imaging.  There are ways to greatly improve the standard program.  PM me if you want to talk more.
Regards,
Scott
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Offline mresseguie

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #12 on: August 06, 2019, 06:15:22 PM »
Scott,

I have come to the mixed conclusion that I do benefit from wearing hearing aids, but that these particular hearing aids suck for listening to music. I thought I could train my brain to appreciate the difference, but the reality is that these are simply not designed to make music sound good. Everything is higher pitched than it should be. Music via Bluetooth on these hearing aids is not worth listening to.

Watching TV is much improved now. I catch all the sounds now. Well, okay. It's not TV speakers...it's cable =>27" iMac => Nuprime IDA-8 => Adelphos speakers. This is much better than TV.

My biggest complaint - other than music - is the odd reverberation sounds I experience while I am outside. I've had the aids tweaked twice and it has never gone away. It can be very irritating. I'm scheduled for one last adjustment. If it doesn't fix the reverb issue, I will return the hearing aids and try a different pair.

For music, I take them out. I know I'm missing higher frequencies, but everything just sounds 'right' without them.

Edit: Oh, yeah. The phone app is pretty weak. It really doesn't help much. I'll contact you about how to improve upon it. It seems to me I have your email address....That's odd. I guess I don't.  :shock:

Michael
« Last Edit: August 06, 2019, 06:20:01 PM by mresseguie »
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Offline S Clark

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Re: Hearing Aids
« Reply #13 on: August 06, 2019, 07:58:40 PM »
Sent PM with email address. 
Hear loss is so very individualized it's hard to relate experience from one to another. 
Glad you can watch TV... I really don't.  Too much of a chore.  Movies with subtitles are my thing.  The phone apps are cool, but most are for iPhones, and I've got a Samsung (because at the time, it had the clearest tone).  Changing of pitch is odd; they shouldn't do that.  Reverb can be a temporary effect that your brain slowly adjust to.  Most will sound unnatural for days or even weeks.   If you do decide to look for another brand, Widex can be excellent with their music program... but lacking the lowest octaves.  You probably have your lower pitch intact anyway.  Widex has some issues with feedback, but the later models are greatly improved. 

Just be aware that a good audiologist can do wonders with the music program... but I doubt if you can find that level of service or commitment to a customer at a discounter. 
Scott
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