Hearing Aids - How to Manage

Kevin Raymer · From: Chalybeate, Kentucky, USA

All...

I recently was tested and have lost 30% hearing in my left ear and 24% in my right.

They tell me this is hereditary type hearing loss for what it's worth.

I have acquired hearing aids.
The type I got are Belltone Brand and they are programmable to amplify the frequency ranges I hear more poorly in the most.. So they "should" perform like eye glasses for my ears and "correct" my hearing to "normal" and not just amplify across all ranges the same.

So....
As you might imagine my Pedal Steel tone is no longer pleasing to my ears.

I think I need to adjust my tone to a more pleasing balance since my hearing is now what much of the world is already hearing.. However...

My questions are...

"Anybody else in a similar situation ?"

"Any guidance on how to cope and adjust ??"

Any info anyone might choose to share would be greatly appreciated..

And...
Many thanks to Mike Sweeney for putting up with me while he gave me lessons..
Based on what I'm hearing NOW, he HAD to want to punch me in the neck.

Smile

Thanks,

Kevin
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Kevin Raymer
Zum / Knaggs / Breedlove
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john buffington · From: Owasso OK - USA

I too have hearing aids to help with loss and tinnitus. Mine also are programmable. What the Dr./Tech., did for me is they added a program that cuts out things like wind noise while driving and this reduction gives me as close to what I was hearing before having to wear hearing "enhancements"! Visit with your tech and see what they can do for you in that area. Good luck, given time it will work out for you.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I got hearing aids a year ago. Some general loss of hearing and loss of high frequencies.

I have behind the ear type with a small tube and "speaker" that goes in the ear, "Rexon" digital programmable hearing aids. The steel sounds different, but only because I hear all the frequencies now. It only took playing one job to get "used" to them and the restored loss of frequencies.

My aids have two mic's and three settings, general where both the front and rear mic pickup, restricted where only the front mic picks up (eliminates some background sound)and one that is for "music" that does not have any noise compression (and is basically useless as its noisy). I use the general setting all the time.

chuck lemasters · From: Jacksonburg, WV

Kevin

I have hearing aids to correct high frequency hearing loss due to noise exposure(and some hereditary loss, probably). I don't use them for playing any instrument, even acoustic guitar. The lost high frequencies come back but have a broken up, distorted, digital sound with the hearing aids. If I sit down to the steel, the hearing aids come out until I finish. I doubt if there is a good answer to this problem. In a band setting, I have found that molded plugs with a 9 db reduction actually make it easier to hear what is going on musically, as high frequencies, even loud amplified high frequencies come across to me as distorted noise, making it hard to hear.

Tom Campbell · From: Houston, Texas, USA

I will be facing this issue soon...very soon!
Would the people that have positive results with their "enhancements" please mention the brand they are using. It will help me (and/or others) in the decision making. I am aware it's a significant investment.
Thank you.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I waited 10 yrs for the right aids - now they are available. I'm an MIT-trained engineer who worked in signal processing, and I knew what I wanted...

I got Resound Lynx9-2. (iPhone connected aids that let you custom-design a program and save it, if you like). Finally, the speech processing hardware/software is up to the task...

The big problem is that the normal mode for hearing aids is designed to suppress feedback and enhance speech through compression and frequency selection.

Mine have a music mode (Resound is highly rated for this; some others, like Starkey, also have it, to varying degrees). This mode expands the dynamic and frequency range and kills the feedback suppression - music sounds like feedback to a hearing aid, so it suppresses it!

Still are some ringing artifacts on very percussive high-frequency sounds, but overall they are great. for live playing I just cut the aid volume a bit, makes the stage sound just right. And my brain quickly learned simply to ignore those sounds, I don't even know they are there any more.

I also have age-related high frequency loss ( 65db down in places!). Also, standing in front of that cranked Marshall stack in the 1960's didn't help, I expect...

You are welcome to contact me about these, for more info..you can do it off-SGF if you prefer.
slipsey@alum.mit.edu or 978-387-4184

they are better in all other situations also - they have modes for normal, crowd, restaurant, outdoor, etc.
http://www.resound.com/en-US/hearing-aids/resound-linx2#.Vo60yzYkdF0

by the way, they aren't cheap...but they opened up a whole new world for me that I had forgotten I ever had...and they are firmware upgradable, so as the technology improves, they can get the benefit...

They cost about $2900 EACH. Prices vary somewhat depending on where you get them and what services are included - they do take follow-up visits to fine-tune them as you get experience with them.

They do mostly have 30-day return policies - confirm that with your provider, and then you can try them and only pay if you like them...
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chuck lemasters · From: Jacksonburg, WV

Tom
My Hearing aids are Micro Tech brand, the type that fit in the ear canal. They have four volume settings only, no directional mics, or wind noise type program. I think I would much prefer the type that go behind the ear, with the little tube. Although the canal type are less noticeable(who cares?), if I am eating, I hear none of whatever conversation is going on. My audiologist says this type of aid actually works a little better, but next time around I'm trying something else.

Jack Aldrich · From: Washington, USA

My Oticon hearing aids work fine for steel, guitar, bass and banjo, but they break up and complain when I'm plying acoustic piano (maybe they're trying to tell me something Laughing

). I take them out when I practice or have a piano gig.
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Danny James · From: Summerfield Florida USA

I have Phonak behind the ear hearing aids in both ears. These are the 4th set of hearing aids I have owned, and by far the best. They are computer programmable. I can shut off the sound behind me if I desire which is most of the time.

Mine have the amplifier behind the ear with a very thin insulated wire running to an ear mold with the speaker in the ear mold. No tube just the wire.

I have both a high and a low frequency loss which is considerable.

I think most will agree that just like eyeglasses it is never as normal as it was when you didn't need them. But a whole lot better than without them.

Like my friend Jack Stoner it took me about a day to get used to them but that was "each time" after I went back for an adjustment to start with which was 4 times to get them where they are now. They said I could not have stood it to have them adjusted to where they are now to start with. I feel they were right about that.

I have had them for about two years now and it has been totally trouble free. They have me to come in about every 6 mo. to check them out and clean them (free) and that's it.

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

Clyde Bloodworth (most "dapper" guy in the country, according to some dude named Hicks) used to set hi tone up with hit hearing aids in, but take 'em out when he played. Results? He played louder, but with killer tone. Love Clyde B.

john buffington · From: Owasso OK - USA

Mine are made by ClearTone Labs., in Tulsa, OK. The brand is SeboTek, and are RIC or receiver in the ear. Meaning the amplifier rests behind the ear and has an almost invisible tube carrying the hearing instrument inside the ear canal. Extremely comfortable, they are programmable, and my ears never got sore during the "getting use to period" . The mic is such it picks up sound both front and back.

Bill Moran · From: Virginia, USA

I have the same problem as Jack. Loss of high's. I got a set of Liberty behind the ear with 3 channels . One is a music mode. I never knew my guitar could sound that good.
Adro ? Laughing

_________________
Bill

Kevin Raymer · From: Chalybeate, Kentucky, USA

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I've got a set of open ear Belltone 64W'es.

I'm working with my provider to dial them in.

He's got three programs set up so,far.

Normal, Music, and TV.

I have high hopes.
The info yawl have shared will better equip me for our next session.

Thanks,

Kevin
_________________
Kevin Raymer
Zum / Knaggs / Breedlove
Fractal Audio

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I'm hoping you'll post a follow up, Kevin. My mother has Beltones; they're always reprogramming them, tweaking, as they call it.

She's 98 (today) and fortunately isn't a steel player, but I'll be interested to hear how the provider does with yours.

Wesley Medlen · From: LaCygne,Ks

I have the type that is behind the ear with tube and ear piece by Unitron. Two volume;s have to be set with computer. Hate the doggone thing's can't get them set where they won't distort. Leave them at home when I'm playing. $2,000 down the tube.
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John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Beltone has no mercy. I get a mailing from them every week, and the hearing test was at least ten years ago! I have very bad tinnitus, and I don't think a hearing aid would be much help in many situations.
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Barry Blackwood · Posted 10 Jan 2016 2:49 pm

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

I also have the Oticon hearing aids. I have 50% hearing loss and like John Buffington I have tinnitus. I have to hear through loud high pitched screaming in my ears all the time. When I finally got the hearing aids I could sure hear my lack of skillful blocking, uuuufda!! The hearing aids do fine with my steels as well, but they begin to howl a bit when I hit some very high note areas if my volume settings are too high. These hearing aids have 12 volume levels. My norm is 8, so I just go down a few notches.
So far so good.

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

I really need to get some hearing aids. I mean, like very much so. At age 61, compared to other people, my hearing is bad. Like another poster, a lot of that was due to standing in front of a 100-watt Marshall in my younger days on all those gigs.

The thing that really irks me, however, is their cost. It's outrageous. I mean, they're BASICALLY just miniaturized amplifiers. Yes, of course, there are more bells and whistles to some and "newer" programming, etc, etc. But today's technology can put much more involved and complex circuitry on the head of a pin.....for a lot less $$.

I'm guessing many of them cost only a few dollars, if that, to manufacture. The markup is what is outrageous.

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

I agree with that.
I paid $1000 each for mine, about the same as what Costco wants out here and was made to feel like I got a good deal.

Bob Blair · From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

I have high frequency loss that goes back a long time - there is little doubt that my time in the Toronto bar band circuit was a major contributor to that. My loss is not nearly as great as some of you are talking about, but the high frequencies make a big difference to how easy it is to understand people when they talk, and of course to how music sounds. When I finally got my first set of Oticons I just about drove off the road on the way back to the office when I turned on the car sound system. Enhancing those diminished frequencies made an incredible difference to the way the music sounded. I'm on my second set of Oticons now - I wore the first ones for five years, then got them refurbished as spares. When I got my second set I tried a different brand and couldn't get them to seem right, so I eventually just took them back, got my money instantly refunded because it was within the 30 day trial period, and got new Oticons (not saying anything against the other brand - it is a very personal thing and not everyone's experience is going to be the same). I'm not convinced my newer ones are any better for me than my first pairâ€¦in fact I'm wearing my first pair right now because of a minor issue with one of my new ones. I don't regret one nickel that we spent on them. In my part of the world people will spend thousands of dollars on snowmobiles, ATV's and dirt bikes that will wreck their hearing, and will balk at spending the same or less on something that can improve their quality of life like high-performng hearing aids can do. I never could understand that kind of thinking - how is any ATV worth more than one's ability to hear well? (stupid things - you just find a nice spot along the stream, make a couple of casts and watch the trout following your lure or rising to your fly, and suddenly the peace is shattered by the roar of ATV'sâ€¦..man I hate that). But seriously folks, I wear mine on stage, I wear them in the studio under headphones, I wear them essentially whenever I am up and around. Not just music - birds singing, snow squeaking under my shoesâ€¦â€¦.everything is better. Not better than what my hearing was like when I was 18, but better. As good an investment as I've ever made.

Dick Chapple Sr · From: Hardin Montana, USA

Excellent. Total agreement with you on your comments too Bob.
It is an excellent investment to enrich one's life. It would be nice of course to see the prices come down as I hear what Eric is saying too. How much goes for paying for R & D and how much goes for excessive sales profits.

Bob Blair · From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Whether the prices at which this technology is being made available are appropriate or not is not something I know about or am expressing an opinion on.The prices we have seen in this thread are actually a lot lower than what I've seen the higher end stuff costing. You can pay a lot for the state-of-the-art technology, and my sense is that in some cases that's not necessary - a lot depends on the particular nature of an individual's hearing loss, and one has to rely on one's own experience combined with expert advice in that regard. And I was told that in some cases of hearing loss the digital marvels that have worked so well for me would not work. One thing for sure - I am very grateful I was able afford mine, and when I first got them I thought about that quite a bit - lots of people simply cannot afford them and/or don't have benefits coverage that goes the distance or anywhere close. In other cases I'm sure that they are not going to be anywhere near as effective as they were for me, and that the investment will not pay off the same way for everyone. In my case, the second I tried on the demo models I knew that there was no going back, which is what got me reflecting on how it would have felt not to be able to buy them. The point I do want to make though is that they can in many cases make a huge difference - I urge anyone who is experiencing the isolation and diminishment of enjoyment that comes with hearing loss and damage to give it a try.

john buffington · From: Owasso OK - USA

My hearing loss is due to medications that believe it or not can affect your hearing. However, the first thing I noticed after having my HA's in was how sweet the sound of my grand babies voices were. They and everything in general was like a whole new world of sounds. Sound in general was "fine tuned". My music sounded different because I was "hearing for real". Hearing Aids are to your ears as what glasses are to your eyes IMHO. They are expensive but for me they are worth the investment and time to get used to them. Like glasses, they are the first thing I put on in the AM and the last thing to come off in the PM. Protect/preserve your hearing as you would your eyes. Good luck to anyone who is contemplating the lifestyle change - its worth it!

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

There is a ridiculous markup on many hearing aids. Mine, including the hearing test, ear examination, was $5500. Out of that they got $2800 from Blue Cross and were happy with that. The hearing test and ear examinations are advertised as free and its what they use to sell the hearing aids so that shouldn't have been included in the price. They advertise that certain Blue Cross plans will pay for hearing aids, as an enticement to patronize their establishment, so what they actually get is still probably 100% profit.

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