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  #16  
Old 01-15-2019, 11:42 AM
Bluestu6 Bluestu6 is offline
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Hi all,
My first post on this brilliant forum!
I've been deaf since birth (66 years ago) and playing guitar for five decades.

My loss is now severe and I need a lot of power in my aids which I have to wear all the time - I simply couldn't hear my guitar without (and if I used my electric and amp my jeans would be flapping in the soundwaves before I heard anything! I always hated the sound through my NHS (here in Uk) aids and splashed some cash (more than I've ever paid for a guitar) on a couple of RTE (receiver in ear) aids, GN Resound Lynx. They are multi-channel, with 3 programmable settings including music with wide EQ. I actually prefer the slightly more compressed normal setting with my acoustic. What is good about them is they link via Bluetooth to my iPhone (or ipad/ipod) and I can set volume and tweak EQ via my phone on stage if necessary. They can distort if I'm too near PA speaker but I can deal with usually by turning them down. But me and acoustic (and singing) no problem, couldn't do it without them, best money I've spent, alongside my guitars of course!
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  #17  
Old 01-15-2019, 12:11 PM
Alan Carruth Alan Carruth is offline
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My hearing loss started when I was in the Navy, so I get my aids from the VA these days. I have no idea what they cost; I started going to the VA when I could no longer afford upgrades that worked. I also have a very severe loss. I just got a set of the Resound LiNX Quattro aids, and they seem quite good. They replaced a set of Siemens aids that also worked well but gave me problems due to the fragile nature of the connection between the amp and the speaker. Every time one broke I had to send it off to the VA acquisition center in Denver, and they sent them back the factory to be fixed. The backups I had were terrible, so I'd be without effective aids for a month or more. Now, at least, if there's a problem I'm covered a bit better.

It can be hard to find an audiologist who can set up aids for music. I got one that can, but it took a few tries. One of the things you have to do is cancel out the noise reduction function. Your aid will think of the sustained tone of the string as 'noise' and try to get rid of it. The results can be odd. When I first got the Siemens aids they set them up very well for speech, but any time I played the guitar it sounded like it was buzzing, badly. I more or less stopped playing because it sounded so bad. Now that things are set up a bit better I'm trying to get back into the habit of playing. I'm still not totally satisfied with the music setup I've got, which is just the 'generic' one that comes with the aids, but when I picked them up I didn't happen to get the person who knows how to set them up. I'll keep trying.
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  #18  
Old 01-15-2019, 12:11 PM
harpspitfire harpspitfire is offline
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actually i am deaf- totally- but i can say a moderate loss with a hearing aid is no big issue, you really have to wear them and get used to them, with a profound loss, music will start to sound funky, depending on your loss you may tolerate it or not so much, i wear a cochlear implant (4 years now) and play guitar daily, so if i can- anyone with some acoustic hearing left should be able to play with an aid
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  #19  
Old 01-15-2019, 12:36 PM
Dino Silone Dino Silone is offline
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So here’s a related question for those of us suffering with hearing loss:

Does it make sense to spring for expensive guitars, when you know you’re not going to really be able to appreciate all their wonderfulness? I can still tell the difference between different guitars, and can still tell the difference between a Martin and a Rogue. But I know that my hearing is getting worse almost by the day. The choice seems to be to tolerate the suppression of higher frequencies without hearing aids, or to tolerate the “listening through a cheap transistor radio” effect with hearing aids. I’m starting to feel like someone who smokes three packs of cigarettes a day springing for a $300 bottle of wine...
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  #20  
Old 01-16-2019, 12:50 AM
PetesaHut PetesaHut is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dino Silone View Post
So here’s a related question for those of us suffering with hearing loss:

Does it make sense to spring for expensive guitars, when you know you’re not going to really be able to appreciate all their wonderfulness? I can still tell the difference between different guitars, and can still tell the difference between a Martin and a Rogue. But I know that my hearing is getting worse almost by the day. The choice seems to be to tolerate the suppression of higher frequencies without hearing aids, or to tolerate the “listening through a cheap transistor radio” effect with hearing aids. I’m starting to feel like someone who smokes three packs of cigarettes a day springing for a $300 bottle of wine...
That's a good question and I'm not sure what the answer is?
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  #21  
Old 01-16-2019, 03:11 AM
colins colins is offline
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Originally Posted by botofogo View Post
I never play anymore without my hearing aids. For my situation, the HAs provide a full clear sound. When I'm not wearing them, the guitar sounds dull and I can't discern middle tones.
I guess every application has personal elements but your comment is a good endorsement of the HA’s you use. What brand and model are they Mike?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluestu6 View Post
Hi all,
…..My first post on this brilliant forum!......
Welcome , and thanks for an informative first post. I will keep the name of your HAs in mind.

Col
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  #22  
Old 01-16-2019, 08:19 AM
harpspitfire harpspitfire is offline
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well i played higher end guitars at GC and through friends, sound and action were my main concerns- 4 years later i ended up with a fender $80 pawn shop acoustic i ran across- best thing i ever had!- so in my case i havent found a high guitar thats worth spending money for, another thing, im good enough to know my skill/talent level isnt good enough to foolishly buy a high end guitar, we all know how that story goes
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  #23  
Old 01-16-2019, 08:35 AM
Guitartanzon Guitartanzon is offline
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Best advice I can give.....

I am 66 and severe hearing loss due to gun blast and tinnitus in both ears for about 20 years....

wear two hearing aids...high tech digitals .....They have different programs;settings and one of them in for playing music...which i prefer a lower volume and more lower frequency bass....

A Tip....THE BEST VALUE today on hearing aids is at COSTCO hearing department...amazing value...two super small high Tech top of the line hearing aids for $1699..a pair!!!!! with complete hearing test, 3 year wareentee, free lifetime adjustments and fee replacement due to loss for two years...

Its an amazing value...they are putting aid places out of business..

I love mine..use to spend $4000 a pair....now only $1699.oo for the same quality hearing aids
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  #24  
Old 01-16-2019, 08:37 AM
RickRS RickRS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dino Silone View Post
So here’s a related question for those of us suffering with hearing loss:

Does it make sense to spring for expensive guitars, when you know you’re not going to really be able to appreciate all their wonderfulness? I can still tell the difference between different guitars, and can still tell the difference between a Martin and a Rogue. But I know that my hearing is getting worse almost by the day. The choice seems to be to tolerate the suppression of higher frequencies without hearing aids, or to tolerate the “listening through a cheap transistor radio” effect with hearing aids. I’m starting to feel like someone who smokes three packs of cigarettes a day springing for a $300 bottle of wine...
Up to you. I will say I started to hate my 98 Martin D-16 when using my previous aids, and then loved it again when I got the Oticon Chili SP9 I use now. But then, I've never hear any of my guitars without a hearing aid since I started wearing them at 13 and started guitar a year and half later.

Hearing aids are not really high fidelity as a stereophile would want. Not even close. I looked up the specification on a Siemen aid some years ago. They were bragging about less than 5% harmonic distortion. My current Oticon's have 1.0 to 2.5% total harmonic distortion, dependence on the frequency. Max frequency is 6.5kHz. A true stereophile would have died if they had to listen to something like that.

Any technical types here (I'm an electrical engineer) can see the specs. on my Oticon here
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  #25  
Old 01-16-2019, 08:37 AM
Rockysdad Rockysdad is offline
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When I read most posts about needing hearing aids and playing, it's usually with regard to *high end* loss, I'm the other end, *low end* loss, how is the playing experience using aids for my situation?
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  #26  
Old 01-16-2019, 09:10 AM
RickRS RickRS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by D-Guitar View Post
I would like to respond to this hearing aid post with a question. All input would be appreciated. I have profound hearing loss, mostly high frequencies, and I wear hearing aids. I play my guitar with and without hearing aids and of course the experience with hearing aids is preferable but either with or without hearing aids is acceptable when playing alone. Considering the higher db levels of sound due to the amplification provided by hearing aids, would it be less danger to my hearing if I played without wearing hearing aids? Thanks a lot for any response
Good hearing aids have a number of adjustment to allow them to tailor a single instrument to the individual requirements of multiple customers. One adjustment typically found in aids is a limiting circuit so maximum volume doesn't go to damaging levels. So in the setup process the audiologist will put in a max limit. You shouldn't have volume levels from your aid that are painful if it's adjusted properly.

Can it still damaged your remaining hearing? God, I don't know, and I struggle with this for decades (I've been wearing hearing aids for 50 years). My current setting has the hearing aid max'ed out at over 130 dBA. Supposingly 100 dBA could result in damaged hearing in as little as 15 minutes. For normal people. Me, I stick those BTE aids in my skull every day and go about my business. At the end of the day my hearing is still there.
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  #27  
Old 01-16-2019, 09:24 AM
RickRS RickRS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harpspitfire View Post
actually i am deaf- totally- but i can say a moderate loss with a hearing aid is no big issue, you really have to wear them and get used to them, with a profound loss, music will start to sound funky, depending on your loss you may tolerate it or not so much, i wear a cochlear implant (4 years now) and play guitar daily, so if i can- anyone with some acoustic hearing left should be able to play with an aid
I worry about need cochlear implant in the near future. Still functioning with aids for my progressive nerve deafness, with about 90 dB loss at 250 Hz, 100 dB at 2 kHz, and falling off the chart 120 dB limit for test above 2 kHz. ENT doc has told me to consider implants, but it's scary when told it's irreversible and no way to qualify what the fidelity of hearing will be after implants.

So it went well for you? Clearly, since you're playing. What was your experience before and after the implants?

Last edited by RickRS; 01-17-2019 at 06:41 AM.
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  #28  
Old 01-16-2019, 12:46 PM
GlenGurian GlenGurian is offline
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Default It's all about the audiologist...

I guess I got lucky to find an audiologist who had worked with musicians before. After springing for the top-shelf brand he suggested, I took him up on his offer to bring my guitar to his office and proceeded to play while he ran a cable from my new hearing aids (as I wore them) to his software program.

He invited me to make suggestions as I played, but after just a couple of minutes he smiled and said "It's okay. I can tell by your face when you like what you're hearing and when you don't."

Maybe 30 minutes later and he had created a music channel for my hearing aids that perfectly (to my ear, anyhow) recreated what I would expect to hear from my guitar in a studio setting.

My advice: Pay as much if not more attention to the audiologist you chose as you do the hearing aids you buy.
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  #29  
Old 01-16-2019, 01:58 PM
harpspitfire harpspitfire is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RickRS View Post
I worry about need cochlear implant in the near future. Still functioning with aids for my progressive nerve deafness, with about 90 dB loss at 250 Hz, 100 dB at 2 kHz, and falling off the chart 120 dB limit for test above 2 kHz. ENT doc has told me to consider implants, but it's scarely when told it's irreversible and no way to qualify what the fidelity of hearing will be after implants.

So it went well for you? Clearly, since you're playing. What was your experience before and after the implants?
well, simply put- i had nerve deafness also, or whatever it is, my hearing was basically flatlined on the chart, understanding was near -0-, i wore a super powered aid, phone,TV, music, room conversations were all out of the question,
feedback was crazy (i never heard it) ear sweat, noise all were against any kind of hearing, my conversations were answering questions which i didnt really hear, my wife ended up writing down things i needed to know, it was a senseless way of life i got used to- got the implant- 1st day it was turned on, i hated it and wanted it out of my head, they explained i need an adjustment period, 30 days later (more or less) i never gave it a second thought, i could talk on the phone ,watch TV, talk to people, heard the beep in my truck when i left the lights on, hear the crickets at night from inside the house, sounds were as natural i could ever remember- music is tuffer though, music is made for acoustic hearing and i dont have that, very hard to explain, but this works from 22 channels- not thousands of hair cells, at 1st, hearing music wasnt the issue, distinguishing it was (also hard to explain) as of today with all my playing, i can tell and hear a difference in even a 1/2 step between notes- which is sort of unheard of wearing an implant , now contrary to older implants, the new surgery is not as damaging, but i can say this- i would never in my life consider wearing another hearing aid, even some kind of super super power aid with high tech programming could never even compare to an implant, but this is my case where my natural hearing was at a dead end
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  #30  
Old 01-16-2019, 06:20 PM
FlyWilde FlyWilde is offline
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Now that I'm 65, the decades in the military and the toll on my hearing can no longer be ignored. I've set aside a goodly chunk of change for some good ones.

I mention this only to provide background and context for my next comment.

Thank you.

Thank you to everybody sharing their experience and wisdom on this topic. It is really helpful.
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