Hearing Aids & Acoustic Guitar

[stringjunky]

Originally Posted by pszy22

Thanks so much. I really appreciate your input. With my mother living a couple hours away, it's hard to figure out what's going on when she can't hear on the phone to carry on a conversation. My mother is probably 20 generations behind me technically, and I'm probably 10 generations behind state of the art. It never would have occurred to me to consider the phone when she told me she was getting a new hearing aid.

thanks again, you've made a big difference to my mother's quality of life

My pleasure.

[dkstott]

This is an interesting conversation... Just recently had my hearing tested because of my inability to have conversations in loud environments. Everything becomes "noise".

Unfortunately, my hearing loss is a result of years of working in loud manufacturing environments. What's gone is gone & hearing aids can't bring back what is permanently lost.

[michaelnel]

Originally Posted by dkstott

What's gone is gone & hearing aids can't bring back what is permanently lost.

They can and do most certainly help. Without my HAs I am virtually deaf. With them, I can function pretty normally.

[Dreadfulnaught]

Originally Posted by michaelnel

They can and do most certainly help. Without my HAs I am virtually deaf. With them, I can function pretty normally.

Plus 1 to that.

[fray]

Thanks for all of the model recommendations. It really helps to know what to look for.

[Stratcat77]

Oticon Opn 2 miniRite user here.

I got them about a year ago. Absolutely love them. I've needed aids for a while and just finally did it and am so glad. The real driver for me was struggling to hear clearly in work office meetings. That is vastly improved and I'm also realizing other benefits. Maybe I'm just lucky, but my guitar sounds great to me with the aids on. When I play out live now, I can play at a much lower volume and still hear very clearly. Love it.

One thing to point out is that since this is just compensating for lost frequencies, I can enjoy listening to music or tv, etc at lower volumes. I used to turn up to try to compensate for the lost frequencies. No longer need to do that. I'm sure my wife and the people watching me appreciate it too!!

Mine Bluetooth for phone calls and can stream music.

[Naboz]

This is perfect timing, sirs!
I have a hearing exam this week, and know it will be time for HAs.
I've been thinking about how it will change my perception of my guitars' sounds; some days I don't want to play because my right ear is so dull.
Now I know some questions to ask and some brands to mention!
Much appreciated.

[OKCtodd71]

Originally Posted by fray

So what model of hearing aids are ya'll using? Thanks.

Costco, yes, Costco has about the best prices on hearing aids you will ever find. I recently bought a pair of Kirkland (their "house" brand) and am pretty well pleased with them. I suffer (not as much as my wife) from high frequency loss (inherited) and they've made a big improvement. I do not need them for music which is good because I do not like them at all for music. My problem is not so much volume as it is clarity/speach recognition...as in "did you say bold, cold, mold"? I don't need them to hear low volume music and at least as how they are programmed for my high frequency hearing loss, I can't stand to play guitar with them on. It makes for a "chorused" sound as I hear the guitar naturally and a split second later, the amplified aid sound of the guitar.
Anyway Costco sell a lot of hearing aids, many people like myself join just to buy them; hard to buy produce and many other items there for just 2 people there. I paid $60 for a membership and $1600 for a hearing test, the aids and all follow up tweaking the programing. I know my father paid about $2000 a piece for hearing aids and had terrible trouble with them. If you do some googling, as you should, you will see that Costco is the place to go.
Good luck
See what I did there?

[colins]

Originally Posted by Stratcat77

Oticon Opn 2 miniRite user here.

I got them about a year ago. Absolutely love them. I've needed aids for a while and just finally did it and am so glad. The real driver for me was struggling to hear clearly in work office meetings. That is vastly improved and I'm also realizing other benefits. Maybe I'm just lucky, but my guitar sounds great to me with the aids on. When I play out live now, I can play at a much lower volume and still hear very clearly. Love it.

One thing to point out is that since this is just compensating for lost frequencies, I can enjoy listening to music or tv, etc at lower volumes. I used to turn up to try to compensate for the lost frequencies. No longer need to do that. I'm sure my wife and the people watching me appreciate it too!!

Mine Bluetooth for phone calls and can stream music.

Wow, they sound good! I am reaching that point and will add your model to my list.

[twotrack]

Starkey Muse iQ HA's for me, and by bringing a guitar with me they were able to program a unique music channel that is great. One other thing that led me towards the Starkey product was that the family does a tremendous amount of charitable work with their HA's and their profits.