Ménière's disease

[bscott]

I have Ménière's disease with some tinnitus. Several weeks ago I lost more hearing in one of my ears and now I have even more trouble hearing. My guitar does not sound the same and I don't enjoy playing as before the hearing loss. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips that could help my condition? I do wear hearing aids but now then don't work as well since this last hearing problem.

[drtedtan]

Getting your hearing aids adjusted is probably your best bet.

You could also play facing a wall so that the sound will bounce off of the wall towards you. Maybe a guitar with a sound port directing some additional high frequencies towards your ears would help some, too.

I used to work with someone who had a cochlear implant, which may be an option for you depending on the specifics of your situation.

[Rockysdad]

Your Audiologist could likely best help you with your situation.

If you're dealing with a Hearing Aid Technician, I don't think they'd be your best bet.

[Br1ck]

Get your new reality tested and go from there. If your hearing aids are three years old or older, you might see what new technology has to offer. Do you have a program on your aids for playing music? I could not play without a separate program for playing. My guitars would be far too bright. I have cookie cutter moderate hearing loss. I've had my hearing aids for two months now, and find them indispensable. Went to an open mic for the first time last week and used the playing music program, then switch to the music venue program. There is a program for listening to music, outdoor/traffic, restaurants, and lectures, all with a touch of my iPhone with an app.

If I have grandkids in the back seat, I use the rear focus feature. No, it isn't as good as having perfect hearing, but it's a huge improvement when you are out and about and you can hear what folks are saying. You just have to remember to change back as the playing music program cuts a lot of the highs you need for speech. But everything begins with getting tested.

[RussellHawaii]

I’m not sure that it helps with Meniere’s in particular. But for many tinnitus cases, including mine, ‘Epley’s procedure’ really helps.
My naturopathic doctor has helped me with this a few times over the years with great results. It’s a physical manipulation that can clear debris in the inner ear, which can cause tinnitus.
It’s not voodoo and it has a logical explanation for its effectiveness. Also it can’t hurt to try.
Good luck!

[soma5]

I had an episode about 12 years ago where I lost (almost) all hearing in one ear (I am almost totally recovered now,not to worry). You would think that the effect might be that you now hear less, at lower volume. You would be wrong in that assumption. Your ears are not the same, they have different frequency responses. Over your life, your brain learns to "equalize" or at least learn how to merge those different responses to produce the totality of what you hear. When you lose hearing in one ear, or more in one ear than the other, that equalization is thrown completely off. My experience was that no musical instrument now produced what I think of as good musical tone. My ability to distinguish speech sounds was greatly reduced. I was teaching at a university at the time, and I could not understand questions my students asked.

I was given a course of steroids and told to take vitamins and generally take better care of myself. I stopped teaching entirely at that point and took a job in private industry working with a former colleague of mine that had been in the private sector for a while. I stopped playing all musical instruments (I play a bunch of them). As my hearing returned (it was gradual) I learned to re-calibrate my brain to work with the new information I was getting from my ears. I now hear at about 90% (my estimate) of what I used to hear. The biggest issue that remains is my lack of ability to localize sounds. However, I can hear music again and I enjooy the sounds of music. I now play almost exclusively acoustic steel-string guitar and I play quite a bit. I don't take anything for granted.

Anyway, I wanted to let people understand about hearing loss in a way they might not have considered before. I am so sorry to hear of the OP's hearing issues and I hope for the best. But I can understand not wanting to play.

[bscott]

Thanks to everyone for your excellent comments and suggestions for my hearing problem. Hopefully I can have more recovery in my hearing levels. Would anyone have any suggestions for a brand of hearing aids that work with hearing and playing music?

[Talk2Me]

Here's 2 famous artists who share their journey with Meniere’s:

Ryan Adams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XZOAMUOdFg

Huey Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_Ggdt00Rk

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by RussellHawaii

I’m not sure that it helps with Meniere’s in particular. But for many tinnitus cases, including mine, ‘Epley’s procedure’ really helps.
My naturopathic doctor has helped me with this a few times over the years with great results. It’s a physical manipulation that can clear debris in the inner ear, which can cause tinnitus.
It’s not voodoo and it has a logical explanation for its effectiveness. Also it can’t hurt to try.
Good luck!

I am curious about this. The Epley procedure is done mostly for vertigo and you position your head based on what side it is caused by. What did they do for you when tinnitus is usually bilateral? I would try anything to help, mine is not bad usually, but some days it is very annoying.

[RussellHawaii]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

I am curious about this. The Epley procedure is done mostly for vertigo and you position your head based on what side it is caused by. What did they do for you when tinnitus is usually bilateral? I would try anything to help, mine is not bad usually, but some days it is very annoying.

Hi Tom,
I don’t know the answer. It could possibly be done on each side. I’ll ask my expert when I see her.
In my case it was vertigo more than tinnitus we were treating, but it occurred more when on one side.
Good luck…it may be worth a try. For me nothing else worked, and Epley’s did.