Motoman, I'm in the same boat you are, getting older is a learning experience. Besides the answers you will get on your questions here on your thread also do a search of this forum for "hearing aids". This has been a popular question of which there are over 800 threads. Good reading and good luck on your journey.
Any Audiophiles Here Have Experience with Hearing Aids?
About 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease, a pretty unpleasant inner ear problem that is characterized by horrible, but luckily sporadic extreme vertigo, tinnitus, and low frequency hearing loss. Dormant for about 6 years, it has come back in the last couple of years with a vengeance, with a lot of low frequency loss and overall difficulty hearing in the affected ear. It generally affects only one ear, in this case my left ear. It does not always lead to deafness, but definite hearing impairment. I used to be able to really discern the difference between various cables and components, even if subtle. Now, with my low frequency hearing loss and age-related high frequency hearing loss, I'm not sure that I can discern crap. Music still sounds good, but one of my friends was over listening to various music and could instantly say that "this sounded flat" or the "soundstage had no depth," etc. I could hear no difference at all. My doctor is recommending a hearing aid. Which brings me to the question: does anyone here have experience with using a hearing aid, and how does a hearing aid affect your listening to music? Does it restore some of your ability to recognize subtleties in the music? Does it distort the music? What is a good hearing aid that will not distort the music?
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I made the rookie error in thinking that I was the first person to post about this problem. There are indeed several threads that discuss the problems/benefits of certain hearing aids. High end Opticon seems to be the type of choice. I'll be interested to hear how it affects the music. I guess the way I figure it, if there is an equalization curve that boosts the low and high end in line with my deficit, maybe something will be better than nothing and I can go back to blowing $$$ on even better equipment, LOL! @blueranger, you are likely referring to the OTO trials. They are still ongoing, but the Phase II trials in the US did not demonstrate any statistically significant improvements. The Phase II in Europe did and the company is doing a Phase III trial in . . . Europe, what a surprise. Meniere's is a crappy disease, but I have read that there are a lot of people that have it significantly worse than I do, and there are significantly worse health problems to have, so that is some consolation. I've also found that with the right strain of medical marijuana, all my music sounds excellent -- even my early 1970's Led Zeppelin bootlegs! And its a lot cheaper than a hearing aid or new speakers, LOL! |
Meniere's is greatly impacted by food allergies. Notice more tinnitus after drinking wine or eating a particular food? Get allergy blood tested and see a Neuro otologist smart enough to believe this. Jack Pulec MD (now deceased) left the House Clinic in LA over this controversial issue but people from all over the world including Saudi royalty came to see him for treatment for Meniere's which included this approach. |
@skywachr, the tinnitus is always there, but sometimes I just don't notice it. It's the vertigo attacks that are the real problem. First, I feel lightheaded -- slightly dizzy. Then, my eyes start flicking back and forth (nystagmus), then I can't walk and must lie down, after which I puke for an hour or so until I can fall asleep. Although salt, wine, alcohol and caffeine are known triggers, there has never been any consistency. My doc analogizes it to juggling 5 balls. All good. Through a 6th ball in there and the balls drop. That 6th ball could be anything, which is why it is a bitch to figure out what to avoid. |
@skywachr, really? I thought that the vertigo was the defining symptom of Meniere's, along with telltale low frequency hearing loss and tinnitus. I wonder if you may have something else (hopefully). Without the vertigo attacks, I would just forget about the low frequency loss and the tinnitus, although I understand that some folks have tinnitus so bad that they have trouble falling asleep, which would really suck! |
I feel for your hearing loss as I am right there with you...not with exactly the same problem, but a loss none the less. I decided about 3 years ago to explore the relief that I might get from hearing aids. The ones I chose were the Phillips model sold by Costco at the time. Their technician spent a good bit of time tweaking the response curve of the aids to address the areas where my ears were having issues. At the time I was singing regularly with our church choir. The implications of this may be relevent to your situation or not, only you can decide. When we were singing I was standing right next to a vocally capable Soprano who could carry a lot of volume to go with her good voice. So if I had the hearing aids set for a noisy environment I found the input on the hearing aids was fine for normal conversation and was a huge help hearing dialogue on TV or in conversation with someone in a noisy environment, but for music, singing, it was just awful. The dynamic range of the internal amplifier could not handle the resonance of my own voice or the amplitude of the soprano singing in my ear with obvious signs of overloading. It was a disappointing outcome and consequently high frequency loss and tinnitus that I currently experience is just one of those things I live with all the time. Is it pleasant? Of course not, but its better than the aggravation and limited usefulness of the hearing aids. Just my $.02 worth. Which I guess today is worth about a $1 in todays money. :) |
I've got hissy tinnitus and loss of high frequencies, and I've worn hearing aids for over 20 years; they've made such an improvement in everything, including listening to music. They won't bring back lost hearing, but they can manage to adjust the EQ so you get the impression of a wider range at any particular volume. It's also good that they have multiple programs for different purposes. Doesn't help my tinnitus any, but I'm used to that anyway. |
@secretguy , doing well. No vertigo attacks since December 2023, but the tinnitus is still there, just not particularly loud. a 2 or 3 and when I am not thinking about it, I really don't notice it. The low frequency loss is still there as is the high frequency loss, but the system sounds great, and I suppose that I have adjusted to the way I hear things. I'm sure it was sharper when I was younger but it's not bad now. I'm not ready for hearing aids yet, as I can hear the TV and people pretty well, so I'll see. But on the positive, I feel like my system is fantastic, so whether it is fantastic or because of my hearing it sounds fantastic, I am pretty happy! |
This is a great topic. Hearing loss or impairment and hearing aids are often a very overlooked and misunderstood topic as it relates to high fidelity and the audiophile experience. I have heard people say that hearing aids don’t help the hearing impaired enjoy listening to music on a stereo for various reasons. This has never made sense to me since I feel that much like room treatments.... addressing the most important piece of audio equipment, one’s ears , is of first order importance. How can anyone with hearing loss or hearing impairment evaluate any piece of audio equipment in the hifi chain without first fixing the problem of hearing well? I have hearing loss and tinnitus and wear hearing aids. I don’t know how I could ever go back to listening to my stereo system without them. It’s like not wearing your glasses and trying to see clearly.... it can’t be done. Once I saw a professional audiologist and got tested, it was identified which segment or band of the frequency spectrum I was NOT hearing well and I was able to get hearing aids adjusted to my needs. It’s a game changer. |
@2psyop, thanks for the response. I have to admit that it seems counterintuitive that hearing aids would make a system actually sound better, given that there is no way that that little miniaturized amplifier could have anywhere near the fidelity of a high end system. I would think that the little amplifier in the hearing aids would actually introduce a lot of distortion in what one would hear as far as music goes. in addition, it seems light one is introducing a little amplifier that will introduce distortion throughout the frequency range, and cut down on intangibles like soundstage, etc. On the other hand, I can imagine that if the hearing aid just boosts the missing or reduced frequencies in order to correct the frequency response of one's ear, I suppose that it is enhancing frequencies that one would otherwise not hear and therefore, perhaps the distortion effect may not be as significant. How has it affected your tinnitus? |
moto-man I can speak of my experiences.. understanding others might have a different one and some may be much more skeptical about the therapeutic value of hearing aids. When I got my first pair of ReSound hearing aids from the VA some 7 years ago they were calibrated and tailored to my hearing loss. After leaving the fitting area and going to my car I had reached for a bag of potato chips on the passenger seat and heard clearly the crinkle of the plastic bag the chips were in. Recently I updated my hearing aids to Resound Nexia and upon putting on my Goretex jacket I heard the crinkle of the jacket (which sounds like a paper bag being smashed down) When I got home I decided to listen to the TV in my living room and I had heard the faint beep of my refrigerator alarm in the kitchen which tells me I didn’t fully close the door. These are sounds I was not hearing. The sounds that fall within the frequency range I happen to have a deficiency in. Later when I listened to music on my stereo, I was hearing sounds I had not been hearing (for who knows how long). I don’t really think about hearing aid amplifier distortion, I think about re-listening to music and hearing all that is there... that I have been missing. |
@2psyop, I just had my audiogram yesterday and although my hearing has stabilized since last year, I am down 70 dB below 125 hz, which my ENT categorized as moderate to severe hearing loss and although I have no problem with recognizing speech, he said that a hearing aid, properly calibrated, will boost the low end and the high end. I will try one out and see what happens. I'll probably go for the Widex, which seems to be a popular choice for us aging audiophiles! |
@moto_man - if you've got a Costco nearby, you might want to investigate their hearing clinic; I sure did like buying a pair of last year's top-of-the-line Jabra hearing aids there for $1500 instead of the $6000 - $8000 I'd paid at regular audiologists for several hearing aids in the past. Quality is better than my last pair of those as the tech is 4 years more advanced. Appointments are not as convenient, so it's a bit of a tradeoff. |
