Dang it, I'm Deaf....

Wonderful video. It reminds me of some deaf people who place their hands on the necks of loved ones as they speak. Not only are the musical sound vibrations stimulating the fingertips, but the vocal chords of those talking and singing are vibrating as well at a much more intense level.

All the best,
Nonoise

Nothing to add but commiserations. I've tinnitus and my dad went somewhat deaf in his late sixties. So far so good but I dread the day. I will say that 50s and 60s mono recordings can be superb. You could even go the mono route and save a fortune on amps and speakers!

Though there are worse things that happen in life losing one's hearing is a fate I would wish on no one. I have tinnitus and it's bad enough.

russ, can you please describe how the cochlear implant makes music sound? i'd heard that they have invented new algorithms that can be programmed into older implants that give them a more "FM" kind of sound quality. i also heard they invented something called a "hybrid" implant that maximizes one's remaining hearing range with a powerful amplifier, and the rest of the range reproduced with the implant.

My best to all of the responders here, who realize that things change, sometimes at the worst possible time. My hearing got slapped pretty good at the hospital where they administered an antibiotic too rapidly. My head felt like a balloon. That was years ago, and I miss what I lost, so damned much. It isn't just music. It is what I enjoyed most about life, i.e., listening to it.

russ, can you please describe how the cochlear implant makes music sound?

I have the latest and greatest implant from Cochlear America. It sounds like a cheap transistor radio with a bad signal and a busted speaker with speech by a robot.

"hybrid" implant that maximizes one's remaining hearing range with a powerful amplifier

That is for people that have some hearing left, I have nothing on that side. 

I've been deaf in my right ear since I was a young child

So this isn't a new or recent development and have never experienced listening to music any other way

When doing critical listening I do not face the speakers

If I do, the sound is left channel dominate and I find myself wondering if the right channel is even working

I sit with my left ear facing the speakers and able to enjoy full stereo sound and hear both channels evenly

When I made this discovery, I'd estimate that the listening experience was improved by 50% and found that actually listen at lower volume

I don't know the science or audiology for rhyme or reason, I just know that's what has worked best for me

Try Homeopathy.

I lost 70% of my left side hearing. And I got it back in about one month after treatment.

All this after 3  months of Western Medicine that did not work, I had nothing to lose.

Do not give up!

There's a pretty good movie on Amazon called Sound of Metal about a drummer who loses his hearing and finally settles for a cochlear implant. It's a pretty sobering perspective from a guy who loves to drum.

i will add you to my prayer list. I know the dealer who helps the guy in the video. A super guy - Eric at Gig Harbor Audio. The mono idea has merit as does an omni. I had some hearing challenged clients long ago that all seemed to gravitate and love the Shahinian Obelisk - for what it’s worth.

Best to you

Jim

I'm really sorry to hear about your loss, Russ.

I have hyperacusis, which is the polar opposite of your condition. It's sensitivity to high frequencies that can cause migraine type pain.

I have the same problem, being completely deaf in one ear, accompanied by tinnitus.in that ear. Like you, enjoying my system was a big part of my retirement plan. It took quite a while to make peace with the hearing loss, but finally decided that there was limited time left to enjoy the music. I have a simpler 2 channel system consisting of Magnepan LRS, VTL 225 monoblocks, Rogue 99 Magnum preamp, Sota Sapphire TT, Rotel RCD 1572 CD player.. I also experimented with room placement and found that leaving the system configured for stereo but playing the system in mono was the bet compromise. Obviously you have a more complex system,. but just wanted to acknowledge that there are fellow sufferers..  

OK let me explain:

I'm 54.  When I turned 53, I woke up one January morning and something was very different. My head felt subtly different. I had a fullness in bass for about 2 weeks before this but now it seemed I had no bass in my left ear.  I did a frequency sweep test on YouTube and discovered that I lost everything below 400hz and everything about 8000hz.  Everything in the middle of that was slightly subdued.

I've had a 8000hz notch since an ear infection at age 25. but could hear above and below that fine.

I was so sad, depressed and angry. 

I live near the Keck School of Medicine (La Crescenta, California) so I quickly started getting treatment and hearing tests to get my hearing back. I got prednisone treatment and an injection directly through my eardrum.  Talk about painful!

After about 3 months of treatment and testing, they basically gave up and suggested a hearing aid.

About this time, my brother was visiting from Florida and had needed a case study volunteer to finish his Homeopathy degree. Someone had dropped out and he needed to fill that spot. I volunteered and half-jokingly asked 'can you get my hearing back?'.  He smiled and said 'I'm pretty sure I can'.  I was skeptical but had nothing to lose.

He explained that he would not treat my ear.  He would treat my body...get it back in balance...and the body would heal itself. I felt fine otherwise so not sure why he would need to treat my body...I'm relatively fit.

3 days of 1 hour sessions simply asking me lots of questions. Questions that go back as far as I could remember. What childhood illnesses had I encountered (mumps etc,), What antibiotics had I taken and for what reason. Am I often thirsty for water? Is one side of my body cold? Do I sleep on my side or back? How is my libido? Do I prefer warm drinks or cold drinks...etc,etc, 

Then a single treatment: A pill in a glass of water shaken 10 times...then a tablespoon of the water.  Throw the rest of the water out and done.

(I will not tell you the name of the remedy, because for each person it will be different...even for the same problem).

Weeks went by with no change.  My brother would call and ask if I had a reaction.  'What reaction?' I asked. 'You'll know' he said. Everyone has a different reaction.

Another week...no reaction. Then, I wake up one morning, feel dizzy and vomit. I skip work because I believe that I had Covid. Next morning I feel fine...actually better than fine so I get in my truck to go to work and the truck sounds funny. It's a new truck so I'm hoping and praying it's my hearing coming back.  Yup! over the next three days hearing is back like a vengeance.

Still have the 8000hz notch but now able to hear down to 23hz and up to 17kz.

Also: No more eczema, better sense of smell, better balance.  Used to wake up at 3am and stumble to the bathroom holding furniture occasionally...now I wake up and just walk...great balance!

Had no idea that 54 felt this good.  I feel better now than I did at 47.  I had suffered a very slow and constant decline over about 7 years and did not know!

Take my advice, don't give up. 

And try homeopathy. It works. 

Also, lose that much hearing and soundstage is gone forever. I had no idea how important bass was to soundstage! 

Also watch out for ototoxic drugs: aspirin, ibuprofen, antibiotics etc. In regular medium-high doses, they can be ear killers.

I sit with my left ear facing the speakers and able to enjoy full stereo sound and hear both channels evenly

I'm doing the same but I have now placed the loudspeakers closer together and that is working very well. Thanks for your input.

i will add you to my prayer list.

Thanks Jim, I'm getting over the disappointment and working to get the best solution now. My neighbor with covid needs a prayer more than I do, if you have room on your list. 

Try Homeopathy.

Thanks for the input but the cochlear surgery pretty much guaranties recovery of hearing is not possible.  

Having a cochlear implant myself, I find using full-size headphones make all the difference in  the world - especially having tuned the hearing by using Sonarwork's Sound ID app.

Russ—so sorry to read this. But don't lose hope. As the miraculous homeopathic cure sandthemall describes shows, strange things can happen.

Three years ago, I was flying home from Prague on a plane with a shrieking infant right behind me. But those hours of torture were only the beginning. Thee days after getting home, both my wife and I came down with high fevers and ear aches; we guessed that baby had been sick and was shrieking in pain. Anyway, two days after that, I woke up with almost complete deafness in my left ear. I couldn't hear my fingers rubbing the outer ear, couldn't hear fingers snapping, a very disorienting sense of space, etc. My doctor prescribed oral prednisone, but sent me to an audiologist. He did a test with headphones that diagnosed a profound loss in that ear; he then did the test direct to the bone, which indicated the same loss. He told me this meant the damage was to the auditory nerves, and that it was not due to a blockage in the ear canal that felt like the cause. He called the condition "sudden idiopathic hearing loss" and explained that "idiopathic" meant no one knew what caused it—and that, accordingly, no one knew how to cure it. He suggested injections of prednisone into the eardrum (no, thanks!), or an expensive experimental treatment called a hyperbaric oxygen chamber that insurance would not pay for and that carried a risk of explosive immolation (again: no thanks!). In any case, he assured me that my hearing wasn't coming back.

But I didn't believe him. For one thing, I had a sensation of stuffiness in that ear that seemed to indicate a blockage which might clear. And, in fact, within a couple of weeks, I did occasionally swallow deeply enough to briefly clear the ear canal (or whatever it was), restoring partial hearing for a few moments. And then...gradually...I got almost all of my hearing back. Now, three years later, my left ear measures almost as well as my right; I'm back to being able to hear water dripping from three rooms away.

The lesson, I guess, is not to lose hope, and not to assume medical science has all the answers. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it should be that. Human physiology is astoundingly, confoundingly complicated and—to paraphrase the doctor from the old TV show "Northern Exposure"—the human body is a miraculous self-righting machine. Hang in there, and good luck!

@sandthemall,

"He explained that he would not treat my ear.  He would treat my body...get it back in balance...and the body would heal itself."

3 years ago over Christmas I began to get dizzy spells and felt like throwing up at the same time. I couldn't stand up at times.

As much as I'm loathe to seek professional help I had to. Unfortunately my doctor diagnosed Menieres disease and gave me a whole stack of tablets.

However, not happy with his diagnosis that this could be for life I thought I'd try something different.

We always had an old infra red lamp lying around which my dad used for his lower back, and I thought I'd try it on my ears for short periods whilst I was reading.

Within just days there were signs of improvement. After 2 weeks I couldn't feel any more improvement or any need to use it again.

Since then my hearing has been better than it's ever been.

For any audiophile it's a tragedy to not have good hearing.

I can't endorse homeopathy, I have no experience of it, but I do agree with your brother that the body does need to be in balance.

Good advice, glad it worked.

@russ69 ya man, i understand putting your neighbor on the list and yes ! always room for another prayer

It is nice to see the help and kind words on offer this thread…

As to hyperbaric, i spent an hour a day in a chamber for several months to cure a stubborn bone infection….no immolation… but i wouldn’t do it with the low bidder..

I am very sad to read that....

I offer my prayer .....

I wish you light behind  this storm...

Hello,

I am really sorry so many of you have gone through this. Is there a way you can covert to mono and only listen with one ear. Maybe by blocking or plugging up the one ear? I hope something works and new tech comes about. I thought Mono might be an answer. Hopefully it is. I think Rogue has a mono button. 

Thanks to all for your valuable input. I'm starting a new phase of experimentation with speaker placement, sitting position, and mono/stereo presentations. All is not lost but some compromises are going to have to be made. Thanks again guys and be sure to add to the thread if you have any more insight. 

A number of you have mentioned your suffering with tinnitus. There is a currently a clinical study going on of a drug to treat tinnitus:

Headphones work wonders  especially when using the Sonarworks's SoundID.

....that video was amazing and touching...no pun intended at all...

My hearing...loss isn't correct, it's just Less than it was...and humbling in contrast...

It does want me to get my fingers on a ball just to try.....*s*

To all y'all who are searching for a happier ending, I wish one and all the best results you can be pleased to live with.

....the Dead....*!*  Who'd of thought?.....

At this point, I hope the band has left our solar system on 2 gold records.....;)

My hearing is fairly good, but when the room is very quiet, I hear a hiss- type of sound like white noise.  I only hear the hiss when it is very quiet — I turn on the TV or music and I don’t notice it so much.  I was thinking maybe this is just a normal part of getting older (I will be 67 next month) and I don’t know if there is anything that can be done to quiet the hiss.  I just count myself lucky if this is the worst I experience.

@lowrider57 

I have hyperacusis, which is the polar opposite of your condition. It's sensitivity to high frequencies that can cause migraine type pain.

Hyperacusis doesn't just manifest for high frequencies, as I unfortunately know from experience. In addition to tinnitus in my right ear (cochlear infection some years back), I have intermittent hyperacusis, which is apparently quite odd (but so am I). Doesn't normally bother me but when it does I can't listen to music (or anything else for that matter)  above normal speech loudness without causing pain. Sucks, but nothing near the order magnitude of the deafness the OP is afflicted with - All my sympathies on that ill fortune. 🙁

Getting old is not for the faint of heart apparently...

I've dealt with tinnitus and SHL in one ear. Fortunately steroids resolved that issue. I'm a professional musician so I've head to make adjustments working as well.

Hope you get some improvement.

@khughes  I agree, my affliction doesn't come close to what Russ is experiencing. All the best to him.

Like you, my hyperacusis is intermittent. When it hits, music has to be shut down, tv muted, car stereo off. The louder the audio peaks, the more intense the pain is. Mine is the result of a virus.

skyscraper

564 posts

12-10-2021 8:44pm

A number of you have mentioned your suffering with tinnitus. There is a currently a clinical study going on of a drug to treat tinnitus:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04829214

Thanks for posting this. I emailed my local person conducting the study. We'll see what happens.

@bob540 - I turned 70 in September, and I've had tinnitus for many years, and for me it manifests as a 'hiss'. Sometimes it's louder, sometimes it's quieter. It's possible that this is what you are experiencing. You might want to consult an audiologist.... 

Yes I remember at night I would hear no sounds ,dead silence. Now I hear a hissing...I'm 69...if aspirin or antibiotic, pain killers etc....I should be totally deaf.Yes,I never was a headphones user.But been to lots of rock concerts up close...I have had hearing tests and they want you to buy expensive ear phones.So as of now I live with tinnitus....

@larsman, I thought tinnitus was ringing in the ears.  I haven’t had ringing, just the hiss.  The hissing can be tinnitus too?

Ringing, hissing, buzzing. Can be intermittent or continuous. Can be triggered by various things, like drugs, blood pressure, other sounds.

Update: Like an idiot, I’m half deaf and I bought a Rogue Sphinx to run my Triangle Antals. My big system is out of service, the things that it did are lost on me so for now it just sits. Just to recap I have my loudspeakers about 3 feet apart and I listen with my good ear sitting 90 degrees to the speakers. I bought a mono conversion box but it seems stereo still sounds better. Mono seemed congested and flat. So I’m getting along swimmingly. I like the Sphinx although the top end is a little smooth. I might have some tube rolling in my future, lol. BTW, thanx a lot guys, your input was tops, as always.