Hearing aid question


Decades ago I at least thought of myself as a bit of a "Golden Ear"; my Quad ELS/Pyramid supertweeter combo and associated electronics were a source of pride and joy. (All gone over the years, alas.) In recent years I have learned that I have essentially lost the top three octaves of my auditory frequency response, whether through natural aging or some other process I'm not sure; I also have a fair bit of tinnitus at this stage, but that has proved less of an issue in being able to enjoy music. So now I've gone from enjoying the transparent reproduction of great music to struggling to resolve the sibilants in my wife's speech. (In the overall scheme of things, the latter is arguably more important, at least in maintaining peace at home.) I still very much enjoy listening to music, but the high-end losses have somewhat diminished the joy of it.

I am of course starting to think about taking the leap into hearing aids as a genuine quality-of-life enhancement. I was wondering if anyone out there has dealt with similar issues, and perhaps formed opinions about which of the many available solutions has worked best as both a general lifestyle aid and a boost to their enjoyment of live and recorded music. Many thanks in advance.

ericrhenry5488

Showing 1 response by dinosore

I am 67 years old and got the Widex Moment hearing aids earlier this year. I had my hearing tested in my mid-50s and it was pretty good, better than average for my age. However, I was starting to suffer from tinnitus. Not too badly, and it would come and go.

Fast forward to last year and my tinnitus is starting to bother me while listening to music. On days that it is acting up, I could not listen with headphones, and it was mildly distracting when listening to my two audio systems. I went for another hearing test and was shocked to see how much high frequency hearing I lost since my last test. In the meantime, I was researching HAs and found several reviews of the Widex Moments and their popularity with musicians. I was also seeing a lot of people saying that their tinnitus had improved after getting HAs. (There are a lot of different causes of tinnitus and HAs are no guarantee of any relief).

After about four months of use, I am thrilled with the Widex Moments. First of all, I am one of the lucky ones that got significant relief from my tinnitus. Even on days when it is present, I find it easier to listen through it. Secondly, I feel like I just did a major upgrade to both of my systems.  (I'm actually spending way too much time listening to music again).

Everybody's experience will be different, but my HAs have given me exactly what I was hoping for. I do wear them all the time, with the exception of vigorous exercise. While I never felt I had any difficulty hearing day-to-day stuff, I was mildly surprised to experience what I was really missing once I started to wear the HAs. 

The Moments are very comfortable and I don't really notice them while I am wearing them. Not one single person has noticed them either unless I point them out. The app for the phone is terrific and allows me to create custom settings and save them. I am still experimenting with different setting for music, but I have a couple that I am happy with.