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

I've had ReSound unit for about five years now. I bought them from a local audiologist who did a very thorough  exam process. While they improve everyday life, I don't find they are very good for music. Things just don't sound natural (as I remember them).

Imaging, soundstaging.... just aren't there like I remember. I can only assume that due to the internal hocus pocus that is being done with phasing and such to make speech more ineligible, it is at a cost of messing up other things.

As a lot have stated, above 2K, things go south with my hearing. One issue I had was when I play piano, there was one note that would cause the units to feedback. Never had it happen in everyday life, but when I play it does. Audiologist explanation was, the ear canal can change the shape of the frequency response of the system (makes sense since the tests are done with headphones, but that in itself is a flaw).

The one thing that I wish manufacturers would do is make an option for audio minded people to have more that a 3 band graphic equalizer on them. I wish I had more control like a parametric so I could tune or shape the response to my liking, or should I say what I think sounds natural.

I tried a newer improved model a couple of years ago, but I couldn't justify $5,000 for such little improvement. I'm going to do more investigating into some of the brands that were mentioned in the thread to see if I can find something better. Resound is suppose to be a top of the end brand, but no one mentioned it.

One final thought which makes me think its my aids, I can listen to music with a set o JBL ear buds or AKG headphones and music sounds great. Don't notic the mid and high frequency loss, which further makes me believe the aids are not meant for music. Even then, speech ineligibility in a noisy environment is hit or miss. It is better than not having them, but far from perfect.

Responses seem to have slowed to a stop, or at least a trickle; this is of course inevitable as the thread drops lower in the channel list, but as I said earlier, I have been pleased and grateful for the sheer volume of information here. I wanted to once again thank everyone who chimed in with their thoughts, insights and information. I intend to archive this thread for my personal reference. (Nothing fancy, just printing the full page to PDF.) Best wishes to all of you out there.

@rikkipuu 

@rcm1203 
I did buy the ASI IEM’s, and soon thereafter returned them. I found their overall sound and harmonics to be good to very good… except bass. My KEF R11’s, Rythmic F12SE’s and miniDSP are tuned beautifully. 
Most hearing aids (RIC) are ‘open air’ allowing our ears to hear without their assistance. My hearing loss (typical) is in the high end. I have no correction in the low end. 
With my open air hearing aids (top of line Signia’s), my systems bass sounds glorious & crisp with great harmonics. 
The IEM’s close off your ears, so you are relying solely on the internal IEM speakers. The bass is there, but much less crisp… almost dull. As an aside, I have small ear canals, and found the ASI’s to be uncomfortable. YMMV

My be worth a try as they are an easy return. 

BTW, piano music sounded wonderful. I can see why the Grand Piano review loved them.