Hearing aid question

@signaforce 

Thanks you saved me some time and money.  I did not like the feel or the sound of the IEM's vs open ear RIC's. 

I suspect there will never be a market for audiophile hearing aids and if a market ever develops it will take many years for the market to evolve and produce a decent product like it did with DAC's.

And, as I have a floor-standing ribbon tweeter speaker and a tube front end and a tube DAC it seems wrong to take that glorious sound and convert it to non-discrete solid state and run it thru I 1-2 mm speaker.

I have pretty bad tinnitus, caused by cervical stenosis and arthritis in my jaw, but the severity comes and goes. At the same time, I have only very mild hearing loss, somewhat better hearing than normal level for my age. So for now, I just dial up the high end on the speaker crossovers, when needed.

I did audition a $6,000 pair of hearing aids. They sounded awful.

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.

I'm glad that Widex has improved their app. A few years ago I got a pair of Widex in-ear hearing aids for listening with headphones, and the app seemed like somebody's very first app design project in elementary school. 

I use Phonak Audeo Lumity. Very expensive, but paid 100% by insurance. The audiologist has a program, and she works with you to set the hearing aid listening curve perfect to your ears.  I don't think you could get an equalizer to match your hearing without adjusting against lab measurements.

The hearing aids have a Music setting for listening sessions. I am very happy with them.  Others can join me in my listening room without hearing artificially distorted sound.

I chose Lumity for the quality blue tooth and android connection. I use them a lot for conference calls and YouTube videos.  It is very convenient.     Other hearing aids like Oticon have better reviews for listening to music, but I find the Phonak music program exceptional.