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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
troutstreamnm
45 posts
 

Yes, see an Audiologist and invest in programmable hearing aid that correct for your specific hearing loss.  You can’t get this level of correction buying something off the shelf.  Additionally, quality aids will have filtering programs specifically for listening to music.  No hearing aid will solve your loss, but good aids can change your life…and maybe help your marriage 😆

Post removed 
zorro
44 posts
 

Eric,

I'm musician and audiophile and was in the same boat so after a lot of reviews I've decide it to go with Widex Moment 440 and very happy with it, all the details that I've be missed it's back with a natural sound.This aids it's amazing.

 

ericrhenry5488 OP
2 posts
 

As the original poster, I've been pleased and surprised by the number of thoughtful responses--and I certainly don't want to discourage further discourse on the subject. I've learned a lot, but one obvious conclusion is that there is no single best answer, and that there is no substitute for research. It probably makes the most sense to divide the whole hearing-aid question into two parts, one dealing with basic quality of life (i.e., conversational competence and the like) and the other dealing with the experience of live and recorded music; I've made a lot of compromises regarding the latter over the past few decades, but I can still make the case that music is actually part of my "quality of life" as well.

My impression is that the Costco experience, in terms of support and quality of offerings, would actually be a bit better than just saying 'Costco' might suggest. When I am in a position to do so, I will probably at least make some preliminary inquiries there. I suspect their offerings would probably be "good enough" as far as conversation and other basic functions are concerned. This discussion has provided a lot of helpful input with respect to the music question, certainly by introducing some names (e.g., Widex) that I might not otherwise have encountered during a routine search. By all means, carry on, and thanks again for all the responses so far.

stevencason
88 posts
 

I have a similar hearing loss.  Hearing is normal up to about 2 k then falls sharply after that.  About 5 years ago I purchased my first set of hearing aids.  My current devices are Signia AX.  I have 6 hearing settings universal, noisy environment, television, recorded music, outdoor sport, and stroll.

 

My audiologist had tweaked the universal profile to boost upper frequencies by about 2 db to help with hearing conversations.  The recorded music profile takes the 2db boost away.

 

If I listen to music on the universal profile highs will seem a bit bright and harsh.  On the recorded music profile it clears it up immensly.

After going to the hearing aids my quality of life and enjoyment of music has increased.

 

I have seen some people here fretting about the da converters in the hearing aids and so on.  Never occurred to me to worry about that.

 

The cost of the hearing aids was very reasonable at about $2100 for the pair.  For me this is a great investment.

 

Do they sound the same as my original equipment (ears) no but getting the harmonics back through the hearing aids has given me plenty of enjoyment.

 

Just my 2 cents worth.

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