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Double Bass Hearing aid advice
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My wife went through this recently. Some insurance will cover some of the expense. They can be surprisingly expensive, $2 to 6K. Newer generations do seem to work pretty well. My wife had little trouble adjusting to them, but did notice several of the common complaints. She really needs to wear them more often; another apparently common behavior.
It's tough to find an honest, competent provider. It appears that getting an audiologist license isn't very challenging, at least in CA. Yelp reviews are a good place to start. Costco is usually a good bet - fair price and competent, honest, service, but limited selection. It's very common for them to tell you one thing, then up the price at pickup, and again even after you've had the aids for a month. They play telephone with each other - "accounting said it costs this", the salesperson "quoted this"; on and on. I got the same behavior from a different provider when I bought my musician's earplugs.
Good luck! HTHs!
I haven't worn my hearing aids for about 8 years, maybe longer, so everything I'm about share about my experience is about older generation hearing aids and the service that went with them. While I do have hearing loss, my biggest problem is tinnitus.
My hearing aids are little quarter-sized triangles that feed collected sound from behind the ear through a tube into an internal ear shaped appliance that serves as an "ear trumpet" for each ear. So the speaker and the microphone are in the little triangles, along with electronics including the controller and a very small non-rechargeable button battery. These are wireless devices that are adjusted by a dedicated pocket dongle which I could use to select predefined frequencies and volume for each hearing aid separately.
Conceptually these were pretty close to state of the art about 8 to 10 years ago. But while they were supposed to be convenient, they really weren't for me. The fact that the microphone was behind my ear meant that I always heard things from behind me better than I heard things in front of me. And batteries were always a pain to manage, both batteries for the hearing aids and for the pocket dongle.
If these hearing aids would have picked up sound from in front of me, I might have put up with them longer, perhaps even up to now, but in meeting after meeting and many other circumstances they proved themselves more of a distraction than a benefit. I can understand the need to hide the electronics behind the ear, but picking up sound from behind a person is really pretty useless.
The other big concern for me was music. I did bring in an instrument for me to play as the audiologist setup a usable range with these hearing aids, and while I could adjust the frequency sensitivity within that range, the biggest issue again was picking up sound from behind me. Unfortunately it rendered me totally disoriented in jam and band situations, and I was better off without using them, so I stopped.
The service for these devices was actually quite good and there wasn't any double talk about pricing. The whole setup was in the $3K range, and of that my insurance paid all but about $400. So my bill was pretty reasonable.
Having had this experience with the technology, it would take a lot for me to go through this process for another set today. While my hearing hasn't gotten any better, my attitude about my hearing situation has improved dramatically and I really think that has a lot to do with how people perceive their hearing. Human hearing is always subjective and based on how a person is focusing attention. At this time I'm pretty satisfied with my hearing and my perception of what I hear, without hearing aids.
And, with time, now my wife also has recognizable hearing loss and tinnitus, so she's not shooting me down for not hearing her quite so much; we're both more understanding with each other about it now. I know this sounds petty and somewhat humorous, but how people react to your hearing limitations really has a lot to do with your perception of what you hear.
Things I would look for in hearing aids if I were to try again:
1) Front focus microphones (REQUIRED)
2) Bluetooth control by a phone rather than carrying a dedicated dongle around
3) rechargeable batteries
4) Total frequency range sensitivity control by the user
5) Discrete, either not visible or not very visible to other people
6) Reliability, good local service and multiple-year warranty
All in all, if I were to try again, I'd try first with Costco (I did not go there before). I've heard nothing but good things about Costco's audiology related products and service.
My hearing aids are little quarter-sized triangles that feed collected sound from behind the ear through a tube into an internal ear shaped appliance that serves as an "ear trumpet" for each ear. So the speaker and the microphone are in the little triangles, along with electronics including the controller and a very small non-rechargeable button battery. These are wireless devices that are adjusted by a dedicated pocket dongle which I could use to select predefined frequencies and volume for each hearing aid separately.
Conceptually these were pretty close to state of the art about 8 to 10 years ago. But while they were supposed to be convenient, they really weren't for me. The fact that the microphone was behind my ear meant that I always heard things from behind me better than I heard things in front of me. And batteries were always a pain to manage, both batteries for the hearing aids and for the pocket dongle.
If these hearing aids would have picked up sound from in front of me, I might have put up with them longer, perhaps even up to now, but in meeting after meeting and many other circumstances they proved themselves more of a distraction than a benefit. I can understand the need to hide the electronics behind the ear, but picking up sound from behind a person is really pretty useless.
The other big concern for me was music. I did bring in an instrument for me to play as the audiologist setup a usable range with these hearing aids, and while I could adjust the frequency sensitivity within that range, the biggest issue again was picking up sound from behind me. Unfortunately it rendered me totally disoriented in jam and band situations, and I was better off without using them, so I stopped.
The service for these devices was actually quite good and there wasn't any double talk about pricing. The whole setup was in the $3K range, and of that my insurance paid all but about $400. So my bill was pretty reasonable.
Having had this experience with the technology, it would take a lot for me to go through this process for another set today. While my hearing hasn't gotten any better, my attitude about my hearing situation has improved dramatically and I really think that has a lot to do with how people perceive their hearing. Human hearing is always subjective and based on how a person is focusing attention. At this time I'm pretty satisfied with my hearing and my perception of what I hear, without hearing aids.
And, with time, now my wife also has recognizable hearing loss and tinnitus, so she's not shooting me down for not hearing her quite so much; we're both more understanding with each other about it now. I know this sounds petty and somewhat humorous, but how people react to your hearing limitations really has a lot to do with your perception of what you hear.
Things I would look for in hearing aids if I were to try again:
1) Front focus microphones (REQUIRED)
2) Bluetooth control by a phone rather than carrying a dedicated dongle around
3) rechargeable batteries
4) Total frequency range sensitivity control by the user
5) Discrete, either not visible or not very visible to other people
6) Reliability, good local service and multiple-year warranty
All in all, if I were to try again, I'd try first with Costco (I did not go there before). I've heard nothing but good things about Costco's audiology related products and service.
I’ve suffered with single-side conductive hearing loss on my right side for most of my life as a result of multiple ear infections and 5 surgeries on my ears throughout my childhood. Due to these issues I have an over 50 decibel loss in my right ear. I have always compensated with it at school when I was younger and at work now and socially by setting myself up in meetings with my left side facing the people I’m supposed to interact with. I was able to get by in this manner for many years. In 2017 I was working in West Texas and I was almost hit by a truck in a Wal-Mart parking lot because I didn’t hear it coming. It was time to think things through and figure something out. I had always been apprehensive about getting a hearing aid mostly because of the look. My grandfather wore these horribly huge triangular things in both his ears for many years and he still couldn’t hear very well - 1970’s technology though so they were massive. I’ve never been vain about things before (I’m a bass player so I’m used to being in the back and existing as essentially “the punter” of the band) but these things looked terrible. For years my ENT had been trying to get me to look into something called a BAHA (bone attached hearing aid) as my hearing loss cannot be corrected with traditional hearing aids as it would have to be turned up to the point where it would feed back like crazy. These devices attach magnetically to a magnetic pad about the size of a quarter that’s just under the skin and drilled into the bone behind the ear. Unfortunately this procedure wasn’t covered by my insurance and I just couldn’t get over the look of the BAHA either as I saw a guy with one while we were on vacation in 2016. He looked like the Borg with how big the thing was! It looked like a small pager stuck to the side of his head! Well it turns out this was one of the earliest generation versions of the BAHA and they’re much smaller now.
After “the Wal-Mart incident” it became very obvious that my hearing was further degrading to the point where it was detrimental to my life so I went back in to see the ENT and began petitioning my insurance to cover the surgery out of network; which they eventually did. We have Obamacare, which is decent insurance, but so limited on who takes it and of course my ENT didn’t; but he was the only guy within 200 miles who could install the device so it was approved out of network. In July 2018 I had the surgery and it’s the best decision I ever made. The surgery was about an hour long outpatient procedure but it took a little longer because I apparently have a thick scalp (my wife could have told them that I have a thick head) and the doc put it a little bit lower than normal so I could still wear ball caps. It’s totally worth it and the insurance picked up most of the cost after I paid $7K out of pocket that I had saved up to cover the outpatient hospital.
The most important thing to do when considering hearing aids is to have a great ENT and audiologist to work with you. After I was fitted with the device it took three trips back to fine tune it after the swelling went down. The technology now is phenomenal as compared to that of 8 years ago and it’s all controllable by smart phone. I’m Bluetooth capable now and can stream right to the device so I can listen to music or my talk radio programs/podcasts and nobody else can hear it. I have an everyday program for just regular conversation, one for noisy social situations - which works great between sets when I perform, a music setting that I love to use when I jam music in my truck, and an outdoors setting that makes everything around me cleaner and clearer (I also watch movies on this setting).
There is an adjustment time to it but I got mine at 41 and apparently the longer you wait the harder it is to get adjusted to them. I worked with a gentleman who got his hearing aids in his 80s and it literally freaked him out all that he heard when he put them on for the first time. He heard birds chirping and all of the sounds around him and it was sensory overload. He had to take them off and he never wore them again. Interesting guy who also played double bass and worked as an electrical engineer on the Mercury program with NASA, but I digress...
I couldn’t believe how much I was missing and I can not describe to you the sheer joy of hearing in stereo for the first time in my life. I missed out on so much and my job and my life has gotten so much better because of it. Everyone who needs them should get them in my opinion.
Musically they’ve been a literal God send to me because I’m able to pick out parts of songs and music I’ve never been able to before; plus my pitch has gotten better with my singing (backups mostly). It’s been wonderful! I say get evaluated for them and see what they can do for you.
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Go Costco. Great value. Excellent service.
Be aware that good hearing aids usually allow you to control them with a smartphone. The software often has a setting for "music" and it can make a difference. At Costco, when you have been tested and are ready to chose a pair of HAs, they will have you try on a demo pair to hear how they sound. Repeat and rinse a few times with other of the brands they sell. If you can, bring a bass and combo amp into the sound booth, put each pair of HAs on "music" mode, and play a bit of bass. Alternately (and this is what I did), bring a combo amp and run some music through it from your phone. I used a Phil Jones Flightcase BG-150 combo (very clean, neutral tone) and a "full range" Mozart symphony to hear how different instruments sounded with the three pairs of HAs I tried. There were dramatic differences in sonic quality to my ears. Let your own ears be the judge and enjoy being able to hear again. It's amazing what technology can do to help!
Be aware that good hearing aids usually allow you to control them with a smartphone. The software often has a setting for "music" and it can make a difference. At Costco, when you have been tested and are ready to chose a pair of HAs, they will have you try on a demo pair to hear how they sound. Repeat and rinse a few times with other of the brands they sell. If you can, bring a bass and combo amp into the sound booth, put each pair of HAs on "music" mode, and play a bit of bass. Alternately (and this is what I did), bring a combo amp and run some music through it from your phone. I used a Phil Jones Flightcase BG-150 combo (very clean, neutral tone) and a "full range" Mozart symphony to hear how different instruments sounded with the three pairs of HAs I tried. There were dramatic differences in sonic quality to my ears. Let your own ears be the judge and enjoy being able to hear again. It's amazing what technology can do to help!
I got hearing aids from Costco 3 years ago (great deal because my wife was a Costco employee). The quality is good, but I seldom wear them because things just seem so loud and crispy, almost unbearably so. Is this how things really sound? Oy. As long as I can hear well enough to converse and sing and play in tune, I do without.
Of course, I no longer trust myself to do mixing of recordings...
Of course, I no longer trust myself to do mixing of recordings...
Another vote for Costco here. I’ve been wearing hearing aids for about 15 years, on my third or fourth set, and Costco has by far the best value and in many ways the best service. They’re not constantly trying to upsell you on a new set, and visits for adjustments and such, no additional cost. I also found that their initial evaluation and testing was more thorough than both of the audiologist that I previously used.For me to get the set that I have, which is the best that Costco offers, Was about 3K compared to six or seven through the audiologist that I used to see. Don’t wait if it’s gotten that bad, and do keep in mind that it will take a month or more to get used to them. At this time I am very uncomfortable if I’m not wearing them, so the key to success with hearing aids is to wear them constantly. They then become your “normal”.
I went the Miracle Ear route, paid $7k for in the canal devices with phone app and ‘music performance’ mode. In the two years I’ve worn them everyday. They improved my upright and singing pitching. Took a bit of will power to get used to them.
in the last year I’ve seen my devices advertised for $2k. At my annual visit to Miracle Ear they offered $4.3k trade in on new improved devices.
just this year my UnitedHealthcare Medicare Supplement offers $400-2k per device coverage. I’m looking into this.
sadly, it seems like hearing aids are a necessity for most eventually and too expensive in this medical system of profit over care.
in my next pair I’m going with something not totally in the ear, so called hidden, but with a visible device that fits over the canal with multiple mics, better software and faster processors. I anticipate they will cost around $2k each and that my health insurance will cover some/all of the costs.
personally I’m a little chagrined that I paid so much for the first pair and that this whole industry operates like a auto dealership.
in the last year I’ve seen my devices advertised for $2k. At my annual visit to Miracle Ear they offered $4.3k trade in on new improved devices.
just this year my UnitedHealthcare Medicare Supplement offers $400-2k per device coverage. I’m looking into this.
sadly, it seems like hearing aids are a necessity for most eventually and too expensive in this medical system of profit over care.
in my next pair I’m going with something not totally in the ear, so called hidden, but with a visible device that fits over the canal with multiple mics, better software and faster processors. I anticipate they will cost around $2k each and that my health insurance will cover some/all of the costs.
personally I’m a little chagrined that I paid so much for the first pair and that this whole industry operates like a auto dealership.
Yes - this is the biggest problem people who get hearing aids do is not wear them and attempt to get used to them. The reason it’s so much of a shock to the system is because a person starts hearing all of the nuances of the world that he or she hasn’t heard for years - decades maybe - and the sensory overload is a lot to take in right away - but you do get used to it. When I was fitted with my BAHA my ENT whispered something on my right side and I could actually hear it! It was crazy! I could hear the AC turn on in the Audiologist’s office; I could hear the footsteps in the hallway outside the office; and I could hear my wife call out to me from the other side of the house (she couldn’t believe I could hear her!). It has been life altering. I didn’t realize how much I was missing out on before until I took it off and went back to my former one-sided silent world. Plus the Bluetooth capability is tremendous - I can stream music and podcasts through it and only I can hear it. It’s an amazing little device.
My point is if you get them - wear them. Give them at least a month to check out and see what you think. You will adapt to them and you’ll be better off for it.
Worse than a car dealership. At least these days you can go online and get all the information you want about auto pricing. Not so with HAs.
I don't wear hearing aids, but my wife is currently buying her third pair. Our HMO is Kaiser and she bought the first two pairs through them, or their vendor, over a period of ten years. The second pair evidenced a big advance in technology over the first. One of her current ones (second pair) finally fell apart, after deteriorating over time.
At the recommendation of several friends, she went to Costco. She found their audiologist, their testing regimen and their equipment to all be substantially better than what Kaiser had provided. After testing, the audiologist recommended she try the least expensive of the three products they offer. After setting the demo up up with the corrective EQ curve to address what the test showed to be her deficiencies, she was amazed, stunned, at how great the improvement was. She said she was hearing better than since before she had hearing aids. We walked around the store with me being on my wife's right, then left, then behind her, talking to her. She was like a kid at Christmas. Overjoyed at the improvement.
These hearing aids were cheaper than both her previous pairs, and much, much more effective. Technology is advancing so rapidly in this arena that the audiologist said these manufacturers stop supporting older models after two or three years because the current model is so, so much more advanced and effective it doesn't make sense to pay to maintain the older, now-inferior ones.
Another vote for Costco.
At the recommendation of several friends, she went to Costco. She found their audiologist, their testing regimen and their equipment to all be substantially better than what Kaiser had provided. After testing, the audiologist recommended she try the least expensive of the three products they offer. After setting the demo up up with the corrective EQ curve to address what the test showed to be her deficiencies, she was amazed, stunned, at how great the improvement was. She said she was hearing better than since before she had hearing aids. We walked around the store with me being on my wife's right, then left, then behind her, talking to her. She was like a kid at Christmas. Overjoyed at the improvement.
These hearing aids were cheaper than both her previous pairs, and much, much more effective. Technology is advancing so rapidly in this arena that the audiologist said these manufacturers stop supporting older models after two or three years because the current model is so, so much more advanced and effective it doesn't make sense to pay to maintain the older, now-inferior ones.
Another vote for Costco.
FWIW, the Costco technician who helped me said HAs are their second most profitable business. Booze is first. Costco is the largest provider of HAs in the US. Money back guarantee.
A sole proprietor audiologist in my small town had a decades old testing process with hand written chart (that he did not give me). He said the price was $4500, $5500, or $6500. One brand only. No provision for letting me hear them for myself. The Costco professionalism and experience was in another universe.
A sole proprietor audiologist in my small town had a decades old testing process with hand written chart (that he did not give me). He said the price was $4500, $5500, or $6500. One brand only. No provision for letting me hear them for myself. The Costco professionalism and experience was in another universe.
Actually being licensed as an audiologist requires a doctorate degree, an AuD, to be exact, as well as meeting licensing requirements in the state in which you work (6 - 8 years of post secondary school). Getting licensed as a hearing aid dispenser (HAD) is different and has fewer requirements, perhaps that's what you were referring to.
Both professionals can get you tested and fitted for hearing aids. An audiologist will be knowledgeable about other hearing and balance disorders, or problems in the anatomy of hearing. The HAD may not have that level of training.
Either way find someone you like and connect with...
No. I can turn them down with the little buttons on the devices. Even a couple of notches down, it's too intense.
Now, yes. Both my wife's previous/current one and her new ones are controlled by an app on her phone. There are several presets and also constantly adjustable levels.
When you go for (annual?) checkups, they test your hearing and then reset you EQ "curve" at the shop but you can make (reversible) tweaks any time, I believe.
Mine have left and right volume and extensive EQ controls from my iPhone. The app also has one touch buttons to switch between normal, music, outdoors and restaurant environments. The brand is Resound. Most HAs are made in Europe.
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I had a go at them a few years ago. $4500, and I took a $400 hit when I decided it was a no go after 90 days. I was OK with the $400. I felt their money was well earned.
The short story of my experience...
My hearing loss isn't profound, but it was definitely getting in the way of my life. I was hoping that the hearing aids would bring back the lost frequencies and make me better able to start mixing music again, hearing the TV more clearly, but especially - hearing kids in the classroom (I teach). It did none of that. It made everything sound super crisp and tinny in a way that I couldn't really adjust to, and despite 4 long sessions of tweaking the frequencies with the audiologist, I couldn't get them to perform in a way that would justify $4500. I also didn't want to deal with taking them in and our for gigs, and in the long run I knew I'd be leaving them home more than using them.
The 2 things that sealed my decision were first, that the audiologist told me they're really created for people who have serious hearing loss. They won't really bring bad hearing back to normal, but they'll make people who CAN'T hear, hear.
2nd thing was he was honest with me... I forgot if he said it was a 3 or 4 year thing, but he said all hearing aids are designed to fail. They will need to be replaced, and there is no way around that. Sounded like for a guy with no insurance (for hearing aids) it was going to become a very expensive habit.
Shortly after that I found ways to lessen (and almost eliminate) my tinnitus. That made a huge difference in my hearing, though I still have to watch TV with CC. Other than that I catch most of what most people say, and I'll never be a master audio engineer
.
The short story of my experience...
My hearing loss isn't profound, but it was definitely getting in the way of my life. I was hoping that the hearing aids would bring back the lost frequencies and make me better able to start mixing music again, hearing the TV more clearly, but especially - hearing kids in the classroom (I teach). It did none of that. It made everything sound super crisp and tinny in a way that I couldn't really adjust to, and despite 4 long sessions of tweaking the frequencies with the audiologist, I couldn't get them to perform in a way that would justify $4500. I also didn't want to deal with taking them in and our for gigs, and in the long run I knew I'd be leaving them home more than using them.
The 2 things that sealed my decision were first, that the audiologist told me they're really created for people who have serious hearing loss. They won't really bring bad hearing back to normal, but they'll make people who CAN'T hear, hear.
2nd thing was he was honest with me... I forgot if he said it was a 3 or 4 year thing, but he said all hearing aids are designed to fail. They will need to be replaced, and there is no way around that. Sounded like for a guy with no insurance (for hearing aids) it was going to become a very expensive habit.
Shortly after that I found ways to lessen (and almost eliminate) my tinnitus. That made a huge difference in my hearing, though I still have to watch TV with CC. Other than that I catch most of what most people say, and I'll never be a master audio engineer
.
Could you discuss that a bit? Admittedly my method is a work around, and I'm always interested in learning about how other people work with this condition.
