Double Bass Hearing aid advice

[Laurence D]

I’ve had hearing aids for three years. I got them from Costco and am very pleased with them. I paid just under 2000 and really can’t do without them. I’ve lost a lot of my top end frequencies do to age and playing for the last 50 years. I couldn’t hear tv very well but sure can now. When I take them out is when I really notice the difference. They are blue tooth and controlled by my phone. There are four settings depending on your situation. Normal everyday, listening to music, in a crowded place or wind noise. I can control the volume and bass and treble. There is a front and back mike on these. The software for my phone has been updated and is better than ever now and yes, I do use them when I’m playing!
There are better ones out there but they are more costly too. I had to have a wax mold poured for both ears as the little bulbs they give you suck. They were an extra 75 but very worth it.
This technology has come a long way and is improving all the time. They test your hearing and know what frequencies your missing so there computer program sets them up just for you.
You can go back to Costco any time with a complaint and they can reset them for you and adjust. Mine are not rechargeable but the batteries last about two days of all day use. Hope this helps those sitting on the fence. They come with a two year warranty unless you happen to have their Master Card, then you get four years, no questions asked.
Now when the band changes the set list on the fly I know what’s coming next!

 

[Joe Nerve]

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.

Whoa..... please share! It's driving me nuts.

Posted lots on this a while back. Don't be mislead by the title... .

Tinnitus is NOT incurable!

 

[Keith Rawlings]

isn't there a way to turn them down using your phone?

Mine is completely controlled by my smartphone. It’s amazing. Best decision I ever made.

 

[AGCurry]

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”.

Costco does have great deals, but I can no longer recommend their offerings for musicians. The Phonak aids that Costco used to sell were good, and I used them for several years. The Philips aids that I got from Costco a couple of months ago don't work for me. Their latency is substantial, leading to some "phasing" in higher frequencies, and when I sing with others, I hear MY voice too well, so it's harder to blend. I just made an appointment with an independent audiologist to see about the Widex "Moments" aids, which seem to be the best thing according to musicians on the web.

 

[Deleted member 393011]

Costco does have great deals, but I can no longer recommend their offerings for musicians. The Phonak aids that Costco used to sell were good, and I used them for several years. The Philips aids that I got from Costco a couple of months ago don't work for me. Their latency is substantial, leading to some "phasing" in higher frequencies, and when I sing with others, I hear MY voice too well, so it's harder to blend. I just made an appointment with an independent audiologist to see about the Widex "Moments" aids, which seem to be the best thing according to musicians on the web.

I can vouch for the Widex Moment. I have the RIC (reciever in canal) which has the thing that goes behind your ear & a nearly invisible wire attached to the very tiny reciever. I got mine in August and by the beginning of November they were comfortable enough that I no longer notice them.

Got them because tinnitus was constant and noticeable. And our insurance covered the cost entirely - could not have afforded them otherwise. Aud. programmed in a constant frequency near what I always hear at a level that i can't really hear, but that masks the tinnitus. It takes a little while to get used to them, but I rarely notice the ringing now, even without the aids in.

Only real drag is that highs are more pronounced.I can't really play with them in because of that, but I don't really need them in those situations. I wear the ER musicians earplugs with the 9db cut when I play to keep any more damage to a minimum.

They don't always help if you're trying to hear a conversation in a noisy room, but you can adjust the focus of the device to front, left/right, or back. This is both cool and helpful. Also you can tweak the flat setting to your liking and save that as its own thing. It's never audiophile quality - piping iTunes straight into them sounds like absolute $&«t - but i hear so much more than i used to; there are far fewer gaps for my brain to fill in....

 

[AGCurry]

I can vouch for the Widex Moment. I have the RIC (reciever in canal) which has the thing that goes behind your ear & a nearly invisible wire attached to the very tiny reciever. I got mine in August and by the beginning of November they were comfortable enough that I no longer notice them.

Got them because tinnitus was constant and noticeable. And our insurance covered the cost entirely - could not have afforded them otherwise. Aud. programmed in a constant frequency near what I always hear at a level that i can't really hear, but that masks the tinnitus. It takes a little while to get used to them, but I rarely notice the ringing now, even without the aids in.

Only real drag is that highs are more pronounced.I can't really play with them in because of that, but I don't really need them in those situations. I wear the ER musicians earplugs with the 9db cut when I play to keep any more damage to a minimum.

They don't always help if you're trying to hear a conversation in a noisy room, but you can adjust the focus of the device to front, left/right, or back. This is both cool and helpful. Also you can tweak the flat setting to your liking and save that as its own thing. It's never audiophile quality - piping iTunes straight into them sounds like absolute $&«t - but i hear so much more than i used to; there are far fewer gaps for my brain to fill in....

Actually, a Costco near me was selected to "try out" the Sennheiser aids. I was told that they are basically rebranded Phonaks. I was able to try them out for a few days, and I liked them. I returned the Phillips and am waiting to be fitted for a new pair of Sennheisers later this month. $1599. Until then I'm using the old Phonaks.

 

[Don Hergert]

Over the last month I've been wearing some new hearing aids. These are the over-the-counter EleHear Delight hearing aids, currently available on Amazon (NFI). At my purchase time they were just over $300US. I consider them a successful purchase and would definitely buy them again if I were starting over.

These are the features I mentioned that I'd want, earlier in this thread:

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

The EleHear Delights offer all of the named features, with two partial exceptions; they come with a 1 year warranty, and their sound adjustments from the phone currently include volume, tone and noise filtering, but not frequency range, although that is being talked about. My impression is that the frequency range setting is currently targeting human voices, because that is what they are extremely good about. Regarding warranty, I have purchased Amazon/Assurion's 3-year extended warranty for this purchase.

EleHear has a lineup of different hearing aid designs; the Delights are in-ear devices with front-focus mics. The other hearing aid devices in their lineup appear to be behind the ear, which totally eliminated them from my interest. It seems that the Delights can connect to almost any Bluetooth device, including my phone for control with their application, as well as with voice call and streaming devices like my phone, my PC, my cars, and the smart TVs in the house. I read that they can also connect to an FOH as IEMs, although I have not tried this and I understand that Bluetooth latency can be a problem on stage. While streaming with the Delights, outside sounds can continue to be mixed in, or that feature can be turned off.

The Delight dynamic range is excellent, but after a month or so, I'd still observe that background sounds can still be distracting. The mind supposedly learns to ignore some of that and maybe my mind is a little slow at doing that for whatever reason, but mundane things like the dong of a mechanical clock on the wall or banging around a metal sink in the kitchen seem like war zone noises sometimes. Other times they aren't as bad, so it probably depends on what is going on.

The Delight devices are optionally capable of having volume controlled on each of the aids themselves, but I prefer to have that turned off and control everything from my phone. The Delight cell phone software allows me to create sound profiles which is nice. I've found the tone and noise filtering settings I use most of the time, so my personal profiles offer those tone and noise settings and a variety of volume settings. But any preferences can be implemented in profiles.

A very interesting feature of the Delights and their software is that a person can do a hearing test with their hearing aids and send the hearing test results to an EleHear audiologist, who will then supply a hearing report document as well as an audiologist profile that can be used for controlling the volume, tone and noise filtering. This provides an excellent point to start from as a person learns how to set the hearing aids and software.

Where these devices shine is human conversation. With them my inability to hear and participate in casual and formal conversation has nearly disappeared. To me, that is a huge benifit that by itself is worth having them.

As a musician, I do have to say that I have not found an ideal all-the-time setting combination that duplicates tone properly. The instruments I play all sound at least a little different than what I perceive without the hearing aids, and that is a little off-putting. There are times that I simply turn them off or take them out of my ears while playing music...

And, that raises some interesting questions about sound perception that is important for musicians. What is compleely accurate hearing where tone is concerned? Are these differences in musical tone that I hear with the hearing aids tones that people with "normal" hearing hear? And, does "normal" hearing really exist? Possibly these are questions for another lifetime .

What I can say is that musically I'm still adjusting to these hearing aids, I have not given up yet. The answer may be in frequency range settings which are supposedly going to be available in software sometime. But then, if I change frequency range, I don't know if that will also change perception of human voices in conversation. I can say though, I have no problem hearing the full frequency range of my DB with these devices.

For the most part, communication with my family and friends has noticeably improved. Among other things, my wife doesn't have to yell at me because I can't hear her anymore, although sometimes she does still yell at me : .

 

[AGCurry]

As a musician, I do have to say that I have not found an ideal all-the-time setting combination that duplicates tone properly. The instruments I play all sound at least a little different than what I perceive without the hearing aids, and that is a little off-putting. There are times that I simply turn them off or take them out of my ears while playing music...

And, that raises some interesting questions about sound perception that is important for musicians. What is compleely accurate hearing where tone is concerned? Are these differences in musical tone that I hear with the hearing aids tones that people with "normal" hearing hear? And, does "normal" hearing really exist? Possibly these are questions for another lifetime .

To the first point: If the instrument sounds the same whether you are using hearing aids or not, then you don't need hearing aids. It's not just a matter of amplification.
I don't think many people lose hearing equally across the whole audio spectrum, so properly-tuned hearing aids should restore the frequencies you have lost. Wearing hearing aids for the first time can be unpleasantly "crispy," but it's more accurate than the way you WERE hearing. However, some hearing aids are better for musicians than others! For that reason, I returned one set at Costco in order to get the Sennheisers, and I'm happy.

Second point: I doubt that there's such a thing as "completely accurate" when it comes to hearing. Even measurement/calibration microphones in laboratories have biases which probably don't match what an "excellent hearer" might experience. Yes, there may be a few gifted individuals who approach the ideal, whatever that is. For most of us, better is all we can reasonably ask for.

For the most part, communication with my family and friends has noticeably improved. Among other things, my wife doesn't have to yell at me because I can't hear her anymore, although sometimes she does still yell at me : .

This is IMPORTANT. Happy wife, happy life.