Hearing Aids

[gln1955]

I can imagine the pressure an audiologist must face when working with a musician who also mixes recordings. Far different than when my pop comes in and needs to be able to hear the gal on the local news who talks too quiet, haha.
Cool deal though buddy you have something that works and someone who can help get it all dialed in as you need it to.

-Mike

My BL has asked me to stand out front while he's dialing in the band PA. I told him sending the guy with the hearing aids to judge a band mix is not the best idea.

 

[Alkali Ike]

This is sorta-kinda related. But if you hate Apple, read no further.

I've suspected for some time that I have some mild hearing loss, especially higher frequencies, but have never seen an audiologist because I've been getting by ok.

I got some Apple AirPods Pro 3* a couple months ago. AirPods software includes a hearing test. Not surprisingly, there's a steep drop in my hearing as the frequency rises. These test results were corroborated by a couple other online tests: mild-moderate hearing loss.

The AirPods software can take the results of the Apple audiogram, or a 3rd-party audiogram, and customize the EQ to compensate. What a huge difference this made! I was dumbfounded at the improvement. Got my music crisp and clear again. And they have a hearing aid mode. I haven't tried it yet, been focused on music.

There are other ways to customize the EQ, such as a series of A-B comparisons where you choose which you prefer. The results are combined into a custom EQ profile that can easily be enabled or disabled as desired.

As a bonus, the low end reproduction of these things is astonishing. Try listening to the Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack with them. Amazing.

*There are no AirPods Pro 4 (yet) as mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

[WG Plum]

Does Apple keep that information?

 

[Alkali Ike]

Does Apple keep that information?

No.

AirPods Pro 3 - Hearing Health

The world’s first end-to-end hearing health experience: scientifically validated Hearing Test, clinical-grade Hearing Aid, and Hearing Protection.

www.apple.com

• Local Storage: The results are kept on your device, allowing you to monitor your hearing over time.
• Privacy & Sharing: You control who sees your audiogram; you can export the results as a PDF to share with a doctor via email or messaging, as stated in Apple Support.
• Optional Sharing: If you choose to share your health data with Apple for research or technical support, you must explicitly opt into those programs.

 

[999Brent]

I went with Widex, so far so good. Still dialing them in , but it's pretty amazing. The audiologist was funny, she said go with Widex if you want to hear EVERYTHING, go with the others if you want a more gentle improvement. The top end is on these things is VERY present, so we're getting that under control. The test will be how I mix with them in. I'm working on a piece now that has synths, bass, weird percussion, etc., so it should be a useful proof.

One thing I'm not enjoying is when they're hunting for a sound source to focus on. We've dialed the directionality back a bit, but as annoying as the chorusing is when they're hunting, I think I prefer a more directionally sensitive setting.

I went with Widex, so far so good. Still dialing them in , but it's pretty amazing. The audiologist was funny, she said go with Widex if you want to hear EVERYTHING, go with the others if you want a more gentle improvement. The top end is on these things is VERY present, so we're getting that under control. The test will be how I mix with them in. I'm working on a piece now that has synths, bass, weird percussion, etc., so it should be a useful proof.

One thing I'm not enjoying is when they're hunting for a sound source to focus on. We've dialed the directionality back a bit, but as annoying as the chorusing is when they're hunting, I think I prefer a more directionally sensitive setting.

I assume you are using the latest Allure?
Get you clinician to copy your Universal or PureSound program then go to settings and pick front facing.
This will create a very directional array you can try, they can also move the focus to Clarity if you want more.
I work in Audiology and Product Support for Widex.
Also give your AI support in the App a go it is awesome…

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[WG Plum]

I assume you are using the latest Allure?
Get you clinician to copy your Universal or PureSound program then go to settings and pick front facing.
This will create a very directional array you can try, they can also move the focus to Clarity if you want more.
I work in Audiology and Product Support for Widex.
Also give your AI support in the App a go it is awesome…

Let me know if you have any questions.

Awesome, and I am using the latest Allure. Checking that stuff out.

 

[darev]

I’m using the Air Pods Pro 3 as hearing aids using an audiogram from my Dr.

Everything is louder & the high-end is crispy & harsh to me. There is no crowd isolation that works for me & no matter when or how I clean them my phone is always warning me to clean them or the noise cancellation will be degraded.

I have no idea if this is better or good. It’s louder.

 

[Alkali Ike]

I’m using the Air Pods Pro 3 as hearing aids using an audiogram from my Dr.

Everything is louder & the high-end is crispy & harsh to me. There is no crowd isolation that works for me & no matter when or how I clean them my phone is always warning me to clean them or the noise cancellation will be degraded.

I have no idea if this is better or good. It’s louder.

I had a similar issue when I used the audiogram generated by Apple's software (which mostly mirrored other audiograms from online sources). Highs were a little exaggerated and harsh. I tried creating my own audiogram by entering the correction data manually, only I reduced the amount of correction in the highs. This was a big improvement. I'll post the Apple audiogram and my "home-brew" audiogram later when I have time.

It might be worth a try. I suspect that the audiograms are technically accurate in terms of how much hearing loss there is and at what frequencies, but that trying to 100% correct it all is just too much, at least at first. We've become acclimated to hearing things a certain way over decades of slow deterioration. Restoring it to 100% of "normal" might be too big a change.

As far as the cleaning, do you have a good tight seal? There's a test in the settings for that. I had to switch the tips to the largest size to get a solid tight seal. Do you have long hair hanging over your ears?