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Hearing test results!

#22
20160127_181406.jpg

My left ear is shot from a cold virus. 25dB is the upper limit of normal, where it starts to affect you.
 
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#23
Killed_by_Death said:
I haven't experienced dead spots.
I know what they are, but haven't had the pleasure of discovering any.
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You've a hearing insensitivity around C5, C6, and C8. They might sound quieter than they really are.

What would really have been interesting would have been your report prior to having your ears cleansed. The comparison would be interesting to know how broad spectrum eat wax is in its attenuation.
 
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#24
mbelue said:
You've a hearing insensitivity around C5, C6, and C8. They might sound quieter than they really are.

What would really have been interesting would have been your report prior to having your ears cleansed. The comparison would be interesting to know how broad spectrum eat wax is in its attenuation.
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I was going to make a joke, but I realized: That *would* be interesting. Really freaking interesting. Like, I would read a 6 page report about it, interesting. What has become of my life?! :eek:
 
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#25
Joe Nerve said:
I actually threw the towel in and ordered myself hearing aids last week. They're pretty discreet, and I was told they weren't a necessity (I know, as I can hear), but it's become a quality of life thing. I can't watch TV without subtitles, can't mix music, can't hear students at work and have to ask them to speak louder about 50 times a day. It's been getting me down for a while. I don't even want to say how much those freaking things cost... Think 3 high end basses :/. Fortunately my wife is doing well in her business, and she really wants to do this for me. It will come out of our insurance deductible for the year, though I'm of course hoping not to need that. Realizing as I write this that I have some crazy mixed feelings about this whole thing. My pride is getting kicked around a bit, in several different areas. I really want to be able to clearly hear music again though, and be able to mix. My wife also said she gets really sad when we're out somewhere and she says, "Wow! Listen to those birds." And I respond with, "What birds?"

Wear earplugs, anyone who isn't. My refusal to do so is what got me here.
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Did you get some that were tailored to a musician?
 
#26
This was 4 years ago. Let's just assume that my hearing has not improved in that time.

Perhaps I should start a topic: is it unethical to ask for hearing aid money on the internet! :) You have to laugh right?

Curious if tinnitus is bad for some of you as well? My worse ear it is quite loud. It never stops in either ear. Surprised I haven't gone insane from it. :)


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#28
Awesome Sauce said:
Hey, Doc- would it be correct in thinking that his left ear has 100% across the board, but his right ear only has 100% *speech* discrimination, and less than perfect for other audible tones?
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No, that's just the doctor being unclear in his documentation. I believe discrimination refers to speech in both instances. That is generally how the term is used. He actually has greater average hearing loss on the left, if only slightly.

By the way, I am not a doctor or work with audiology daily. It's just required training for my professional certificate. I hadn't seen an audiogram for about 3 years until this thread, so my knowledge and experience are certainly not infallible.
 
#30
I've been wearing hearing aids for almost 5 years. My hearing is bad enough I can't use the kind that just stick in the ear. I have to use those that fit behind the ear. They almost unnoticeable. I don't wear them on gigs. Between 50 years of performing, air crew in noisy old prop planes, and shooting sports, It is a wonder I can hear at all. My speech perception is really bad. I have a hard time determining consonants. I often mistake letters when someone is call chords. B and D sound the same to me, for example. And that is with hearing aids.
 
#31
Michael B said:
Did you get some that were tailored to a musician?
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Yes.

I had gone a couple of years ago to an audiologist, he made some recommendations, and I researched like crazy. For some reason I completely trusted the guy I went to this time (I could tell he wasn't trying to sell me, quite the opposite in fact), and he consulted with a few manufacturers while I was sitting there. The ones I got are tailored for musicians (something to do with the high frequencies), and come with a bunch of settings I can control through an app. They also have the tinnitus feature, but he forewarned me that it's not always all that effective. We'll see.

I was called on Tuesday and told they had arrived, but the guy on vacation from yesterday until next thursday, so I'm going to wait until then. I want to make sure he's around for questions and tweaks during my trial period. I have $45 days to return, but the restocking fee $400. I'd better like these things.
 
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#32
It helps me to get a chart (see Scatabrain's post) which gives me a graphic image of the situation. I'm doing a little better on the upper frequencies than Scatabrain, but I've lost enough top end that if I'm holding a conversation in a noisy restaurant or similar environment, I have to listen carefully and get close to the speaker to understand. My ability to discriminate speech frequencies in that setting is definitely not as good as it was 10+ years ago.

I had custom earplugs made about 5 years back. They're not excessively expensive (under $200) and I only use 10dB attenuators. My band doesn't play very loud, and the 10dB attenuation still lets me hear most of the nuances in the music. I go for annual checkups (free, because the nice hearing aid people want to sell me something one of these years) and I seem to be hanging in there OK.
 
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#33
Pilgrim said:
It helps me to get a chart (see Scatabrain's post) which gives me a graphic image of the situation. I'm doing a little better on the upper frequencies than Scatabrain, but I've lost enough top end that if I'm holding a conversation in a noisy restaurant or similar environment, I have to listen carefully and get close to the speaker to understand. My ability to discriminate speech frequencies in that setting is definitely not as good as it was 10+ years ago.

I had custom earplugs made about 5 years back. They're not excessively expensive (under $200) and I only use 10dB attenuators. My band doesn't play very loud, and the 10dB attenuation still lets me hear most of the nuances in the music. I go for annual checkups (free, because the nice hearing aid people want to sell me something one of these years) and I seem to be hanging in there OK.
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That teat was 4 years ago. I am having trouble understanding people now. And I believe my speech is affected. Need more dough. Maybe I need to go for a cheaper solution in the meantime.
 
#34
Michael B said:
That teat was 4 years ago. I am having trouble understanding people now. And I believe my speech is affected. Need more dough. Maybe I need to go for a cheaper solution in the meantime.
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Generic earplugs are much better than nothing. Unfortunately hearing aids are very expensive.

You might look into an annual medical savings account that sets money aside so you can buy them with pre-tax money. That saves you taxes on the income. Check with your employer on that option.
 
#35
Pilgrim said:
Generic earplugs are much better than nothing. Unfortunately hearing aids are very expensive.

You might look into an annual medical savings account that sets money aside so you can buy them with pre-tax money. That saves you taxes on the income. Check with your employer on that option.
Click to expand...

Self employed. But thanks for the tip. I do use ear plugs when needed. Hearing aids is what I'm talking about.
 
#39
Pilgrim said:
Generic earplugs are much better than nothing.
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I bought several pairs of expensive earplugs, and then discovered what wound up working best for me were the regular, cheap, drugstore, foam ones. My tinnitus got so bad that the expensive plugs were killing me. Too much sound was getting in, and my ears would scream for days. I started blocking my ears up as much as I possibly can when I play. The bad part of that is that it absolutely blocks out some of the music, and it takes some getting used to. The good news is, I got used to it, it doesn't bother me anymore, my ears don't ring as much as they used to, and I haven't damaged my ears any more since I started doing that.
 
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