What did you say?

[Ferretfancy]

I went for a hearing test today, as I hadn't had one for many years, and sometimes I don't catch the odd remark, although sometimes I don't want to hear it anyway!
The outcome, as expected, was that I have a slight dip in response over the speech frequencies, which is natural for my age.
They've asked me to have a more detailed check up, and then if necessary I could be offered a hearing aid.

Now, I'm very satisfied with my sound system, and I have no trouble at concerts, but if I wear an aid will it spoil the sound as I currently hear it? I'm told that although modern ones are very good, but surely they must sound unnatural. Possibly the brain adjusts. Of course, I may not need an aid, or I could take it out when listening to music. Does anybody have direct experience of this?
I'm not in a rush to invest, but it would be nice to hear comments from others first.
Many thanks,
Ferret

[amateur51]

Hello Ferret!

I've had my digital aids for several years now. They're lightweight, unobtrusive and easy to wear, sitting behind my ears with a tube going into my ear canal.

My hearing is missing a lot of 'top' which means that a lot of music is rendered very uninteresting and the 'ceiling' appears to be very low. With my aids in, this disappears & I can hear music pretty well. They work well in concerts too. I should add that I have tinnitus all the time but they make no difference to that.

I got mine free on the NHS. They're digital so they're adapted to my particular hearing deficiencies and the clinician spent a lot of time getting the volume level right too. I have 3 settings for different circumstances.

All in all, highly recommended so good luck with yours.

They have, however, made absolutely no difference to my typing

[Ferretfancy]

amateur51

Thanks for that very supportive information, I'm not due to visit the audiologist again for a couple of weeks, so I'll keep you posted on developments. I suspect that I may not have too much of a problem, but I frequently need to have conversations with kids in noisy surroundings, and that can be a bit of a trial.
Can you elaborate a little? I'd be interested to know (a) Whether the aids add an artificial quality when listening, particularly with music, and (b)Whether the brain adjusts in a similar way to the effect when you buy new glasses.
I've just spent this last late hour wrestling with an attempt to buy some stuff online with constant card rejections, new passwords etc.etc.etc. What a pain!
Bws.
Ferret

[amateur51]

I think the brain sorts it all out, Ferrret. The aids are set up according to the deficits that you register in the hearing test and then the chap adjusts for your preference for ambient noises etc. I got him to give me a concert hall setting, i.e., as unrestricted as possible so that when Jurowski lets the LPO loose in the RFH I'm lifted out of my seat .

There's also a setting for conversation in a noisy setting and another one for domestic settings. All very clever.

I've never had much joy with hearing loops in theatres tho but the aids themselves made a difference and in cinemas too.

Best of luck with all that, Ferrret

[Ferretfancy]

That's just the sort of information I was looking for, amateur. As I used to mix sound for a living, I'm naturally a bit cautious about not being able to discriminate the subtleties, although I didn't balance music, just documentaries etc. The expert told me that he gets quite a few older recording engineers coming in for tests, and naturally their hearing is falling off a bit. His question, was do they equalise all those tracks relying on their possibly faulty hearing? Judging by some of the CDs that I hear, I wouldn't be surprised !
Of course it's not just a question of response, since phase effects matter a great deal, but I', blethering on!
Once again thanks for your comments, it's very reassuring .
Bws.
Ferret

[Uncle Monty]

There's also a setting for conversation in a noisy setting and another one for domestic settings. All very clever.

I don't want to be horrible, but is there a setting for tuning out one's other half barging in and asking if the potato man has been, just as one is getting to the end of the pppp wasteland at the end of Vaughan Williams 6?

[Nick Armstrong]

I don't want to be horrible, but is there a setting for tuning out one's other half barging in and asking if the potato man has been, just as one is getting to the end of the pppp wasteland at the end of Vaughan Williams 6?

[Ferretfancy]

Caliban,
Spot on! One of the reasons why I'm not sure if I need hearing assistance is the fact that the bits of speech I sometimes miss are the ones I'd like to ignore anyway!

[Ferretfancy]

Sorry Uncle Monty, I did just that with you!
Ferret