Hearing loss and the music lover

[salymap]

I shall have to continue without any 'aid' it seems. I've heard friend ferret's reports on Boots' more than once and as far as NHS is concerned my local hospital QM.Sidcup, don'tcover this,although they have other good departments.

I shouldhave to visit a mobile unit in Lewisham High street, which rules it out for me now. Actually my hearing varies so probably better to listen to iPlayer early in the day, rather than listen in the evening.

[amateur51]

I hesitate to chip in to this debate because I have neither tinnitus nor (noticeable) hearing loss. For those dealing with loud music on a daily basis (including session musicians in studios) there are some specially designed 'ear plugs' which somehow reduce the volume without attenuating (is that the right word?) the frequencies you want to hear. They are called Elastin ER15s and are designed for musicians wishing to protect their hearing. One has to find a centre which can supply them, and it involves having an impression taken of your ear.

On the subject of hearing aids, many musicians I come across, especially pianists, prefer to practise with their aids removed. So many unwanted upper harmonics are boosted by modern digital devices that the perceived tone of the instrument is unpleasant.

I gather it is possible to re-programme the tiny computers in modern hearing aids to customise them to the sort of music you want to hear. However the experts who are capable of (a) understanding the problem and (b) doing the adjustments are vanishingly rare.

Fascinating post, ardcarp

The computer that audiologists use to programme the digi-aids seem to be able to build in a wide variety of variables, so go NHS, I say.

[alycidon]

I do suffer from some hearing loss, and I do wear one NHS hearing aid [although they would like me to have two!] I also suffer badly with tinnitus and hyperacusis which means that I only wear the aid when really I have to [one-to-one conversation, television, and in church]. Until about two years ago our church had a loop system which, while not completely perfect, was acceptable. Then the minister ripped it out and installed a PA system consisting of around eight microphones and as many speakers. The idea was that the newly-formed 'praise band' would be able to blast everyone out of their seats with what passes as modern worship music. And this is in a church about the size of a tennis court!

Needless to say, any one much over sixty [and most of us are], has a variety of difficulties with the spoken parts of the service - which are the only meaningful bits now that traditional hymns have been abandoned. Some folk have stopped coming altogether, and after struggling for well over two years I am about to throw in the towel and attend a smaller church in the village in which I live.

On a different note, as my hearing changes, I am hearing lines of music which I have never heard before, some in works which I have played all my life such as Beethoven's 5th. This is perhaps the upside of being a bit deaf which in my case is loss in the upper registers.

Several years ago, My wife decided that she was going to get commercial hearing aids and dragged me along with her. She paid £4000 and has stuck with them; I paid £4000 - and then took them back the next day. The magnification in sound was too much for me and I felt a freak with one perched on each ear. OK, so my hearing is far from perfect - but I can listen to my music comfortably all day long - and that is what matters.

[clive heath]

I have a pair of hearing aids for what is termed mild upper frequency loss. With the RCA Red Label test CD and its single frequency tracks which start at 20 Khz and work down to 20 Hz, my hearing cuts in at about 6Khz. The top note of a piano is about 4 Khz fundamental. The aids boost the upper frequencies only and add them to the rest of sound that you hear naturally as the feed from the aid is a small tube less than the diameter if the ear canal. They do indeed have programmable alternatives. The first setting I was given allowed far too much HF boost so I went back and got another setting added with much restricted boost so that I couldn't easily over-compensate and risk hyper-acuity. The "loop" feature comes as standard. These are Siemens aids and are the result of referral from my GP and are free to my retired self.

What they do not help with is the terrible sound from the modern flat-screen TV and we are considering a "BAR", however the dimensions of those we have seen do not inspire confidence. Has anybody had a successful venture into Bar-rery?