I have a reasonably good system with my Uniti Nova and B&W speakers, and I really thought that my music sounded really good. However, one day a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take a free hearing test at Specsavers, and I guess that as a person of pensionable age, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that I had lost quite a bit of my high frequency range of hearing.
Anyway after discussing different types of hearing aids, I decided to go with their slimline Advance hearing aids, made by Sonova AG, (The same people who make Phonak) and costing just a couple of thousand pounds and programmed especially for me.
Today, I came home with aids and put them on and listened to some music. Well to say transformational is an under statement. The phone App allows for many different situations, including a MUSIC setting.
The thing is, that I don’t need to wear these hearing aids when I am out and about, because in other situations my hearing is more than adequate. But, if like me, you are around 60 years of age or over, and think that your hearing is fine, and you may have an incredibly expensive system but really be missing out on an awful lot? Of course, there are many other manufacturers and retailers out there, but I have to give mine a big thumbs up. Happy listening.
It’s worth remembering that you can get free hearing aids on the NHS that are just as good as many of those you pay thousands for at Specsavers. I have some NHS Oticons, and while they may lack a few bells and whistles their SQ is just as good as Oticon’s top aids.
My dad just spent insane money on a set….and now never wears them. I don’t get it, I’m young now but I have discovered my right ear is much better than my left using a hearing test app ( I know they aren’t perfect but I figure they show a pattern). Thanks to my right compensating I don’t have any hearing loss yet but you can bet if/when I do I will wear hearing aids or any reading glasses I need.
There are some pretty good hearing test apps. My wife’s results came out very close to her boots tests. So a good way to get an indication of a problem. She is absolutely delighted with her phonaks.
I also see that Apple are going to add some hearing correction features to their apple pid pros soon.
Maybe its just because I love hearing the bells and whistles that I didn’t mind spending a few bob.
Yeah I hope it helps people especially in countries without an NHS. When I eventually need them I’d rather have proper hearing aids but you could also have the pros for when you have to send them in for battery charges or repairs
At 46 my hearing is degrading but I still can hear much better than my children especially in relation to domestic duties.
The bells and whistles are around functionality rather than sonics. My NHS aids sound far better than the private Starkeys I had previously. I had mine fitted at the hospital where they use pretty sophisticated tech, way beyond that you’d find on the high street.
Whatever, the important thing is that they can really help people.
There are a number of previous threads on the forum discussing aids, with a good few members using them.
I agree, I have Oticons and last time I had a review with the audiologist at the local NHS hospital, she adjusted them to sound better for music. All repairs and new batteries are taken care of by the NHS.
Out of curiosity I tried some Starkeys privately shortly after getting NHS Phonaks, and didn’t find any sound benefit, despite their horrendously high cost. But yes, they could do all sorts of other things like phone a friend if they detected I had fallen…
Fair enough, however my original post concerns people, including myself, who may not have a hearing impairment that affects their every day life, and therefore would not qualify for NHS treatment, but may benefit from purchasing hearing aids to hear the top end fullness that their Naim HiFi system has to offer.
I’m not sure at what point the eligibility for NHS aids comes in, and I get the impression it may vary around Britain, the not uncommon “postcode lottery”. In my case if you had asked me before, I would have said my hearing wasn’t quite as good as it used to be but no way was it a problem, and didn’t affect my life at all. Although I had increasing difficulty following conversations in crowded/noisy places like pubs and some restaurants, and it had become normal for me to ask people to repeat what they’d just said unless I was already focused on them. But when it came to completing a questionnaire and identifying that yes, I recorded didn’t enjoy going to noisy places as much as I used to and it reduced some of my social interaction, and family had noticed nd several times said I should get my hearing checked after forever having to repeat themselves, something I hadn’t really noticed myself doing, and the score was such that it justified a reveal. A phone app hearing test said mild hearing loss, and that is what the NHS audiologist said, but sufficient that it justified issuing aids.
I would say that if you were having difficulty hearing people in noisy places and your family were forever having to repeat themselves, then you definitely qualified for NHS help.
Fortunately, I have none of those problems, so I wouldn’t, and quite rightly shouldn’t, get NHS treatment. I don’t even need aids for listening to music, it sounds OK without them. Just like my mates Sonos sounds OK.
But it’s nowhere near Naim quality, and my Naim sound quality isn’t as good without my new hearing aids. For some of us, it’s definitely money well spent.
Same here. I would say if you notice the difference with the hifi your ears may be probably no better than mine were when I first got my aids a year ago, as the difference with them was only noticeable in terms of the sound of cymbals.
The big difference for my use of hearing aides for music came when my audiologist created a program for music. As she explained, hearing aides are mostly used to enhance speech, especially with high frequency loss. The way that is done is by “down frequency”, converting higher frequencies to lower. Plays havoc with music, especially harmonics. For first time users, ask your audiologist to slowly ramp up the high frequency boost. A sudden ramp up can sound very unnatural even when it provides a flatter frequency response that you may not have experienced for decades.
If/where that is the case I can see it would be negative for music listening, needing cncelling for that purpose, however I’m pretty certain all my aids do is amplify the highest frequencies to make up for the HF rolloff, but then my hearing loss was only classified as mild.
For a mild loss, it would indeed be just as you say.
Frequency shifting is only necessary when someone can’t hear the highest speech frequencies at all and needs those shifted down to improve their understanding of speech, especially of women and children.
And yes certainly it has to be switched off for music, otherwise you get non-harmonic frequency distortion that makes music hard to listen to. Music programs in hearing aids always reflect that.
It’s not necessary for new users to ask to have the high frequency gain reduced initially when they first get hearing aids, because this is automatically provided in the settings for new users. It’s known as “acclimatisation” and normally the gain of the hearing aids is automatically increased over the first few weeks up to the prescription level, unless the audiologist deliberately chooses differently.
If the user is”experienced”, then the acclimatisation is turned off and the user gets the full prescription level from the start.
I had a hearing test at the BBC (when I applied for a job) in the late 80’s. They did a hearing test for me, I had a dip in one or my ears. The lady said to me “You have a walkman?” My reply was no, but I do wear headphones, she told me that if I continue i would be deaf by the time I reach 50. That scared me, so I discontinued using headphones.
Fast forward 30 years, I purchased a Stageline (used) from my local Naim dealer, when I got it home, I thought this doesn’t sound as good as the dem unit that I had borrowed. I took it back to the dealer who agreed, and said “You have got excellent hearing if you could hear that difference”
Now, in my late 50’s I am still enjoying my music, I had a hearing test at a well know high street chain, and pointed out the issue I knew about. My results came back, and the dip was still there, I mentioned the test at the BBC all those years ago, the audiologist replied it was something I was probably born with.
Sadly, I do not qualify for a hearing aid upgrade
Don’t want to sound clever, but docs referral to the hospital audio department got me a £3000 set of Stretta aids for nothing.
Also, you get ongoing free batteries.
Boots, Specsavers persuade you to buy.