I’m 68 and like many my age I need hearing aids. I have a splendid hi-fi kit but without the aids the music sounds flat. It comes with getting old(er). It’s plainly not the hi-fi; it’s just high frequency hearing loss. My advice, therefore, is get the best kit you can afford when you are best able to enjoy its full potential unaided. That said, I’m listening to the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions Revisited. It’s fantastic!
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Yep I hit 68 this year and I know in my heart of hearts that we will all suffer high frequency loss
I work in a noisy environment and take care with ear defenders etc as much as possible, but I can still hear those little details that make piece of music either ho hum or something really special, that’s the beauty of Naim
I moved from my longtime Q Acoustic Concept 20 to a vintage pair of Naim Intro’s as the Concept 20 were sounding too smooth.
So we adapt as we age same for everything in life, tried to get into an Audi TT the other day … . that’s why I drive a Land rover, may need a step stool one day.
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Age related hearing loss does indeed affect everyone to some degree or other sooner of later, primarily diminishing the highest frequencies and gradually down through the treble. Hearing aids can compensate quite considerably, depending how advanced the hearing loss is. I would recommend everyone once they reach about age 60 check their hearing every year or two (there are smartphone apps that can give you a pretty good idea, not needing an audiologist for those initial checks), and once hearing loss is evident then get hearing aids as they can quite noticeably improve what you hear – the sizzle of cymbals can be the 1st to benefit. But unless or until it gets quite severe, it is still entirely possible to enjoy your hi-fi, and indeed still appreciate the sound quality of what you have even once the highest frequencies have gone - after all there is so much else to music and so much else in the frequency spectrum is part of high-quality sound. There is one advantage of age related hearing loss: you won’t notice when tweeter fails, or when you are upgrading: you can ignore the highest frequency ability of the speakers!
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Me too. Same experience. The HA’s sounded a bit weird at first, but adjustment came fairly quickly and then the benefits were then obvious and amazing. As you say, given the age demographic of this forum I’d guess there are so many that might be able to realise a huge musical upgrade for relatively little cost. Hearing tests are cheap/free.
For those new to hearing aids or even just wondering about them, it is worth using the search facility - e.g. search hearing aid - there have been several threads with good information, including specific info about using aids for music listening (basic setup is focused on speech clarity as that is the primary social and wellbeing need)
You have a great pair of loudspeakers! I have Arcs. They are a much undervalued speaker
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I haven’t nnoticed any hearing loss but at 65 I assume I’ve probably got some but not aware of it as it’s happened gradually over the years.
Many years ago, in my late 30’s, I felt I was having trouble hearing some things, such as when people were speaking to me. I visited my GP and he arranged for a hearing test at the surgery. It was pretty basic, as I recall, and consisted of me wearing headphones and pressing a button when various different sound frequencies were played, to indicate when I could hear them. Afterwards the nurse printed out a graph and declared that my hearing was near perfect. When I enquired as to why therefore I was having such difficulty hearing things she just shrugged. I didn’t pursue it any further. I felt it was pretty much a waste of time and there was clearly no interest shown in investigating further.
I don’t know if current hearing tests are more sophisticated. Actually I have a mate who works for a regional education authority and he’s an audiologist working with deaf kids to ensure they get the right kind of support at school. Strangely I’ve never discussed my past hearing issues with him!
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Hearing tests are much the same - a range of frequencies tested at a range of levels, determines how your hearing rolls off. I believe there are more sophisticated tests for ehen there might be something more complex wrong, but that does for typicsl age-related hearing degeneration. Most people - even music enthusiasts - it seems have little idea that their high frequency hearing has been gradually dropping away, until if starts to affect their lives, like struggling to follow conversations in noisy environments.
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I frequently struggle to decipher dialogue in modern movies and programs. I believe this is a common problem though caused by the sound mix being designed for playing through a multi-channel surround set up. When mixed down to two channel, as in our case, it can cause dialogue to be harder to hear properly. Either that or it’s my ears…
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Initial indicative testing is easy with a tablet or smartphone and some form pf headphones/earbuds if you have such. There are numerous apps: two I have used, with similar results, are Mimi Hearing test and Hearing test and ear age test. Latter tested more frequencies, but results similar. (I have just looked in App Store and there seem more now than when I first did.)
The two apps I used keep records, and I can see I first did at age 68 1/2, when high frequency roll off was quite noticeable. By the time I got my GP to refer me to the Audiologist at almost 70 I could see it had deteriorated further during the intervening 18 months. I was classified as having moderate hearing loss, making me eligible for NHS aids - and only when I got them did I discover what I had been missing, not previously noticed because of the gradual nature of the decline. I recommend heartily!
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That’s exactly why I had a hearing test, really struggled with TV. With my aids in place TV is fine, but more importantly HiFi is a revelation. I was in denial about hearing loss as I think are many over 60s
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Not necessarily denial, or not all in denial -often simply unaware with no thought about the possibility, expecting some noticeable awareness if/when their ears suffer whereas in reality it is not normally a sudden onset but a very gradual process that creeps up unnoticed. However what I have noticed is that where some people, music lovers perhaps more so than others, are very happy to understand whether their hearing has declined and if so want to get aids as soon as they can, others want to delay as long as they can, either because they feel there is a stigma to it, or, yes, in denial, perhaps because to them it would be a confirmation that they are growing older.
Some people have other reasons - one family member, age 65, finally recognised last year that her hearing has deteriorated (younger family members, and one with hearing aids, finally got her to see the reality evident to us but that she hadn’t recognised) - however she is still a working teacher and feels happier as she is, in blissful enjoyment of classes of kids being quite quiet! Sh e won’t get aids until she retires, probably in a year’s time.
Getting aids can be such a revelation: As reported in the various hearing aid threads, quite a few on this forum have found that getting aids was a great upgrade for their hifi - and free for those qualifying for NHS aids! But there is a downside: I found the sudden loud incessant chirrup chirrup of the treeful of sparrows outside my house quite irritating! (Fortunately that house had triple glazing so not a problem indoors.)
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The reason we got ours checked last week was because we both felt each other was asking too often to repeat what the other said. Plus many of our friends of a similar age have got them checked.
I was diagnosed with moderate HF loss and my wife same but not as bad. Result I’ve got NHS hearing aids and she hasn’t.
Even now I’d say my hearing is not that bad, but when I have the aids in (TV at night, cinema yesterday), I can hear more clearly and at lower volume.
I didn’t realise at 67 that you could get them checked foc on the NHS without a GP referral. Then to get the aids at the same time, was very impressive.
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I remember when I was in my 20s and 30s having highly discriminating hearing when it came to my HiFi components (for example, I could distinctly hear when the Coles 4001G super tweeter in one of my my B&W DM3 speakers went out). Today (at 75) I’m not sure what I’m hearing but the thought of sticking a couple of cheap solid state IC electronic amplifiers in my ears is… well, not exactly compatible with my $50,000 HiFi!
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One way to mitigate hearing loss is listening in a desktop setting. Its like listening to a big headphones where its possible still to hear the faintest details and subtle changes in tonal colors.
A pair of any british monitor like Spendor 4/5, Harbeth p3esr xd, proac tablette 10 or Falcon ls35a will do the trick.
You wouldn’t do cheap. There are many proper hearing aid that will cost you maybe 2-3000 USD per ear. These need to be adjusted and fitted by a professional. You would probably be surprised how much better your 50,000 USD hifi sounds.
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I wonder if Michael Fremer, past 70’s, wears hearing aids. His reviews point so tiny differences between components that I question that, regardless of his age.
I would add Dynaudio Heritage Specials to that list, if you can get hold of them. Their reproduction of high frequencies through the well respected Esotar 3 tweeters is impressive (I’m sitting listening to them as I write and their ability to reproduce upper range piano notes is wonderful)