Hi Douglas,
The audiologist defined it as being, on average below 20dB, Mine averages over that so he didn’t want to discuss hearing aids.
I have another appointment booked for 22 September at Specsavers but I’m tempted to pop into Boots later this to get best of three.
The audiologist is thinking of it from the perspective of what most people who seek his help want, to be able to understand conversation in more challenging situations. A loss of under 20dB is not enough to bother most people.
But you have a different reason, to do with listening to music. Most people would never think of spending even hundreds, let alone thousands on music reproduction, so it’s not surprising that an audiologist struggles to think differently about it.
When I explained I had spent £800 on a pair of headphones I could see the audiologist thinking WTF…
Indeed yes David, we are not normal customers 
I see the next one on 22 September.
Just to confirm, you think that hearing aids could amplify the super quiet stuff close to normal levels and could sound ok, although I guess there are no guarantees?
Yes they could. No there are no guarantees.
But the business model of all these audiologists is that you get to try the hearing aids for free for at least a couple of weeks and maybe even a couple of months before you buy, with no obligation at all.
So you can follow the standard forum advice of try them at home before you decide.
This has whole thing has got me thinking.
It’s reasonable to assume that there are a lot of 50+ members on this forum. Many, possibly the majority, will have some degree of hearing loss, either age related or as a result of exposure to loud music. There are epic threads about costly cables and switches and mains blocks with sparkly bottoms, the audible impact of which it’s not possible to measure. And yet hearing aids have a potential for significant impact that is very easy to measure.
Are we ignoring them because they are a compromise or because they force us to face up to something we would rather deny?
I wear hearing aids (Phonaks) when in certain environments, or when I have to make sure I don’t lose a word of what is being said.
When listening to music, I have a special setting (@Sloop_John_B’s posts were a great help), but I keep the correction level very low, otherwise distortion sets in (5%, according to the manufacturer) - or I don’t wear them at all, I think the brain somehow compensates. It’s very true that audiologists don’t always understand our specific requirements.
That’s interesting. I don’t really need them for everyday life although I do sometimes miss what people say. I have always had “cocktail party syndrome” but I’m told that’s more about how the brain processes the signals it receives rather than the ears themselves.
So it’s just music for me and it may well be that if I boost 4-6kHz too much then I won’t like the results. That was certainly the view of the audiologist I spoke to on Saturday. I would like to hear it for myself though so I need a sympathetic audiologist who will indulge me by setting some up for me and letting me borrow them for a couple of weeks. Your experience of distortion doesn’t bode well though.
Keith
Today I visited Spec Savers, who confirmed my relatively mild hearing loss from 4K and agreed I might benefit from a pair of Phonacs. The audiologist was very helpful (and very young) and will be setting me up with few using music programs, in addition to a normal speech setting
I’ll be back next Tuesday to get them. A big day! I’ll report on my progress. My thanks in particular to @Sloop_John_B and @davidhendon for their support and to @Canaryfan for highlighting the benefits he has enjoyed.
Of course, I may hate them but it’s worth a try.
I also ordered some proper ear defenders for gigs (Minerva concert plugs).
Keith
Good luck - I need to rebook my hearing test but have been very busy recently.
The tinnitus was a little worse recently - but then I realised I have had blocked sinuses, so might wait till that settles first.
My hearing is apparently not exceptional at the age of 60 and yet I know there is stuff I can’t hear on records I know well. You have to wonder if this is something we should take more seriously. I will find out next week.
It sounds as if your mild hearing loss is much the same as mine. I can still function nearly normally without the aids, just finding it a bit harder to follow conversations in noisy environments & annoying people with frequent ‘pardon?, could you repeat that please’, wanting the TV volume higher than my wife &, most seriously at present, realising the Hi-Fi sounded like there was a thick blanket over the speakers.
Neary two years down the road I am pleased to say that my hearing is showing no further loss at present & I don’t really notice the aids at all. Putting them in each morning has become second nature. Interestingly, other that those I have told I have hearing aids, no one else at all has seemed to notice them!
You can’t actually prove it but, my strong feeling is that I am actually hearing exactly the same as I was before I needed aids.
Mine are Phonak P90’s which, when I bought them in January 2021, were the then top of the range. I don’t know if they have been superseded now. My audiologist said to go for aids with as many channels as possible due to my concern for the best music reproduction possible. Whether this was true or was simply to make me buy the most expensive aids they sold I can’t say. However, they certainly worked for me. I suspect the old adage is as true here as anywhere, you get what you pay for.
A useful bonus for me is that they work great with headphones when I want to listen without disturbing my wife. Mine are over ear, closed back, Sennheiser’s.
One final point. Make sure they are rechargeable. I would find it a real nuisance to have to put new batteries in each day & keep stocked up.
Pretty certain you will be delighted in your hearing improvement & will soon get used to wearing your new aids, whichever brand you end up with. Good luck & best wishes.
I don’t disagree with what you say about rechargeable, but there is no need to change replaceable batteries every day. It depends on what size battery, how much streaming you do and other factors, but in general you could expect to get almost a week from each battery.
I was wondering what others have done about batteries. I went for rechargeable too on the basis that I wouldn’t necessarily be wearing them all day every day but I wasn’t sure. The audiologist usually recommends batteries but agreed rechargeable might be better in my case.
Mine are Phonak 90s too. The audiologist normally recommends own brand but agreed the Phonaks would be better for music.
I wear mine most waking hours as my audiologist said this was important to get my ears used to them (not a problem for me as I have used ear buds for years listening to my ipod audiobooks & recorded radio plays, comedy shows, whilst gardening, washing cars doing my share of the housework etc.) &, more importantly, getting my brain accustomed to them.
It took no time at all for me to acclimatise to them &, if I am not listening to the ipod, I only leave them out if I am alone all day & do not intend to listen to music. This is not very often. Check with your audiologist but I would think they will advise you to use them all the time for at least the first few weeks.
As an aside, I have found the Bluetooth facility quite useful when using my android smartphone. I don’t have to keep wondering where I left the earphones! The one Bluetooth disappointment is with my ipod which connects to the aids no problem but I can’t get any volume at all. This must be an issue with the ipod as it connects in the car but, again, no volume. It would have been ideal if it worked with the Phonaks, again to get rid of the wired earphones.
One word of warning. Be careful to remove before taking a shower/swimming etc. I have no trouble remembering at home but have forgotten when out after playing tennis & fortunately remembering in the nick of time before any damage was done!
I must admit David, that I thought all batteries only lasted for about a day.
Still glad I went for rechargeables as I’m sure the batteries would run out when I was a long way & time from home on the day I had forgotten to take a spare set with me, probably in the middle of a Hi-Fi demo evening!
As I posted before - many phones nowadays do a hearing test through headphones - might be interesting to hear what difference it shows on good headphones both with and without the aids.
Your iPod might need a firmware update. Bluetooth has changed a lot over the last few years. Google will give you the answer, or you could call Apple support, which is amazingly good actually.
It’s an iPod Nano 7 running the current firmware (which has not been updated for several years) according to the current version of iTunes.
The iPod is the same age as my car & has always connected but always with no volume, whatever I & the BMW dealer tried.
Would it still be worth contacting Apple support do you think?
It’s amazing how the brain is involved in the hearing process. I suddenly found my hearing greatly reduced about thirty years ago, when I was in my thirties. I went to the GP, who found that my ears were impacted with wax (yes, I know, gross - my apologies!). So she syringed my ears, and lots of wax came out.
For the next 48 hors or so, I seemed to have the hearing of a bat. I could hear the pile of the office carpet being crushed as I walked on it, but my hearing dialled itself back down to normal.
The human body is an amazing thing.