Hi
I have contemplated hearing aids but assume music would sound a bit strange ?
How do you find it listening through them and which hearing aids did you purchase.
I assume it takes a while to get used to them.
Only strange because you suddenly can hear the high frequencies more clearly than you have for a while without realising they had become muffled. I found it took a couple of weeks to get used to them, not because of the improved sound, but integrating the source in my ear with the direct sound. Best benefit is not music but tge ability to converse in noisy crowded places. Mine are Phonak Novak Nova, provided by NHS - I am lucky to have an NHS audiology service in my local hospital - and it has a very good reputation.
Out of curiosity I subsequently tried a private audiologist, who recommended an expensive model (Starkey Audibel AI 2400, Ā£5.7k), which I trialled: I didnāt feel it was really any better except marginally in the most noisy environments, otherwise often sounding too shrill, at times leading to me turning it down though I tried not to in order to try to get used to it which was the audiologistās advice when I went back after the first 3 or 4 weeks. Overall I wasnāt impressed and after 2 months returned it for a full refund (he claimed I was the first person to do that!)
There are a few threads on hearing aids with a lot of interesting and potentially useful information - use the search tool.
I think several posts point out that the dB is a logarithmic scale. This means that 50dB is pretty quiet, 70dB perhaps a conversational level in the room 80dB is getting to a comfortable āloudā 95dB is party loud and over 100dB guaranteed to annoy the neighbours.
So get yourself a free dB meter on your phone and measure what feels comfortable, remembering when we listen to music there are peaks which are quite high which I tend to ignore and focus on the average measure.
Most people in this forum have invested heavily in equipment that produces clear and undistorted sound so in my opinion the dangerous level is perhaps beyond 85dB (although headphones played very loud may be more damaging). I have had to look into this as I have a petulant neighbour who complains if he hears anything at all (our boundary wall is 1.5m thick and acoustically isolated) even a gentle drift of Sandy Denny from an open window results in an angry text message.
Consequently and in the spirit of being a good neighbour I only play very loud (110dB+) when they are out or away. When they are home I can be sure that 75dB will be inaudible to them. The chart below is useful but I do not agree with the 70dB boundary, but then again 64 years of listening to (very) loud music has I am sure blunted my hearing!
Source : Hearing health foundation
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As is hearing (which is the reason for the choice of decobel scale).
Yes, reading my post I fail to mention that a 1dB increase from 85-86dB is vastly different to a 1dB increase from 65-66dB A
Logarithmic scales are used when there is a large spread range of quantities. Common uses include earthquake strength (Richter) sound loudness (Decibel), light intensity (Candela/Lumen), spreading rates of epidemics or pandemics (R) and so on.
They are based on an order of magnitude rather than a linear scale. The value of each mark on the scale is the value at the previous mark multiplied by a constant. In the case of sound the base level ā0ā is the threshold of audible sound, and I think the constant is 1.26 (I am sure somebody will correct me ln that if my memory is failing!)
But my point was, to your ears at whatever level you are listening that 1 dB change is the same degree of change (commonly said to be about the smallest difference in sound level that you can hear)
If you used a linear scale, such as pressure, then whatever unit you use, steps that are small enough to define slight changes at 50 dB would have to be given in steps of 100 at 90 dB
It took me a few days to become accustomed to my hearing aids. They certainly make it much easier when listening to others in crowded rooms. Musically they are perfectly OK - Iāll be off to the CBSO this evening to see how they get on with live Tchaikovsky etc!
The ones Iām wearing now are actually my second pair! I lost the first pair after only having them for a few weeks. It was when we went for a Covid booster, and I had to wear a mask again. I must have pulled them off when I removed the mask. Luckily I had insured them, so only had to pay the Ā£100 excess on the policy. Iām VERY careful with the new pair!
To measure SPL and also to measure frequency response when adjusting systems (especially my active OB system) I use the free Spectrum app (IOS version).
Just before typing this I took this screen shot - my wife and I are both reading quietly and this was the volume level. The peaks resulted from me moving in my seat.
For proper music listening (not background music) I tend to listen between 80 - 85 db at the listening position with whatever system I use. However, for short periods I might listen up to 90db at the listening position - for both main systems this equates to being 3 - 4 metres away from the speakers. I would not want to listen at this level for very long. To my ears neither system displays any form of distortion at this sort of loudness level - my own sense of preservation, combined with mechanical sympathy, stops me from going higher than 90db.
50-60db in the evening 60-70 if Iām at home alone. My wife finds anything over 50 ātoo loudā
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My wife finds the vast majority of music I like too loud at any level. The feeling is reciprocated with her choice of music.
No, we have a decent overlap in taste. She just has more sensitive hearingā¦.
I mainly listen to metal, so, uh, LOUD.
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Also it depends on media. Depending on how the media is mastered it may sound loud but have a relative low sound pressure, compared to a track with a lower average loudness, but greater dynamic peaks, offering a higher peak sound pressure.
Assessing the loudness of music is a complex area which is why no doubt LUFS were invented, as it provides a standardized way of assessing and conforming to loudness levels. LUFS are defined in standards as now used by broadcasters and streaming music service providers. (Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon etc)
To your question, I will set the volume to be comfortable natural level for the content and frame of mind and context I am listening in. Some content sounds better at a greater volume level, others just sound noisy at the same level all other things being equal.
Sound pressure really is not relevant at all other than a health safety warning markā¦ my Apple Watch warns meā¦ this has rarely if ever triggered listening to my home audio systemā¦ but has triggered at heavily sound reinforced gigs ā¦ and I usually use ear plug attenuators in those circumstances.
If I walk in a city and emergency vehicle passes close by with sirens, that can also be damaging to hearing so I will always stop to cover my ears.
In other cases of extreme percussive loudness, such as gun fire, in a reflective surface environment, I will use two layers of protection. (The loudness of automatic gun fire is incredible)
Blimey, Simon. I never realised Suffolk was such a dangerous place! 
Roger
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My wife has the best hearing of anyone I know, she can hear my phone vibrating in the garden when she is in the front room.
She listens to the TV on volume 5 or 6 which to me is a wisper.
Plus she does not like any of the music I listen to, its a good job I have a seperate music room otherwise I dont think we would have reached 44 years of marriage.
Yes, I donāt know how anyone can live in an open plan living area with no other lounge area - unless much of the time is spent wearing isolating headphones/ear defenders. Music - especially with conflicting tastes, TV, cooking, study, quiet reading etc are all mutually incompatible sound-wise. When house buying we have for many years had a primary requirement for at least two separate living areas (and for the music room to be of adequate size).
My sister in law had seen various displays of āmodern open-plan livingā and thought it looked great, so knocked their kitchen through to the large lounge, and opened up the lounge to the conservatory that they had used as a dining room. Yes, the architects were right, it looked great! ā¦however they found it had far too many practical issues with noise and within 2-3 years they changed things, rebuilding the conservatory as a separate lounge.
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Iāve never liked open plan - Iām too Victorian.
Separate, defined rooms with doors anyday.
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I often like to have an afternoon nap. If really in need I can sleep through some noise. Other times I am susceptible to noise above that level where otherwise it falls below my ānoise floorā when sound becomes undifferentiated enough to go unnoticed.
Iām guessing 10db.
horses for coursesā¦
LOL, this is volunteering as a victim for armed police/special ops training ā¦ they do use blanks and the blood is stage blood, but your adrenaline gets pumping all the sameā¦ and this is in north Kent.
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