playing and hearing aids

[bloke]

A few of my really talented and superb performing professional colleagues have needed to go to using hearing aids, as they are in their mid or later 60s.

Over the last couple of decades, I've really tried to protect my ears from my own chainsaw/tree-cutting noise, lawn-mowing noise, buffing machine noise, percussion section noise, exhaust fan noise, and other stuff like that. I'm pretty sure I can still hear pretty well, and I'm grateful. Just let this serve as a word to the wise.

Those musicians mentioned in the first sentence still play extremely well, but I can hear a difference, and I really don't believe it's due to them having aged.

[sweaty]

I also wear ear protection when using power equipment and make my sons do the same.

[Paulver]

Interesting topic..... at least for me. I have hearing aids. Got 'em a little more than a year ago. Am I deaf? No!! Not by a long shot. However, I've lost hearing in some of the upper frequencies, namely female and little kids voice range. If they speak softly, I have a difficult time hearing them. I can hear my watch ticking in my right ear, but not my left. Same thing with an ear thermometer's beep. Left ear is "a little worse" than my right, but neither is really bad. I was told by the doctor that I was a perfect candidate for hearing aids. Not sure it that was a "hook line" to get me to buy them, or if it's really true.

In a crowd....... it gets tough to hear a specific voice. Also, with the hearing aids in, noise will drive me crazy. I have to turn them off or take them out. If I'm working outside or with farm equipment, with the aids I'm just amplifying the noise or engines, etc. Now, if I have work to do outside, I don't even put them in. While they are very easy to adjust, manually or with my phone, sometimes the sound/noise is just beyond their ability to be of any assistance. That's when I turn them off.

When I shoot targets........ I use my hearing protection..... no aids at all.

Before getting them, TV center channel was really hard to hear voices...... over the sound effects on the left and right channels. Still the same way with them in, but not quite as bad. I think Hollywood thinks that everyone is more interested in said sound effects and noise than hearing the actors' lines!!

Band rehearsals, concerts, or small ensemble playing, I don't even notice that I have them in/on. Simple and quick adjustments if needed. All is well....... so far.

Thirty years of teaching band, and countless years of playing percussion in elem, jr. high and high school, then college and professionally, has obviously taken its toll. No hearing protection.

Biggest problem with hearing aids is realizing that you still have then in your ears AFTER you've stepped into the shower. I've done that countless times. The first time, I went into a panic........ $5000 and they were ruined in less than two weeks of wearing them. Under warranty, and they were replaced free of charge. After that, I got online and learned how to take them apart. After seeing how easy it was, I've been doing my own "surgery' on them to get them apart, and using a hair dryer to dry them out. Total "surgery time" is about ten minutes or so. Put them back together and back in my ears. No issues. If I had known how to do that with the first pair, I'd still have them.

[Three Valves]

Those musicians mentioned in the first sentence still play extremely well, but I can hear a difference, and I really don't believe it's due to them having aged.

“Difference” = “better” or…. ????

[ronr]

Got my first set of hearing aids in my mid-40s. If anything I think I’m a better player now 20+ years later. I could be deluding myself, of course.

[JESimmons]

I was born with a form of nerve deafness. I’ve tried various hearing aides over the years and despite the promises of audiologists, I’ve never found any that help in my worst situations - noisy and crowded places.

[bloke]

It should be obvious that I'm not calling out people who use hearing aids.
(It's obvious that I'm not doing that, isn't it?)
It's just that I'm trying to encourage people - who haven't lost very much hearing - to try to protect what they have.

When I'm performing at venues where I can't hear some of the other musicians - or can't hear them very well, I feel like I'm working at a tremendous disadvantage.

[Three Valves]

It should be obvious that I'm not calling out people who use hearing aids.
(It's obvious that I'm not doing that, isn't it?)
It's just that I'm trying to encourage people - who haven't lost very much hearing - to try to protect what they have.

When I'm performing at venues where I can't hear some of the other musicians - or can't hear them very well, I feel like I'm working at a tremendous disadvantage.

No, I don’t believe you are “calling anyone out” but what is still unclear is whether you have observed an improvement in hearing corrected players or those who have not corrected their hearing.

[bloke]

It should be obvious that I'm not calling out people who use hearing aids.
(It's obvious that I'm not doing that, isn't it?)
It's just that I'm trying to encourage people - who haven't lost very much hearing - to try to protect what they have.

When I'm performing at venues where I can't hear some of the other musicians - or can't hear them very well, I feel like I'm working at a tremendous disadvantage.

No, I don’t believe you are “calling anyone out” but what is still unclear is whether you have observed an improvement in hearing corrected players or those who have not corrected their hearing.

I strongly suspect that hearing aids nearly always offer better performance results than without them.

[Paulver]

No need to worry on my account. I didn't think you were calling out hearing aid(ed) folks. I was just relating my experiences with hearing aids both in the music world and in everyday life.

[cjk]

There are lots of different types of hearing loss. I expect mine is actually hereditary. I don't recall knowing my father or his father when they did not have hearing aids. My father was actually legally deaf at one time. He had surgery to replace some of the bones in his ears (or something like that?) by a Dr Shea in Memphis. I assume this was some time in the mid to late 1970s. I would have been a toddler.

I really don't think there was a whole lot I could have done to prevent my hearing loss. I do definitely agree that folks should do what you can to preserve your hearing. I fear that I may be deaf someday.

Hearing loss is usually in particular pitch ranges. It's most noticeable (or inconvenient) when those ranges affect human speech. When I'm not wearing my hearing aids now, I feel like I've stuck my head in a bucket. The difference is pretty substantial.

[acemorgan]

I've lost hearing in some of the upper frequencies, namely female and little kids voice range. If they speak softly, I have a difficult time hearing them.

This is very much my case, so I wear them when I watch TV, or in a social setting where people expect you to be listening. I also when I was still teaching high school. That was only partially useful since teenagers are predisposed to mumble rather than use actual words.

My hearing loss is definitely hereditary. My older brother and my mother both struggled with the upper frequency sounds in human speech. I don't usually wear
my hearing aids when I play, because my devices are set to amplify the high range, and this changes the sound I hear when I play. I don't know if that is a bad thing or a good thing, so I just keep doing what I have been doing.

[bort2.0]

Interesting stuff! I've never been around people with hearing aids until fairly recently my FIL started wearing them.

It's a noticeable difference in his ability to hear us talking and comprehension the first time around. The annoying thing, however, is if the room is quiet, you can hear the "leakage" of the amplified sound and it's distracting when you talk. Kind of like talking on the phone when there's a bit of an echo/feedback. I'm sure his hearing loss is all genetic though, he worked at universities his whole career.

My father... Doesn't wear hearing aids, and seems like he may benefit from them. Last time I asked him, he said the VA said his hearing loss was not service related -- the same stock answer they always give. He was an airplane mechanic, and worked on propeller airplanes in the 1960s. A nice quiet job.

[Mary Ann]

A while back when you posted that site where we could test what our range was, I was surprised at how much high range I appeared to be missing. I don't know how much of that was "computer sound problems" and how much was actual loss. At 73, I seem to not need hearing aids, but --- I bought musician's plugs WAY back and have always worn them in band horn sections, because I didn't want to go deaf. However, I burst an eardrum when I was three, and my left ear doesn't hear as well as my right. Luckily it grew back.

A couple months ago I was asked to join yet another local band on horn, and at the last rehearsal a trombone who had not been there, returned, and his bell was right behind me on the right. Even with the ear plug, my right ear was still ringing the next day. I wrote the conductor and explained that although I enjoyed playing in the group I was unwilling to damage my hearing, and could something be done? Turns out his wife, a horn player, is actually on disability from a European orchestra from having trombones blowing at her from behind. He said he would address the issue because a) the trombones, especially that one, were WAY too loud, and b) he would do something with the seating. So --- we'll see what happens, but I'm not going to continue under those circumstances. Not worth it. I'm still able to hear conductors even with ear plugs in, so I think my hearing is still reasonably intact. There is one group where I just can't hear the conductor, but neither can anyone else --- what he says has to ripple up the rows until we all find out what it was. He's 85 and needs a microphone.

[djwpe]

A couple months ago I was asked to join yet another local band on horn, and at the last rehearsal a trombone who had not been there, returned, and his bell was right behind me on the right. Even with the ear plug, my right ear was still ringing the next day. I wrote the conductor and explained that although I enjoyed playing in the group I was unwilling to damage my hearing, and could something be done? Turns out his wife, a horn player, is actually on disability from a European orchestra from having trombones blowing at her from behind. He said he would address the issue because a) the trombones, especially that one, were WAY too loud, and b) he would do something with the seating. So --- we'll see what happens, but I'm not going to continue under those circumstances. Not worth it.

I’m playing with a band now on bass trombone where they have us behind the horns. No band should sit that way, it just creates a never-ending circle of violence where the horns play loudly (sometimes) out of tune into the trombones’ faces, and then the trombones play louder to be heard. It takes all my self control to not play louder in that situation.

I like the sound of the horns, but not directly in my face.

Don

[bloke]

I scooch my chair back from the bass trombone bell, while - at the same time - making an effort to have my tuba bell point as to clear the proscenium.

[Mary Ann]

It really is ridiculous to have horns an trombones blowing at each other. Most of the horn section sits in front of tubas, which is fine, but I'm on the end where the trombones start, which is where the first is. I think they should be over behind the trumpets, so they are all blowing the same direction. It makes no sense to not have the horns blowing at the back wall so their reflected sound can be heard. Some conductors keep moving them farther and farther forward because they can't hear them, and don't seem to get the concept of why.

[GC]

Being a regular back-row type for a couple of decades now, I think most of my recent hearing loss comes from percussion, especially as one group's conductor likes percussion way too loud. I would hate to sit in front of trombones or trumpets, though; I feel for flutists and sax players in concert bands and string players or whoever is in front of brass in orchestras.

I have been advised to get hearing aids, but have decided to wait because my insurance company has seemingly declared war on price gouging by a particular class of providers, and they haven't quite set their policies on over-the-counter hearing aid pricing and reimbursements. I hear well enough, but know I can use help here and there.

[cjk]

...
I have been advised to get hearing aids, but have decided to wait because my insurance company has seemingly declared war on price gouging by a particular class of providers, and they haven't quite set their policies on over-the-counter hearing aid pricing and reimbursements. I hear well enough, but know I can use help here and there.

You can actually get hearing aids from Costco for around $1600 all in. Testing is free. followup visits are free. Depending on the state (?) there might not even be sales tax. I'm not certain about this, but there was no sales tax on them in my state.

That sure beats $5k plus from an audiologist's office.

The staff at Costco have a lower state certification than an audiologist would. They will only be able to help to a certain degree of hearing loss. They will refer you to an audiologist if it's out of their wheelhouse.

I saw an audiologist first. I got exactly the same hearing test at Costco as I did at the audiologist's office.

[bloke]

I don't know what those $250 things are, that are advertised on TV... I would have to assume they are crap, but they claim they are actual hearing aids and not just amplifiers. If they are better than nothing, that's not a tremendous amount of money to spend until something that works somewhat, until something that works properly is available financially. I would proceed with skepticism and caution, when something is that inexpensive.

At first glance, I would probably assume they are the India-made nickel plated "Bessons" of hearing aids.