So I had an event happen recently that has resulted in permanent damage to my left ear. The result being that I have a 5 to 20 db loss relative to the right ear. The 5 db difference starts at around 500 to 2K HZ then increases to 15db delta from 3k on. After the event the mono signal shifted to the right of the soundstage. My solution has been to use my balance on my preamp to shift a mono signal so it is centered again.
My request is for criticisms of my current solution and/or alternative strategies for dealing with asymetric hearing issues. I don’t need a hearing aid for daily living but there is a noticeable difference in the ability of the left ear.
Thanks ahead of time for any wisdom you can share.
I experienced an event with my left ear where I experienced buzzing and crackling. Next morning sounded like I had water in my ear. It never came back. Thought my audiophile days were over. Finally tried a hearing aid with a music mode. It was like the old days again! Now I just use it when I’m listening to music or movies in surround. Works for me.
@minnesotafats - Sorry to learn of your diminished hearing capability, as it is a real bummer. I have a buddy who has a similar condition, the difference being he is not an audiophile. He uses a high quality lapel stereo microphone, and a small amp with ear buds to compensate. I don’t recall the specifics, but he typically uses it for live jazz concerts. and is very happy with it. If interested I can inquire as to the specifics, just send along a pm.
Interesting. I experienced a somewhat similar problem with my left ear. It manifested itself as crackling and a very bizarre random thump. With a water in the ear feeling. When I saw an audiologist with the expectation of bad news, she homed in on Bruxism as the root cause. Jaw grinding, which can be subconscious you aren’t aware you are doing it, can lead to inner ear irritation. It’s traceable to a jaw joint deformity. She recommended I try a mouth guard to mitigate my Bruxism. It occurs at night while sleeping. I insert my mouth guard just before I retire to bed.
That change completely eliminated my left ear problem. I am still astonished. My dentist suspected I had a Bruxism problem, but was taken aback by the auditory symptoms I was experiencing.
His hearing loss also impacted one ear. He adapted using readily available stereo components, and I assumed those interested would do similarly. I’m not sure if he went with mono settings, or the specifics in general. As I said if interested I can get into the details. Just PM me.
I am an older guy, with confirmed high frequency hearing loss, with a similar experience since I was young listening
to music at home through pretty good “high fidelity” stereo systems. My current system is similar with Aspen speakers
and a bunch of PS Audio equipment. Whenever I upgrade something in my system I am able to hear the difference.
But I have wondered what would the experience be if I could neutralize the high end deficits with quality hearing aids. So,
I paid almost $5000 for recommended Widex aids. I found them to be terrible, distorting the amplified sound of music.
I have recently read that the hearing aid manufacturers are not motivated to upgrade the internals to not distort the signal.
There are so many older folks, with some degree of hearing loss, both retired musicians and high end audio folk who would
so much appreciate having hearing aids that convey the amplified music without distortion.
If anyone has founds hearing aids that provide an undistorted amplification of either live or reproduced music conveyed
over high end music systems I would like to hear about it.