Hearing Aids 2

I know there are a lot of auiophiles above 50 and some of you are contemplating hearing aids. Just went to my ENT and he says I’m ready to get’m. When I asked him if there was any such thing as hifi hearing aids his answer was, “the expensive ones.” Not surprise I said they would be the least expensive speakers in the house (Get my FR30s next month???) Any suggestions?

Defining “expensive” would be helpful.

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I’m doing well with the Oticon Opn S 1 MiniRITE R. Yes, expensive, $5k region. I asked about a music setting and they put one in. I also like the tinnitus background noise settings. I have one set to Ocean and the other to a more abstract white noise that’s probably better at lowering my tinnitus (a little.)

I like the Oticon Opn S series (Oticon Opn S™ Hearing Aids l Oticon), they are open so you hear mostly as you normally would (no blockages, congestion, etc. from wearing them) and they simply augment where you need it. (In my case by 60dB in the highs.)

I don’t know if it’s built in these days, but I got the little extra box (ConnectClip) that can be a remote mic for lectures, etc and allows connecting the aids to my laptop, connecting to a cellphone, etc.

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He indicated that a Cosco type (aprox $1500) would be a big disapointment for audiophile.

My wife has been very happy with the music listening performance of the Oticon “More” which preceded the model Tedsmith is using. She doesn’t find the “music” settings or tinnitus background settings to offer more for her than the day to day setting but everyone’s hearing is different and you can’t really infer that someone else’s hearing aid solution will be yours. The biggest hurdle seems to be finding a well qualified and trained audiologist that stays up to date with the dizzyingly rapid pace of hearing aid technology development. My wife had to go through more than one audiologist’s office before finding someone who was up to the task.

The non-music setting is pretty good but turning off the fancy features which try to suppress some sounds and raise others to help you hear in a crowded room just seems like a good idea for music :slight_smile: In practice there are more instances of the aids holding certain notes a little too long with the normal programming, that’s a lot rarer with the music setting. This is most likely due to my relatively high gain settings in the upper registers.

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I remember a post about this a while back. I’m doing well with Oticon hear aids. They were about $6K for the pair 8 years ago. My audiologist tells me they’re about due to be replaced. When I got the pair I’m wearing, I auditioned 3 or 4 different pairs for 2 and 3 weeks at a time before settling on the Oticon. A good audiologist can arrange that for you. You’re getting ready to spend a small fortune on something you’re going to live with everyday. Why should it be any different than your stereo equipment.

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General question: is there something like a mean break-in time for hearing aids?

I didn’t notice one.

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If it’s your first pair, yes, but not in the sense you think. When I got mine, and this is still my first pair, I went into the audiologist every other week and she added gain from 80% or my Rx to 100%. It’s your body getting used to hearing things that were lost over a very long period of time. Quite a shock to me the first day I was fitted and they were turned on. Because of that, if there is a burn in time, I wouldn’t be able to say.

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Thanks for sharing!
Kinda reminiscent of what I experienced when I first put on glasses…

An excellent topic. Many are afraid of hearing aids and are losing out on the help they could enjoy.

I am exceedingly lucky to have good hearing and desperately hope it stays this way.

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I need some badly but was always reluctant because I thought they would degrade critical music listening (and I tend to listen critically). It looks like there are two that would work well though, The Oticon Opn S 1 that Ted uses and also the ReSound Quattro has come up in my Google searches. My insurance happens to offer both through Tru-Hearing at a minimal copay so I think I’m finally going to do this.

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I never knew I needed them until I got mine. Now I can’t imagine being without them. They take some getting used to but you’ll be surprise how much better your system sounds when you’re hearing everything again. The good ones boost only what you need. Everything else passes right through.

I went to an audiologist last spring to hopefully get some help with my tinnitus. She checked my hearing response and found normal high frequency rolloff for a 60 year old. She tuned some fancy hearing aids for me to demo with compensation for my tinnitus and the rolloff. After trying the hearing aids for 3 weeks, I found that it didn’t help my tinnitus but provided awkward relief for the high frequency rolloff.

I ended up not getting any hearing aids and using the EQ of my McIntosh integrated amp (I know, blasphemy!) to recover some high end.

I know at some point that I’ll need hearing aids for normal, everyday, use. Until then, I’ll save thousands of dollars and use the EQ that I already have when listening to music.

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I wish there was a cure for tinnitus. Sometimes when I am listening to music I can still hear it. I saw an ENT (5 years ago) about a month after it started. He said I had some hearing loss but not enough to be concerned about at the time and also it was too soon to tell what was going on about the tinnitus. Well, its been a long time and hasn’t gotten any better.

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folks - recently had my hearing tested and it was essentially still “flat” up to the clinical audiology limit of 8kHz.
are you being tested at higher frequencies before deciding on hearing aids?

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i should add my reason for testing was re tinnitus, which is not too bad but is noticeable especially at quiet times.

No, I’ve had tinnitus and a 70dB loss at 3k (but normal again by 4k) in my left ear at least since the '80s. Now both ears are better than average below 3k, but down by 60-80dB from 3k up. I’m used to the tinnitus, but it does get in the way of critical listening almost always.

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Thanks - I count myself lucky to have kept most of my hearing so far (late 50s), it’s gone by around 15k but I’m less concerned (and less concerned about super tweeters!) nowadays :slight_smile: