The worst thing that can happen to a musician is hearing loss and unfortunately as we get older must of us will experience that problem to some degree. Well, I've been experiencing this for a while and I have actually lost quite a bit of work because of it. A very discouraging problem to say the least.
What actually bothers me the most is pitch recognition. I'm hearing certain pitches a half tone higher than I'm playing. So the actual problem seems to start somewhere around G above middle C. I was wondering if anyone here is experiencing the same problem and what have you done about it, if anything.

I have two digital keyboards, one is a Yamaha PRS910 and the other is a Casio PX350 and I experience the problem with both keyboards. I was wondering if changing my keyboards would solve or lessen the problem.

Would love to hear some responses.....thanks.

I have hearing loss due to Meneres disese. I had to purchase hearing aids and after getting them I noticed that sometimes
I could not hear the proper key that a song was playing in.
I had problems with pitch. Later on I purchased different
hearing aids and that helped a lot.
I still sometimes have difficulty recognizing what key a song is playing in but it disappears after a short time.
I used to have perfect hearing and being a musician this has been a very tough situation to put up with.

Hi Musicman22,
It would be a great idea to meet for a cup of coffee in Boynton, I'm close.

John C.

My music career would have been over about 8 yrs ago had it not been for finding a good audiologist.
I was playing a job at an American Legion, when one of the former members of the Monkees approached me and said I was killing the audience due to my high EQ settings
and occasional feedback. The EQ sounded fine to me and I didn't hear any feedback....but looking at the settings on the mixer, it was clear I had all the highs turned
up way too high. That's the way I needed it to hear the high notes.

It was obvious that I would have to hang up music if I didn't find a solution. I found a really good audiologist and had a comprehensive test which showed dramatic loss
of ability to hear anything in the high register. After getting GOOD hearing aids I could hear the TV at normal levels, didn't ask people to repeat everything they said to me...
and most important....started hearing my music the way the audience was hearing it.

Another Zoner and local musician friend of mine (Hi Ron) had the problem way before me and and was instrumental in calming my fears of using hearing aids.

Good hearing aids are priceyt....but take that price and divide it by the number of days the audiologist expects the hearing aids to last. In my case, my last set ended up costing me
50 cents per day. To me, that was a bargain.

Eddie

Eddie good topic.
A while back I posted the difference between the Pa800 and the Pa900. Someone said that we begin to hear differently as we grow older; it rang a bell.
I tune pianos by beats and not pitch and the job is still good. --- But what am I hearing when the keyboard goes through the Bose? Both my keyboard and my acoustic guitar sound great without the hearing aid, with it everything is harsh. It’s like listening to music on a telephone.

My question how is it possible to adjust the EQ when my ear does not hear the highs and the hearing aid distorts them? Do I need a third party for a reference point? Am I being too critical?

John C.

John...I had a similar problem. My aids have 3 programs I can choose from depending on my surroundings. The audiologist designed a program just for
music based on what I told her. It was better, but while playing the keyboard, I heard a tinny warble in the high registers. I made an appointment with her
and brought my KB into her office. I would play a high note and then replicate what I heard with my voice, warble and all. She understood and went to work
tweaking the music program in my aids until the notes I played sounded like they should to me.

I don't know if many audiologists would put up with me or would accommodate a patient playing a KB in his/her office....but mine did and she has
helped me immeasurably.

Two critical components that have made a major difference for me: A really good audiologist and high quality aids from a company that has a good warranty.

Eddie

I've been wearing hearing aids for six and a half years. I've been to at least 7 audiologists and I thought they were all good. All of them gave me the time I wanted and none of them really helped me completely. I'm on my second pair of hearing aids and I've tried I think at least 3 different companies. After reading how successful you guys have been is great to hear about you, but a little discouraging for me. Every piano or keyboard I play sounds twangy or thinny. I also have a remote with different programs and I can compensate to some degree in making the piano or keyboard sound just "OK". But, the biggest problem for me is the pitch. I had to stop singing on jobs because I was hearing a lot of the pitches a half tone higher....very disconcerting. Quite often I think I'm playing the correct note, but I'm not. If I were hearing the pitches right I could tolerate the twangy sound I'm hearing from the keyboard. I play with a couple of big bands and sometimes cannot understand what I'm hearing.
To the best of my knowledge, hearing aids cannot fix a pitch problem.
If none of you are having that problem, which it seems none of your are, then you can sing and play your jobs with a minimum amount of discomfort.

As I said earlier, I lost a lot of work because of the pitch problem. You really can't do a single if you don't sing. There has to be some singing on a job.

I'm just about ready to stop playing completely. The frustration I'm going through is insane.

John, I'd love to meet you anytime. Didn't know you were so close.
You can email me at: osolomio@comcast.net

A few months ago a guitar single guy who I've known many years was playing at the venue where I work most of the time. I was working in the other room.
I took a break and listened to him for awhile. He is quite talented, but the the highs were excruciating and there was a lot of high-end feedback (squealing). When he took a break, I asked him if he got the feedback under control and he asked "What feedback?" He couldn't even hear it. He asked me to help with the e.q., which I did, and then he sounded great.
He told me he really couldn't hear highs much any more! DUUUH!
I think I'm starting to experience a small degree of high-end loss, but it seems to be only after an hour or so of playing. When I start out, everything is fine, so I just have to trust myself and NOT make changes during the night.

Yup...done. Exactly how it started with me.

The high end of the sound spectrum is what starts to go first as we get older and based on how much exposure you've had with loud noise or music will contribute to your hearing loss sooner or later. Many will experience not understanding people when they speak, that's because the high end of the sound spectrum is what determines clarity of speech. Having trouble understanding children or women or not hearing the cymbal of a drum set is all part of that hearing loss.
So, it's not actually not hearing people speak, which you do hear, it's not understand them because of the high end loss.