The time has come for me to consider hearing aides. I have noticed the last several months I seem to have more trouble hearing while I am playing. I have used the same settings on both keyboard and Bose L1 Compact for years and it has never been a problem before. I know I do have some level of decreased hearing in my left ear - have had for years but it has never been a problem before. So, here is my question.

How many of the forum members here play live with hearing aides and what is your experience doing so?

Deane

I have hearing aids and have wore them now for a few years. I had
hearing loss in my left ear after having Menieres Disease. I had
severe spells of diziness that really made me sick and made me
wish I could just die.

I had high blood pressure attacks from this and finally they let up (Thank the good Lord). My hearing is better some days than others and some days it is very poor. The strange thing about is
is still hear the full spectrum of sound that the keyboard has.

Anyway I decided I needed hearing aids and since wearing them
I have enjoyed better hearing, not perfect but a big improvement over hearing without them.

I have the aids from Audibel and they are expensive but worth
the money. They give a through hearing test and evaluate your
loss. Get the best aid you can afford, they are worth it.
Good luck with obtaining hearing aids. Sincerely, Lloyd
PS: They have made progress with hearing aids in the last couple of years.

Lloyd,
How has this impacted your live gigs? Have you had any problems adjusting
how loud you are playing?

Deane

Dean,
First piece of advice from my experiences, consult with an Audiologist.

Volume was not so much my problem. It turned out I couldn't hear the high frequencies.
After thorough testing and getting professional advice on the best solution, I could not believe how
much better I could hear everything....especially music.

Many of the hearing aids today have controls which can alter volume and accommodate frequency changes.
As for gigs, I now hear what the audience hears....whereas prior to hearing aids I was turning up the high frequencies
so I could hear them, while not realizing how "tinny" it sounded to everyone else.

I didn't realize I had that much of a problem until another musician told me my EQ settings were killing everyone's ears.
Eddie

[quote=Korgman5]I have hearing aids and have wore them now for a few years. I had
hearing loss in my left ear after having Menieres Disease. I had
severe spells of diziness that really made me sick and made me
wish I could just die."


I was diagnosed with Meineres Disease 2.8 yrs ago. Currently under care by Dr.John Carey at Johns Hopkins Hospital. It is a very rare disease to have and live with.

Deane, many of us have been through what you have described. Medically, men tend to lose high frequency sounds, while women tend to lose low frequency sounds - it just a part of the aging process, and most of us on this forum are not youngsters (Well there are exceptions, of course).

Eddie is correct in telling you to contact an audiologist - they are professionals in the field and know how to help this problem. However, in the world of medicine, audiology is one of those fields that can decimate a significant chunk of your bank account and not produce outstanding results. Now, if you are a veteran, a big chunk of this can be taken care of at the Veterans Administration, but you must use their facilities and physicians. They too are highly trained in the field and can provide the same services as those in the outside world. The difference is the out of pocket funds.

If you are not a vet, every audiologist out there will tell you that you need hearing aids for both ears - not just one. In some instances, such as Eddie's case, this may be true. In others, it's not the case, such as mine. I got along just fine with just one aid in my right ear, the ear that had the most damage from being a first loader on a 3-50 anti-aircraft gun on the USS Newport News. Back then, we had no hearing protectors, so most of us just shoved wads of cotton into our ears to lessen the blast that was just a few feet away from our heads. The fun fired 60 round a minute and the concussion was unbelievable to say the least. I still have severe tinnitus from this, which will never go away.

One thing to keep in mind, if the problem is strictly volume, this can be something as simple as a chunk of wax resting against the tympanic membrane, something is easily corrected by ear drops used specifically to dissolve the wax.

If wax is not the problem, then an inexpensive ear bud can solve your problem. Those $39 hearing aids that you see advertised will also solve a simple amplification problem, and some even have EQ adjustments on them.

Good luck,

Gary

15 years ago, I studied to be an hearing aids seller in France. I got my diploma but did not work on it.
I think it is better to not use hearing aids to listen music, as the frequencies are pretty much limited and adapted to the human voice, but they will help you for speech discussion with people.

I think, it is better to add a little monitor speaker, in your direction, so you will hear better what you are playing.

In ear monitors is also a solution, but you will feel playing alone and far from the public

Hearing aids have come on in leaps and bounds since the early days, with most now having programable EQ etc. so that they can be programmed to cover a wide range, (They are no longer just to voices) so just to tell whoever tests your ears what you want to use them for, and that they can be programmed to suit.

Hope this helps

Bill

Thanks to everyone for the input. One of my concerns was playing live gigs with hearing aids. I have become very popular in my area because I have learned to keep the overall sound of my setup comfortable for those who wear hearing aids yet loud enough to be heard anywhere in the venue. If I get a complaint for being to loud it is always from someone with hearing aids. The Bose L1 Compact is a great match for those folks.

We will see I guess.

Deane