The Steel Guitar Forum

I have discovered that if I have my new hearing aids (first ones ever) in my ears while playing through my normal amp I hear serious modulation, which makes being confident of my intonation almost impossible. No hearing aids - no problem, which makes the solution sort of obvious, except that my most noticeable loss is in the upper registers, and I would like to fearlessly visit "Hughey land" more than I do but I just can't hear as well up there. It's also gotten a little difficult to judge the amount of reverb I'm sending to the forward system, and I had hoped the aids would help with that. Perhaps an IEM would solve the problem?? Anybody out there have a similar situation? Thanks, Dave

You should talk to your audiologist who setup your hearing aids. That's not normal to have modulation. Probably some anti-feedback filter is kicking in. They should be able to turn that off. Many hearing aids have multiple programs & you could have one set up without the offending "feature".

Thanks - I have an appt. set up to do just that, if she can.

You are not alone. Same problems. Same amp concerns. If they can tune them right, then, you may be able too hear the birds in the tree's again. You should be pretty close.

I've been wearing hearing aids for about 6 years. They just need adjustment or if they have the capability a second program for music. Most are set up for speech and the speech setting (program) is usually not very good for music.

I got new ones earlier this year and it took 4 trips back to the audiologist to get them set right, both for speech and a separate program for music.

Eric's comment was right on. I've been on those sophisticated hearing aids for a couple of years and had the same problem. By "modulation" I think you mean a quick warbling effect, as if the sound is going thru a leslie speaker. The "music listening" setting on my Seimens hearing aids didn't get rid of the problem. Finally, my audiologist tried "disabling some filters". I don't know what kind of filters they were - volume? EQ? Whatever it was, the quivering of the sound stopped completely, so I had her put that setting in as one of the 3 options I have (basic, basic louder and the no-filter). Hope this helps.

Jim, that's exactly what I'm talking about - a quick Leslie-ish modulation. I'll see what the audiologist can do with it.
Thanks to all for your replies. Much appreciated.

Good luck David. Just say, "let's try turning off all the filters". See what happens.

If I end up going this route I'm sure that the answers will be obvious but for now I'm just paying attention to this subject. No hardware yet but it may be in my future.

How do you change programs? Do you point a remote at your head? Sort of kidding....sort of not....

Jack Stoner, what brand do you recommend?

My audiologist works with lots of musicians and is very sensitive to our special needs. When she tests hearing, for instance, she tests much higher frequencies than most audiologists test (the norm seems to be human voice range) and for me anyway having hearing aids that can do something about those really high frequencies that I've missed makes a big difference.

Mine were made by Widex--not inexpensive but they work very well. They're coming up on replacement time I'm afraid, and I don't know that I can afford to replace them at the moment. But I've had them for 8 years now and they're still kicking.

Dave

What brand do I recommend? I don't think there is one that stands out over others, at a price range. There are many brands and models within a brand. And, the same brand and model can have many different prices depending on each dealer.

I'm using Rexton's but that is only because my insurance (Federal Employees Blue Cross) will pay $2500 every 3 years for hearing aids. The Rexton's that I have are probably the low end models and could be less at one dealer and more at another. I tried another brand (Starkey, who also makes Audibel) and they were OK except I didn't like the short battery life. They were $1000 more than what insurance would cover too. I also checked Audibel and they were the highest of any other place, $10,000. Audibel "plasters" the local newspapers and TV with ad's and I guess they charge the high prices to pay for all the advertising.

The Costco (Rexton) hearing aids get good reviews and reasonable price. I didn't buy there because they don't take (handle) the insurance, plus the nearest Costco for me is 50 miles away and too far to go for adjustments.

Jon Light wrote:How do you change programs? Do you point a remote at your head? Sort of kidding....sort of not....

There is a phone app that works just like a remote that was bundled with the Costco/Rexton set that I have. You can set volume level and audio environment with it. No reverb, delay, or overdrive...But the “modulation” effect in the OP’s comment is free.

I had the same issue when I got mine.
I didn't really like any of the three settings.
They didn't work well for music, movies or the phone.
Too much background noise!
Went back to poor hearing and like it better.

David Peirce wrote:I have discovered that if I have my new hearing aids (first ones ever) in my ears while playing through my normal amp I hear serious modulation, which makes being confident of my intonation almost impossible. No hearing aids - no problem, which makes the solution sort of obvious, except that my most noticeable loss is in the upper registers, and I would like to fearlessly visit "Hughey land" more than I do but I just can't hear as well up there. It's also gotten a little difficult to judge the amount of reverb I'm sending to the forward system, and I had hoped the aids would help with that. Perhaps an IEM would solve the problem?? Anybody out there have a similar situation? Thanks, Dave

Dave I have a cochlear implant. I’m gonna recommend if you can and your audiologist is ok with it, that you make an appointment and actually BRING your rig to the appointment. You may offer to audiologist to set said appointment as their last one of the day. That way they can program a specific program on there for you to use playing live that will sound good to you and the easiest way to ensure that is to bring your setup in and ...play! It will eliminate multiple appointments to get program tweaked to your liking. That’s what I’m about to have to do shortly as I just upgraded to a new processor and need to get my mapping adjusted

The June 2019 issue of Consumer Reports has an informative multi page writeup on hearing aids.

Ron Funk wrote:The June 2019 issue of Consumer Reports has an informative multi page writeup on hearing aids.

They are EXTREMELY EXTREMELY overpriced, IMHO. The manufacturers charge out the nose because most of their revenue comes from Medicare/Medicaid and private insurance. That’s who they gear their advertising toward as well. Granted the technology has advanced tremendously but even before newer digital aids if you needed hearing aids and had to pay out of pocket your wallet was gonna scream.

I started using hearing aids back in the early 70s and no hearing aid what ever the cost is going to replace your natural hearing so best to accept it. I have used many brands and the ones I have stayed with are the simple ones no bells and whistles.

Thanks again to all for the replies. My audiologist programmed 3 slightly varied settings specific for music, and all of them do tune out the modulation, as well as making the higher frequencies much clearer, so I'm good to go on that issue. Now I need to ask her to tweak one of the programs to mute the drummer's heavy hands and turn the volume down on our young guitar player's amp.

I use hearing aids which work fine for conversation but have never reproduced music well. They are just not designed to handle the nuances & sound levels of an amplified musical instrument. I’ve gotten much better results by removing my hearing aids and using in-ear monitors while playing. In my case Shure 635s yield a much better steel guitar tone compared to my aids.

Dave I have a cochlear implant. I’m gonna recommend if you can and your audiologist is ok with it, that you make an appointment and actually BRING your rig to the appointment

Only my personal experience, but after years with my CI and trying every approach available, it still doesn't work for music and is barely adequate for most anything else..... Good luck, Patrick.

I agree that Hearing Aids are overpriced - but one has to consider that these days, they are mini-computers.

Last time I was at audiologist, they showed me hearing aids that come with an 'app' on your smart phone to adjust the 'presets' frequencies at your personal discretion.

Meaning one has the ability to adjust 'presets' (normal, restaurant, TV, music, etc.) 'on the fly' to suit your present situation.

My new Rexton's come with a phone app but the app is a joke. I can switch programs and volume, but I can do that on the hearing aids and don't need an app. The app has a very limited tone control on it but it doesn't seem to do anything.

But they are overpriced, considering I can get a super laptop or desktop computer that would run rings around any hearing aid for $1000 or even less. Even the low end Rexton's that were sold to me for the $2500 insurance allowance are overpriced (and probably can be bought for much less). The most overpriced were the $10,000 Audibel's that they tried to sell me.

Hearing aids do two basic things, amplify and balance EQ (High frequency loss is the most common). All the other "fluff" they advertise is hype.

I would disagree that the extra features advertised by hearing aid manufacturers is “fluff”.
Phonak Audeo Marvels are state of the art and live up to the features advertised.

Check this out - it is 100% dead on accurate.
https://youtu.be/OwB6RFLffSo