The Steel Guitar Forum

Posted: **3 Jan 2022 11:41 am**

Hi,

I am looking for up-to-date recommendations on hearing aids. I have been wearing ReSound Linx2 LS761 aids for about 4 years. Recently I lost one, so am researching replacements. I'm even considering purchasing one or two used aids on eBay.

I never have been happy with the sound of music--recorded music is even worse than live music--using these hearing aids, and am wondering if there have been any advances in technology in recent years that improve performance in that area. For the last couple of years I would take my hearing aids out when playing my steel by myself or with the band. Many of my friends who wear hearing aids, mostly acoustic musicians, do the same. The highs simply sound too bright, dry and digital.

If you have any recent experience with newer hearing aids, please share it.

Thanks so much.

Posted: **3 Jan 2022 12:22 pm**

I gave up on hearing aids for playing music. They’re designed for one thing only….hearing speech. They don’t handle volume well, nuances are lost & tone becomes clipped or brittle. Feedback can be a problem as well.

Instead, I went for something actually designed to reproduce music……IEMs. I bought a pair off mid-price level Shure IEMs for about $450, which work great. I can use them out of the PA, the headphone jack on my amp or out through the amp DI into a Beringer mini-mixer ($99) so I can mix/EQ to taste.

The resultant experience is much improved over either using my hearing aids or using nothing. IMO, trying to use hearing aids to replicate musical instrument tone is tantamount to bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Posted: **3 Jan 2022 2:21 pm**

Thanks Tony. I have reached a similar conclusion concerning hearing aids and music. The band I play with is not that loud and my hearing loss is not too severe, so I simply don't use my hearing aids when playing with the band.

The in-the-ear monitor might be something for me to try.

Thanks again.

Posted: **3 Jan 2022 3:20 pm**

I agree too. My audiologist catered to a lot of musicians--was a lot more "total range of frequencies" rather than "vocal range" oriented. Sensitive to our needs. I got an expensive set of Widex hearing aids, that actually did fill in the high frequencies a lot better than most hearing aids, but I could never get used to them. Couldn't play music using them because there was some kind of tiny delay going on (probably due to the digital nature of them) that drove me crazy.

I'm getting to the point that I need something just to hear people talk. I'll probably get some generic hearing aids for that, but leave them off when I play.

Dave

Posted: **3 Jan 2022 5:29 pm**

Similar story here . I couldn’t get used to them at all , even for non musical environments .so back to being the old deaf geezer .music isn’t as much of a problem as normal speach is

Posted: **4 Jan 2022 6:36 am**

I have had Widex for several yearsand they are great. I have worn hearing aids since 2002 and would not play without them.

Posted: **4 Jan 2022 1:10 pm**

Glad you all posted on this, I have been wondering if it was just my aides or everyone’s… signed mr deaf

Posted: **4 Jan 2022 2:07 pm**

joe long wrote:I have had Widex for several yearsand they are great. I have worn hearing aids since 2002 and would not play without them.

The Widex aids are very good indeed--I had better luck as far as the delay issue is concerned with custom fit "solid" type earpieces that didn't allow any sound into the ear outside of what's coming through the aids.

That type of earpiece didn't work well for me though--too uncomfortable, and the "tulip" type earpieces that I used (which do allow some sound to come in outside the hearing aids) allowed the delay to cause me problems. Same kind of thing as latency in a recording rig. It was a tiny, but totally intolerable situation for me.

If a person got the custom fit solid type earpieces and could tolerate them, this latency issue would probably not be a problem. Guess I'm too picky!

Dave

Posted: **13 Jan 2022 11:42 am**

They never helped me when playing. I also take them out. At first (before I knew) I kept fiddleing with the tone controls trying to find the best tone...would spend many minutes on this, then one day I forgot to put them in and was playing, aha problem solved.
I may have to have a little more volume than others but I cna hear the tone. Leave them out hear the music and just smile at people talking to you

Posted: **13 Jan 2022 4:03 pm**

I use hearing aids for everyday wear but ditch them onstage or when practicing. They are just short of worthless in music applications. Pure tones overload the front end of their digital circuitry and there’s no way to escape that.

The biggest problem in NOT using aids onstage is that, because I have upper frequency hearing loss, I can only guess at where to set the amp’s high end. Put another way, what I hear without aids is not what the audience hears. So, if I boost treble to compensate for my loss in those frequencies it sounds way too high for people with normal hearing.

The moral of the story? Don’t stand in front of a Marshall 100-watt for decades of 6-string club work.

Posted: **13 Jan 2022 5:27 pm**

I'm still doing research for my 1st pair of hearing aids. My hearing loss is only moderate and do fine on the bandstand. I got good results with in ear monitors, but I needed to be able to make my own in ear mix so I could get levels workable for best intonation. Sometimes I'd slightly pop one IEM out just enough to reduce the occlusion effect and could hear my own amp for good separation and for playing in tune.A little tricky to get the stage volume, PA volume and IEM volumes for best volume pedal range as well.

I've found a really good resource for up-to-date and accurate info from this audiologist. I wish I lived close enough to consult with him. His videos are GREAT!

https://youtu.be/DySrreILcrc

Posted: **14 Jan 2022 6:29 am**

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments.

Posted: **15 Jan 2022 6:02 am**

Half of my hearing loss problem is the tinnitus drowning everything out. Someone cure that please!

Posted: **15 Jan 2022 7:45 am**

Marc Muller wrote:Half of my hearing loss problem is the tinnitus drowning everything out. Someone cure that please![/quote

]
Marc.. Back in the day you and I played on the same NJ/NY/LI club circuit with some of the same people actually, and did the same damage to our ears... The result?.. LOUD tinnitus in our old age.

The sound systems we used and the volumes we played at were nothing short of insanity... Twins, Peavey Deuces, Marshalls, placed on 10 and stayed there from 9 o'clock to 1am, sometimes 2am, six or seven nights a week, and most of us stood 2 feet in front of the amp usually raised to ear level.. plus stage monitors, plus side wash monitors, plus 5,000 watts to mains mids and bottoms that stood 10 feet high, plus 500-1,000 screaming kids???... for years... You were there, no need to explain... So yeah, tinnitus, hearing loss... As the Bible tells us, "as you sow, so shall you reap".... bob

Posted: **15 Jan 2022 2:05 pm**

Posted: **15 Jan 2022 2:08 pm**

Ricky?

Posted: **15 Jan 2022 2:44 pm**

Yes Ron??
Ha....I guess more explanation?
I'm just like the rest of you long time musicians; where we all have Hearing loss of different levels from the years and years of use.
It is "Inflammation". Turmeric is a natural Anti-inflammatory. In 2008 I had 30 to 50 decibel loss and I started Taking Turmeric every day since. Current Hearing loss is now normal 20 in left ear and 25 in right ear.
Simple as that...ah..ha....
That is just the advantage in healing the inflammation in ears; If someone wants to hear more about what Turmeric did for me; when I woke up in Hospital 7 years ago from a serious Dirt Bike Crash(Traumatic Brain injury; Broken Neck and Back and 5 ribs and collapse right lung and severe left knee swelling) and after 7 days ICU; I was booked into the Rehab Hospital 3rd floor for all Brain Injured folks for 2 1/2 Months; but I blew all Doctors minds and got out in "1 Month" and yes it was because of Turmeric.
Ricky

Posted: **15 Jan 2022 7:17 pm**

Thanks Ricky .. I will have to give it a try, sheesh why not I have a pill for everything now a day..

Posted: **15 Jan 2022 7:34 pm**

Thanks Ricky .. I will have to give it a try, sheesh why not I have a pill for everything now a day..

Posted: **17 Jan 2022 10:17 am**

Yes Ricky, going to get me some. I believe you. J.R.

Posted: **17 Jan 2022 12:44 pm**

My Rheumatologist put me on Turmeric several years back. He said it's one of the few supplements out there that have had real clinical trials and has proven to be effective at reducing inflammation. He said that it works a lot better than a bunch of the prescription stuff out there, and that he takes it himself.

I've actually moved over to a product called Arthocin (from recommendations on this forum), which is turmeric and a couple of other things. It's worked a little better than just plain turmeric.

It hasn't done anything for my tinnitus, but it sure has helped my inflamed joints. Worth a shot anyway!

Dave

Posted: **17 Jan 2022 4:56 pm**

I recently read about Steve Lukather and WIDEX and he said they saved his life. Look into these--if there was anything better, Lukather surely would have gotten it.

Posted: **8 Feb 2022 7:45 pm**

Hey Ricky, Got me a bottle of the Turmeric about a month ago and I can say I honestly think it is really helping my old joints. Even in this bitter, cold winter weather we are having here in Ok. Thanks for sharing. J.R.

Posted: **3 Apr 2022 5:46 pm**

Thanks for all of the advice and wisdom. I've tried to play without my hearing aids and lose so much of the highs that it just sounds like someone put a pillow in front of my speaker. Also have bad tinnitus. With hearing aids I can dial things in good enough to hear the band but the big problem is intonation. I have been playing dobro for over 30 years and pedal steel for almost 20 and have been noticing my intonation is off when listening to our band practices. I never had such bad intonation in recordings in years past. With the aids out it is no better. Anybody else have this problem?

Thanks

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