Hearing loss (sigh)

I doubt if your GP would have the equipment to test much outside the range for normal speech. There are frequency generating apps available on iTunes which you could download for free, put some headphones on and do a reasonable test for yourself. Whilst this wouldn't be anywhere near as accurate as a test performed by an audiologist, it would at least give an indication of the extent of the problem if there is one at all.

If you go to your GP they should refer you to the hospital for a hearing test. If you do have hearing problems they can affect the ability to hear women's voices more than men's, as women's are higher. My hearing falls off steeply after about 4KHz and since the accident my right ear is 5dB down on the left. I was offered an aid, but the advice was that you must wear it all the time in the day to get used to it, and the audiologist thought it would be too much for me to grapple with an aid as well as my other problems. But if you are otherwise fine, it shouldn't be a problem. 

Clive and Hungry.  Perhaps you don't know, but I am a retired medical doctor (I was a Consultant Anaesthetist - hence my nom de plume!).  If I go to my GP (a friend of mine!), I know that he'll just refer me back to one of our younger ENT Consultants.  I will need to go and see someone just to stop 'the boss' nagging me about it, so I'll make an appointment tomorrow - but with no urgency.   I'm hoping it is just a a conductive problem.  Only 2 years ago my hearing was rated as very good my age.  This surprised SWMBO when she considered how many rock concerts I've been to over the years.

The same thing happened to me a few years ago, I went to the MD, as suggested by my wife.  After several tests the diagnosis was very clear: "You listen to what you want and that has no cure". After that I invoke to the MD each time I need it.

I hope you receive the same diagnosis.

I think I have a file with one of those tests Clive mention above, if I find it, I will give you the info here.

Check out the ReSound Bluetooth hearing aids that integrate with the iPhone.   They are tuneable for restaurants or music in addition to normal settings.  I have enjoyed having them.  

Last time I went for an eye test (at the opticians), they also carried out a hearing test.

I had my hearing tested as I suffer from deafness in restaurants, I can hear all the conversations going on all around me on other tables but cannot hear what people are saying on the table I am sitting at.  I cannot sit within site of screaming kids, I have to be physically restrained to prevent  the parents who cannot control their kids from being assaulted.

Spoke to the GP who arranged for me to have a test in the surgery to see if I  should be referred to the audiology department at the local PFI funded NHS hospital.

My test results showed a drop off above 9k, which was interpreted as "perfect" hearing so no solution to available to being deafened in restaurants.

An explanation for my restaurant deafness could be that I am not interested in the social tittle tattle of the group of people I am with.

The frequency generator which I downloaded to my iPhone is called 'Signal Generator' and is available for free in the App Store, not iTunes as I said above. It generates signals from 20Hz up to 20kHz. The indicated gain is obviously influenced by the volume setting on the phone, but it will still give a relative indication.

Since being knocked off my bicycle and fracturing my skull in 1987 I have had a degree of balance issues. I saw an ENT consultant about this recently and a number of audio tests were performed. These showed that my hearing dips a bit around 6kHz, but recovers again by 8kHz, then rolls off above about 12.5kHz. This result can be demonstrated quite well using the aforementioned application, although I do know what I'm looking for. It could at least confirm that there's no need to buy a pair of super tweeters!

There's a thread in the Padded Cell about a super tweeter- it's titled 'Trump'! 

Hearing test booked for next week.

There have been a couple of other long threads on hearing aids in the last year or so; searching for them would no doubt locate them. I also, like Skip, use Resound aids that work with my iPhone. But another forum member tried those and preferred some made by Phonak. Anyway the key thing is that there is life after hearing aids and you can listen to music with them or without, whichever you prefer....

best

David

"use Resound aids that work with my iPhone."

I also have some hearing loss and a wife who goes on about it. Had a test and it was confirmed as noticeable. Waiting for an appt with an ENT person now.

As for the quote above, if it comes to an aid, which I suspect it will, I don't have or want an iPhone so will be looking at whatever else is available.

steve

Paper Plane posted:

"use Resound aids that work with my iPhone."

I also have some hearing loss and a wife who goes on about it. Had a test and it was confirmed as noticeable. Waiting for an appt with an ENT person now.

As for the quote above, if it comes to an aid, which I suspect it will, I don't have or want an iPhone so will be looking at whatever else is available.

steve

You can control Resound aids with a remote control like all of the others. You don't need an iPhone. What you get extra by using an iPhone is the ability to stream phone calls direct to your aids, tone controls and other things like geofencing. It's all optional though.

best

David

Thanks David. Something else to look out for 

Incidentally, I had to look up geofencing as I had never heard the term before.

steve

Geofencing in this context just means that the hearing aid can automatically switch programme mode etc when you cross the notional fence, eg go into the office or a restaurant that is normally noisy. Also the phone can remember where you were last time it was communicating with a lost hearing aid and once you are close (within a couple of metres) use the Bluetooth signal strength from the aid to locate it precisely.

But to be honest, I don't use any of those things. The tone controls and streaming from phone direct into your ears is good though.

best

David

Had my test.  A little bit of mild high frequency loss, but no hearing aid required.  So SWMBO can go back to accusing me of  'selective deafness'  ... Now, where did I put that Antonio Carlos Jobim LP?  I know I had it, but it seems to have disappeared .... perhaps it's one of those that someone 'borrowed' ...

Dungassin posted:

Had my test.  A little bit of mild high frequency loss, but no hearing aid required.  So SWMBO can go back to accusing me of  'selective deafness'  ... Now, where did I put that Antonio Carlos Jobim LP?  I know I had it, but it seems to have disappeared .... perhaps it's one of those that someone 'borrowed' ...

Good news! You will need to tell the wife to lower her voice by an octave and project from her diaphragm when saying something important to you! Contralto not soprano....

best

David

I think my hearing is not up to when listening to DAC!  In the late 70's or early 80's I bought myself a Mission Cyrus DAC second hand.  After connecting it to my rest of my system, I listened to the sound, I can discern no difference in sound in comparison to sound of system  without Dac.  However after several attempts I did notice something going on when the DAC when it was switched on, a similar sort of sound when the speakers are slightly humming or hissing.  I took the DAC back to the shop where I bought it and they tested it for me and immediately they said it worked but I still did not hear any difference.  Recently I heard Chord Dave DAC in Bristol Show same reaction I was not impressed, could hear no wonderful differences in sound.  It must be my ears I was always partially deaf..?

In the late 70's or early 80's?

I don't think it's anything to do with always having been partially deaf!

Any of the products by manufacturers with good reputations are basically as good as they can make them for the money and which one a particular person likes is about preferences and balance with the rest of their system. If you are just as happy without an external DAC, then you are lucky and can spend the money on something else!

best

David

Dungassin posted:

Clive and Hungry.  Perhaps you don't know, but I am a retired medical doctor (I was a Consultant Anaesthetist - hence my nom de plume!). 

I was nearly at the point of googling Dungassin expecting the eminent Sir Reginald Dungassin an early pioneer of anaesthetics to crop up when I twigged .............. so slooooooooooow.

.sjb

Look on the bright side: one advantage of high frequency hearing loss that can save money is that you don't need to triamp Briks or other three-way speakers, as there's no need to power the tweeters...

Seriously though, the very sad irony is that as people reach the pinnacle of their system building after many upgrades, that coincides with their hearing deciding that its time to wind down. Fortunately it is possible still to enjoy music, but I suppose the time can come that it is harder to enjoy the system.

David Hendon posted:

I don't think it's anything to do with always having been partially deaf!

Any of the products by manufacturers with good reputations are basically as good as they can make them for the money and which one a particular person likes is about preferences and balance with the rest of their system. If you are just as happy without an external DAC, then you are lucky and can spend the money on something else!

best

David

Thats a nice way of describing it, I did try active system in an audition and I noticed the differences instantly from a passive system of roughly the same approx value, espescially as to dynamics, treble and depth of soundstage, so all is not lost .....!

I read this post when it first appeared and avoided replying as I did not want to scaremonger. For four generations men on my paternal side have shown left side deafness. My grandfather was told that it was because he worked in an engineering factory. My father because he worked for Post Office telephones, later BT and wore a single sided headset daily. When I developed loss in my late 40s I was told that I HAD to have audiology and an MRI scan for an acoustic neuroma, a type of tumour. Luckily two scans ten years apart have shown nothing. My son, in his 20s was told that the loss was genetic!

I have significant loss above 7K, but can report that approaching 65 I can still enjoy my audio system. The story goes like this -

I grew up with music, no TV. My father along with many of his colleagues enjoyed the fact that in a valve run telephone system components were swopped out as a matter of course for reliability and something had to be done with the "rejects". It was the time of army surplus stores so Dad was the cabinet maker to a couple of people who made wireless, amplifiers, tape recorders and speakers.

I was the first to have transistors and stereo to the point where I had "real" hifi. I recall the first weekend people queued to enter Lasky's and hear CD, it was dire. There was a point where taking my wife with me each year (before hearing loss) to the Bristol Show, she would stand outside a room and say "I'm not going in, that's CD!" Boom boom AV stopped us going for a couple of years, we stopped listening at home when hearing loss, tinnitus and the employers decision to convert the office to a call centre meant silence really was golden.

Then five years ago something happened that started me off again, attending the Bristol Show we got talking to Nigel Finn of Chord Cables and he took us through the interconnect demo using headphones. At this point, I relate that by now my wife was wearing hearing aids in both ears and we could both hear the difference, I still take her to shows and she decides if a purchase is justified by an audible improvement.

There have been significant changes in equipment, we can both hear the changes, I have started going to live events again, mainly smaller venue stuff but still quality. I no longer consider hifi, I have a music system, something I can listen to for eight or ten hours on end, so take heart, it is still possible to enjoy MUSIC.

Thank you.....it's all about the music, long may you enjoy with your wife.