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EQ Curve for Headphones

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How many of you hearing aid wear headphones to listen to music?

Because I don’t wear molds and prefer open domes, streaming on my KS9s is meh. No bottom end because nothing couples to my ear.

I prefer to use headphones and, to be able to, I program an EQ curve in that roughly matches my loss, and then tweak it to sound pleasing to me.

The BIG problem is that Apple iPhones, iPads, and their current iPod Touch don’t offer a system-wide ability to program an EQ curve. So I have to look for third party player Apps, which range from meh to really good. BUT, some are subscription based, so the only way to get the EQ is to pay $X per month. One such app with a VERY good EQ is called Vox.

I’d love for Apple to put programmable EQ into their iOS across the board. It would make watching videos, listening to music, etc a much better experience for anyone with hearing loss. They do it on the Mac - why not on iOS.

Anyone else have ideas that I may have not considered?

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I wear the Bose noise canceling over the ear headphones over my hearing aids for music when I really want to hear my music and not the outside environment. I am very Lucy that I do not have and have never had feedback issues in doing so.

I find that over the ear headphones work reasonable well for me, and probably provide the best bass short of sitting down and firing up my stereo system with a sub-woofer. That said I requested that the streaming equalization be set up on my KS8 aids to give more bass than it defaults to. The sound is pretty good, but again not up to my stereo. The car/truck audio is pretty good too, with lots of bass.

The Signia/Rexton/KS8 aids seem to have considered that open fittings kill bass and included the tools in the Connexx software to adjust for the loss when streaming. Here is link to how they do it. It includes some screen shots of the equalization section.

How to Fit Bluetooth-integrated Hearing Aids to Maximize Patient Satisfaction25

I know that many here rave about the great sound they get from streaming to their aids but I don’t get it. When I am serious about listening to music I use good, not Bose, headphones and equalization.

When listening alone, I use two methods. One is out to a little amp to bookshelf speakers. The other is through headphones.
I have an equalizer program adjusted with the two methods. I use the as a guide set to about 1/4 to 1/3 of the levels shown in the audiogram.
For headphones I have two different sides. For the speakers I set to the max of either side (1/4 or 1/3).

I don’t use the aids when listening alone.

In reply to @Psych1

I guess it is important for the one that have lived with music most of their lives. I was never given the chance to study music or any kind of art. I just enjoy what I hear and do not try to judge it except for the message that some music presents. And I love almost all types of music that is not the modern music of the last 30 years or so.

In reply to @Psych1

I typically use Sennheiser HD 580s. Still, I get feedback when wearing hearing aids inside them. Best for me to tweak the EQ to compensate for my loss.

Edited

In reply to @Psych1

I think that an interesting philosophical question is how does anyone know that the music they hear is the same as the music anyone else is hearing???, e.g., is the color red that I perceive the same as the color red that you perceive or do I perceive the tone high C in the same way that you perceive the tone high C? Guess one could say since we all share a lot of genes in common, etc., there has to be some great commonality of perception, also in evolution it wouldn’t work too well if I see a tiger but you don’t. With that relativity in mind and the fact that everyone’s hearing loss is departing from average normal in different ways, I think there is a lot of room for everyone to be happy with what works for them (I liked someone’s comment that a tremolo effect might actually be considered a music enhancement for some types of rock music!) while also respecting a lot of people might agree that this $1,000 headphone here sounds a lot better than that $50 headphone over there. It’s good to respect relative cost/benefit choices, too.

All good points, Jim. I guess we each shoot for what we remember. So, measurements get us close to what science tells us we are SUPPOSED to have. And from there-on in, it’s personal taste.

I think it’d be great if the trem-effect of the feedback manager could cancel out some singers’ vibratos… :wink:

Edited

In reply to @jim_lewis

Well, it is certainly true that if you a playing a Beetles album backwards different individuals may hear some sounds differently. But, if you haver heard an orchestra tuning the purpose is for all of them to hear the same notes in the same way. There actually is a “right way” to hear music accurately. But sure if it doesn’t matter to you, that’s OK too. I’m an amateur musician and it really does matter to me.

My hearing aids are wonderful for conversation, for music, not so good. I’m using M90s now, better than my others but still not accurate.

@Psych1 said:

There actually is a “right way” to hear music accurately.

I think that is a way over sweeping generalization. There are way too many variables involved to even attempt to reproduce what the artist intended let alone the impossibility of hearing what the artist hears themselves.
For me, it’s about listening to music that I’m long familiar with and now knowing that I’m missing parts of it due to hearing loss.

In reply to @Psych1

I think the only way you’d make your aids “accurate” is for you to program them yourself. I got close with the fitter from Costco (I have the KS9s - same aids as the 90s, with a couple features removed for 1/5 the cost) but it still wasn’t “accurate” to me. So I ordered a Noahlink Wireless, downloaded the target software and, sitting in front of my reference music system, as well as my acoustic instruments, and electric instruments, and tuned my aids for what SOUNDED “accurate” or pleasing to me. No frequencies jumping out, no frequencies in deficit, to the best of my ability. Real Ear Measurements show just what can take place on the way to the ear drum that can color the audio for the listener. Which is why I say, once we have a loss, the best any of us can hope for is to get aids that make us perceive that loss is mitigated by the instrument. The audiologist, the fitter, or anybody else, can’t really do it. And once that loss is there, the only reference we have is judgement from what we remember something should sound like.

It all comes down to what sounds good to me may sound like crap to you, and what sound great to you may sound like crap to me. That in a nutshell is what hearing loss does to all of us.

In reply to @Psych1

I’ve been a musician my whole life. Pro for a while, semi pro most of the time, and still personally active. I have heard the orchestra tuning up live inside Abbey Road Studio One and have recorded in The “Beetles” Studio Two.

I worked with Sennheiser and Neumann for 20 years.

I will say this - the moment we had to touch an equalizer to perceive reference material “accurately” is the moment we gave up the “right way to hear”. Now…there is a right way to LISTEN actively, but we are at the mercy of our hearing instruments, both natural and artificial as far as the right way to HEAR.

For PC listening I can highly recommend the Asus Xonar DGX pci express sound card. They can be had for less than 50 bucks on Ebay. It has a built in headphone amp and a highly adjustable 10 band equalizer built into the driver software. If you listen to alot of audio as I do, the Xonar cards use a special mode for audio that presents voice much more clearly than other cards I have used.

Edited

I just started with the KS9s (Marvels) but have been programming my own America Hears aids since 2008, so I’d be happy to help in any way I can. I am not an audiologist, so I am in learning mode myself.

I got NoahLink new from ebay for $175 10 days ago. I see the seller now has it listed for $209… I went with a US supplier for faster delivery.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133197757256?ViewItem=&item=133197757256

Yeah, I saw that, it was $175 “or best offer” so I offered $150 and didn’t hear back. That’s what I get for trying to save a few bucks.

Just like in the audis booth. You do it through bone conduction but with a stick in your mouth.

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