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Can't hear high pitched warning beeps in cars

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Hello. I have a severe to profound high frequency loss in both ears but almost normal in low tones. Basically, I have a ski slope hearing loss. Nowadays, I am shopping for a used car and would appreciate it if anyone could help me with my research. I am looking for car that must have blind spots, cross traffic alert, front collision alert, and back up camera. I test driven a few models but all have high pitched beeping sounds that I am unable to hear. I do wear hearing aids but occasionally like when watching tv or attending teleconference meetings but I don’t think ’s are helping me anyway. By the way, when driving, I can hear ambulance, fire truck and patrol car siren without my hearing aids as these sounds are in low tones and loud. So going back to my dilemma, does anyone know of any car model that has low tones warning beeping sounds for backup camera, cross traffic alert, etc. or Is there any off market car accessories that might help me enhance the high pitched sound that most cars have? Thank you in advance.

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@Behra2 said:

I have a severe to profound high frequency loss in both ears but almost normal in low tones.

Welcome to the forum. Sharing your would be very helpful.
Severe to profound upper frequency hearing loss, you really need to wear hearing aids if you intend to hear the alarms and buzzers in cars. And those aids need to be properly tuned for you to hear them.
Don’t know of any cars that have bass sounds for alarms.
Good luck.

Even with my aids in, I can only barely hear the beeping sounds in my car. Turn signals? Never. Ah, that is life.

In reply to @Raudrive

When I picked up my VW Tiguan I couldn’t hear the parking beepers - took it back to the dealer who plugged something in and turned the volume right up - now I have no problem even without my aids. If I hadn’t asked, I’d never have known the volume was adjustable.

That may be an option for me. I think I will take my cars to the dealer and see if they can increase the volume

Thank you!

My wifes car has visual queues. There is a green light in the side vision mirrors if there is a vehicle in the blind spot. Visual and audible proximity warnings for front and rear. Ford Explorer…Hope I am allowed to say the brand…

I didn’t even know there were hi pitched warning beeps. Maybe that’s proof you don’t really need to hear them in order to drive safely.

For me the only warning signal I can hear in my car is the simulated rumble strip sound when my car thinks I am too far to one side of the road. It gets my subwoofer active. Otherwise it occurs to me that I can not hear warning beeps for most things. I can’t even hear my smoke alarms go off which is a real concern.

@Gramps said:

I can’t even hear my smoke alarms go off which is a real concern.

Looking at your I would think you should be able to hear smoke alarms, birds, etc. Do you really hear sounds in the upper frequencies when audiogram testing? If you do it appears your aids need to be tuned so you can hear these upper frequencies.

@Gramps said:

I can’t even hear my smoke alarms go off which is a real concern.

I have the same problem. I was changing the smoke detectors batteries at my daughters house and I was on the second floor. I was on a ladder about 2ft from the detector as it was also hard wired. I was hearing a very faint click from the detector when my daughter came running up the stairs yelling to turn off the detector as everyone downstairs was going deaf. This was a wakeup call for me as how bad my hearing really was.

I see could be a big help for you concerning not hearing the smoke alarm. Your high frequency hearing loss is pretty bad. Do you actually hear the high frequencies?

When that happened 2yr ago I was using Resounds UP from Costco. I have since gone to Phonak Brio 3 B-675 from Costco and they are much better for me. The does help some as I do hear the birds in the yard now. I do know that there is not a lot that can be done for me as I have been hard of hearing since I was young and I am 79 now. I am happy to hear as much as I do as I would be lost without my ’s.

Thank you all for your replies.I found out that newer Chevy Impala has a bass kind of sound like drum noise for all the alarms when adjusted. I am thinking of getting a Impala as other popular models I had tested didn’t have this low tone alarm sound feature even adjusted to max level.

I am 79. My hearing is still functional, probably with a 10% loss.
The fact that the language of the country I have been living for more than 40 years (French Canada ) is not my native language adds to the problem, because I still have difficulties to catch the popular spoken French lingo, wildly different from continental French, although I understand the educated French of TV programs.
I would hardly think of more than a small hearing loss, though, because when people speak to me in my native tongue (Italian) or in English, I can hear pretty well, with the exception of some vernacular form of American English, especially Southern English … So I wonder.
I think there is some hearing loss, but it seems to be minor and be confined to certain frequencies:

  1. I am totally deaf, for example, to the high pitch alarm beep of my watch. My wife heard it from her room, 15 fee! away!
    I can hear, though, all other electronic beeps from computers, the car or other gadgets

  2. When watching TV, mostly in Canadian, American or even British English, my hearing is generally good, with the exception of some word strings. It is not clear if it is a hearing problem or if it is due to the fact that, as a non-native English speaker, there may still be a few unknown words , although I doubt it, because they don’t speak… literary English on TV.
    In addition, I got a M.A. in philosophy from an English University and my vocabulary should therefore be quite sufficient to understand the language beyond local news, sporting events or other trivia…
    In the end, only an audiologist can assess my hearing condition, but I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of wearing a hearing aid, for a variety of reason one can easily imagine, not last the cost…
    I wonder if anybody can comment on this.

Ittiandro

Welcome to the forum.

If you have an to share with us it would help us help you.
Your description sounds like you have a high frequency hearing loss.

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