Do I need hearing aids? (I'm a piano player)

At my age I don’t invest, I short term trade. I’m purely a technical trader. After 25 years I now trade with a decided learned edge. All my trades are entered with a buy stop bracket order where my stop-loss and profit-sell are entered at the same time my trade fills. Using a buy stop, the trade has to be moving my way before it can even fill.

I also play the piano with hearing aids. Tuning to play the piano will take some patience with your audi. There may be bright spots in the upper keys that need toning down. Looking at your audiogram you may be able to get along with out frequency shifting. If not, I suggest a music program that does not use it. Here is a good article for you to take with you when you get fitted.

My high frequency loss is so bad that without hearing aids, the upper keys are nothing but click. Good luck and you will get many rewards besides better music.

Guidelines for Musicians with Hearing Loss to Bring to Their Audiologist.pdf (213.1 KB)

Thanks a heap @pclewis - that article is very helpful - intuitively the suggestions make sense although I wouldn’t have thought about dialling down the noise reduction.
Regarding compression -

“use a low compression ratio”

I was interested to see another author on the same site even suggesting NO compression! - Looks like I have a heap to learn
Thanks again .

I am a 70 year old musician who has used hearing aids since age 40. It sounds to me like you are a good candidate for hearing devices. You may be missing more than you realize.

My history with hearing aids includes wearing Ensoniq hearing aids, Phonak, and now with Widex. Over my 30 year journey with hearing aids the biggest problem has been fixing the distortion on certain pitches. This sounds like “singing into a fan”. This was a problem with not only Phonak aids, but it appeared in Oticon and Starkey aids that I demoed as well. The Widex product had none of that trilling sound and had a more natural sound with regard to music. Hope this helps. Good luck with your quest for better hearing.

This talk of flutter concerns me somewhat! Already from what I am reading here I need to look at a specific customised “Piano” program (Vs the standard music program). At least at Costco they have digital pianos on the floor so I guess I could test them at the fitting if I go down that path

It is interesting - NOW I am seriously considering the HAs I am noticing my hearing loss more! I realise the radio sounds somewhat muffled and bass heavy. I have routinely - for the last 10 years - adjusted the equalisation where available on TV radio etc to accentuate the highs and decrease the lows but that is usually only a max 25db range - no where near covering the loss on my current audiogram. I suspect after getting HAs I will/should return the settings on my electronic devices to “normal” and see what that’s like .

@Oz-Tack said:

This talk of flutter concerns me somewhat! Already from what I am reading here I need to look at a specific customised “Piano” program (Vs the standard music program). At least at Costco they have digital pianos on the floor so I guess I could test them at the fitting if I go down that path

I don’t know about other hearing aid brands/models, but on my Oticon OPN 1, you can choose to turn ON or OFF the Feedback Management feature for each of the programs individually. So it’s really not a big deal. I assume that most other brands/models can be done the same way. It should be trivial.

And it’d make sense that it should be ON by default to prevent feedback. And usually the fluttering effect from the feedback management is mostly when hearing pure tone situations, because the frequency is shifted by 10 Hz or so. For general music listening, your normally don’t hear the fluttering.

@Oz-Tack said:

This talk of flutter concerns me somewhat! Already from what I am reading here I need to look at a specific customized “Piano” program (Vs the standard music program). At least at Costco they have digital pianos on the floor so I guess I could test them at the fitting if I go down that path

@Volusiano makes a very valid point.
As a musically knowledgeable person, you may wish to rethink the Costco path.
I’m sure some will dispute me, but from my trial of Phonak vs Oticon for music , Oticon is the winner.
Phonak doesn’t publish one of the most important aspects of music, and that is “Input Headroom” or dB SPL.
I read a report that Phonak has 99dB SPL as opposed to Oticon, Widex, and Starkey which all publish their specs at ± 113dB SPL.
If the input gets clipped, the output will be distorted.
The new Oticon More features this:

@Psych1 said:

A good alternative is to learn how to program your HAs yourself and it is not that difficult to learn. Constant adjustment and tweeking is absolutely necessary.

Here Hear The man speaketh the true gospel.
I just started DIY & have found lots of little tweaks to give me a much richer defined musical sound.
It’s a learining experience well worth taking, and if all else fails, you can always revert to your saved original script (provididing you DO save it b4 starting).

Hi @Psych1 & @flashb1024, In all truth I haven’t had the urge as yet to self-program my Naida Paradise UP’s… Unusual for me, but I don’t actually feel I could set them up better, once my AuD programmed them, straight off the bat the worked perfectly fine, no tweaks, no adjustments, nothing! Been self programming for around 8 years or so, I have Noah Link Wireless & Target 7.1… I have had these aids about a month now, 'tis a freak of nature, that I don’t need to adjust anything! Cheers Kev

I think, at the very least, a hearing test should be performed to give you a baseline of information.

I worked around heavy equipment and livestock for 50 years., and currently a competing player of the bagpipe, so loud noise has been a constant for me. I do take my HA’s out when playing, and replacing with earplugs. HA’s distort the sound too much for me, and allow for a lot of background noise to creep in.

My tests didn’t result in horizontal data, and I decided to get tested mainly at the behest of my wife - who continued to talk after I left the room, then said my hearing was waning! really?!

I think my hearing is much the same as yours, with a few requests for “could you repeat that please?”, but not many.

The attached was offered by my audiologist to help in my decision.

I am also an audiophile. I have not had your experience. I understand precisely what you are describing!

My experience has been quite opposite. As I just told the writer of this question, I found the sound of the Phonak Brio 3 to be the MOST NATURAL. That is how I’ve bought speakers and headphones in the past, before significant hearing loss.

If you are not bothered by anything like speech recognition or understanding in noise I would not bother. I play some piano and do not hear this instrument badly. In fact, most instruments except percussion seem fine. Vocals are another story. Check yearly, the technology is advancing every year. I use Costco also. I will try the KS 10 next week,

One again, thanks for all the replies. I am learning so much so quickly! This forum is a godsend

I have made an appointment at the local Costco to see their Audiologist in about 3 weeks time. I was surprised that they have two Audiologists and now offer remote care for most of the HAs they sell (after testing, set-up etc). NB I did sound out people about the terms and conditions at Costco Australia - looks essentially identical to the USA. 6 Months return policy; 5 year <!> warranty*(this is wrong - see below); REM; ‘free’ servicing etc etc. I appreciate that the Costco range of HAs might not be ideal for me - but if they ARE then I guess it is a win I would also appreciate their second opinion/test to ensure that the initial audiogram that I had was accurate. FWIW I have also emailed Phonak Australia and asked them what the input headroom (Dynamic range) of their Audeo Paradise are…Whether they answer me is another issue. Assumedly the KS10s are the same wrt that.

Given my loss is MAINLY in the higher frequencies, I am hoping that with a Music/Piano dedicated program, an audiologist can provide me with well vented RICs that will allow the bass frequencies to travel anatomically/directly to the tympanic membrane rather than being processed by the HAs… Is this realistic - or even sensible? I guess I am thinking that at the moment the bass is relatively normal and why meddle with “perfection” I also hope my HF loss is sufficiently correctable without frequency shifting - at least for the music program.

Other things I am thinking about. TV streaming direct to the HAs - may I also expect them to function to provide environmental sounds at the same time - ie if my wife speaks to me during a streamed TV program will they process her voice or am I “Plugged in” to the TV until I deactivate streaming? Do I even need to stream? Is it realistic to expect the HAs to correct the sound sufficiently direct from the TV (sound bar) without streaming? Obviously in the end it will be try it and see but appreciate others’ insights.

At the moment I do NOT have an issue hearing during a phone call (iPhone) - Should I bother to pair them at all? If I get RICs will they muffle the sound sufficiently to require streaming phone calls?

Phew! Sorry about all the questions. This is a path I never really expected to travel (denial is a wonderful thing) but now I have started and all these questions are popping up.

@rickus50 - Sensible advice - If I find the HAs do NOT make an appreciable difference I will certainly hold of for a while and get repeated testing. I would love to hear what you think of the KS10s…

@aky13rx - face to face I have little problem understanding speech - even with background noise. It is TV, radio or in the car side by side when I find it most irksome. A trained speaker ie the newsreaders I generally have no problems understanding…

EDIT: I have since learned the Current Costco warranty is 3 years in Australia - It used to be 5 a few years ago.

Hi land down under!

I never gave any thought to frequency manipulation by my HAs. I honestly cannot tell if the lower frequencies are coming through unaltered. Maybe that is a GOOD thing. As I wrote previously, I tried several brands before settling on the Phonak Brio 3. I chose them over 3 others including another brand with a MUCH better app because they sounded the most natural to me.

I listen to a lot of music and know when something doesn’t sound right, although I do NOT have perfect pitch. BTW, this is how I know I cannot sing.

Re: speech. You might be surprised at how much you are understanding between lip reading and body language. Your brain is filling in the blanks when you are face to face! Want to test this hypothesis? Speak with your wife or a friend you know well and whose speech you understand fully. Then ask her or him to turn around and speak NOT facing you. (Of course, alternatively, you can turn around. Just explain first so you are not thought rude!).