Does this exist? A method of audibly reproducing different environments which hearing aid wearers might find themselves in.
I imagine a CD or online video in stereo, recorded with good stereo separation that I could use on my very good hifi system in the comfort of my own home (with good speaker separation) to replicate a particular environment pretty faithfully (as the hifi afficionados would have you believe!)…
At the moment, I have to go and find a noisy cafe or attend a concert in a large hall etc - which is very inconvenient. It would be so much easier to select a track on a CD at home. It may not be as good as the real thing, but it could help with the initial setting up.
If you don’t know of such an invention, you heard it here first!
How perfect that suggestion is! Decades ago, I bought a couple “sound effect” albums (yes, back in THAT day of 33rpm). I used them for producing radio shows, but the background noises were more like war sounds: bombs, sirens, traffic, helicopter, etc.,
Your post inspired me to just surf up and look for something? MANY MANY sites (Amazon, eBay, soundfishing, pixabay, et al). So see if anything there could work for you?
Phonak Target 10.0 software, has all or most of these environmental sound’s, the A.uD can use these in situ, to recreate certain environmental sounds, for testing purposes… Personally, I haven’t used any, nor has any A.uD ever used these on me, but they are there, I did have the odd listen, but that’s about it… If you get a hold of Target, perhaps @tenkan would kindly help you out? Hook a Microsoft computer up to a decent set of speakers, or your stereo system, you should hopefully be good to go? Cheers Kev
If you ask @tenkan nicely (message him please) he may send you a link for the Target software, at just over 2 gigabytes, so a heavy download… A.uD is an abbreviation for Doctor of Audiology, you also have, (Hearing Instrument Specialist) Good Luck, cheers Kev
Good idea, except for one flaw: Regardless how good your stereo sytem may be, it can’t reproduce real sounds. They may sound realistic while listening to a sound effect recording or music, but in the real world sound comes from everywhere and at different volumes, directions, and frequencies. Also the real world environment affects the sound quality. Although, I have absolutely no musical ability nor talent, I can tell the difference in the sound of an orchestra or acoustic band, playing in one indoor environment from another. I think the only test that’s valid is real world. That includes the initial test I received at Costco. Walking around in that very noisy environment, I could easily understand other people’s conversations clearly. That was a real world test in a noisy real world situation. Then, having a six month trail period ensures that I will have ample opportunity to try them out in numerous other environments.
Testing hearing aids in a quiet audiologist’s office is just a waste of time. The one thing I notice after only wearing them for about six weeks is, that people’s voices sound different from my real un aided human ears. I can tell that the sound is coming from an electronic device and has been amplified. It’s getting better with more wearing time.
Much depends on how much residual hearing you have left @Flyboybob I don’t see an of yours posted up, so we cannot gauge your hearing loss… Personally, I cannot differentiate between sound coming over a stereo or a PA, I can tell it’s a PA, or a stereo, but not much more besides… I have no directionality whatsoever, absolutely zilch!!! I wouldn’t imagine Phonak, would spend money and effort on these sound effects, if they were of little or no benefit… They must be used by some A.uD’s? Cheers Kev
Hi Kev, I have mild to moderate, high frequency hearing loss. The main reason I have them is that my wife suggested I get my hearing checked because a conversation would include me saying, “Can you please speak up”, or “Why are you mumbling”? “Also she always said, “Why do you have the TV volume blaring”? Some restaurants the noise level is lower and the hearing in noise function works better than in others. Acoustics, is a science unto itself. Noise sounds different in a restaurant with a hardwood floor verses a carpeted floor, or a high ceiling verses a low ceiling.
Things sound differently through hearing aids because you’re hearing sounds (frequencies) you haven’t heard in awhile. If things sounded “normal” there wouldn’t be any point in wearing them. As you’ve noticed it’s getting better as you wear them more. You’re establishing a new “normal.”
Yeah @Flyboybob, I know a little about acoustics, I was trained as a “Deaf Awareness Tutor”… Seems like a lifetime ago though! Basically, that meant training, various large company employees, how to effectively communicate communicate with their Deaf or staff, what interested me was, at the end of a training session, I would hold a question & answer, just to wind down the session, and get some feedback, the hearing world has no idea whatsoever how to effectively communicate with a HOH person, even folks whom have family members whom were HOH, basically they see a set of aids, and assume we can hear them, we all know, because we are all HOH, much depends on our level of loss, further compounded by how well the aids are fitted, severe background noise, is for us, a conversation killer, then you throw a poor acoustic environment into the mix like a factory setting, hard walls & floors, high ceilings, the constant humdrum of machinery, the person whom they want to communicate with, is probably oblivious to their efforts, lost and bewildered by a cacophony of noise & poor acoustics… Personally, I believe “Deaf Awareness” should be taught in Schools, along with basic Sign Language, when you consider 1 in 7 of the population has some form of hearing loss, probably 1 in 5 in older folks, teaching kids the basics, should be part of the school curriculum… Fortunately in my area of the Scottish Highlands, Deaf Awareness is part of the Primary Schools Curriculum (5 to 12 year olds) they are taught basic sign language, and Deaf Awareness Skills, which is an excellent foresight, for future Deaf & HOH folks in the Highlands, for now, we have to put up with the hearing world’s sheer ignorance, not that we can actually blame them, for I was just as ignorant, until I lost my hearing, via viral flu, and , you would think though, given the high percentages of folks whom are likely to lose some of their hearing, to varying degrees, teaching the populations around the world, might prove fortuitous, for future generations of us guys? Cheers Kev
Good idea, except for one flaw: Regardless how good your stereo sytem may be, it can’t reproduce real sounds. They may sound realistic while listening to a sound effect recording or music, but in the real world sound comes from everywhere and at different volumes, directions, and frequencies. Also the real world environment affects the sound quality. Although, I have absolutely no musical ability nor talent, I can tell the difference in the sound of an orchestra or acoustic band, playing in one indoor environment from another. I think the only test that’s valid is real world. That includes the initial test I received at Costco. Walking around in that very noisy environment, I could easily understand other people’s conversations clearly. That was a real world test in a noisy real world situation. Then, having a six month trail period ensures that I will have ample opportunity to try them out in numerous other environments.
Testing hearing aids in a quiet audiologist’s office is just a waste of time. The one thing I notice after only wearing them for about six weeks is, that people’s voices sound different from my real un aided human ears. I can tell that the sound is coming from an electronic device and has been amplified. It’s getting better with more wearing time.
I think those are all valid points although some hi-fi afficionados (a dying breed) might disagree with you), and thank you for making them.
It’s obvious to truly assess the effectiveness of a particular hearing aid takes time and in several different environments (I agree that the audiologist’s office is insufficient). That is painstaking, inconvenient to daily life and requires dedication to the task, which means that many users accept a lower standard than could be achieved.
There are recordings of noisy restaurants on the web. Also you can record a restaurant that you frequent on your phone and play it back over your stereo thru blue tooth or Apple TV. I’ve used restaurant noise from a sound effect site and played that back thru my computer and studio speakers while my wife talked to me. I use Oticans and got the Genie software off of ebay. And bought the Noah link of of Amazon.
There are recordings of noisy restaurants on the web. Also you can record a restaurant that you frequent on your phone and play it back over your stereo thru blue tooth or Apple TV. I’ve used restaurant noise from a sound effect site and played that back thru my computer and studio speakers while my wife talked to me. I use Oticans and got the Genie software off of ebay. And bought the Noah link of of Amazon.
That’s ingenious of you. However with only a very short distance between your microhones on your phone (assuming it has two), it will be hard to reproduce the directional, or stereo, separation in that environment.
There are recordings of noisy restaurants on the web. Also you can record a restaurant that you frequent on your phone and play it back over your stereo thru blue tooth or Apple TV. I’ve used restaurant noise from a sound effect site and played that back thru my computer and studio speakers while my wife talked to me. I use Oticans and got the Genie software off of ebay. And bought the Noah link of of Amazon
My computer doesn’t recognise the file format, and when I installed the requested program, it still wouldn’t play. Obviously, my computer only likes mp3 sound files! But thank you for your interest.
Besides direction, there’s the problem that the sound is compressed to be recorded which changes the entire dynamic and quality of the sound. Many years ago I had a friend who played English Horn in the symphony orchestra. He would give me tickets to the concerts. The Dallas Symphony was playing in a hall called the Fair Park Music Hall. It was remodeled in the 1970s and they hired an acoustic firm that had never designed a concert hall. Eventually, the symphony orchestra moved into their newly built home, The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Hall. The first time I attended a concert in the new hall, I was blown away by the improvement in the sound of the orchestra. Trying to determine the quality of any sound by comparing it to a recording will give you a totally artificial and different sound. The best and most expensive, audiophile, reproduction system, can’t possibly reproduce the sound of a real symphony orchestra or any acoustic sound, nor a restaurant nor bar. Go out into the real world, while wearing your hearing aids, too determine their ability too reduce the background noise and improve another person’s speech.
Your last comment, Flybobbob. That’s a daunting, time-consuming, often impractical, anti-social task (esp.if you’re in a relationship). The best way to improve anything is to measure it and make adjustments; it;s often impractical. You fiddle with adjustments and hope you get it right. You rarely do.
Scottish Highlands
Washington State
Wales, UK