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Some lawn mower sounds cause intense discomfort!

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Edited

@Raudrive: (Rick) Yes. You have credibility with me. That’s why I researched it myself when you didn’t answer my query.

That thesis that I turned up revealed things to me about blade noise I never understood before. Who would have imagined a twin blade lawn mower generating 50Hz or lower at more than 105dB? Not me.

Thanks for the lead - blade noise fits my situation better than engine noise, indeed.

I have owned commercial zero turn mowers for a long time. They are a big boys toy for mowing.
Blade speed is everything and noisy, louder than the engine.
An example, I use a Grasshopper 321D at this time. Very nice mower.

Yes, loud, but very low frequency, too. I’ve come to believe that this kind of noise is what gets to me. You were right, but - at the time - I was unaware of what you were driving at.

That’s excellent that Rick @Raudrive may have solved your dilemma or the route cause? I was oblivious to this aspect of rotary blade noise, but as usual we learn something new everyday on this forum :smile: I have a ride on mower myself, and when using the mower, I just mute my aids, in conjunction with my silicone moulds, that helps to dampen down the din, although not completely, thank you Rick…. Cheers Kev :wink:

Edited

@kevels55: Yes, Kev, I didn’t understand what Rick was driving at, initially, but it makes perfect sense now.

Suffice it to say, some hearing problems are much more complicated and involved than they might appear at first blush, and can’t be solved with moulds, domes, or reboots or tweaks.

I’m grateful to @Raudrive for broaching the subject, and also - truth be known - patting myself on the back a little for following it up and reading a 98-page Masters thesis dissertation, in search of answers.

I appreciate @kevels55’s (and other Distinguished Members’) philosophy that , in order to get the best results from hearing technology, we must be keenly curious about our own particular hearing losses, and do the required leg work. (As my paternal grandmother used to say: Cercate ipsos ultimus veritas :joy:)

I believe, more than ever, that modern HAs are not “Plug’nPlay, Good to Go, right out of the box”. As @cvkemp, @Blacky, @Raudrive, @Volusiano, @Neville, and others too numerous to mention will attest, we must be willing to:

  1. Persist until we find our answers;
  2. Be willing to put in the effort to retrain our brains by means of audiobooks, one-sided experiments to balance HA output, etc;
  3. Move on or get into if we can’t find a that will work with us;
  4. Look beyond the hardware/software paradigm for solutions to our hearing problems, and
  5. Take into account psychological phenomena like PTSD (especially important for veterans and those who have lost their hearing from trauma, etc) that can exacerbate or magnify a problem.

I mention these things (along others that I have failed to enumerate) because I see quite a few Noob posts that, quite frankly, expect a few clicks on this forum to answer sometimes-complex auditory (and even medical) phenomena.

One big take away for me from participating in discussions on the Forum is the discovery of how much about my own hearing I’ve yet to learn.

Edited

Jim as you know I have been wearing aids for over 16 years, for over half that time I was working and had very little time to do my research into my own hearing loss. For that amount of time I lost out on learning how to improve my own life. I went against my own grandmother and dad’s advice by not doing my own do diligence in learning about my own issues and needs. Neither one of them were educated but they were self taught. If there was one thing my military service taught me it was to do my own research to prove or disprove what I was told. There isn’t anything about my hearing loss that is simple. As someone that has worked on, repaired and if been part of design teams, in hardware and software, modern hearing aids are anything but simple. Just think about making a complicated computer/audio system on in a package to fit behind your ear and run that whole system on a 1.4volt very low powered battery. It is amazing just thinking about it.And on top of that they have added multiple ways to communicate between the two aids, telephones, TV and even other computers. Things that when I first got in to electronics required rooms full of equipment.

@cvkemp: You’re right, Chuck, and I am investing a good deal of time in learning about my hearing. I’m trying to catch up as much as I can for the 6 years of hearing I lost by not firing my previous audiologist.

@MDB: Thanks for the clarification. I was referring to the extreme example where the Noob wants us to do all their leg work. I fully acknowledge that I fall on the other end of the spectrum.

[I still maintain that some degree of investment/involvement in self-education is necessary to get good results from our devices.]

I’ll just use the example of my 90+ year old Mom (again). She has Marvel 30 Rechargeables. She can usually get them out of the charger and on the correct ear and back into the charger at night. She lets me know when they’re “broken” (usually clogged ) She doesn’t stream or use an app or use any buttons. She knows they make things easier to understand and she doesn’t need to turn the TV as high. They make her life considerably better.
Just trying to let people know that they don’t have to be hearing aid geeks to benefit. I would agree with you though: if one wants a ton of information, plan on doing some work and not ask us to do everything.

@MDB:.Don’t get me wrong - I love trying to help people. That’s why I came out of hiding and joined the Forum, however, I don’t believe that it is fair for newcomers to expect us to reinvent the wheel when so many of their questions have already been answered.

It is much easier to have an intelligent and productive conversation with someone who has done a bit of research on their own - the Search function is so easy to use - there’s a ton of information there for the asking.

But I’m always glad to try to be helpful. I just lose my patience when people are unwilling to participate in their own treatment or spread demonstrably false information.

Here’s another piece for the lawnmower noise puzzle. My allergies have subsided since the creation of the topic. Ears and sinuses were clear as a bell today.

I was outside, pruning shrubs with MrsSpudGunner. Noisy neighbour was mowing 50’ away. I was wearing my aids.

The mower was loud, but not uncomfortable. I muted my and the mower noise became very tolerable. I’m inclined to believe that a good deal of my originally-stated problem was due to inflammation of the escutcheon tubes.

Edited

Okay: make what you will of this:

  1. My allergies are acting up today

  2. My neighbour’s mowing her lawn, and the sound was really bothering me again

  3. I took 2 sprays of the decongestant recommended to me by my pharmacist

  4. A few minutes later, I can still hear the mower somewhat loudly, but it is not nearly as annoying as before.

Placebo effect? Very possible, but I don’t care, because I no longer feel like screaming.

Lends some credence to the “diaphragm pump” hypothesis, no?

[:exploding_head: Gives you a wikkit headache, though!]

In reply to @SpudGunner

Since you summoned me…

I realised that I got tired of repeating the same answers especially since my life changed (organising move to Switzerland). Especially since most of the time I’d write really detailed ones.

I mean I joined because it was easier for bookmarking various useful topics.
And I’ve spend like several weeks of digging through all newest topics and searching all around and learning so much.
And mind you - when I came, I just wanted to understand my loss a bit more and how aids work. I had zero intentions of going route.

But when I’ve realised how much information is out there, how much more I know than the person just trying to sell me aids, I became frustrated and took things in my own hands.
That + new fitter who does based fittings are my jackpot solution.
Recently I went with custom molds (I guess my brain needed more than a year to really be able to get useful stuff out of that ear, since at the beginning my comprehension fell with amplification and closing, I started with open domes), so we did another REM based fitting.

So in total, for my paradises, we did 4 REMs. One adjustment he did beside that. I did 20 of them (a bit more, but those are saved).
We had bunch of meetings, but we’d mostly talk about stuff, exams I did/want to do, gadgets, ordering, returning and other logistics.

I wasted like a month and like 12 visits with previous fitter who did ‘how to you hear me know’ process, and I’ve heard better without aid than with how he fitted it.
Ability to DIY and test all those options in environments I am is priceless.

Can’t imagine how many times I’d have to go for adjustments, but what’s more important - how could I really describe what’s bothering me and what I want to be adjusted. Additional obstacle being that my German isn’t nowhere near my English level, and that I dig for English materials.

And after I move it looks like I’ll regularly fly back to Berlin, since so far I couldn’t find anyone in CH that does REM based fittings.

I definitely know and understand that 95% of newcomers here have nowhere near my desire to learn and understand.
And it definitely isn’t needed not even 10% of my desire to be able to improve your understanding of your loss and your aids, or to troubleshoot.

However, about one thing I’m 100% sure - unless you start digging yourself, informations you get from your fitter won’t be enough for you to understand your loss and its limits. And in that understanding the answer ‘why I cannot hear 100% anymore’ lies.
No matter how helpful or nice they are. Time is crucial factor. They just don’t have that for you.

That’s where forum comes in. (I’ve done 9 full days of reading it says, that’s 200h, read 30+ thousand posts and wrote more than 1 thousand)
However, not doing your own due diligence and using search and your brain to deduct, I just see as ‘not worthy my time’.
It would be nice if people couldn’t write anything until they gather at least 4h reading time and 100 posts or something. If it’s something urgent - go to your , not on forum.

I like sharing experiences, but not leading someone by holding their hands. No one can pay me enough to do that :stuck_out_tongue:

And about your issues, few ideas.
Did you try to put your fingers in your ears to block noise when are out and neighbour is mowing?
I didn’t saw if you tested the ‘basics’ and what the results were.

About hearing protection headphones, I’m using one for woodworking, 3M peltor optime II, helps with various sounds, including toning down TV when I want to watch something else and stream :smiley:
They definitely do lower all sounds.

Second, about molds, I got some new tech ones, forgot the name (termotec maybe?), can ask, but they’re like frosty white, and get a bit softer with warmth, and tons more comfortable than acrylic I had for testing several months ago. Also, with acrylic ones when I put my hand like a cup, HAs would squeak, but with this ones, nope, even though there’s 1mm vent, so I guess, acrylic were definitely leaking sound, and all domes of course.

I was inclined to go with silicone because how much I hated acrylic (my ear would hurt, especially if I put my head on pillow or something), and silicone domes I don’t feel, but this thing (we went with softer version) is really really great, zero discomfort and full block :smiley:

Also, when fitter take imprint, I had to yawn, chew, say voiceless lalala and such for a minute.

And neighbour solution - honestly I’d just go and buy her that muffler and exchange it for her if you really think that might help. Like ‘I’m gifting this to you to help myself’ :smiley:

Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge with me, Blacky. (I didnt out my fingers in my ears because I still play solo finger style guitar, and the longer fingernails on my right hznd hurt when I do that! :joy:)

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