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Streaming music frequency response: full range or corrected range only?

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My first 2 audiologists told me that the streaming sound (music) that is output by hearing aids is strictly in the frequency range that is boosted for speech intelligibility (e.g., since my loss is in high frequencies, the sound when streaming would only be in the corrected range…above 3-4 khz). I haven’t found posts that address this question directly, and posts generically about streaming music all seem based on the opposite possibility, that the streaming music is full frequency range. Which is it?

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Full range can be adjusted in Target - Phonak software. And of course, the corrected range would vary per user. I have recently finished fine tuning my aids for listening to live music / recorded music over speakers. My next plan is to see if I can get more / warmer bass in the streaming program. I guess there are limits to what bass the aids can / should amplify in streaming.

Welcome to the community. I also was disappointed in the sound of streaming music through my hearing aids. I started my hearing aid journey in December 2024. I thought that my Jabra Enhanced Pro 20s, or now 30s would stream music perfectly. I am still disappointed but I don’t care. I can play around with the music app, adjusting treble, midrange, and bass, but in the end I’ve concluded that my prescription hearing aids are designed to correct human speech rather than sound like Apple AirPods. Some folks have had good luck with over the ear wireless headphones worn over their hearing aids.

Just remember your not gonna get the balanced armature receiver’s on your to sound like your headphones, this is where the limiting factor is, next generation xMEMS type receiver’s is what’s needed.

In reply to @Flyboybob

Agreed.

I would never try to stream music over my Jabra Pro 30’s. They are not designed or optimized for this.

To stream music I would always use my Airpod Pro 2’s (with hearing assistance enabled and using my Costco ). That sounds great!

There’s a balancing act going on, too, between open fitting to prevent occlusion in those with reasonable low freq hearing, and getting the bass response you want. One driver, open fitting in most patients, there’s a limit to what an engineer can do.

WH

The same thing happens to me. Streaming music sounds terrible, with no bass.
It’s clear they’re set to prioritize speech, which is why they sound so bad, as if all the songs were a cappella.

Is audio music (through the air, not streaming) in a music program also lousy? This marks the difference between heard through the vents and not. Vents make a difference. You lose a lot of bass streamed. But you should hear it through the air. My activevents give me both.

WH

Listening to music traveling through the air, using hearing aids, is a disaster. It’s always been a disaster for me. If I want to listen to music that plays naturally in the air, I take off my hearing aids and turn up the stereo volume.

I very much enjoy well-played live music through my . I sit close to the stage when I can, though. I’ve heard orchestral, vocal, choral, bluegrass, and Indian classical music live in the years I’ve worn HAs, and I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of what I’ve heard.

Music over my once high-end (Linn/Naim) home system has moved from unlistenable to ‘sometimes OK’ as I’ve upgraded my HAs and speakers.

I bump the bass in the app when streaming recorded music, and that helps, but I stream only while on my cycling trainer. The music reduces boredom. I can sort of connect with the music, but it’s rarely uplifting.

I hope my next aids bridge the gap for my home hifi. I have a wall of LPs and CDs that have been unplayed for 15+ years, and I’d like to hear some of them again.

For streaming, don’t forget that you can often adjust the e.q. at the “source” - within the user settings of the streaming service you use.

I use Spotify and its five-band e.q. is substantially more capable than the three-band within the Phonak app. Still not great with my open fitting… but better than app e.q. alone and has moved music streaming into the realm of tolerable for me. Fiddling with the “Ambient” slider in the Phonak app makes a very big difference too. That said, I completely agree there is an opportunity for substantial improvement within the HA industry in this area.

Think about the extreamly small size of the hearing aid speakers that are sitting in your ear canals. How much bass do you think they can reproduce? Obviously, not much. Open domes on your hearing aids will allow much of the musical sound to enter your ears around your hearing aid tiny speakers.

Hearing aids are primarily designed for listening to human speech. The fact that Bluetooth or can bring you streaming music is a nice feature, but don’t expect the same sound from your hearing aids as you remember from hearing music through your ears with natural hearing.

I good friend was an Oboe and English horn player in a major symphony orchestra. He had perfect pitch. The orchestra used to play in a very poor acoustical hall. When they moved to their new, and vastly improved concert hall, I attended the opening concerts and realized that I had to replace my home stereo speakers. They no longer sounded like the same orchestra playing in the new hall. I had bought my speakers after listening to them playing in an acoustic setting which was poor.

Yes, I use the Poweramp EQ when streaming. It’s quite powerful and feels much like fine tuning with Target. A nice feature is that you can save settings to use with different outputs. So I have saved the settings for Bluetooth streaming. I’m planning on a different set of settings for speakers to use in the car where I access Poweramp via Android Auto. Poweramp is quite complex so I used ChatGPT to understand the different options.

Edited

By default, I use the preset called: Powerful Bass. (in Poweramp EQ)

Do you know if it could be configured from Phonak Target so that the streamed music sounds just like the magic that Poweramp EQ does and not rely on third-party apps like these equalizers??

In reply to @Phantomj

@Phantomj said:

Do you know if it could be configured from Phonak Target so that the streamed music sounds just like the magic that Poweramp EQ does and not rely on third-party apps like these equalizers??

Yes, there is automatic “Streaming + Music” program adjustable separately and also automatic “Streaming + Speech” program.

Yes he could manually copy some of the frequencies over, I use PowerAmp myself and it’s hands down one of the better ones, since your only option is in the lower frequencys (Bass) it can be done to a certain extent, UP receiver fully occlusive mold etc

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