Anything new in the past year for the singing, guitar playing hearing aid user?

Hearing Aids
#1

It’s been about a year since I was here after getting some new inexpensive hearing aids which impressed me (and continue to).

Just wondering two things:

  1. Anything new in the hearing aid world for the singing/acoustic guitar player? This presents unique issues which are separate from those users concerned primarily with speech.

  2. Has anyone used/heard of “Relate” hearing aids offered by AARP United Health Care Medicare supplemental insurance? “Relate” seems to be a private brand from United, made by Unitron.

Happy Holidaze!

Dave

1 Like
#2

Hi kydave,

I am a singer/acoustic guitar player too and I am currently trialing a couple of candidates for new HAs. I have worn Oticon Opn1 since 2016.
I tried the current Widex Moment, which many musicians swear by. I liked their music program but their speech comprehension was, at best, no better than my current Oticons.
I’m trying the Phonak Paradise now. I think speech comprehension might be a little better than my Oticons. It’s hard to tell with so few face-to-face conversations happening. The Phonak music program is not quite as good as Widex, but not bad. I’m waiting for my audi to respond about the Phonak’s input headroom. My old Phonaks would distort while playing a loud amplified acoustic gig. Unacceptable.
In a couple of weeks I will trial the brand-new Oticon More. Those are what I will probably buy. I’m sure they will sound better than my current Oticons, which means they will sound better than Widex or Phonak too. The Oticon Opn music program is fine and I’m sure the More will have at least as good of a music program.
No real technological breakthroughs that I know of. Just incremental improvements. You just have to trial some models and buy what sounds best to you. Good luck.

#3

I have been spending the last couple days playing with some airpod pros as hearing aids. As long as your loss isn’t too severe they do a decent job. Battery life is short but at the price compared to hearing aids buying two pair wouldn’t. be a big deal. The sound you get in transparency mode and streaming blows away anything from a hearing aid.

#4

Phonak doesn’t publish their input headroom, but I read an article last year that The Audeo Marvel (predecessor to Paradise) had input of 99dB, which would account for distortion!
The Oticon OPN1 and OPN S1 are rated at >109dB.
I believe the Widex and Starkey are also in line with Oticon,
Here’s the post:
menglxs

China

Terost

4d

You can find the specification for More in this document：

wdhecomcdn1.blob.core.windows.net

222836UK_TD_Oticon_More_miniRITE_R.pdf

1333.87 KB

#5

Can you play the intro to Back in Black and The Razor’s Edge?

If you’re practicing, you’re better with some decent headphones that are tuned against your loss.

#6

As a career gigging musician (until COVID-19 and again after) I use Oticons with closed domes, so I can turn them down when playing.

I keep a sound level meter on stage set with “A” weighting and “slow” response. I never-ever let the stage volume get over 90db and by turning the aids down a couple of steps, I’m sure I’m not hitting my ear drums with more than the recommended 85db.

Most of the time the stave volume is about 85, but I still turn them down one click to be on the safe side.

85dba is the safe listening level for most people according to the majority of what I read on the Internet, and by keeping the volume under that, I am sure that I am not causing further damage to my ears.

Bob

#7

Um_bongo and Bobby, the problem I had was that I was playing bass in an acoustic duo and I was not in control of the volume level. Post-Covid I expect to be playing only solo guitar gigs. Still I want to make sure I do not run into that input headroom problem again. Although maybe that distortion is nature’s way of telling me to turn it down.

1 Like
#8

Interesting topic.Being a musician as well, Music is by far the most complicated thing for modern devices compared to the older analog hearing aids.

Currently I still have a couple of Phonak Dalia MicroPaids which are setup lineairily (no automaticshaping as far as possible). Speach recognition is at most average, but I have little compaints about disturbing behaviour when playing on stage.

I am not a singer but play electric guitar and as such my aids need to handle clean playing as well as distortion in a band.

I am about to try Phonak Paradise soon, though I indeed also read about Oticon More and am very curious about those.

Opn was no option for me since I want direct bluetooth connectivity to and from my android phone and other bluetooth devices.

As far as I know the More will have a need for asha protocol just as many others. Phonak is the only one with native bluetooth available. And since on stage we use in ear monitoring (which I now use with a neckloop and telecoilinstead of earbuds), I want to be able to put a bluetooth transmitter on that portable receiver and connect it straight to my devices.

So based on this latter, I still think the paradises are the only way to go for me. If not, I’ld be happy to hear this.