Fellow music writer/producer, and mixer here. Worse loss than you describe. probably going to settle with Widex Moment Sheer hearing Aids, easy to find and program. Zero delay in the Puresound" programs (no comb filtering against your natural hearing). You could only bypass your hearing test by doing an in-situ with these in your ears, which at least the HAs would detect the accommodations. with Widex it’s Not my natural hearing At ALL, but somehow I’m still working. Any major label stuff I’ll send it out to mix. I might try oticons, but waiting to see.
Thanks for the file! It filled in most of the info I need. I still don’t have any hearing aids, but I’m actively watching eBay for something that I can start learning on.
As to “just buy some cables,” I am an incurable tinkerer, and have been making cables all my life. My garage is full of electronics parts, and my storage unit has even more. I disassemble old electronic gear and put all the parts sorted out into boxes. I got my first soldering iron in 1959. I have a 4-year degree in electronics and a Masters in Computer Science from Calif. Polytechnic. It irritates me to see those CS44 cables and flex strips selling for $25 each or more on eBay, when I have what I need already.
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Sounds great, if you want, you could post your successful DIY projects here on the forum, step by step guides for anyone else wanting to do the same.
Cheers
Yes, I’ve been thinking about how to share the info. I’ll do so as soon as I have an actual success to show!
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Yeah, I’m not a musician per se. I played trombone from age 10 to age 34, but realized I really don’t have that kind of talent. But I have worked with sound systems since about age 15, I have built recording studios, I was into speaker building as a hobby, I have run live sound most of my adult life, until I started losing my high frequency hearing response. I have a 4-year degree in electronics and a masters in computer science from California Polytechnic.
I’ve been somewhat surprised that I haven’t found anything in internet searching relating to hearing aid needs of musicians and audio engineers. None of the promotional materials that I’ve seen have any mention whatever of our needs. It’s all about speech intelligibility, and maybe mention that there is a “music” program you can switch to, but no indication of what that means. Forum discussions sound mostly like laments.
I see a market niche waiting to be filled. If a manufacturer would sell an OTC hearing aid with a mobile app that gives the same controls that a live sound engineer has on his console – real-time spectrum analysis, 1/3 octave band EQ, parametric EQ, compression on multiple frequency bands – as soon as the word got out it would be an instant hit and they would sell thousands.
Another feature that would make them even more desirable would be frequency response down to 30Hz on the low end. That would take multiple drivers similar to what you find in in-ear monitors. I noticed in my KZ-ZST’s, the high frequency transducers look just like hearing aid receivers.
I wonder if the hearing aid industry even has a notion of how many old rock and roll musicians and sound engineers have blown out their hearing (that would not be me), and even those that have tried hearing aids mostly just leave the volume cranked up rather than try to deal with hearing aids.
Hmmm, you’ve missed a lot of info right here on our forum.
Using the search icon at the top right of this page, do a search for “hearing aids music”.
Many of us audiopholes, and general music lovers have posted successful outcomes.
Also google Marshall Chasin. He’s a leading AuD for musicians.
Here’s a Whitepaper from Oticon about their MyMusic Program.
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In my experience, the ability to do you own programming is more important than the latest high tec aids.
For music (I play classical guitar and listen a lot) you want to be able to turn off all the wiz-bang features like compression sound recovery etc. I have my music program set to be as close to analog with graphic equalizer as possible.
I find that open domes allow more bass to reach my ears without distortion.
The microphones in modern aids can be “steered” just like hf, vhf, and microwave yagi antennas. This helps to null out unwanted sound from behind me, or from the sides.
It also helps to pick one brand and software, learn it well and stay with it. In my case it’s Phonak and their Target software, which has a feature called Audiogram Direct making it possible for you to do your own audiogram by sending tones through the hearing aids.
If you’re a diy guy, you have come to the right place. Welcome.
I was steered away from Phonak Lumity L90 by the limited dynamic range - If I remember correctly it was 100 to 5500? Did you go with a different model of Phonak that’s getting you the range for your guitar?
I recently acquired a used pair of Phonak Bolero M90 PR aids. The data sheet shows <100 hz to >7000 hz.
There is a learning curve to programming hearing aids, which is why I suggested picking a hardware /software, brand and sticking with it.
When I first started with hearing aids, it was because I was acusing my wife of mumbling, and I always needed to have the TV turned up past where it was comfortable for others. The improvement in listening to music turned out to be an unexpected bonus.
I have never been to an audiologist, and have used the Audiogram direct function in the Phonak Target software.
Most of this came fairly easy, because I have a ham radio license, commercial fcc license, private pilots license, FAA airframe and power plant ratings. And I just retired from a very technical job.
I love tinkering with gear. I just can’t help myself, it’s an affliction.
If you really get into this, it can be a lot of fun, and very rewarding.
dacuttler, we’re both from the same mold. I never got into aviation, but I did get the FCC 1st class Radio-Telephone Operator’s license. I have a 4-year degree in Electronics Engineering Technology and a master’s in Computer Science from Calif Polytechnic. I’m still just getting started in diy hearing aids. I picked up a serial Hi-Pro on eBay for $43. Having spent probably 10% of my working hours getting modems to work back in the days of DOS and dial-up internet, I just went to my storage unit and pulled out a box of serial cables to get this hooked up to my PC. I definitely enjoy learning new areas of technology. My purpose in getting into diy hearing aids is because I would never be happy with somebody else telling me what I am supposed to be hearing, especially when I can do it myself.
flashb1024 I should have said, “until I found Hearing Tracker!” I really expected to find a consensus or a lot of recommendations by sound engineers, musicians, and audiophiles, or at least advertising in the trade press on where to look for hearing aids for audio professionals, but all I heard are crickets. Hearing Tracker flies under the radar. I’m not sure how I stumbled upon it.
Since you seem to have a mild to moderate loss, based on your description, you may want to check these options:
Here.
And here
As @Volusiano posted, your 1st step should be to get a audiogram from an audiologist, so you know exactly where your loss is.
If it’s more than moderate, prescription HAs would be appropriate to consider.
flashb1024 I wasn’t looking for Android apps to do equalization. I was saying that the hearing aid mfrs need to give the technical user an Android app to control those functions on their hearing aids. The best you can get is a 3-band (low-mid-high) EQ on your Android app, and you can’t select the frequencies. Oticon hearing aids, for example, have anywhere from 4 to 24 bands depending on the model. I want to be able to control them right on my phone. Compression is totally under the control of whatever AI fad the engineers were enthralled with at some point in history. Not to mention their presumption to know better than anyone else how the brain works. To access all this, I have to get the proprietary software that only runs on Windows and is not available for download, get a programming device and possibly cables depending on the model, and sit at my desk and fiddle with it.
I just read the whitepaper about the Oticon MyMusic program. It does not answer any of my questions. All it says is that the MyMusic program modifies sound in a way that is subjectively pleasing to hearing-impaired listeners. It does not measure how well what the hearing aid wearer perceives objectively corresponds to the sound in the room (or for streaming, what a non-impaired listener would perceive).
Furthermore, the paper does not describe the nature in technical terms of what processing is being done to the sound by the MyMusic program.
@jdudeck HA HA, you read my mind.
Check this link to a post I made a while back.
I guess I just referred you to the whitepaper to show the mfgs do acknowledge music ( in some fashion).
BTW, you’ll find from the tone of the thread Oticon’s default setting for MYMusic are not ideal, and require some tweaking to reach acceptable standards of “Fidelity”.
Got the Oticons Epoq V from 2021, got thr usb cables and the HIPro Usb. Need the Genie 2017.1 software for windows. Could you please help?
Papo
Those are more like 2008, very old models now, but sure it’s available.
Hi there, I’m curious if you’ve tried out the Widex units- and how they are working out for you?
Ignore previous post, I see you’re heading in a different direction and are selling the Widexs.
I also ran into a similar problem. I need to evaluate sounds as accurately as possible, at least in the speech range, but it is impossible to make a regular check in the programs of hearing aid manufacturers. There are only 7 fixed frequencies for hearing testing. But in my device, there are advanced settings for 17 frequencies. The only problem is that the equipment in the service center does not have the ability to check hearing on these 17 frequencies. They also have 7-8 frequencies fixed on the equipment. Maybe there is an android application that you can use to check?