Hearing aid for playing classical guitar

Hearing Aids
1

I’m sure that this topic has been covered before, but I’m new here and can’t find posts in the search column. I play classical guitar and I understand that there are hearing aids with programs that allow a wider band of amplification for people who play musical instruments. Phonak has been mentioned. If anyone has any info, I’d welcome your comments. thanks!

I’ll just add that at the moment I only wear one hearing aid. I’m not looking for any extra features–blue tooth, etc. Simple is good for me–except for the ability to hear a broader spectrum of sound on a separate program. I currently use an Oticon HA.

2

Hi,

to be honest, any programmable digital hearing aid can be programmed such that it uses less compression. With all aids I tested, my classical guitar sounded great. Classical guitar is an instrument that is “easy” for the hearing aid, as it is not too loud and it doesn´t have so much energy in the high frequencies.

However, for people with musical ears, I´d recommend bernafon aids.

Phonak is, of course, a well known brand, but as far as I know it doesn´t have a reputation for outstanding music reproduction.

3

thanks Musician. sorry I’m so late getting back. I’m not sure what you mean by “musical ears”; could you explain?

I’m looking at aids with two programs; one for normal use and one for playing guitar. I’ve been told that I can bring my guitar in and have it programmed for my hearing loss with all of the compression and noise reduction turned off the music channel. I’m still learning about this and appreciate any insights!

— Updated —

4

what brand are you testing?

5

Hi,

with “musical ears” I mean that people who play an instrument usually are more sensitive to how something sounds. Also, they hear if something sounds “wrong”.

Most aids slice the sound into channels, process each channel (more or less) separately and then put the sound together again. This means, for instance, that the overtones of a sound are processed in a different channel than the base-frequency. Maybe even the latency is different between channels. This can add a tiny “whirring” to some notes played and so on.

Bernafon doesn´t use channels, the sound is processed as a whole. This results in some people saying that bernafon aids sound more “natural” than others, and among those people are many musicians.

Bernafon have, of course, some disadvantages, too, so your mileage may vary. But if music is important to you, I´d try a bernafon aid.

The new sivantos signia line sure sounds interesting, too.

6

My Oticon is about ten years old, so it’s going to fail soon. I’m not testing any brands yet–I’m just doing advance research. my budget is limited. I’ll continue to look into the Bernafon but the brief research I’ve done suggests there are complaints. However they also emphasize listening to live music so they get that. Yes, overtones are important. Again, as I understand it, a second program on any device where all the compression and noise reduction filters can be turned off, while still matching my hearing loss profile, is possible. But Musician 72’s suggestion that Bernafon’s don’t split the sound and then recombine it is intriguing. The question is, does this limit it’s usefulness in crowds etc.–in terms of processing capabilities, for when I want that.

My trusty oticon has been a workhorse and I like that. I don’t need/want all of the cost adding features (bkluetooth etc.) as I mentioned.

when I googled sivantos signia all I really got was a lot of business language about branding–hard to find what the technology is/does.

7

Hi,

I think that there are the following possible disadvantages of bernafon aids:

  • Bernafon don´t combine the directional mics of both aids to a microphone array. Siemens / Sivantos and Phonak do that (though in my opinion, phonak is not as good in picking out the dominant speaker, when I tested those, they sometimes focussed on traffic noise and I didn´t hear the speaker at all). So with Bernafon, you just have “normal” directional microphones and more work for your brain to do.
  • as Bernafon doesn´t use channels, the compression is a bit more un-flexible. You can, of course, use different amplification for different input-levels. Thus, you also have different compression ratios for different frequencies. But the input level seems to be measured as a whole. This means, that if you have a loud, low-frequency noise, then the whole aid will go to the compression-setting for loud input, even if the input isn´t loud for high frequencies. This will make speech in noise harder to understand if loud, low-frequency noise is present. This effect is partially solved when you activate the environment-optimizer for speech in noise. On the other hand, I had funny moments with the siemens aids because some consonants in loud environments suddenly sounded more like different consonants (p sounded like ch, for instance). So the bernafon approach has advantages and disadvantages. The bernafon sound stays balanced, but sometimes an unbalanced sound is better to understand speech.

If you have a costco nearby, the bernafon juna 7 is a budget aid.

I understand very well in noise with my bernafon aids, but the siemens binax 7 were a bit better, I think. For soft speech, listening to tv or generally speech in quiet, bernafon is best of all aids I tested (for me at least).

I found the bernafon aids, because there is a german site that is run by a hearing aid professional, and he sais that musicians often like bernafon best and understand speech with those aids best, too. Please don´t forget that a trained musician is used to, for instance, pick out the clarinet from an orchestra, or the 2nd violin from a string quartet. This means that I want a sound as clear and natural as possible, then I can pick out what I want to hear myself. This might be the reason that there are people who don´t like bernafon at all, because they need the aid to pick out sounds out of the noise and dont do it themselves.

Your mileage may vary!

Yours

Musician_72

8

I have a second program I can switch to from my normal speach program and it was setup specifically for music. It is matched to my audiogram and everything else has been shut off. In other words, it’s running flat out, nothing atinuated nor do I have the audibility extender or feedback reduction. Everything is amplified including all unwanted noise. It’s good but the problem comes down to all the unwanted noise.

9

My two cents worth. Instead of trying to make a HA work, here is IMO a much less expensive way with far better results. For about $200 you can pick up a pair of off the shelf In-Ear Monitors, or for $400 custom molded In-Ear Monitors.

I have a few Acoustic guitars and electric. Playing around the house I do not need any HA or monitor, just on stage live. But I have used In-Ear Monitors at the house and recording. For something like a straight Gibson I use a Mike for left Ear, and one of the Body Pickups you stick on the side with clay to Right ear (Produces awesome stereo and depth). Run your channel through an EQ and you are set.

10

True, a hearing in its basic function is nothing more than a programmable graphic stero equalizer.

11

A hearing aid is, in its basic function, a programmable graphic equalizer with multiband compressor/limiter and directional microphones, so it´s a bit more than that.

For music, it´s best to not use the compressor, so you will get good results with in-ears and equalizer. Just to play some acoustic guitar, I´d think it too much trouble to put in the in-ears, turn on the microfone and so on. If you wear the hearing aid anyway, you can just pick up your guitar and have good sound. That´s what I do.

Also, if the music you play has instruments in it that are not amplified, you will have to use microphones for all of them and have them mixed properly for your in-ears to work. This usually is the case only in a professional environment. Pro´s use in-ears anyway, so you can ask your mixer to apply your hearing-curve into the eq and have good results. If your´re not a pro, a decent hearing aid usually is much easier to use than in-ears.

— Updated —

A hearing aid is, in its basic function, a programmable graphic equalizer with multiband compressor/limiter and directional microphones, so it´s a bit more than that.

For music, it´s best to not use the compressor, so you will get good results with in-ears and equalizer. Just to play some acoustic guitar, I´d think it too much trouble to put in the in-ears, turn on the microfone and so on. If you wear the hearing aid anyway, you can just pick up your guitar and have good sound. That´s what I do.

Also, if the music you play has instruments in it that are not amplified, you will have to use microphones for all of them and have them mixed properly for your in-ears to work. This usually is the case only in a professional environment. Pro´s use in-ears anyway, so you can ask your mixer to apply your hearing-curve into the eq and have good results. If your´re not a pro, a decent hearing aid usually is much easier to use than in-ears.

12

why don’t you post your audiogram?

13

Interesting thread. I am playing electric guitar currently with headphone and Phonak Naida V for nearly a year and sometime i just plug the signal from my multi effects pedal into PA systems. It works, but not if you are professional musicians because of the clarity of notes especially if you play any music with high gain guitar sounds.
Anyway, OP plays classical guitar so i think it will work well, not the best but still better than mine.