Help with artifacts in musician program

Hearing Aids
#1

I had a new hearing test at Kaiser last week. the audi said I had “a little” loss in the bass range in my worst, right ear. Yesterday I went to my provider to get my aids adjusted to the new profile. this is an independent, non-Kaiser provider. I was amazed at how much louder things sounded. The private provider said the loss I’d experienced was “significant” compared to the last test. He also said that folks’[ sense of volume comes from the bass range, which I’d had adjusted. Anyway there was some fuzzy, buzzing aspect at the end of sentences, and my provider reduced the bass target until that got better. When I went home and started playing guitar, it was awful–my music program has feedback control and other features turned off; but the thin, fuzzy sound was there–sort of like hearing a torn speaker in a cabinet. Also, WOW, the guitar sounds LOTS louder. I like that, and assume I’ll get used to it. With the new setting, feedback is more of an issue than with the old setting, but manageable. It’s the “fuzzy” artifacts that bother me. The old setting was much more quiet–too quiet maybe!–but without feedback or artifact issues.
My provider emailed me back this morning and said it seems there are artifacts and the bass range needs to be turned down. This makes sense.
Sorry this is so long. Any impressions/suggestions?

P.s. I moved from the provider who sold and adjusted my Signia AX7 aids to me to a different provider in the same company, who struck me as being far more knowledgeable. I’m wondering if the original fitter messed up the settings to begin with, and that accounts for the major difference in how loud teh right aid sounds now.

#2

Well Jeff just remember that your loss will and does fluctuate over time, not always a good thing because as you’ve already noticed, so yeah those lower frequencies can make a big difference to how loud you hear things, it’s obvious it’s set too high, you could try this tone generator and find the frequency that is giving the most issues, why not take you guitar in with you next time you pop in to your audiologist and play a few cords, also did your fitter change any of the other “automatic” features, obviously this can give audible artifacts, get them to print out your fitting report so you can yourself exactly what has changed over your previous settings.

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

#3

thanks Tenkan: yes, I’m freaking out a bit but less now. My fitter/audi already suggested bringing in my guitar and I will. I was going to do that on my last visit but it was scheduled late and I didn’t want to keep my audi too long. I have an appt for next week.
And yes, I wondered if some of the programs that had been turned off in my musician program somehow came back on with this new fitting. I mentioned that to my fitter.

glad that you think it’s obvious that the bass settings are set too high, in that a fix will be easy. My fitter thinks this too and that seems likely… In the end if volume goes up from the last setting and the artifacts go away, I’ll be happy!

#4

You trust the Kaiser hearing test? I would not feel comfortable fitting to someone else’s test unless I knew them. I’ve been burned before.

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#5

That’s a good question. Normally, yes, I would, due to long experience. But this time I ‘think’ I was tested by a trainee. She did call in another audi to go over the test with her, or consult on something, but I was in teh other room so couldn’t hear what was being discussed. it took some time. Let me add that my right ear drum is…odd…and didn’t sow a good result with the pressure test. I emailed my ENT asking about this, as I thought this might be normal for me. He replied that indeed it was. So good on the Kaiser audi for picking up on this! And she repeated the test several times. And this may have been what she was consulting about.

I mentioned my possible concern with my private fitter. I’ll ask for second test with him if the issue seems to go on.

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#6

Easy rookie mistake is poor placement of the insert tips that can lead to low frequency venting and suggest a false change in lows. Supervisor might have identified it but not worried about it if it was not clinically relevant to anything they were using the information for, and if they were not fitting a hearing aid they may not have thought it relevant.

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#7

thanks Neville. I’ll discuss with my provider. I sensed that the opening chimes on my right aid had become quieter (to me) in the last month or so. But the difference in volume after the re-set is pretty large, and far more than I would have expected. Hmmm…and in fifty years I’ve never had this sort of dramatic loss.

#8

I feel your pain @jeffrey… Hopefully it is just a poor test, but it must be worrying to have a dramatic drop in overall hearing perception! I hope the second test has a more favorable outcome… Take care, cheers Kev

#9

Actually6 what I meant is that hadn’t noticed a dramatic loss of hearing. I’d sensed the chime was a bit quieter. That’s about it. Maybe the guitar was a bit more quiet But loss can happen over time and one doesn’t notice.

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#10

Update: My provider performed another hearing test. Indeed, the one performed by a trainee at Kaiser was off by a good amount. Neville is right; the rookie mistake of not fitting the plug tight in my right ear almost certainly caused the issue. In the Kaiser audis defense, my ear canals are weird due to past surgeries. The good news is that my aids are back to functioning great, and my aided
hearing is better without being distorted. Better news is that the significant drop in my right ear hearing didn’[t actually happen. Nor did I ever notice such a steep loss. The Kaiser results were concerning!

so all that’[s left to do is to edit my audiogram, which used the Kaiser version. But I can’t find my account anywhere to perform this edit. Ah well.

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#11

That’s excellent news @jeffrey I am glad you are now back to normal, or as normal as can be expected :grin: that must be quite a relief! But indeed, it will be a welcome one… Cheers Kev :wink:

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#12

Ha! Thanks for the update. Correctly solving mysteries gives me little dopamine hits. :laughing:

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#13

I’m glad that you found a resolution. I had a similar problem with my OPN S2 after the audiologist adjusted the music program for more bass and adjusted the highs. Apparently boosting both is a recommendation for adjusting the Music Program for better streaming music. After I reported the issues with playing piano as well as guitar and pointing our the particular frequencies that had difficulty, she created an additional music program for my instruments. It toned down the base and the higher frequencies that were creating a buzz.