Musician with very high frequency hearing loss

Hearing Aids
1

Hello! I hope some folks here might be able to address some of my concerns.

A recent hearing test showed that I had hearing in the “normal” range through and including 4k, but a mild-moderate high frequency loss at 6k and 8k (see audiogram results below).

Although a hearing loss such as mine might seem insignificant to some folks, I am a musician, and notice that I do not hear as well as I used to. Music does not seem to have the same fidelity as in the past. In addition, I sometimes have trouble distinguishing high-frequency speech consonant sounds, especially in noise.

I really would like to find the best hearing aids for my loss. I presume an open-fit design would work best, since my low frequency hearing is considered to be in the normal range.

I’ve read as many articles on the internet as I could find about music and hearing aids, especially by those who seem to be experts in this area (Marshall Chasin, Mead Killion, Mark Ross). They all seem to advocate hearing aids with a very wide extended bandwidth, which makes sense to me.

Further internet research led me to the websites of General Hearing Instruments, which uses the Digi-K circuit, claiming to have a 16k bandwidth, and Sebotek HD 16, which claims a 14k bandwidth. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? Do these really amplify sounds out that far? (I ask because, even though the Sebotek claims 14k, the frequency range listed in their technical specifications only lists 8k as the highest frequency. Why?) A related issue would be whether the gain provided by these hearing aids at these very high frequencies is enough for me to notice any kind of improvement, especially with music fidelity.

My audiologist could only test me up to 8k, but I did an online hearing test (I know they might not be reliable), and I could still hear (very faintly at high gain) at 14k, but not beyond.

Thanks in advance for any information folks here could provide.

----------------------- Right: Left:
250: 10, 5
500: 10, 0
1k: 5, 0
2k: 15, 5
3k: 20, 20
4k: 20, 15
6k: 30, 40
8k: 50, 40

2

To my knowledge, out past 8kHz, there is not much in the way of amplification available. There are few, if any, speech signals out past 6kHz, and our main concern with hearing aids has always been speech. I think some of the higher end hearing aids can amplify out to 10kHz but I do not know of anything past that.

3

I also have a hearing loss that is minor compared to most here, but bothersome for me. I have trialed the Oticon Intiga and the Unitron Moxi, and thought both of them were helpfull, both for helping me in noise and reducing my tinnitus.

I’m not familiar the ones that you mentioned. I admit that the extended frequency bandwidth makes sense to me as well. However, I understand why HAs don’t typically go above 8khz (or less), since speech information is lower than that. Also, the sound quality of HAs compared to headphones, I understand, is not as good.

Go ahead and try some and see what you think.

4

Even the so-called extended bandwidth aids in reality give little boost above 8KHz.

5

There was a thread on this board awhile back about how much gain a hearing aid should typically provide at a given frequency. Although I don’t totally understand the reasons, it seems that it’s not appropriate to add enough gain to reach 0db hearing, and that something called a “half-gain” approach is used (or a one-third gain?).

For example, my loss at 8k in my right ear is 50db. Would the “half-gain” rule mean that I need to look for a hearing aid that can offer me a 25db gain at 8k?

6

Yes. (Most algorithms are based on nearer to 1/3 gain)

Don’t forget that just because you don’t hear quiet sounds so well, your ability to deal with louder ones isn’t equally impaired/improved (its called recruitment)

The issue becomes clearer if you look at average speech levels 65dB.

If we were to add back in the full extent of your loss - 50dB - your hearing aids would produce 105dB, right where you start to find sounds uncomfortable. What do you think happens for an 80dB input?

This, combined with a technique called compression means that the sounds put out by a hearing aid sit in a far narrower ‘dynamic range’ of level - meaning that the loud sounds shouldn’t be too loud, but you can still hear the quiet stuff better.