I’m about six weeks into life with hearing aids. These are my first, and I’m generally happy with the progression of my audiologist dialing them in for me. I currently have vented domes, and some situations remain challenging (loud pubs for Trivia Night, streaming music while walking near traffic) but I’m adapting - while considering the tradeoffs of potentially switching to a more closed fitting.
I’m also a guitarist and like many of my ilk we’re having some difficulty finding settings where Making music (not ‘just’ listening to it) sounds as natural as possible - acoustic guitar at home is a particular problem. I’ve done a deep dive through Dr. Chasin’s research and so has my audiologist, and many of his strategies have helped get us closer to eliminating odd overtones and frequency shifts for single notes on the upper strings of my guitar.
Passively listening to music is generally fine for me in quiet situations, whether streaming or ‘in the room’. But I’ve recently run across a guitarist who feels that the hearing aid microphones themselves might be part of the problem.
Does anyone know whether there are two different types of microphones on the Phonak spheres? I can’t seem to find that info anywhere, but the other guitarist’s theory is that one microphone is omni-directional while the other is more directional and front-facing which may contribute to the unnatural “phasing” warble guitarists sometimes experience. Having your audiologist turn off the omni-directional mics on a separate “Guitar” program might be helpful, he believes. Any advice on this admittedly narrow topic would be helpful.
Thanks - and thanks for all the great commentary and advice I’ve been reading here over the last month of my journey…