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Hearing Aids

I'm not sure (2) is the answer. The most bass is heard when wearing tight fit closed domes, though these tend to be very uncomfortable.
Your (1) is more likely. The aids are designed primarily to produce sound from their own mics, not from a streamed source.
 
Update from the boss.

She went to Boots today and had a long, good session with an audiologist.
Word from the audiologist on Widex. Yes it is the best for listening to music, however for speech and picking out conversations in a crowded room the Phonak was better.

If it were me or most of the assembled I reckon we would go for Widex.
She favours Phonak
 
The boss has NHS hearing aids. Ok for free but not good. Drive her nuts picking up lots of high frequency and not clever on speech, also a constant noise.
Think the audiologist said 7 years out of date
 
I guess I'm lucky, I'm 47 and Specsavers did the hearing test and said they test teenagers with worse hearing!

Still I need reading glasses now, so maybe the downward path is here :(
 
I never did try Phonak. I tried the best from Resound, Oticon, Unitron and Starkey. None of them coped with noisy environments despite the makers' claims. That's why I settled for Widex; no worse than the others for general wear but wiped the floor for music.
 
Thinking outside the box here. Obviously for most people on this forum, music reproduction is probably important to them. Instead of trying to find a hearing aid that reproduces music well, could we just use headphones when listening to music? The reproduced frequency response needs to be tailored for an individual's hearing loss but that could be done in dsp between the preamp and headphone amplifier. I'm not a big fan of dsp but needs must and presumably that's how it's done in a hearing aid. I would have thought good Hifi headphones would have a better chance of reproducing music well compared to a hearing aid that has to go through an additional Microphone -> ADC -> DAC -> Amplification chain. If you live or listen alone, could you do the same when listening through speakers? Maybe slightly more problematic with bleedthrough between ears if they need wildly different correction. Anyway, just a thought. For me, my hearing is slightly worse in my right ear compared to left (too many gigs maybe) so need a balance control but luckily nothing more as yet.
 
Hmmm ! I hear you, Dave, but surely no-one would listen to their speakers or cans with hearing aids in. The hearing in my right ear was identified as 40% down two years ago (it fluctuates and is sometimes lower, I feel) I get no imbalance on my system and there's no balance control anyway ! I am pleasantly surprised by this, but find it hard to just put it down to having ESLs.

To me, hifi/listening to music is the very last use for hearing aids, not least that I doubt they can equate to the quality and frequency delivery of a decent hifi rig. They certainly can't augment these. I was referred last June, but haven't gone ahead yet. People I play racquet sports with are used to me being Mutt & Jeff, but there will come a time.....
 
Fair point about not using hearing aids when listening to music but I thought that is what KeithL (the OP) was talking about right at the start so he could listen to his HiFi again. Anyway, it was just a passing thought.
 
I think it ultimately depends on the severity of your hearing loss and what your priorities are.

My mum has moderate hearing loss in both ears which significantly hampers her ability to communicate with people who don't have especially loud or clear diction. She has only started enjoying listening to music again since getting hearing aids (ReSound Linx3D 7). Fortunately the aids can be programmed with different presets and also have a 3-band EQ that can be adjusted on the fly with an iPhone app, as she finds the standard 'speech' preset too shrill for music.

For minor hearing loss or imbalances I think I'd rather add a two-channel equaliser to my system (loudspeakers or headphones), in preference to wearing hearing aids. This avoids the unnecessary amplification of background noise, especially important if you're trying hard to dial out nagging from SWMBO etc :D
 
mikemusic said:
Thanks guys.
I was trying to direct her towards Widex. Perhaps the ReSound needs a listen
Click to expand...
Just to add, my mum's 3rd audiologist did advise her that Widex were the best choice for music. However by that time she was growing tired of all the research, tests and discussions that were leading her up several garden paths. The 1st audiologist she visited (Boots) was pushing >£3k/pr Phonak B90 aids at her which sounded inferior to the ReSound Linx3D, the 2nd audiologist (AgeUK) was trying to sell her Linx3D 5's at Linx3D 7's prices and when she asked him to make good on their price match policy he conveniently vanished and would not return her calls, etc. She may well have chosen the Widex if she had more time and been able to demo them along side the ReSound, but she thought the ReSound made a significant enough improvement not to look at any more alternatives.
 
Thanks
Anyone can get weary of all the tarting around.
(I'm looking at changing energy suppliers and losing the will)
 
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