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Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
161–170 of 223 posts
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#162Has anyone had and experience using hearing aids to deal with tinnitus? I've got some small hearing loss in the high frequencies and I'm looking at getting fitted for hearing aids to help boost those frequencies. The hope is to train my brain to stop replacing the deficit of sound with the monotone tinnitus noise. I've tried some OTC hearing aids (Sony & Sennheiser) but its been hit or miss. I'm going to try whatever…
I do not.
But I found a great comment on HN recently about Tinnitus. Was quite helpful for me.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#163I'm not going to give a direct recommendation on the hearing aids themselves as my personal options have been pretty limited due to profound hearing loss. I can say, however, that hearing aids are not the only thing that helps - especially with meetings/noisy environments. I [recently wrote an article][0] going over my journey, but the recent technology that significantly improved my life has been live captions in gl…
Thanks! I have hearing aids too and, while I don't have profound hearing loss (severe one side, moderate the other), it's got to the point where I am starting to look at other solutions to supplement them. For those not aware: hearing aids are not like eyeglasses, where you can effectively have your vision restored to 20/20 with the right prescription. They help, but they don't get you up to the level of a person wit…
> A question: how do you find them in conversations with multiple people? Do the glasses help you distinguish speakers by breaking out text from different voices, or is it all just a stream of words? What if there are multiple conversations going on - do the glasses manage to "focus" captioning on the one you're closest to, or do other conversations creep in?
It really depends if people are talking at the same time or not. If in a close group (space matters, the mic only goes ~2-3m), one person talking at a time, then they're great. That's the setup I most often have at conferences, so it's been great there.
In evenings/parties, it's a bit more chaotic, and the glasses tend to fall off for sure.
Regarding distinguishing different speakers etc I haven't needed that, I use the glasses as a helper, they fill in the gaps. So it's "just a stream of words", but it has been enough to already help a ton.
The directional mic does work quite well, but sometimes you have just 2 conversations happening in front of you and it's not working at all. In other setups (especially professional ones), people usually speak one at a time and it works great.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#164I have worn hearing aids since childhood in the '90s. Moderate sloping to profound loss. Been through all the tech since the equalized analog era. For a while now, like the last 15 to 20 years, since hearing aids went DSP, I had not been much impressed by each new generation. At the risk of sounding like a bit of an advertisement, that changed this year. I have the new Oticon Intent. RIC style aid. They have some of…
My mom has hearing aids, I only get all the technical info through her, so it's a bit blurry, but she complained about very unpleasant scratchy noises, for instance when my dad was watching videos on his iPad (for himself) elsewhere in the room. Settings were changed but now she has a harder time understanding us. We don't have to scream but if we don't speak 'clearly', she misses a lot, especially when we are with a…
Just as a tip, shouting or even just speaking more loudly is rarely necessary if someone has (properly configured) hearing aids. Just speak clearly. Ensuring proper enunciation so they can read lips is usually more important. Hearing aids will make it "loud enough" but they won't clean up the information.
Does she have primarily high frequency loss? High frequency loss is the most typical in the elderly and also from damage from noise exposure.
Different people have different voices. I usually find it easier to understand men because I hear the lower frequencies better, especially without my hearing aids but also with them. And it's always easier to understand people you know well compared to strangers.
I find small speakers to be awful. The high frequencies are distorted and tinny. Scratchy is a good way to put it. I have a very hard time understanding anything played through a smartphone or tablet speaker. The speaker is too small to reproduce the bass frequencies I can hear the best, and so it's just TSSST TSSSSSZZT sounds through my hearing aids.
I cannot wear my hearing aids at full volume at the dinner table or while working in the kitchen for this reason. Metal, plastic and paper are also common offenders. CLINK. CLINK. CRSZZST. It's almost painful and headache inducing if I'm tired.
Unfortunately those high frequencies are what carry speech sounds like sh, t, ch and so on. Without those it's like the adults talking in the Charlie Brown cartoons. "wah-womp-wah-wah-mhuh??"
Hearing aids can do two things for this: one is to take some of that high frequency information and remap it to lower frequencies. This is part of why they say you won't like wearing your hearing aids when you first get them. They're systematically distorting what you hear -- but in a way you might eventually learn to interpret.
The other is just to make it loud enough that it can be heard. And as you suggest that may be the limit of the hearing capacity if there's very little at the high frequencies the only way to make something high frequency to be perceived, is to hammer the ear with a 90 or 100 dB level of sound.
It's absolutely worth having them adjusted a bit. Also every manufacturer uses a different algorithm for speech frequency remapping. Some people have strong preferences by brand as to the hearing aid sound. (Phonak and Oticon certainly have different "feels" in my experience.)
Almost all hearing aids allow multiple "configuration profiles" where you can switch through them with the app or buttons. I have four: general, lecture, comfort, music. Comfort mode just nukes the high end and cranks up the noise reduction. That's what I use if I'm just reading alone in the living room, or when out at the grocery store, etc.
As to large groups, personally I've simply conceded I can't do large groups. If I try I will feel left out and get depressed over it. If people want to see me at a family reunion, for example, after I do a brief tour to say hi to everyone, they'll have to join me for a small group chat in the den or whatnot.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#165> Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
- The car washing scene in Cool Hand Luke
- Raquel Welch in a swimsuit
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#166I'll tell you what's not hot: cochlear implants. I wore hearing aids since the late '80s. I wear CIs as of about 5 years ago, and while my hearing is much better and stable than it used to be, I've found that UX for CIs is pretty bad. For one, unless you use Med-El's Rondo processeor, you're going to have a thin cable connecting your processor to the coil. Taking off your CIs and putting them back on (as one does eve…
What model do you have? My daughter has the Cochlear N8 and the rechargeable battery lasts 20 hours > Sometimes the cable frays and you find that out with sound cutting in and out Is there any way you can know about this, e.g. from the app? I'm asking because my daughter is 1 and if this was happening she'd currently have no way of communicating that to us
> What model do you have?
I have an Advanced Bionics Naida. Battery life has consistently been around 8h for a few years. Then recently, my batteries decided they wanted to work part-time.
> Is there any way you can know about this, e.g. from the app?
As far as I know, there isn't a way to verify sound connection issues within the app. They happen too quickly, but usually the giveaway is that the part of the cable that connects to the coil feels like it's about to fall off. It's at the ends, usually, that most of the failures occur.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#167Here's a crazy idea. I personally prefer the fidelity of an active ambient in-ear monitor (IEM), as used by musicians on stage over the best hearing aids. Once a year, I do a monthly trial with the latest hearing aid models and IMO the fidelity (especially low-end) and the comfort just is not there compared with the best active ambient IEMs. The difference between hearing aids and IEMs is blurring, but they are not y…
They only get a couple hours better life even with a belt pack to fit more battery?
The belt packs typically do a lot more than to amplify ambient noise, they also handle RF, depending on the model decryption of the audio signal, EQ as well as other stuff. All while typically running on 2x1,5V AA batteries.
Audio gear isn't made to last long on batteries, it's made to be reliable for the hours a show typically lasts. I worked part-time as a sound tech (paid hobby) for 15+ years, and I never started a show without fresh batteries, regardless of what the indicators on the transmitters/receivers told me.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#168I'll tell you what's not hot: cochlear implants. I wore hearing aids since the late '80s. I wear CIs as of about 5 years ago, and while my hearing is much better and stable than it used to be, I've found that UX for CIs is pretty bad. For one, unless you use Med-El's Rondo processeor, you're going to have a thin cable connecting your processor to the coil. Taking off your CIs and putting them back on (as one does eve…
Have you tried the non-over-the-ear cochlear devices? The kind that have everything built into the part that sticks magnetically to your implant — I don’t know what the term is; I don’t use them myself. I know somebody who really dislikes the over-the-ear type devices and swears by the all-in-one kind. She seems to get a full day of battery out of hers, but I don’t know what kind they are and I imagine usage patterns…
> Have you tried the non-over-the-ear cochlear devices?
No, I have not, but from what I've heard, the sound processing isn't as strong because with the BTE (Behind the ear) models, the microphone is unobstructed and can pick up sound coming from the front. With the all-in-one devices, the microphone sits slightly behind the head and has a horizon (and hair) obstructing the audio.
If I'm wrong and the sound processing is actually decent, I'll be willing to give it a shot provided my insurer decides to carry Med-El.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#169I'll tell you what's not hot: cochlear implants. I wore hearing aids since the late '80s. I wear CIs as of about 5 years ago, and while my hearing is much better and stable than it used to be, I've found that UX for CIs is pretty bad. For one, unless you use Med-El's Rondo processeor, you're going to have a thin cable connecting your processor to the coil. Taking off your CIs and putting them back on (as one does eve…
For Cochlear brand your kit should include backup coils, and replacement is overnight. If you turn on lights (child mode) the processor lights indicate streaming with blue. I love my cochlear implants even though the integration UI and reliability is not perfect yet.
Advanced Bionics used to provide backups, but appear to have scrapped that program in favor of an exchange.
And don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the technology. For example, I can now hear hummingbirds and squirrels chirping. Speech in noise also makes it a lot easier to hear in noisy environments.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#170I have worn hearing aids since childhood in the '90s. Moderate sloping to profound loss. Been through all the tech since the equalized analog era. For a while now, like the last 15 to 20 years, since hearing aids went DSP, I had not been much impressed by each new generation. At the risk of sounding like a bit of an advertisement, that changed this year. I have the new Oticon Intent. RIC style aid. They have some of…
I'm in a similar age range (HAs since 1991 I guess). I also have fond recollections of the pre-digital HAs' sound. I'm using a pair of 8 yr old phonak BTEs, which have various levels of directionality focusing. (Actually, I'm down one HA; 8yr old on left; 13 yr old left one one on right ear... getting new ones in January) I too prefer a lower level of directionality as my default. I assume your HAs are doing bluetoot…
I use Bluetooth with my phone and sometimes my laptop. My current hearing aids can stream directly from devices with Bluetooth LE audio; no relay dongle necessary.
But at home I often use telecoil. It's one of the killer features for hearing aids that no one seems to know about. Short-range (inches to a few feet) baseband analog radio.
I have a transmitter set up in the living room. If I come within a few feet of the couch I'll hear the television. Got another at my desktop computer in the office. I also have a loop I put around my neck when I play my electric guitar. Telecoil transmitters will plug into any standard line audio source.