Klipsch + hearing aids

[fisherman]

I finally bit the bullet today and ordered two digital, programmable hearing aids. After 40+ years around airplanes my hearing loss has finally deteriorated to moderate-severe past 2KHz. As a result, I suspect I'm not getting the most out of my Fortes even though I turn the volume up to where everyone else has to leave the room/house.

I have been told that even the latest state of the art h/a can't be programmed lower than 250Hz or higher than somewhere around 6KHz. If there is anyone out there with h/a+Klipsch, I would appreciate hearing about your experiences with them; i.e. do you have a h/a memory dedicated to them, or it? If so, how does it work? Do you take them out while listening to music and crank up the volume so as not to miss the highs and lows?

If these questions are considered too personal, please disregard them. I'm not trying to pry into anyone's medical history, it's just that I don't know what to expect and would appreciate any advice I can get.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for the great forum.

[hsosdrum]

Although I don't use hearing aids and can't speak to your central question, I can tell you that if you continue to "crank up the volume so as not to miss the highs and lows" you'll exponentially increase your hearing damage and accellerate the loss. The classic hearing loss cycle is:

Small hearing loss --> Increase volume to compensate

Increased volume = Accellerated hearing loss

Accellerated hearing loss --> Further increase volume to compensate

Further increased volume = More rapidly accellerating hearing loss

And the whole thing spirals out of control exponentially.

I wish I could offer a solution, but as far as I know there is none. This type of hearing loss is permanent. The only way to minimize its accelleration (assuming that you're no longer in constant close proximity to extreme forms of trauma like operating aircraft engines) is to not compensate for it by listening at ever-louder volumes. I realize that that's not a very satisfactory solution, but as far as I know it's all there is.

Don't forget: we hear with our brains, not our ears, and we can re-train our brains to be satisfied under a whole new set of incoming stimulae.

[lynnm]

Hi

I am bi-amped and use Klipshorns

While it is undeniably true that I cannot totally experience the sound that those behemouths are capable of reproducing I can still hear the difference between my beloved Khorns and lesser speakers.

It is frustrating to know that others can hear more than I can from my Khorns but that said when I listen to my Khorns I experience something close to Nirvana.

Remember that the sounds we hear are very complex.Every note we hear is a combination of the fundamental combined with its overtones and undertones

As for the cutoff on high frequency with hearing aids the upper limit is typically at about 8 Khz and not 6 Khz. I cannot comment on the lower frequency limit beyond the fact that when my Khorns cause the jaws of acquaintances to drop in reaction to a thundering bass passage I find myself doing the same.Bear in mind also that there is not really much meaningful musical content above about 3 Khz and in any event the subharmonics of high frequency sounds can be ( and often are ) well within the range that a hearing aid user can hear.

I do know that I can still easily distinguish between poor speakers and good speakers ( regardless of make ).

Enjoy your improved hearing and your speakers.At worst the hearing aids will enhance your listening pleasure even if you regret that you cannot hear everything as you would like.

[fisherman]

Thanks. I appreciate the info. I assume there will be a learning curve and some getting used to, but anything approaching natural sound will be an improvement over the muffled and limited sound I have now, regardless of any programming restrictions. I don't know why I'm so worried about the extreme highs and lows anyway because I sure don't have them now.

In spite of everything, I really enjoy my Fortes. I am looking forward to hearing them even better. Thanks again for the kind words.

[lynnm]

You are in for a treat Amigo!

[markus111]

Hi Fisherman,

I'm sorry to hear about your hearing loss. I had a flu virus attack my inner ear, and it took out 36db out of my left ear and shaved a bit off of the right. At first, I couldn't stand to listen to my system, because the loss was sudden and I realized right away what I was missing. Over time, my brain "filled in" the missing information in my left ear. If I cover my right, I again realize how little I actually hear with my left. But when I don't think about it, I really can "hear" what I used to, and enjoy listening in stereo. It's absolutely amazing what the brain can do. I keep a decibel meter handy, and never crank the volume much over 90db at my listening position. This is actually lower than I used to listen to music. It's vital to keep the volume under control in order to maintain your hearing for as long as you can. Give yourself a chance to get used to the hearing aids - it took me a few months for this change to set in. Maybe even a year - I don't remember anymore. Don't sweat the extreme highs - as mentioned, there really isn't much musical information up there anyway.

Mark

[fisherman]

That must have been rough losing it all at once like that. As you say, it will take some retraining, but it has to be an improvement. It will be nice to hear a wire brush on a cymbal sound like a wire brush on a cymbal instead of like a distant broken steam pipe. there are better days ahead.

[fini]

Good luck with your hearing aids. I inherited my Mom's behind-the-ear models, and am hoping someone in my family (perhaps my aunt) will be able to use them (getting fitted earpieces). She had a heck of a time with them falling out, with her glasses and nasal canula (for oxygen) getting in the way.

Keep us informed on how it all works out!

[jheis]

I'm afraid that Klipsch + hearing aids is where a lot of us are headed.

I've got about a 20% loss in the mid ranges in my right ear which I began to notice about 15 years ago. Probably from hunting and ***** shooting when I was a kid. Nothing like having a 12 gauge going off beside right beside your ear! Fortunately it does not seem to be progressive.

I told my ENT guy that I was being a good boy and wearing ear protection when I mow the lawn. He said "you should be wearing hearing protection when you vacuum!"

James

[fisherman]

I'll report on how everything is going once I get the h/a, get them programmed correctly, etc. I understand it can take several sessions to get them "tuned" just right in each memory, but will let you know as it happens.