Music Program on Phonak Naidas.

BleedingPurist said:
How did your audiologist explain it to you? What was her reason for not being able to give you back what you were able to hear before? Was she responsive to your complaints? It doesn't seem so.
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I'm not going into the argument. All I'm going to say is, I fired the B* when she reported me to my VR counselor as a "difficult client" and treated me like a child during the appointments. I was appalled. I dropped off the hearing aids, went back to the VR counselor and requested that he save the agency's money by requesting the money back from her. I revealed her to be a hearing aid mill, where she was just evaluating clients and slapping hearing aids on without regards to client's complaints and said, "Next!" Her photos in her office showed that she was a show-off and well-to-do. I do not trust her and never will again.

My current audiologist is a great guy and has a good grasp of sound engineering and understands my problems. Even my digitals, which are in the safe (Resound Sparx, I think), have a limited frequency range and motor-boating noise down at the bottom and, and EVERYTHING sound-processing-wise is turned off. These hearing aids are designed for heavily processed speech processing and there seems to be very few ways around it. That is why I have a contact working with someone to recreate the environment of standing in a room of nothing but speakers set up and adjusted to play into a sweet spot so loud that a deaf person like myself could hear everything within my limit, and have it sound RIGHT, but in a compact package. Just like you were at a rock concert. I have done this before and know that what comes out of the speakers match what the analogs give me, and I can really tell that the digitals do not sound ANYTHING like what you would hear across the air of the concert from the speaker stacks. He is trying to see if it's possible to introduce this capability in the style of in-ear monitor systems that are currently available for hearing musicians. As I mentioned in another thread, it was a big fail, because the 130 dB output was measured using the in-ear coupler, not the 2cc coupler that hearing aids are measured with. Huge difference in output.

The fact is, the day that I run out of analog hearing aids to buy on the used market is the day that my music world dies. Until the hearing aid makers start listening to profoundly deaf musicians or I get stem-cell therapy (unlikely to happen in my lifetime).
 
deafdrummer said:
I'm not going into the argument. All I'm going to say is, I fired the B* when she reported me to my VR counselor as a "difficult client" and treated me like a child during the appointments. I was appalled. I dropped off the hearing aids, went back to the VR counselor and requested that he save the agency's money by requesting the money back from her. I revealed her to be a hearing aid mill, where she was just evaluating clients and slapping hearing aids on without regards to client's complaints and said, "Next!" Her photos in her office showed that she was a show-off and well-to-do. I do not trust her and never will again.

My current audiologist is a great guy and has a good grasp of sound engineering and understands my problems. Even my digitals, which are in the safe (Resound Sparx, I think), have a limited frequency range and motor-boating noise down at the bottom and, and EVERYTHING sound-processing-wise is turned off. These hearing aids are designed for heavily processed speech processing and there seems to be very few ways around it. That is why I have a contact working with someone to recreate the environment of standing in a room of nothing but speakers set up and adjusted to play into a sweet spot so loud that a deaf person like myself could hear everything within my limit, and have it sound RIGHT, but in a compact package. Just like you were at a rock concert. I have done this before and know that what comes out of the speakers match what the analogs give me, and I can really tell that the digitals do not sound ANYTHING like what you would hear across the air of the concert from the speaker stacks. He is trying to see if it's possible to introduce this capability in the style of in-ear monitor systems that are currently available for hearing musicians. As I mentioned in another thread, it was a big fail, because the 130 dB output was measured using the in-ear coupler, not the 2cc coupler that hearing aids are measured with. Huge difference in output.

The fact is, the day that I run out of analog hearing aids to buy on the used market is the day that my music world dies. Until the hearing aid makers start listening to profoundly deaf musicians or I get stem-cell therapy (unlikely to happen in my lifetime).
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I know exactly the type of audiologist you are talking about... "You're the Deafie and I'm the licensed professional. You know nothing and have nothing to say that interests me.. now run along." I think you made the right call. I've done the same. They are usually young and only a few years into it. Though I have experienced a much older audiologist that VR was using who was just a hearing aid mill.

It sounds like your current audiologist is like my last one was. Older guy, years of experience, knows full well to listen to feedback from his clients and respond to it rather than force some bullsh** on them. Meet in the middle while applying their experience and knowledge. Those are the good ones.

I don't know your hearing history, but if you are severe/profound... I would encourage you to reconsider a CI. Obviously, there is no guarantee when it comes to music and I'm betting you are horrified at the thought. You aren't likely to be identifying pitch, but I bet you aren't doing that now. As a drummer, you'd have access to far more detail than you do now.. the first thing I noticed after being activated was how razor sharp rhythm became instead of being boomy through a hearing aid. In regards to pitch, I cannot complain as I know I have it far better than many do.

While music appreciation seems to be all over the map among implantees, most often they seem to report enjoying it more than they ever did through their hearing aids. That is definitely the case with me.

As you said, stem cell isn't likely in our lifetime. I was terrified at losing music when I was facing being implanted and I'm grateful everyday that all of the horror stories I'd heard just didn't happen to me. I regret holding on to my hearing aid as long as I did, but at the same time I did wait until the technology was available that at least put music within reach.
 
BleedingPurist said:
I don't know your hearing history, but if you are severe/profound... I would encourage you to reconsider a CI. Obviously, there is no guarantee when it comes to music and I'm betting you are horrified at the thought. You aren't likely to be identifying pitch, but I bet you aren't doing that now. As a drummer, you'd have access to far more detail than you do now.. the first thing I noticed after being activated was how razor sharp rhythm became instead of being boomy through a hearing aid. In regards to pitch, I cannot complain as I know I have it far better than many do.

While music appreciation seems to be all over the map among implantees, most often they seem to report enjoying it more than they ever did through their hearing aids. That is definitely the case with me.

As you said, stem cell isn't likely in our lifetime. I was terrified at losing music when I was facing being implanted and I'm grateful everyday that all of the horror stories I'd heard just didn't happen to me. I regret holding on to my hearing aid as long as I did, but at the same time I did wait until the technology was available that at least put music within reach.
Click to expand...

I know you have your experience with CI, but I'm afraid that my experience will not be the same, and I do very well with my hearing aids. I do understand pitch, as I can tune instruments with each other, like tuning the bass guitar strings with the piano. I can tune the pitch of my voice to my didgeridoo (one or two octaves up, and raise up a fourth or a fifth above that to get a particular sound). I can also listen to the pages on the sales floor (I work retail as a sales person and have for 9 years for this company), tell you at least half the time what was said, and if the voice is not distinctive enough to tell who it is, whether it was a man's or a woman's voice, and sometimes can always nail down whose more distinctive voice is being used.

You see, I would not be a musician if I didn't understand the amount of detail that I do with hearing aids. I LOVE music because it sounds great. When I hear singers on talent shows and if it blows me away, like Paul Potts on Nessun Dorma, I get goose bumps and want to cry, and I've seen other people have the same reaction. I can not only tell the difference between pitches, but also the timbre quality between woodwind instruments and brass instruments, even though they might be playing the same note. There's no mistaking one for the other.

As for drums, I can tell when a percussion section is not very tight together, like one or two snare drummers out of time with each other. It is one reason why I like performances like this one - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dms9lOmEMYA]Cavaliers Drum Break Finals Night - YouTube[/ame] - I can hear the clicks from the snares and the tenor drums, and I hear drums out of sync in the background from another group. Listen how CLEARLY the tenors are playing. The snares are playing as fast as 64th notes, like playing sextuplets per beat and double-stroking each stroke.

Now, let's change gears and listen to this song that always has melted me... - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQCq4_2Q94U&feature=related]OMD Hold You - YouTube[/ame]

Notice the richness of the bass line as it supports the rhythm line above it, and then add the melody above it. A beautiful song.

Now, let's go way out there away from mainstream music, two examples.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-z6G4wZOvM&feature=related]Yothu Yindi "Ghost Spirits" - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkShNhLrTgQ]aboriginal transrock - NGORUNDERI - YouTube[/ame]

The second one, Ngorunderi, is my favorite one at the moment.

This much detail is why I'm afraid to go for CI and lose it. Plus, I'm frightened off by the degree of uncertainty in the financial world (I used to do heavy underground financial research for years and am scared of losing access to surgeons under current circumstances - you'll see what I mean shortly).
 
Thanks for sharing the clips! I can hear why you like them.

All I can really say is if you ever do find yourself faced with having to do something due to losing more hearing, that you may be very surprised at what awaits you on the other side with a CI and kicking yourself for not doing it sooner. There is hope. You seem to be keeping your hearing brain going as much as possible with your aid, just as I did. That will benefit you in the long run. I understand it probably would take an additional drop in hearing that robs you of the enjoyment you have to get you to consider your options, just as it did with me.

Have you always been deaf or are you late-deafened?
 
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