Fitting Musicians with Hearing Aids
Many hearing health professionals have difficulty fitting hearing aids to musicians. One audiologist recently asked the BHI "I am just trying to find the best hearing aid or the best way to fit musicians. When I program an aid using WDRC the aid(s) make funny noises when they are playing loud instruments or singing loud. Linear works better with lots of range and a high MPO helps this issue but it isn't perfect. Just seeing if anyone else has any idea's?"
We invited Dr. Marshall Chasin, Doctor of Audiology at the Musicians Clinics of Canada to give some guidance on this issue.
This is a "front end" problem meaning that the intense components of music overdrive the A/D converter which is configured more for quieter speech than for music. Input levels in excess of about 95-100 dB SPL are not well transduced through the system and are distorted at the front end. NO AMOUNT OF SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING WILL RESOLVE THIS ISSUE (because that occurs after the distortion has already been created).
A quick test that audiologists can use is to set their "favorite" hearing aid to about 5-10 dB of gain and maximize the OSPL90 setting to full. Using any commercially available test box, generate 100 dB SPL and if there is distortion, (in excess of 10%) then it must be a front end problem with the hearing aid. This works because input (100 dB) + gain (10 dB) << OSPL90, so there should not be any saturation distortion. I published on this December 2006 (Can your hearing aid handle loud music? A quick test will tell you", Hearing Journal, December, 2006. 22-24.
If the hearing aid does distort, and it sounds like it does from the comment, then one needs to reduce the microphone sensitivity to music. I know this next point sounds odd, but I have used it on many hard of hearing musicians over the years... place 2 pieces of scotch tape over the hearing aid microphone(s) and this will "dumb" down their sensitivity by about 8-10 dB. The hearing aid will then be able to handle an additional 8-10 dB greater input without front end distortion.
There are some hearing aids that are better than others for handling intense inputs (such as music) and a full discussion of that can be found in the February 2009 issue of Hearing Review (www.hearingreview.com) where Larry Revit and I were the guest editors.
Best regards from Canada.
Marshall
Oct 27, 2010 at 8:44 AM Muscians will feel it earlier on their age as they are always listening music. Thanks for post.
Nov 12, 2010 at 3:27 PM I am a 5-string banjo player and at first my aids were adjusted on the loud side. I tried putting tape over the microphone covers but that only caused feedback. Adjusting the aids went a little better when I took my instrument in to the audiologist, but I still miss some of the high frequency overtones that help make the banjo sound. Inorder to stop the distortion noise they had to be adjusted back- thus I can no longer hear the ticking of a clock or cricket chirps and the banjo sounds like its sound is missing 10-15% of its components. I wish that there were better graphic illustrations of sound curves etc., when visiting an audiologist- the technical lanquage of audiology is something that most of us have not learned and most of the audiologists I have visited simply do not have much experience with musicians and musical instruments.
May 11, 2011 at 11:11 PM Good covered point, lots of people simply put something weired theories in front of public.
But it doesnt work i think because know one sure how it will going to happen
It looks like just coping ideas which someone has already written. I found even on popular blogs guest bloggers bring same theories which I already know. I observed they just try to spice up their article without knowing what really audience want to read.
Jun 17, 2011 at 10:14 AM I am a musician, who has his own digital audio studio, who has been self programming for years. The problems with fitting for musicians are numerous. Starting from the easiest to fix- turn off all sound processing- feedback control, speech enhancements, microphone switchers. Reduce compression time to as fast as possible. Raise the limiting and upper compression up as high as possible without risking hearing damage. Forget about what you were taught about setting the EQ curve- the "standard" is to set the EQ for speech recognition, which means boosting and compressing the voice frequencies. This wrecks music fidelity. For music, the EQ curve should be a smooth rise from the low end, with care taken at 750, 1.5K and 3K. Venting greatly affects the low end. I prefer sealed, but that introduces occlusion. For music, hearing aids need a larger chamber (distance) between the eardrum and the aid.
Until hearing aids are designed for fidelity, which means changing the EQ points, etc., they will never be what they should be- sound amplification devices. Above all do not trust a hearing aid manufacturer when they say their aids are great for music. In my opinion, all of them are simply variations on the same problems with different band aids. Some will work better than others, but it is a matter of trial and error. But for now-----
Fitters MUST use a hearing aid testing device (like a Fonix), in conjunction with the HA software so they can see in real time, what the adjustments are actually doing. And do not even think about using computer size speakers as a sound source - you are just causing problems. Get a real sound system that has enough wattage to produce real world volume levels and see how the aids perform.
The worst thing a fitter can do is to guess as an adjustment and send the musician out to a performance, "hoping" that it will work. There is no room for guesswork when fitting a musician. I know. There is nothing worse than playing to make your money, knowing your reputation and the performance depends on you hearing, and having to deal with a bad setting while you are playing, trying to figure out where the important parts in the music went to, since you can't hear them because the trumpets are now loud enough to tear your head off. The rest of the ensemble doesn't care a lick if your aids were badly adjusted. They just know that you played like crap, and the leader / musical director / conductor probably won't hire you again.
Jul 4, 2011 at 2:48 AM The accessories are priced reasonably, the beauty is you have to bother with any of the accessories if you feel the need at the time, they can be added later if you have a change of heart. Sometimes some of the manufacturers could be accused of releasing new technology just for the sake of offering new product, we think these new hearing aid accessories are well worth considering, a nice smart easy solution that is well thought out. Thanks for sharing&.
Nov 20, 2011 at 10:23 AM Its surprising...with so much Audio technology available today, there are still no hearing aids designed for musicians....
SO many companies producing music software, DAWs , synthesizers, plugins, mixers, hardware, audio interfaces, compressors etc.....and Yet no one such company has invested in developing great hearing aids for music...
and its 2011 now
Nov 28, 2011 at 6:05 AM I have read the article,and i want to say thanks to you for exceptional information.You have provided deep and easily understandable knowledge to us.
Feb 13, 2012 at 12:05 AM I will check the hearing journal article regarding imput volume and distortion. This was helpful and I hope there has been more since it was published. Thank you.
Feb 18, 2012 at 9:04 AM I'm a music psychologist in Manchester, UK working with musicians with hearing impairments and some of the biggest problems my participants encounter relate specifically to hearing aid technology. There is much more work to be done - but I think positioning music as the problem ('This is a "front end" problem') is to ignore the possibility that technology can be improved - 'necessity is the mother of invention'!
Feb 26, 2012 at 11:41 AM I am an 70 year old violinist beginning to suffer hearing loss. I do not currently wear any hearing aids. To insure proper timing of my bowing,it is imperative when playing with my orchestra that I not only hear my own instrument, merely inches from my left ear, but the whole orchestra around me. I find I often can not hear my own instrument. Is there such a device which will connect to my violin and amplify it (via a cord) to a speaker-device in my ear(s)?