Hearing aids for audiophiles?


Is there such a thing? I have hesitated getting them for music listening reasons. I manage ok in everyday situations but I know outside of listening to music they would benefit me. I have, in my opinion, a beautiful system that I throughly enjoy.  Sure I could get the aids for day to day hearing other than music but taking them out for music I fear would provide un enjoyable results.

What are your thoughts and experiences 
128x128pkvintage

Showing 2 responses by 4krowme

Oh lucky me, I get to share my experience about something that I had hoped never to need. Ok, so I have had a set of hearing aids for about 5 weeks now. In short, I call them noise amplifiers. That is just for daily life. I can hear all the noise that the world has to offer in living color. But yes, let's talk about music. I remember Virgil Fox, world re-known organist, saying that an electronic organ can be a good representation of a Great sound. That is as close as I would compare the hearing aid debate. Yes, in fact, I can now hear some of what I was missing, and yes I do appreciate that much. The Widex aids that I have can be programmed for music listening, and that seems to be at least an attempt from the manufacturer to compensate in a way. But here is the result so far. My ears still know the difference between the music coming from the speakers and what is being reproduced through the hearing aid. So far, as I am experimenting with these noise amplifiers, I have found it best to use them set at the lowest possible volume while I listen. Further, I find that they are susceptible to head position in relation to the couch that I am sitting on. It doesn't help that this a leather couch, and reflects sound more than I care for from behind. Third, I find it to be important that you remove your glasses while listening so that they have no interference with the mic's that the aids use. Normally this would not be as much of a consideration, but in this case it certainly is. Of course, the amount of deafness that you have will be one of the greatest factors of success with the aids to begin with. Lastly, there really is a right volume for music to begin with and this is exacerbated with the hearing aids. They don't do dynamics perfectly, and loud music makes that fact even worse.
I appreciate the responses here, and also hope for better in the future. Having said that, about 13 years ago, I bought a set that I ended up abandoning. They were the latest thing (Starky 'hearing stick' model) with the digital circuitry and all. $4,500... no go. Last month, I spent  $6,400 on the Widex top of the line, and even though I am not having the best results so far, I am convinced that they can do better with the applied app for music. It is a trial and error situation, and let's face it, the manufacturer is trending towards speech not music. There may be a work around to some degree, but it takes more than this to fool the auditory system that we were born with.