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laguna21dc - Posted - 01/07/2025: 22:57:30
Just gave up setting up a banjo today because I was hearing high pitched overtones i could not explain . Finally gave up but after a while I checked my other banjos hangong on my Wall and they all had that sound. I think it is my hearing aid ? Anyone Else have this happen to them?
Edited by - laguna21dc on 01/07/2025 23:23:15
Foote - Posted - 01/07/2025: 23:53:02
For years I took my hearing aids off when playing the banjo. All banjos sounded awful through them. Last year I bought a new model with bluetooth and the ability to adjust it using an app on my phone. I now have it tuned in so that the banjo sounds ok.
glsmi - Posted - 01/08/2025: 04:29:02
Do you have a music program on your hearing aids? If you do have your provider adjust compression on them. I tried some high end hearing aids and couldn't get them dialed in. Got Philips at Costco and they were able to dial in the music program by adjusting compression. I brought my banjo in and they worked with me until I was satisfied. In the general program the banjo was distorted and I would be unable to play. Although most research is aimed at understanding language they have made strides in recent years to make them more versatile. I think I spent $1600 and it's the best money I ever spent.
writerrad - Posted - 01/08/2025: 05:50:20
Thanks for that recommendation, I also get my hearing aid at costco, both the AARP and consumer reports say that that is the best place to get them unless you have access to get them from the benefit of the Veterans Administration. There is a facebook group of musicians or pickers who have hearing loss. It is amazing how many people I personally know well whose homes I have played in etc have this. I acknowledged I needed one back when I played with our local bluegrass jam because a top flight musician picking next to be diagnosed my problems hearing a fiddler.
jack_beuthin - Posted - 01/08/2025: 08:51:09
Yes, this happens.
A few additional thoughts. First, if your hearing aids had plastic domes, make sure they are properly attached. Two, check the aids for ear wax clogs, including the domes. Clean them if necessary. Three, check the battery charge in the aids. Four, go to your audiologist/hearing aid tech for a hearing aid tune up (and take your banjo).
I was fitted with hearing aids about a year ago. The best advice I got (the audiologist knew I was a musician) was to buy the most expensive aids I could afford. Aids can be expensive, but as expense goes up, the numbers of adjustments that can be made also goes up, and for musicians that is critical. Once my music program was dialed in, my banjo and other instruments actually sounded better, and richer. I had to get used to the new sound scape, but once I did, all was well. It was money well spent. Oh, and it is critical to find an audiologist/hearing aid tech who knows how to work with musicians and can make the proper adjustments. Just like with banjos, if you have a $5k instrument that isn't set up properly, it will sound like a $50 instrument.
Here is a really informative video on adjusting hearing aids for music: youtu.be/5h_v9JBRvEw?si=B2SSq6DiqYDQm6A6
BobbyE - Posted - 01/08/2025: 08:52:54
It's the hearing aids. No telling what the banjo is actually doing. In effect, impossible to know exactly what the banjo is sounding like because of the processor in the HA. I wear HAs and have a program that lets me adjust out the highs so that it sounds better through the HAs but I do realize that what I am hearing might not be exactly what the banjo is doing. Comes with the territory of having to wear the devices.
Bobby
Old Hickory - Posted - 01/08/2025: 09:25:54
I've written at length (no surprise) several times about my hearing aids experience. I'll try not to repeat my full experience.
I've been wearing aids 8 years now. On my second pair, Costco KS10. Getting new aids at Costco, either Phillips or Jabra, this Saturday.
My banjo sounds terrible to me through hearing aids. So I usually play without them. I've created a custom listening program that reduces the high end and volume from the aids' default setting. I have below normal hearing across all frequencies, with it declining a lot as frequency increases. So I'm sure that because I play banjo for myself with either no aids or my custom "Banjo" program, I'm sure I have no idea what my banjo actually sounds like.
I'm getting new aids on the sooner side because my KS10 have the well-documented charging problem. Doing the suggested reset has helped. But once or twice a week one of the aids will fail to fully charge overnight. Also, they have developed some type of high-end noise, static, artifacts, or feedback. Don't know what to call it. But if there's wind, road noise or some other steady sound, the aids produce a hiss on top of it. I've created a listening program that cuts back the high end -- but that defeats one of the purposes of my aids.
I tested the Jabra aids at Costco last week and they sounded great. My appointment was at the end of the day and we ran out of time to test the Phillips.
- - - - -
Like Gary, I've heard noises in one banjo that I could barely get rid of. Part of it was the tailpiece. But there were non-musical sympathetic vibrations from certain high notes for which I couldn't find any source. Changing from the 70s clamshell tailpiece to a Kershner helped. But I also think in hindsight my hearing aids were maginifying whatever the sound was -- because I'm back to the clamshell with some velcro under the cover and when I play without my hearing aids it sounds fine.
glsmi - Posted - 01/08/2025: 10:16:50
Philips are pretty much the same as Oticon use some Ai
Tried Oticon audiologist couldn’t dial them but Costco did
Bart Veerman - Posted - 01/11/2025: 06:32:48
quote:
Originally posted by glsmi
Do you have a music program on your hearing aids? If you do have your provider adjust compression on them. I tried some high end hearing aids and couldn't get them dialed in. Got Philips at Costco and they were able to dial in the music program by adjusting compression. I brought my banjo in and they worked with me until I was satisfied. In the general program the banjo was distorted and I would be unable to play. Although most research is aimed at understanding language they have made strides in recent years to make them more versatile. I think I spent $1600 and it's the best money I ever spent.
Yup, always always always bring your instrument when you have you HA setup, good for you that you did!
In my case things are the other way around, I hear too much and need to plug up my ears to enjoy my banjo. My musician's ear plugs no longer cut it and need to up the audio suppression. Fortunately, solutions for this thing, hyper accousis, are a whole lot cheaper than HAs...
Edited by - Bart Veerman on 01/11/2025 06:43:31
glsmi - Posted - 01/11/2025: 06:36:16
Well it was that or quit playing : )
'Good Tuesday Morning' 2 hrs
'Kluson tuners' 9 hrs
