Anyone ever have had their hearing checked?

Rocker

I have an appointment with an audiologist early November. My hearing is a bit muffled....

Anyone here that has gone through this experience? What happens during the test? Etc.

Thanks.

rivercider

I've had some.  After blasting a Yamaha THR (of all things!) through some headphones when I first got it in 2015 I developed raging tinnitus which has been with me 24/7 ever since.  Pretty horrible. 
Anyway, you'll sit with a mouse/trigger device which you will press repeatedly when you hear tones through the headphones they give you. Doubtless there are various tests for different areas of hearing, though, mine was to see which frequency ranges are present/absent since tinnitus set in. 

DulcetJones

I've had a few hearing tests, the most recent about 5 years ago, it was more high tech than earlier tests.    For this one they put big over ear headphones on me and seated me inside a small soundproof booth.  There was a small console with a button for left and a button for right.  They played  a sound that only appeared in one side and I had to press the button for that side.  The sounds were electronic and ranged all over the frequency spectrum.  They varied in volume but were never really loud, but they did get really quiet at times.  My test showed that I had lost some hearing in both ears but not much.  My right ear was worse than my left.  Previous tests didn't have the booth and I had to sit across from the person conducting the test and hold up a finger on the hand for the side I thought the sound was in.  All quite painless. 

sweepy

I have mine checked every year as part of my Company,s Occupational Health regime. It’s fascinating to see changes in your hearing over the years, thankfully mine is pretty unchanged ove the past 30 years, although I always wear ear protection and Eytmotic plugs at gigs 

blobb

I've done the occ health / soundproof box / buttons thing. To be honest I can't really see how it gives accurate results. I just kept pushing the buttons. Try to be as honest as you can. The best gauge I have is other people hearing distant Sirens etc, when I can't - so I know I'm not 100% but that's probably about as accurate as it gets.

ThorpyFX

Rocker said:

I have an appointment with an audiologist early November. My hearing is a bit muffled....

Anyone here that has gone through this experience? What happens during the test? Etc.

Thanks.

I have had mine tested every year for the last 20 Years. You sit in a booth and they put some headphones on you. then they play a series of beeps in your left ear, you press the plunger when you hear the beep. this then changes frequency and volume until it reaches the point where you cant hear it. The test is repeated on the right ear. The readout you gain is a volume and frequency response curve for each ear.

the hardest thing is not having your breathing noise mask the beeps.

BigLicks67

Yes once, my experience is similar to ThorpyFX and Dulcet Jones, i.e. big headphones and beeps.

Rocker

Had my hearing checked yesterday. Along the lines of the experiences of others who responded. The result was interesting. Both ears are similarly affected, normal up to 1.5 Kz but way down for higher frequencies. The audiologist recommend a pair of hearing aids. Hearing aids will not restore my hearing to what it was but they will improve the quality of my life. Cost of these devices is not insignificant, a cool €3.8K for the pair. Unlike a lot of the branded hearing aids: Specsavers, Hidden Hearing, Crystal Hearing etc, the devices offered are adjustable (volume and frequency boost/cut) by software on my smartphone. They can also receive music from my phone via Bluetooth and ditto sound from the TV. Impressive but with a high purchase price. No decision made yet but slightly leaning towards their purchase.

Apart from that, the audiologist strongly recommend the use of earplugs when playing amplified music. She recommended custom fitted earplugs but suggested I try a pair of ER15 or ER25 from Boots. To see the effect and to gauge my requirements before committing to purchasing custom fitted earplugs.

Definitely need a few weeks to mull it over but I will try the earplugs as suggested.

rustneversleeps

What ?.......

ThorpyFX

Rocker said:

Had my hearing checked yesterday. Along the lines of the experiences of others who responded. The result was interesting. Both ears are similarly affected, normal up to 1.5 Kz but way down for higher frequencies. The audiologist recommend a pair of hearing aids. Hearing aids will not restore my hearing to what it was but they will improve the quality of my life. Cost of these devices is not insignificant, a cool €3.8K for the pair. Unlike a lot of the branded hearing aids: Specsavers, Hidden Hearing, Crystal Hearing etc, the devices offered are adjustable (volume and frequency boost/cut) by software on my smartphone. They can also receive music from my phone via Bluetooth and ditto sound from the TV. Impressive but with a high purchase price. No decision made yet but slightly leaning towards their purchase.

Apart from that, the audiologist strongly recommend the use of earplugs when playing amplified music. She recommended custom fitted earplugs but suggested I try a pair of ER15 or ER25 from Boots. To see the effect and to gauge my requirements before committing to purchasing custom fitted earplugs.

Definitely need a few weeks to mull it over but I will try the earplugs as suggested.

My uncle uses these hearing aids, they were life changing for him and allowed him to enjoy live music again. His can also compensate for wind, crowd noise etc within presets on the phone.

Rocker

Thanks for your contribution @ThorpyFX ;

Roger

I get my ears cleaned out most weekends by our drummers China cymbal so that helps! What?! About quarter past 3!!

Exorcist

I've had quite a few, I have brutal tinnitus these days and went through a phase of trying to get help (I pretty much lost my mind for a while), which involved various hearing tests - interestingly, on the NHS the booth, although quiet, still had some ambient sounds of the hospital machines and such, although I didn't really notice at the time. When I had the same test at a private clinic, the booth was DEAD quiet, and I was amazed how much difference it made. The NHS one told me I had hearing loss at certain frequencies, where as the private one said my hearing was pretty spot on.  

rustneversleeps

What???????????????????????

Phil_aka_Pip

Headphones, beeps at random intervals of varying loudness and frequency. They give you a button clicker for you to press when you hear something - and their equipment can tell which beeps you didn't press for 'cos you didn't hear them.

I went a long time ago, and the conversation afterwards went (paraphrased)

Them: Your hearing is f__ked
Me: Can you do anything about it?
Them: No, but would you like to come back for another test in a years time?
Me: What's the point?

Lestratcaster

I haven't but would be interested in having it checked, I think my hearing's better than most people who seem to be deaf most of the time I talk, either that or I don't talk loud enough!

thing

I had mine checked a couple of months ago. I have high frequency noise related loss, not surprisingly! She gave me a pair of 3K hearing aids to try around town for half an hour and the difference was remarkable, it was like someone had taken cotton wool out of my head. However I like not to hear what people are saying sometimes and I would rather spend 3K on something useful so I'll give them a miss. I often wonder what my amp settings sound like to people without hearing loss though.

Rocker

Off to the audiologist again tomorrow for fitting of a pair of hearing aids.  Hearing aids do not give back your hearing, that is gone for good, but they help you to hear better.  So the audiologist told me.  I shall see.  I may not like the change, after all I have become used to limited hearing especially since the late 1980s.  I will report back on progress.  Or whatever.

thisisguitar

Rocker said:

Had my hearing checked yesterday. Along the lines of the experiences of others who responded. The result was interesting. Both ears are similarly affected, normal up to 1.5 Kz but way down for higher frequencies. The audiologist recommend a pair of hearing aids. Hearing aids will not restore my hearing to what it was but they will improve the quality of my life. Cost of these devices is not insignificant, a cool €3.8K for the pair. Unlike a lot of the branded hearing aids: Specsavers, Hidden Hearing, Crystal Hearing etc, the devices offered are adjustable (volume and frequency boost/cut) by software on my smartphone. They can also receive music from my phone via Bluetooth and ditto sound from the TV. Impressive but with a high purchase price. No decision made yet but slightly leaning towards their purchase.

Apart from that, the audiologist strongly recommend the use of earplugs when playing amplified music. She recommended custom fitted earplugs but suggested I try a pair of ER15 or ER25 from Boots. To see the effect and to gauge my requirements before committing to purchasing custom fitted earplugs.

Definitely need a few weeks to mull it over but I will try the earplugs as suggested.

ACS will let you swap the filters in their plugs if you find they aren't the right cut for you. They pop in and out, so you could have different strengths for rehearsal vs gigs etc. I'm basing this on when I got mine fitted about three years ago.

Phil_aka_Pip

thing said:

I often wonder what my amp settings sound like to people without hearing loss though.

If my experience is anything to go by, your amp setting will sound trebly and shrill, because you turned up the treble as you can't hear it

Rocker

@thisisguitar, thanks for your input, who are ACS?