Just bought the most expensive audio gear I've ever owned...
Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:29 pm
Hello everyone
This post is not meant to be clickbait, but I hope that those of us who do on occasion deal with loud sounds will read it and consider their ears more in future. For the past four - five years I've been having problems hearing people when they've been talking to me - colleagues, my students, my family, and I've been putting it down to the fact that everyone mumbles so much these days and nobody speaks clearly anymore... and this was I admit something of a bravado front; both my parents are deaf and I didn't want to consider that I had finally inherited the dodgy genetics that causes this problem. I did go for some hearing tests provided by the UK's National Health Service, but each time I passed them without any problems and was told my hearing was normal. I've managed fairly well with my hearing over the past year; COVID has meant all my classes were taught online so with headphones on at a suitably loud volume I could hear everyone really well again (about the only good thing to happen in that year) but as soon as I took the headphones off my wife and son's voices became really hard to hear... and finally we returned to face to face teaching in September, and I could not hear my students in class unless they were shouting at me... I realised I had to admit the issue was me and not everyone else.
So that leads me to the above picture. After being tested by a private audiologist I discovered that I have a -20dB loss in both ears from 4-8KHz, and then a sharp drop from 8KHz to 13KHz that ends in no hearing at all (with some bonus low end loss as well, thankfully only 3 -6dB). I really didn't expect things to be that bad (and I'm still rather angry that our health service classes this as normal hearing, apparently I'd need to be a lot worse off to qualify for free hearing aids). So I've bought the above audio gear... they cost more than most cars I've owned (not that I have expensive tastes in cars!) and come to more than I've spent on anything audio based (guitars, effects, amps, cables, DI boxes etc) combined in the past five years. I'm not saying this to boast, but to warn you - losing your hearing is incredibly expensive. I've had to shelve plans for buying anything new for the considerable future.
My hearing loss is not from listening to loud music at gigs (I've not been to many of those in the past 15 years) but sadly from genetics; both my parents started to lose their hearing in their twenties and thirties, and I thought that getting towards 50 and not having any problems meant I'd cheated that crap bit of genetics, but sadly not. Apparently by wearing hearing aids all day I can stimulate the auditory nerves in my ears to hear things and actually carry on working, which will prolong my hearing and slow the decline (which is a good thought; neither of my parents have ever heard the music my son and I make because they can't hear... which might be a bonus for them, I doubt they'd enjoy it!) and enable me to keep creating sounds and being a creative person!
So this all sounds very miserable so far... but there is some good news. The hearing aids are incredible - suddenly I can hear people speaking to me again (even in noisy environments) - they have noise reduction functions to cancel out background sound, different settings for voice or music, and they weigh nothing and are practically invisible while I'm wearing them (not that I'm vain, but I remember the ever increasing in size devices my parents have worn in the past... and they weren't exactly beautiful things!). They are bluetooth, so when driving I can hear google maps telling me directions over the top of any music being played in the car, and when someone rings my mobile their voice goes straight to both ears which is kind of odd (they sound like they are inside my skull!) but it's so clear, and I've been listening to CDs I've bought in the past five years and have heard whole instruments in some tracks that I didn't even know were there! So there you have it; no need to feel sorry for me, I'm so glad I own (and could buy) these devices, but please do look after your ears - so you can spend that money on GAS instead of hearing aids!
The slight downside is I'm now hearing even more accidents in my own recordings! I didn't realise just how often I fret buzz or don't hit a note quite right and slightly deaden it... ouch... my playing is a lot worse than I thought it was... but at least I can do something about that!
I was hoping you'd bought a really nice mandocello. 
