David de Groot1d ago

I am taking part in a hearing study at work aimed at people who test as being able to hear fine, but still have trouble in crowded or noisy environments. For the past two weeks I've been taking samples of said environments and reporting back on how well I can follow a conversation.

Today, we're on to stage two, whereby I have hearing aides now for 2 to 4 weeks, and report back in the same type of environments.

So far, I've determined that the world is in fact, quite noisy. (when putting these on, I could hear my hair (or more accurately the aides brushing against my hair). In the office, I could hear the a/c vents (which are usually background noise that I just ignore). At home, the birds are somewhat louder (and so is that NAS doing a sync). And don't even get me started on the Corellas on the way to the carpark.

Show threadWonderdog 🏳️‍🌈1d ago
@david Are you asking yourself "Is this what everyone else hears?" (I have moderate hearing loss and a delay processing thing in noisy situations, so I am ok in quiet environments but awful in crowds.) The study sounds (oops) fascinating, will you get to know the results?
Show threadDavid de Groot1d ago

@caity Kinda. Although I realise that these things do amplify some frequencies and my last hearing test was age-appropriate loss (i.e. not a lot).

As for the results, I hope so.

Show threadMichael Strasser

@david I am trialling hearing aids because of age-typical hearing loss (higher frequencies) and likewise considering the concept of normal hearing. (@peterwyrm and I talked about it at some length during dinner last week.)

I describe the sensation as like watching a movie with exaggerated Foley effects.

So far I am mostly picking up conversations better (also live theatre dialogue) but having mixed success with listening to live orchestral and choral music. I turn them off when rehearsing and performing because I find some exaggerations annoying.
@caity

Mar 24 at 11:13amWeb
Show threadDavid de Groot1d ago
@pharsicle @peterwyrm @caity Yes definitely the brighter sounds are VERY bright in these ones as they're setup for this trial. So certain bird noises are somewhat louder and clearer than usual. Water splashing, paper crackling, etc all stand out.
Show threadMichael Strasser1d ago
@david My birdwatching is richer when I can hear calls better but sometimes in the kitchen I have to turn the volume down because clattering plate etc noise hurts at the programmed volume. @peterwyrm @caity