
Listening to music with hearing aids - veb
http://spottedsun.com/listening-to-music-with-hearing-aids/
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metastew
I have a cochlear implant and I've had several of these audio induction loop
tidbits for my CI processor (hearing aid) for years. In my opinion, the wire
is a PITA and attracts a lot of attention.

This spring, Advanced Bionics is coming out with a bluetooth-enabled CI
processor so that I finally can be able to listen to music on my smartphone
via bluetooth without having to deal with wires. I've already got the money
waiting to reserve myself one of these processors.

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mvleming
Is it called a Cochlear Implant when Advanced Bionics makes it? Do you know if
Cochlear is going to release a processor that's bluetooth-enabled?

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ricardobeat
Hmm, that's a dick move. They were called _cochlear implants_ before a company
decided to call themselves "Cochlear".

Just in case: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlea>

~~~
mvleming
I know there's a part in the ear called the cochlea but I thought the company
just added the letter r to the word and made that their name; I didn't know
the word existed before the company. Thanks!

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cmadan
Telecoil is great, but it doesn't really compare to a $400 pair of headphones.
I have this one [http://eu.akg.com/quincy-jones-eu/brand_akg/akg-
headphones/q...](http://eu.akg.com/quincy-jones-eu/brand_akg/akg-
headphones/quincy-jones-signature-line.html). I put them over my hearing aids
and listening to music is awesome.

I am not sure whether it is due to any technological limitations in Telecoil
or a $400 Telecoil would work as good as this, but I'll be sticking with my
headphones for now. :)

Another alternative is to get top of the line hearing aids and pair them up
with an FM transmitter (I have a Nadia and a Smartlink+
[http://www.phonak.com/com/b2c/en/products/fm/transmitters.ht...](http://www.phonak.com/com/b2c/en/products/fm/transmitters.html)).
Once again, average sound quality for music but you can pair the transmitter
to your phone using Bluebooth. True handsfree.

~~~
gwern
When I've used my hearing aids with phones, I've always had the impression
that the audio quality is pretty bad. Telecoils apparently go back to 1947,
and so it wouldn't surprise me if they were relatively poor quality either for
efficiency or simply because it was the state-of-the-art back then (or the
quality was limited by some other system - why have higher quality than a
telephone can deliver?).

~~~
cmadan
Yeah, they're great for telephones but there is too much ambient noise around
them for them to make listening to music fun for me.

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tunesmith
My problem is that my conductive hearing is crap but my nerve hearing is
great. Doctor and audiologist recommend putting a screw into my skull to
attach one of those bulky bone-conductive hearing aids so I hear everything
through the nerves. I don't like the idea because they are big and apparently
not shrinkable, and because they basically make everything mono. Not sure if
there's other tech that is a better alternative?

~~~
phil_s_stein
I have two BAHAs (bone-assisted hearing aids). Up until a few months ago, I
had only one and yes - stereo hearing was not great, but hearing well in mono
was better than not hearing well in stereo. I now have one on each side and do
have some stereo hearing now.

As far as "bigness" I guess you just have to weigh the ability to hear verses
vanity and getting a few stares now and then.

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phil_s_stein
I've had hearing aids for 20+ years. I occasionally try the tele-coil in
locations that have them. I am always disappointed; the quality is just not
there. It sounds (haha) like the OP didn't have a very good audiologist, one
that did not go through the full range of options with him.

It's also possible that my loss is not severe enough to be satisfied with the
tinny tele-coil quality.

I believe the tele-coil technology was developed to enable the use of phones
with hearing aids. The aid, when used with an old-style phone held in a normal
position, is close enough to pick up the magnetic field directly from the
handset speaker. Not very useful for today's phones though.

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captdeaf
Just like mvleming, I use a bilateral personal audio cable that jacks into my
processors directly.

There are two major things wrong with the post:

1) "Nobody else can hear it" - Well, no, when I was listening to music with my
hearing aids (Before I got my implants), well, even the best seal on 130db
music can't prevent some of it leaking out of your ear and annoying your
coworkers.

2) Induction loops are extremely prone to interference. There are many
buildings in which Telecoil mode gets you really raw static noise. On
airplanes, it's intolerably loud - you can't use induction loops on airplanes.
At all.

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sswaner
I've had a double stapedectomy (replacing the stapes bone with a metal
prosthesis) and I can't tell the difference between a $400 pair of headphones
versus $100, but I can tell a difference on the low end. As my hearing is
likely to degrade, this will be of interest when need to get hearing aids.

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iharris
An honest question: I've always referred to this condition as being "hard of
hearing" but the author implies that it's impolite to call it as such. Is
there a better term that we should be using?

~~~
veb
That's probably a safe bet.

It's just stupid though. Some people get offended by (for example) "hearing
impairment" because... it's implying they have an impairment. You _do_ have an
impairment, jeez.

It's different in groups too. I believe if you're profoundly deaf, and you
sign and actively involved in the "deaf community", you're Deaf. If you're
not, you're deaf. Maybe I have that backwards, but I don't really care.

~~~
rhubarbcustard
Easy to knock it if you aren't living with it.

~~~
veb
What? I am. I'm the author of the post.

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Jemaclus
My hearing aid has a bluetooth gizmo. Similar, but probably way better
quality.

