 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Augustus
Date: 2012-02-27 15:39
I am an 84 year old amateur who mainly plays for my own pleasure who after losing some of my hearing in the higher notes has started wearing hearing aids. I can now once again enjoy the higher notes in classical music and Swing.
However, here is my problem. My clarinet no longer sounds "stuffy" and sounds like it did 40 years ago, but, along with this I am getting additional sounds which are hard to describe. Like an "echo" or a "resonance" or "vibration" which infringes on the clarinet sound.
I have tried turning down the voume but then I loose the nice sound.
I have gone thru past threads and gotten some advice, especially suggesting getting aids that are more adjustable but I cannot afford that.
Can some of you hearing impaired seniors give me any advice that will help overcome this problem or should I just ignore it?
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Author: kimber
Date: 2012-02-27 18:42
What type earmolds are you using...are they rather solid (full eared) or the new open style where it's little more than a small tube into your ear?
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Author: bill28099
Date: 2012-02-27 19:06
Can you please tell us what kind of aids you purchased, in the ear, behind the ear, etc. If you acquired them from an audiologist he should be able to adjust them for you. If you bought direct then we need to know the model and manufacturer to be able to offer any opinion. Only an audiologist can really solve your problems.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
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Author: Augustus
Date: 2012-02-27 21:49
Thanks for the response.
The hearing aids are behind the ear with a tube into an earmold. I did get them from an audioligist.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2012-02-28 01:46
What? (just kidding....poor joke I know)
I don't use hearing aids, but have been in bands which have. One thing that might help, is if you can hear your clarinet the way OTHERS hear your clarinet. Everyone, hearing impaired or not, gets a different sense of what they hear based on the vibrations being transmitted through the skull, or what you hear upclose that may not project further away (to me, I hear a fuzziness in my playing right by the mouthpiece, however my instructor has assured me that it doesn't translate past 10 feet and it's just that the mouthpiece is so close to my ears that I hear it.)
This isn't a solution I'm offering, but more a method to see the "end result" instead of the immediate. If you can, record your playing, and play it back. Perhaps you'll be able to deal better with the echo if you realize it's not affecting your sound and that others won't be bothered by it. Maybe not, but it does help to hear it from an outside point of view.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: alto gether
Date: 2012-02-28 18:00
So here's a devil's-advocate point of view. Well, of hearing.
Hearing aids are universally made by and for non-musicians. Take them out. Buy a good mike, a small amp with good EQ, and a pair of decent headphones. The whole setup will weigh and bulk about as much as your clarinet and cost hella less. Mess with the EQ until the rest of the band sounds right, then mess with the mike position until you hear the right blend of yourself and everybody else.
After music, pack it up and put your hearing aids back in. They'll work better for walking around and conversations and hearing the garbage truck backing up at you. They just weren't optimized for music.
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Author: ellepi
Date: 2012-02-29 08:50
I have the same type of hearing aids. They are great when talking with other people, but I leave them at home when I go to rehearsals. I also take them off when practising at home.
Post Edited (2012-02-29 22:11)
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2012-02-29 13:46
I wonder if your problem is caused by the ear molds, not the hearing aids.
I use over the ear aids with buds, not molds, for conversation. But for band I use molded -15db ear plugs rather than the hearing aids. If I push the ear plugs all the way into my ear, I sometimes get an unusual response from the clarinet or sax that I play. Closing a key causes a sound that seems to travel through my head to the ear (sort of like music with percussion effect). The notes I play also sound strange to me. If I am not playing, the sounds I hear are normal (but attenuated).
I believe the sounds are transmitted from the mouthpiece through my teeth and bone. The remedy is for me to pull the ear plugs out a little bit.
You might try ear buds instead of molds and see if that helps the problem. But since you would have to go back to the audiologist to get the ear buds, why not direct your question to him or her? You may not be the first person with that problem.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2012-02-29 21:22
My 90 year old father had nothing but trouble with his hearing aids. The main problem was the small tube getting obstructed with ear wax.
Bob Draznik
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