I’ll preface this by saying I have no musical gift and I have little sense of pitch. I do however derive pleasure playing my classical guitar. I’ve noticed if I play without my hearing aids, the guitar sounds very rich and full, but does not have any brightness. I’ve also noticed that if I play with my hearing aids that it sounds less rich and is on the harsh side. This is likely not surprising if one looks at my audogram’s steeply sloping loss.
However today I experimented with turning the volume down several notches on my hearing aids and was pleasantly surprised. The richness was maintained but the harshness went away, but some brightness remains. Added benefit, I don’t notice the many squeaks and buzzes I hear with hearing aids at full volume.
I mention this as a possible intervention for those that are looking for ideas to improve how music sounds to them. There’s a tendency to have all or nothing thinking. (Hearing adds on or off) but I was pleasantly surprised by how things sounded with this compromise.
You should have a dedicated Music Program added to further enhance the sound.
Don’t rely on the Autosense music, because it is Non-sense!
This is very helpful. Can you say more about what a dedicated music program is? With Phonak L90-R there are multiple “programs,” that allow the user to make lots of adjustments to them–but their streaming program takes over when streaming, and it provides nearly zero means of adjustment. Are you referring to something other than this kind of thing?
Yes, the OP is referring to live music vs streaming music.
I don’t have Phonak, but as far as I know, you can have your audi program your Streaming Media Sound Program separately from your Media Speech Program.
.
@MDB @flashb1024 @user669
I fully agree with the OP.
And indeed the Auto Sense is in many occasions Non Sense in case of listening to music.
In many cases it does not recognize me playing an instrument as music (although I am a skilled classical musician/ player). I wear the Phonak’s Virto P90 312 and the older Phonak M90 312’s.
Having the musical program and setting down the volume instead of screwing this up helps a lot.
Without the special musical program you will be out of tune as the compression wil compress the pitch. Furthermore other digital automatic HA corrections will also dearange musical characteristics.
Of course you can program something yourself without the digital compensations in case you are a DIY or let it be done by your Audi if he/she is more skilled.
Listening to streamed music also gives good results if the settings are programmed well.
Just to clarify. I am not using a dedicated music program and am perfectly happy with just turning down the gain a few notches when I play. I actually don’t mind how my guitar sounds at default volume, but it sounds better with the gain knocked down a few notches. As mentioned earlier I don’t claim any musical sophistication. For those out there who are music connoisseurs, by all means get a dedicated music program, but if you’re not, you might consider simpler changes.
again, this topic comes up. I can never recall the name of the pdf that I and others have posted on this forum a dozen times that instructs audis how to program aids for musicians. Is there a way to have these very useful pdfs pinned somehow so that it would be easy to refer folks to that link? using the search tool is too time consuming and yields mixed results. This comes up three or four times a month. plus it’s tiring to explain it all over and over again.
I find it easier to just do a Google Search. Note: I was not asking for help. I was just sharing an observation.
With your aids on the upper frequencies are pushed due to your hearing loss. This drives the sound to be tinny and less rich. Lowering the volume on your aids would richen the sound as you have said.
Helpful information, thanks.
I’m glad that turning down the volume is sufficient for your needs.
I’m a classical guitarist and also frequent the adultmusicianswithhearingloss site. Universally, musicians there have a dedicated music program that’s been tweaked by their audi. Speaking personally, this last has made a world of difference for me. Of course, we’re all unique! still, one can create a dedicated musician program in a matter of minutes and then undo it if you don’t like it. Nothing to lose.
I don’t mean this to be annoying advice that you never asked for. It’s meant merely for information for others reading this.
There are downsides to wasting time on something one knows one doesn’t want. When I first got hearing aids (Rexton KS7), they had the potential for 3 different music programs (listening to live music, performing live music and listening to streamed music) I had all 3 initially and realized they didn’t do a thing for me. I have advised many people on the forum who had issues with music to get a special music program set up.
May I ask you how you used compression in this dedicated music program? Compression has been my biggest nightmare when tweaking hearing aids for music: too much and my guitars sound awful; too little and I get listening fatigue after about half an hour’s worth of playing.
turn compression OFF for a musician program. My Signias came with a dedicated musician program that lowered compression. It simply didn’t work. I had my audi turn it OFF as well as some other programs (wind etc). Now they’re very very good for me while playing classical guitar.
It often happens that audis are resistant to doing what’s required to fit a good musician program. I sent in the pdf put out by a very reputable institute that has instructions for audis. That got her attention and help.
AFAIK Oticon does not have a “compression ON/OFF” option, like Phonak does. In this case, a linear compression scheme has to be set manually, which is not a problem I suppose. The real issue is that it has been hard to find a balance between resonance/volume and physical comfort. When compression is “off” and the guitar is loud enough so I can actually enjoy it, I feel fatigued after some time playing. I don’t get this discomfort when there is a bit of compression, but the guitars just don’t resonate the same way.
Yes, I hear (pardon the pun) what you’re saying - I also found that turning the volume down significantly improved the enjoyment I derive from playing guitar. As hard-of-hearing people, we have to live with a much-reduced dynamic range, so hearing the dog breathing and the clock ticking while I’m trying to play is annoying and distracting. I tune my own HA, so imade a program with no noise reduction, a lot more bass (125 - 400Hz), and reduced output. Now my guitar sounds smooth and sweet, just as I remember it to be!
It sounds like your issues are with dynamic range limitations. It sounds like you just don’t tolerate louder noises. I thought maybe the issue was your hearing aids as some don’t deal well with an extended dynamic range, but your Oticon More’s shouldn’t have an issue.
I don’t have anything to suggest other than trial and error. Maybe just a dab of compression and just a touch less gain than seems optimal.
Thanks, MDB. I have to accept that you might be right about my intolerance to loud noises… and learn to enjoy my guitars a tad quieter or with some compression. I’m gonna pick the lesser evil 
Use the Marshall Chasin hack:
Layer scotch tape over the mic.
It’s worth a try.
I think that’s for a different issue. I think that’s for when the hearing aid microphones have a smaller dynamic range and distort when they get loud noises. The tape dampens the sound to a lower level and eliminates the distortion. The Oticon Mores don’t have that problem as their microphones have a wider dynamic range.
you are absolutely right.
My only reason for the suggestion, was because @e1405 seems to be sensitive to high energy peaks.