Hearing was: My ETD.........blah blah

[Joseph Garrett]

Joey said: "I've been watching this discussion on hearing; hearing aids and ear plugs
with great interest for the past week. I just returned from Iraq, had a
hearing test about two weeks ago and it's been found that I've suffered
"Moderate to severe" hearing loss in both ears in addition to tinnitus due
to noise exposure. (I'm a 20 year veteran of the Infantry). I've been
tuning for about 3 years now and was very scared that this would drastically
alter my retirement plans. I've been tuning for the past month since I
returned home, though and haven't really noticed any detioration in my
abiltity to hear the partials and beats and tune a piano. I was a bit
nervous when I read the thread about how I would do in 'voicing', but that
remains to be seen. Today I went to see a military audiologist and got
fitted for hearing aids. While I was there I asked to be fitted for custom
musician's earplugs. Although the military would not provide them free of
charge, the price was very reasonable and I'll get both the hearing aids and
plugs in about a week. I'm really anxious to try tuning while wearing both
to see if it makes a difference in what I hear.

Does any of our hearing aid wearing tuners on the list get strange looks
from customers when they notice you wear hearing aids. I know they already
comment sometimes that they expected me to be blind... But I don't know if
they are ready for me to be deaf! <grin> Seriously, does this seem to
affect anyone's opinion of your capabilities?"

Joey,
First of all: Thank You for putting your butt on the line for US!

Now to the other stuff. I think you need to go back to your Audiologist and have your hearing aids be fitted with "suppressor circuits". The Plugs will not be of any aid to you. (Pun intended, but not.<G>) I have this set up and it does several things. First, it limits the amount of sound pressure that my ears are exposed to. Second, because the Aids are a "sealed" fit, no extemporaneous noise gets past them, thus saving what hearing I have and allows me to Focus. The aids will need to be "tweaked" for proper E.Q. so that they do not give you "false" overtone balance. (hard to describe, but you'll know what I'm talking about when it occurs. Hearing aids are completely dependent on the E.Q., so your Audiologist must be willing to work with you on this. (It's not a "set it and forget it sort of thing"!) If your Audiologist doesn't understand what I'm talking about, have him contact mine: Jay Thurmann, Portland, Oregon. He's one of the best in the country. 
Best Regards,

Joe Garrett, R.P.T. (Oregon)
Captain, Tool Police
Squares R I
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