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I don't think it is the diameter of the mic's diaphragm that is causing the frequency issue.
One can make an extremely small diaphragm that reacts to the entire sound spectrum rather well.
Think about the diameter of the ear's diaphragm, the eardrum.
There is likely something else causing the lack of frequency response in the tiny mic capsules you mention, electrical or electronic in nature, perhaps they are even being tailored intentionally for speech frequencies rather than fullrange, which would make sense.
Anyway, there exist some rather tiny mic capsules that are specified as being pretty flat across the spectrum.
One thing to consider about the hearing aid situation is feedback. The mic being in such close proximity to the output driver, I'm pretty sure that the designers must be doing something to at least minimize the resonant frequencies involved there, because of the gain factor typically needed.
I recall some older hearing aid designs that would feed back when turned up. There was an old fellow in a church I used to serve as music minister, he would sit in a pew near the front and turn his hearing aid up to hear the pastor better - and the thing would literally scream with feedback ring that he could not hear. But everybody else could...
--Mac
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Mac Actually digital hearing aids are quite amazing and carry on-board feedback control. But the greater your loss, the more gain you need and the tighter the earmold has to fit and the greater the feedback issue because of the proximity of mic and speaker. Quote:
One thing to consider about the hearing aid situation is feedback
HAids also carry T-coils which enable the sound to bypass the microphone into the aid from the headphone speakers magnetic field thus eliminating microphone feedback and background noise. But the T-coil program also needs to be setup like the audio program rather than the speech enhancement program. The only problem with the T-coil is the frequency limits of the HAid - nothing below 120 Hz which might interfere with root frequencies of some instruments - still not untweakable.
Since both of my ears have differing frequency loss, I'm wondering if I should be monitoring the backing tracks monaurally if I go with the headphones and no HAid. Rather than trying to eq each ear separately with its own eq. Theoretically would one eq unit do the job if all backing tracks are panned center in stereo, or delivered in monaural - same effect basically? A stereo signal in my case might be tougher to tweak. In mono wouldn't the weaker frequencies drop out of the equation in each ear as the monaural signal tricks the brain, and then you eq what are the stronger frequencies remaining in the monaural signal. Hard to explain this because I don't have the techno vocabulary.
Quote:
the thing would literally scream with feedback ring that he could not hear
Been there, done that. Boy when those church sounds echo around, clarity is almost impossible especially if your pastor has a "big" voice. HAids were never meant to hear from room to room, let alone in an auditorium. And if you've got your hearing aid turned that far up, you're in trouble with a sneeze or a cough "next door". 
Do you think there is more advantage to monaural or center-panned ideas, as opposed to tweak for each ear individually? Remember all of this is to provide enough melodic info to enable me to get a handle on my pitch drift and vocal control.
Thanks for the input - Ian
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Quote:
Hi Scott
My ENT specialist has no idea why that drop at 500 - makes working with root frequencies difficult - not much range available. I've had every diagnostic test plus an MRI. Only theories. May have something to do with my negligible balance capabilities . . . only about 20 % in one of the ears - trying to remember which one. About two years ago the drop to 90db occurred suddenly, almost overnight.
Dizzy for a day or two and then gone. No way to really examine the cochlea and find out what's going on.
My left ear has always been the stronger. It's better positioned frequency-wise to give me the melodic info I need for recording my voice - not very good for speech though.
I have a question about Westone ITEs- are the on-board speakers the same as Hearing Aid speakers? One or two companies make all? I'm also supposing that the ITEs carry a broader range of frequencies because, unlike HAids, their sound source is NOT a pin-head microphone. I'm also going to assume that the ITEs, unlike HAids, do not have on-board adjustable frequency chips, and that most of the frequency adjustment takes place before the sound comes to the ITEs.
I'm trying to figure out here if technically such a setup with ITEs would work for me.
My headphones are Radio Shack 15 years ago variety which cover the ear. They will have to be replaced.
Ian
Ian,
Westone does not make ITE hearing aids. They only make In-Ear-Monitors. The drivers are similar in type (balanced armature drivers) to hearing aids, but they are not the same. I know of no hearing aids, whether behind the ear, in the ear or completely in canal that use more than one driver per ear. The hearing aid companies are going for compactness first (for appearance purposes) - usually, rather than power. Keep in mind they are concerned about battery life as well. So a multi-driver setup in a hearing aid is really at cross-purposes with these other goals. Also, generally hearing aids are aimed a 'speech' region, even with all of the various programs available in digital hearing aids these days.
Our in-ear monitors are 1, 2, 3 or 5 driver arrangements with crossover networks, in either a custom fit shell, or a universal fit package with a tip fitting kit. One of the main advantages is how they seal against outside noise; I've testing my hearing thresholds without my monitors and then with my custom fit ES-5 monitors in place, and I get an average of 39 dB attenuation across the board! Now, I will say that these babies are a bit tight, but since they are custom, it's not really uncomfortable, just 'different'. That attenuation allows me to play the levels out of them quite low. Also, since they are crossed over, with each driver getting a specific range, we can optimize balance and power just as you do with a traditional hi-fi speaker setup.
Our 5-driver monitors are not '5-way'. They are in fact 3 way, but some of the drivers are arranged in a fashion similar to some subwoofer designs, where one uses two drivers to push the same airspace out of a port.
I should ask - do you have custom fit earpieces for your BTE's? If not, that is one place to start to get more bass extension out of hearing aids in general. The dome-tips that come standard with BTE aids really don't seal very well for most people. Your hearing loss would be considered somewhat profound and one way to make the HA more efficient is with a custom fit earpiece. I've watched patients eyes light up with their increased output of their Hearing Aids when they went from dome tips to a custom fit earpiece. Most recently with someone wearing Phonak BTEs with slim-tube dome tip earpieces.
Best wishes in your endeavor. I'll try to keep you posted with any developments that we spoke of back several months ago.
-Scott
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Ian,
Reading the 2nd half of this post are some questions I didn't answer.
Our in-ear-monitors are simply very very very nice and efficient passive headphones, that are in-the-ear rather than over-the-ear. All frequency and gain adjustments occur before the monitors, as you suspected.
You should be able to get more gain into our IEMs with an external amp, with more frequency range efficient drivers in our IEMs, than with hearing aids. You will also be in control of all of the compression that occurs. Hearing aids have lots of compression algorithms that you may or may not be able to disable, that can be problematic at times for your purposes; even with the 'music' program that you might have available in the hearing aid.
-Scott
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Scott
What is the frequency range of the IEMs? For the average hearing person what are the lowest frequencies heard clearly through the small speakers in the IEMs. Given the wave length of below 80 hz, are you really hearing 80 or one of the harmonics an octave or two up. I have read that boosting a bass voice in the 300 range instead of the root makes for a better bass sound.
Do you know of any home studio rig that gives the volume output in dbs. This of course to protect what remains of my hearing when I start to level the presence of the varying frequencies. Really don't want peaks any higher than 115 db coming down the IEMs or headphone lines. Would probably need a cutoff limiter on the output line.
Ian
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dB is a relative measurement and MUST be accompanied by the reference to be of any real value.
However, most all software have the VUs listed in dB, referenced to the 0dB digital fullscale point. How that translates to actual Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) is another matter entirely.
I would think that you would want to look at SPLs here, A-Weighted. This may be given in a dB scale, referenced to something, either Watts, milliWatts, Volts, something like that. --And at a specified distance from the driver as well.
--Mac
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Ian,
Our various IEMS have output in the 114 to 124 dB SPL/mW sensitivity range.
Frequency ranges vary slightly, with the lowest down to 8 Hz, upper range up to 20 kHz.
Now, these are tested in a rig designed for hearing-aid/IEM test rig, where the ear canal is simulated by a 2cc coupler to approximate ear canal acoustics when the canal volume is somewhat taken up by a hearing aid or IEM.
I would suggest a hardware limiter on the output before going to the IEMs, giving you some control of what the IEMs experience for signal level.
-Scott
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