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Hi all! This post is a bit pre-emptive as I don’t yet use hearing aids, but my hearing is deteriorating. It has caused me to think what it will be like when I reach that stage when my partner ‘strongly encourages’ me to get them after being repeatedly asked to repeat herself.

Now that songwriting and home recording is an all-consuming hobby, what is it like to record and mix with poor hearing or while wearing hearing aids, or do you pull them out while doing it? I’d love to hear from anyone that has navigated this transition, what your experiences were, and what recommendations you would have. I do a lot of headphone mixing, so considering open back headphones to reduce ear fatigue.

I feel my hearing is worse in my left ear. Is there any tech that helps compensate for this when mixing etc., or is it a case of being more visually attentive to meters when mixing?

Thanks in advance for any comments. EDIT: DrDan let me know this topic has already been discussed, so I have included the URL here to that thread: General Discussion > Off Topic > 850344

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Last edited by Andrew Dee; 08/12/25 09:45 PM.
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Been there and done that. It is a long dark journey and hearing only tends to deteriorate with age. The hearing aids will help with those conversations you still need to have until you don't need to have them any longer. But as far as music mixing I have nothing good to tell you. You really can mix only what you hear. I never heard of viewing the meters as a substitute. At the end the volume knob will be your best friend in mixing. Sorry for the gloom and doom prediction. I am going through something at this time. cry

Do a search for key words in the forums here. This topic has been dicussed at some length in the past year.


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I use hearing aids. I'm sure you know that your technician will 'tune' the balance and frequency response curve to your needs. I bought a type that allows separate left/right volume adjustments, since (as I assume is common) one ear has considerably worse hearing than the other. To explain, I am aware of another style of hearing aids where you tap one ear to increase the volume, or the other ear to decrease the volume, but BOTH ears are affected. This would not work for me.

I do not and would not mix with headphones. I only use them as one way of checking a mix. Wearing hearing aids doesn't present any problem when listening through closed headphones; just watch your gain. I used to love open headphones (unless tracking) but find the pads rubbing against the hearing aid (mine are over the ear, not in-ear) makes a bit of noise with any motion.

For live performances, since I play horns, I remove the hearing aid from the better ear, so I can better hear the ambience of how I sound in the room or hall.

I don't know if any of that helped you, but good luck.


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Originally Posted by DrDan
Been there and done that. It is a long dark journey and hearing only tends to deteriorate with age. The hearing aids will help with those conversations you still need to have until you don't need to have them any longer. But as far as music mixing I have nothing good to tell you. You really can mix only what you hear. I never heard of viewing the meters as a substitute. At the end the volume knob will be your best friend in mixing. Sorry for the gloom and doom prediction. I am going through something at this time. cry

Do a search for key words in the forums here. This topic has been dicussed at some length in the past year.

Thanks Dan - I didn't think to search Off Topic. So, I have included the link here and will edit my OP to include it.

I'm glad I asked early so I can plan ahead.

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Originally Posted by Matt Finley
I use hearing aids. I'm sure you know that your technician will 'tune' the balance and frequency response curve to your needs. I bought a type that allows separate left/right volume adjustments, since (as I assume is common) one ear has considerably worse hearing than the other. ... I used to love open headphones (unless tracking) but find the pads rubbing against the hearing aid (mine are over the ear, not in-ear) makes a bit of noise with any motion.
...
I don't know if any of that helped you, but good luck.
Thanks Matt!. When the time comes, I might investigate headphones so see if there are any that have more 'clearance' - if that's such a thing. I have to keep the noise down so that my wife can hear Netflix.

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I use Beyerdynamic 770 headphones, which have plenty of clearance.


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There are headphones that can be calibrated aa well as plugins for 'phones and studio monitors. Here's a recent discussion on this. For those with damaged hearing


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There are a couple or three people I've collaborated with on the forum who wear aids. You wouldn't know it from their mixes.They don't mix with headphones either. Good aids well calibrated is what they tell me they use.
I've some hearing loss, as expected for a 68 year old. More in the left ear than the right. Self awareness and diagnosis helped. I know which freqs are effected and the extent...both added to by tinnitus. Forums like this one also help...another set of, TRUSTED, ears to check things for you. Once you are aware of those folks that seem to have good ears and can communicate what they hear rather than jolly back patters you'll know whose suggestions to follow up on. After that metering can help a bit...not too much though.

Last edited by rayc; 08/13/25 12:41 PM.

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Like many people, I have tinnitus and a marked reduced hearing curve in the higher frequencies where my tinnitus lives. (Guns and guitars)

I've come to trust my tools and have learned that what I might hear as not as crispy as I'd like, is often within the acceptable normal range for the majority of people.

Many of the modern mastering plugs now do a lot of the EQ for you and put the mix right where it needs to be.


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Caveat: I have mixed since the 60's and never used headphones at the board so the following is based on speakers.

I have what is technically described as a profound hearing loss in each ear.

I'm well schooled on over the counter aids and aids via audiologists, etc., and I have explored many options over the past 12 years since I started wearing them.

Firstly irrespective of what your audiogram indicates your provider cannot enter your phenomenology. You know your hearing experience. Many audiologists are overly conversation oriented. Why, because most folks want to hear conversations in a variety of environments. Nothing wrong with that. But it’s a bit different for musicians and music producers. And many of the presets used will not offer the enhancement musicians desire even the ones claimed to be for music. I was lucky to have started with a young Ph.D. audiologist who was quite intrigued by my knowledge of eq, compression, etc. Bottom line is together we created a preset that I use for listening to and creating music. With the typical configurations I would not hear high hats, cymbals and much more. And you can add many birds, tree frogs and more nature sounds to that. smile Over time I have gotten so used to the preset that I use it most of the time. I have found, as have other music folks, that the settings to enhance conversation are often to the detriment of listening to music - at least from the perspective that us music makers need.

All I’m babbling about is that a quick fitting at Costco, etc., may not work for you. Use your ears and tell them what you are hearing. After you get fitted sit down at the DAW and listen while changing eq and compression settings. Take notes and hope you will have an audiologist or associate who is willing to work with you.

It changed my life.

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Fortunately, I have no hearing issues that I’m aware of, but I am an engineer and engineers think about solutions. So, being relatively ignorant in this domain, here is my vision.

Imagine a hearing aid that doesn’t just amplify sound in a gross sense, but dynamically sculpts it; section by section of the spectrum so that every nuance of your favorite track or live performance emerges in perfect clarity. By combining user-driven EQ feedback with adaptive optimization algorithms (on a smart phone interface for example) musicians could train their hearing aids in minutes to addres their highly personal hearing deficit and sonic preferences. This could be done song by song or genre by genre, or studio monitor vs headphones, or live concert setting, or combinations of the above, etc. Near-zero latency DSP on the device might be required, but hardware advances are happening all the time.

Much like we have 20-20kHz EQ capabilities in our DAWs to sculpt tracks in our mix to our liking, so too we’d be able to sculpt what we hear on-demand as the various situations in our sonic environments require. Think, any effects plugin available in your DAW would be available onboard in this “hearing aid” system.

As a practical matter I could see such a system generating 5 or so candidate multi-band EQ curves that the user would judge or rank as to how pleasing they are for a particular piece of music. If the most pleasing of these curves is good enough it’s done. If not, a second or third pass would further refine it to what it is you want.

Then as a refinement to this you’d just say “boost the hi-hat” or “enhance the female vocals” and it (possibly via AI) would know exactly where and how to adjust.

I’m assuming that such a system does not yet exist and that today’s hearing aid technology is limited to hard presets for quiet conversation, conversations filled with background noise, TV watching, driving a car, all-purpose, etc.

Just an idea . . .


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Same experience here.
My audiologist listens to me and makes the adjustments I ask for, which is nice.
Due to go in again in a couple weeks, and I have notes this time smile


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Matt, Mike, Ray, Herb, Bud, Steve …

Thanks for sharing your experiences, suggestions and recommendations. This thread, coupled with another earlier thread on this topic has been an eye-opener for me - or should I say ear-opener? I’m just glad that I live in a time where these options exist and continuing to develop.

I did several online tests - as good as they are - and confirmed that both ears have a significant drop from 5K upwards. I don’t tend to dabble with the EQ at the high end so maybe it’s not a problem, but I’m going to start asking for feedback when I post new songs. The idea of looking for an audiologist with music insights here in Adelaide is one that I’m going to pursue, and what the hearing aid options are. I like Bassthumper’s ideas - surely there’s a market for such tech?

Anyway, thanks for your input!

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With my Spark Amplifier, I simply connect my tablet to it via bluetooth. With the Tablet running the Spark software, I can select from a variety of amp models.... all with different tones and characteristics, add pedals for compression, gain, EQ, reverb, phasing and more. I can then save it as a preset to recall as needed.

Why not the same sort of thing for hearing aids as BT was alluding? This would allow the user to customize the device for the purpose. Maybe even save a number of presets that you could cycle through by pressing a button on the device while it announced internally.... Conversation mode. TV listening mode. Music listening mode. Music mixing mode. Etc....

Or maybe this already exists and I don't realize it?


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Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
Maybe even save a number of presets that you could cycle through by pressing a button on the device while it announced internally.... Conversation mode. TV listening mode. Music listening mode. Music mixing mode. Etc....

Or maybe this already exists and I don't realize it?
They exist already smile
I'm lucky, neither of my ears has any dips or other problems, but my wife needs a hearing aid for one ear, and this one actually has presets for conversations, watching TV, talking on the phone and what not, and you can even create your own presets with the accompanying phone app.
It's amazing that these tiny in-ear headphones can communicate with a phone via Bluetooth.

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Originally Posted by B.D.Thomas
Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
Maybe even save a number of presets that you could cycle through by pressing a button on the device while it announced internally.... Conversation mode. TV listening mode. Music listening mode. Music mixing mode. Etc....

Or maybe this already exists and I don't realize it?
They exist already smile
I'm lucky, neither of my ears has any dips or other problems, but my wife needs a hearing aid for one ear, and this one actually has presets for conversations, watching TV, talking on the phone and what not, and you can even create your own presets with the accompanying phone app.
It's amazing that these tiny in-ear headphones can communicate with a phone via Bluetooth.


My faith in technology is renewed


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Originally Posted by B.D.Thomas
It's amazing that these tiny in-ear headphones can communicate with a phone via Bluetooth.
Indeed ... the company for which I worked from early 70s had previously made hearing aids, at one time with those tiny puffed-wheat sized tubes and by the early 50s with some of the first production transistors.
Now then have two transducers, battery, digital sound processing and bluetooth including its antenna, all in an in-ear sized device. I continue to be amazed by these apparently mundane little devices.


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Originally Posted by Gordon Scott
Now then have two transducers, battery, digital sound processing and bluetooth including its antenna, all in an in-ear sized device. I continue to be amazed by these apparently mundane little devices.

Alien technology.


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Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
Originally Posted by Gordon Scott
Now then have two transducers, battery, digital sound processing and bluetooth including its antenna, all in an in-ear sized device. I continue to be amazed by these apparently mundane little devices.

Alien technology.
Nope ... Engineers. laugh

Mind you I have sometimes been described as from another planet, and sometimes I almost wonder myself ... usually when I try to explain something and find I'd need to spend a couple of hours just explaining the context and the principles and they glaze over in two minutes. Ho Hum.


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Originally Posted by Gordon Scott
Nope ... Engineers. laugh

Mind you I have sometimes been described as from another planet, and sometimes I almost wonder myself ... usually when I try to explain something and find I'd need to spend a couple of hours just explaining the context and the principles and they glaze over in two minutes. Ho Hum.
You and me too brother. I've [tried] to give up on asking people what their favorite probability density function is, or if they want to engage in a nerdathon on fast radio bursts, the subtlties of where AI is right now, the joy of discussing neuro-transmitter chemicals or pretty much anything STEM. When they can't understand what a white paper is or can't understand the scientific method they roll their eyes, and so do I.

I do have a choice set of friends that enjoy such dialog, but some are aging and tire easily. And I know my time will come soon enough.
Oh well, if I'm from a distant galaxy so be it. I count it a gain; Mr. Spock and Data might agree smile

This looks interesting
https://royalsociety.org/


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Originally Posted by Bass Thumper
Originally Posted by Gordon Scott
Nope ... Engineers. laugh

Mind you I have sometimes been described as from another planet, and sometimes I almost wonder myself ... usually when I try to explain something and find I'd need to spend a couple of hours just explaining the context and the principles and they glaze over in two minutes. Ho Hum.
You and me too brother. I've [tried] to give up on asking people what their favorite probability density function is, or if they want to engage in a nerdathon on fast radio bursts, the subtlties of where AI is right now, the joy of discussing neuro-transmitter chemicals or pretty much anything STEM. When they can't understand what a white paper is or can't understand the scientific method they roll their eyes, and so do I.

I'll be happy to discuss almost anything over a beer. My idea on string theory is how much weight and what size hook and preferred bait should go on the end of that string?


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I wear hearing aids to compensate for a loss of hearing in the higher frequencies. All good but recently i was given new aids that used moulds - large plastic inserts for my ears - that I just couldn't get on with. Imagine sticking yuor fingers in your ears and talking. However I wnt back and got thin tubes like i had on the previous aids and every thing back to normal.

As previous posters say, your audiologist will match the aids to your areas of hearing loss. So, theoretically you should have 'normal' hearing but that is difficult to quantify and define. What happened with me was that in mixing my vocals sounded muddy and i started to look for an exciter plugin. My smart speaker sounded as if it needed more treble too. Before I downloaded an exciter my aids arrived. Vocals sounded fine and smart speaker too. Hearing back to 'normal'.

How do I know my own mixes are right? Well i don't but to check i listen to loads of commercial recordings and they all sound fine so i presume my aids compensate properly for the loss, and cds sound ok. That suggests to me that I am mixing to a reasonable representation of normal hearing.

I mix on headphones, monitor speakers and by playing on the same equipment i play cds on wearing my hearing aids all the time. If the mix is ok on all of them I'm happy.

I'm not sure where you are. but in the UK, my aids are free on the NHS and there is no need to pay for expensive privateley dispensed aids. Friends have paid a fortune and get no extra benefit i can find. Not sure about where you are.

Last edited by Bob Calver; 08/18/25 02:58 AM.
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Originally Posted by Bob Calver
I mix on headphones, monitor speakers and by playing on the same equipment i play cds on wearing my hearing aids all the time. If the mix is ok on all of them I'm happy.

I'm not sure where you are. but in the UK, my aids are free on the NHS and there is no need to pay for expensive privateley dispensed aids. Friends have paid a fortune and get no extra benefit i can find. Not sure about where you are.
Bob, it sounds like you are happy with your aids. Do you see no room at all for improvement of them?
Can you share the manufacture and model?
I'm guessing there are several here that are unhappy with theirs.


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These are by Phonak Model is Bolero 70m. They have settings for volume, induction loop and bluetooth phone connection but i never use them - i just turn them on and they start at the default setting. i get a lovely 'crispness' to my hearing and an almost imperceptible volume boost and i'm ready to go.

There is also a music setting but i never use it - just the default setting my audiologist installed. The thin trubes are a little bit fiddly - i have Parkinsons and have lost a bit of dexterity in my right hand so making sure the tube goes into my ear canal is a little hard sometimes in my right ear but dead easy in my left so i can't say that's a problem if you want to try them.

Do not have the big plastic moulds that fit your ears - they are really for masjor hearing loss issues. Mine have slim tubes size 2 medium open dome.

Last edited by Bob Calver; 08/18/25 06:56 AM.
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Are these what you use?
https://www.phonak.com/en-uk/hearing-devices/hearing-aids/bolero-marvel

If so, I'll make a note for if/when I need a pair. I'd guess others would also be interested.

I'm just beginning to learn about this technology.
The onboard DSP must be amaizing.

PS> Sorry to hear about your Parkinson's. I have a friend who's Dr. thinks he may have it. He can't play guitar or keys anymore and recently crashed his car.
I'm sure big, motivated brains are working on that problem too.

Last edited by Bass Thumper; 08/18/25 07:53 AM.

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mine are these........https://supplieshear.co.uk/shop/hearing-aids/phonak/ric-bte/phonak-bolero-m/

mine are the 70 model which has nothing like as many bells and whistles but suit me fine

my problem with parkinsons is that i can't finger pick or strum as well as I used too - right arm and hand affected. but that might be becuase i don't practice as i'm disappointed i can't play what i used to. moral is to practice - after all Joni Mitchell relearned guitar after a stroke!

my aids are the behind the ear version

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Mine are made by Starkey. The main unit sits over the ear, and there is a thin tube to the speaker that goes into the ear canal.


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Originally Posted by Bob Calver
mine are these........https://supplieshear.co.uk/shop/hearing-aids/phonak/ric-bte/phonak-bolero-m/

mine are the 70 model which has nothing like as many bells and whistles but suit me fine

my problem with parkinsons is that i can't finger pick or strum as well as I used too - right arm and hand affected. but that might be becuase i don't practice as i'm disappointed i can't play what i used to. moral is to practice - after all Joni Mitchell relearned guitar after a stroke!

my aids are the behind the ear version

Funny coincidence, my dad taught her husband how to play guitar way back when I was little
weird how stuff happens


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Originally Posted by Bob Calver
… after all Joni Mitchell relearned guitar after a stroke!

Good for her. I wish that could be true for all of us.


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Originally Posted by Matt Finley
Mine are made by Starkey. The main unit sits over the ear, and there is a thin tube to the speaker that goes into the ear canal.

If you have a tube rather than a thin silicone wrapped wire leading to the speaker then you have very early generation aides - they project the sound through the tube to a dome and work very poorly. I’m assuming yours are actually wired! 😀


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Yes, correct, thanks. Mine are only two years old and indeed it's not just a hollow plastic tube, but a wrapped wire with electronics inside. I was just describing the shape in relation to the question of how earphones fit with it.


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Originally Posted by Matt Finley
Yes, correct, thanks. Mine are only two years old and indeed it's not just a hollow plastic tube, but a wrapped wire with electronics inside. I was just describing the shape in relation to the question of how earphones fit with it.

Hope I didn't sound didactic. I started with tubes and they were useless for anything upper midrange up.
I have a profound loss and am always looking for something new.
i've worn custom acrylic ear molds for years and recently switched to silicone.
They fit much tighter and for my releatively active lifestyle they work better. FWIW
Sorry for my misunderstanding.

Bud


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No, it was a good clarification. My fault for not making my post more clear.


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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe

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