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.