Hearing aids

Leo Fox

Filing Flight Plan
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Feb 7, 2019
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Flying Fox
I have a friend who wears hearing aids and with his passive headsets on he can't hear anything.
He is getting new hearing aids and they say he can bluetooth to his hearing aids.
Has anyone done this or know how it is done?
Or any other suggestions on headsets that may work?
 
I have a student that uses hearing aides. She takes them out for flying. She starting by using a regular non-ANR headset, then tried my ANR headset for a few flights. Ultimately switched to a set of Quiet Technologies Halo in-ear headset. She loves them. They are light, no clamping force, and good sound.

I don't think wearing hearing aides and a normal over the ear headset works well due to feedback issues between the hearing aide mic and the speaker. Might depend on the specific combination though.
 
Profound hearing loss guy -- I take mine out and use Lightspeed Zulu ANR headset
 
I wear hearing aids and use regular old David Clark’s. Works fine for me.

In regards to the Bluetooth aids, I know they exist but haven’t studied up on them. I do believe though that they need a separate device from the hearing aid company to interface.
 
Hearing aids and Bose, works for me.
 
As I start thinking about getting back in the air after many years of not flying, now I'm faced with the added issue of being a hearing aid user.
My old lightspeed set is completely disintegrated (all the wires and seals are falling apart) so I need a new headset.

I can hear well enough I think with just the headset and remove the aids during flight, but I wonder about which sets might have large enough ear cups so that I could just leave the aids in. Mine are phonak Marvels RIC type.

Any of you you hearing aid wearers that just leave them on in flight? What do you use?

Also curious about thoughts about getting a new medical with the aids.... I'm pretty sure I'll pass the regular class 3 exam without them, but not sure.
 
I remove them. Most acquired hearing loss is noticeable when there is a lot of background loss, such as being in a noisy room. The ANR technology removes most of that ambient noise, and I find communications to be very clear without the aids, which can make the headset uncomfortable, especially if wearing glasses.
 
I’m new to hearing aids.

I’ve tried mine exactly once in my Sky Arrow with LightSpeed Sierras. I got a loud squealing feedback in my left ear.

I’m going to try them again, since they do boost the frequencies that aid in speech recognition. I’ll report back if I can get them to work.
 
I use RIC (left ear only). I leave it in (DC 13.4 headset).

I don’t get any feedback squeal. After a few hours I have to readjust the earcup for comfort. My sunglasses have temple pieces that are a little thicker than my daily glasses. The sunglasses plus aid plus earcup clamping can cause some pressure point. Next long trip I do I might just remove the aid.
 
I’m going to try them again, since they do boost the frequencies that aid in speech recognition. I’ll report back if I can get them to work.

I think that's the key. There are different types of hearing loss and not everyone's experience with hearing aid/headset combinations will be the same.
 
I think that's the key. There are different types of hearing loss and not everyone's experience with hearing aid/headset combinations will be the same.

True.

Also, hearing aids have replaceable “domes”, the little rubber parts that stick in your ear canal. Mine are “open”, that is, highly vented. That allows me to hear the frequencies I can still process without amplification, while boosting the middle/high frequencies I’ve lost over time. I have a follow-up appointment tomorrow, and I may pick up some unvented domes that may work better in some particular environments.
 
True.

Also, hearing aids have replaceable “domes”, the little rubber parts that stick in your ear canal. Mine are “open”, that is, highly vented. That allows me to hear the frequencies I can still process without amplification, while boosting the middle/high frequencies I’ve lost over time. I have a follow-up appointment tomorrow, and I may pick up some unvented domes that may work better in some particular environments.
I took my sunglasses, headset, and handheld with me when I got fitted/adjusted. Some settings can be adjusted and saved as a custom program. If it works out, you can select the “headset” setting when you fly.
 
Some settings can be adjusted and saved as a custom program. If it works out, you can select the “headset” setting when you fly.

Good thought. I already have a custom profile called “Podcasts” that boosts bass, turns down treble and turns off the microphones. Definitely something I’ll play with next time I go up
 
Yes the custom profiles. Mine are called “programs”, the H.A.s I currently have, you can have three different settings and you toggle between them by pushing a button on either earpiece. The three are called “Master”, “Master 2”, and “Comfort”. If I wear headset over the hearing aids I can eliminate the squeal using the “Comfort” setting.

If there is Bluetooth connected to my hearing aids, then I can push another button that will block all external sound, and that also gets rid of the squeal while I listen to whatever is coming in through Bluetooth with a headset on. I can pipe music or radio into the hearing aids through my phone or iPad but I have found out that my husband is getting me a new car radio for Christmas and it has Bluetooth connectivity. I think that usually means people connect their phone and then hear through the car speakers but I want to do the reverse, connect my hearing aids and have the car radio come into my ears.

Do they make plane radios with Bluetooth connectivity so you could do that? If I still flew that’s what I’d look into. My hearing is bad enough now that removing the hearing aids and using just a headset probably won’t work anymore.
 
Profound hearing loss guy -- I take mine out and use Lightspeed Zulu ANR headset
Another profound hearing loss guy here. I leave my behind-the-ear hearing aids in and use my LightSpeed Zulu's over them. I turn the volume of the hearing aid down and turn the volume of the headset up and I do quite well that way. No feedback at all, but I have very high end hearing aids and a very capable Dr. of Audiology.
 
My hearing aids themselves do not do straight bluetooth. They are MFI aids so they will stream the phone using BLE to the aids. If I want to use real bluetooth, I have to use a little "phone clip" that does the bluetooth the hearing aid conversion.

Oddly, enough all I typically do is SHUT OFF my hearing aids to avoid feedback and just crank the volume up on my ANR headsets (or turn up the radio... I started flying back in the days we used squishy yellow earplugs and crank up the overhead speaker).
 
I have a coworker who uses his iPhone with his hearing aids. He holds his phone like he’s on speakerphone, but you can’t hear the other party cuz it’s piped directly to his ears. I figured they worked like AirPods.
 
I have a coworker who uses his iPhone with his hearing aids. He holds his phone like he’s on speakerphone, but you can’t hear the other party cuz it’s piped directly to his ears. I figured they worked like AirPods.
They do - some aids can be integrated with the iPhone, not all. Once they are linked, you can get ringtones, speaker, music, and everything else through the hearing aids. Another thing you can do is use the phone as a remote mic, you can set it near whatever you are trying to hear and stream to the aids.
 
I have a coworker who uses his iPhone with his hearing aids. He holds his phone like he’s on speakerphone, but you can’t hear the other party cuz it’s piped directly to his ears. I figured they worked like AirPods.
Yep, it also works for the GPS turn-by-turn directions. Not too long after I got my hearing aids I was navigating through a town I'd never been before. My wife says "How do you know where you're going." I point at my hears and say "I hear voices."

The other fun time was when we were at the Apple store and some kid was looking at the new wireless hearing buds and I told them I already had the same thing only smaller.
 
Me too. That's most likely why I need hearing aids today.

Me too when I first took lessons. We didn't even use the squishy plugs. That plus a few rock concerts plus working around loud machinery for years. :(
 
I have a coworker who uses his iPhone with his hearing aids. He holds his phone like he’s on speakerphone, but you can’t hear the other party cuz it’s piped directly to his ears. I figured they worked like AirPods.

They do - some aids can be integrated with the iPhone, not all. Once they are linked, you can get ringtones, speaker, music, and everything else through the hearing aids. Another thing you can do is use the phone as a remote mic, you can set it near whatever you are trying to hear and stream to the aids.

Yep, it also works for the GPS turn-by-turn directions. Not too long after I got my hearing aids I was navigating through a town I'd never been before. My wife says "How do you know where you're going." I point at my hears and say "I hear voices."

The other fun time was when we were at the Apple store and some kid was looking at the new wireless hearing buds and I told them I already had the same thing only smaller.

This and this and this. My current iPhone and HA's need an intermediate device which is on a necklace I wear.

All of a sudden I start talking to "nobody". The mic is on the necklace, the phone rings only in my hearing aids, and I answer the call by just pushing a button on the necklace, I don't even have to get my phone out. It can stay in my purse. People look at me like I'm talking to a hallucination.:lol:
 
When I first went to Costco I was offered a choice. If I wanted rechargeables, I’d have to carry that “dongle” if I wanted Bluetooth. If I wanted to be dongle-free, I couldn’t get rechargeables.

I’m glad I waited. By the time I was ready to pull the trigger, Resound Prezas were available both rechargeable and dongle-free. Yay!

Anyway, the Bluetooth sound with open domes is pretty tinny, but adequate for podcasts and news. I have a profile which turns the bass all the way up and treble all the way down, and the microphones off, which helps. In any case, I routinely spend a couple of hours a day listening to podcasts and news via the hearing aids, which is very handy. Phone calls going right to them is also very nice.
 
Even with the closed domes it lacks bass. I can get some of it back if I stuff my fingers in my ears (not practical). It's entirely designed for voice transmission.
 
Even with the closed domes it lacks bass. I can get some of it back if I stuff my fingers in my ears (not practical).It's entirely designed for voice transmission.

When I went in for my recent checkup, at my request the tech gave me some closed domes, expressing skepticism that I’d tolerate them well. She was right. Felt too “stuffy” and I switched back after a few hours.

I do have a set of custom-molded earphones for motorcycle riding. If I plan on an extended bout of listening and want higher fidelity with its associated bass, I’ll probably just remove my hearing aids and use those.
 
I've bounced around with various domes in various sizes. They're cheap, and I have the fitting software so I can make the response changes at the same time.
 
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