This app came with the yoke-style sound amplifier I bought, but it seems to work with a cell phone and earbuds too, and though it's not what an audiologist would do, IMO it's pretty good, and easy, and includes more than I would have espected** you don't have to buy the sound amplifier if you don't want, though I've included the link
**It tests hearing at iirc 4 frequencies and goes up and down, and maybe up and down again, narrowing in on the lowest level at which you hear the sounds, for each ear.
Even for my the $150 yoke style that I got, it seems to apply the results of the test to the amplification, though I didn't try this until yesterday, so I have no idea if it changed anything. OTOH, mayyyybe even for their fancier hearing aids, they use no more than this same app.
But I'm offering this mostly as afun way to look at your hearing, without even leaving your desk.
The manual, which I haven't read yet, and I should:
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Here is the app,
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Here is my product, but they make various kinds including behind the ear with the little tube.
These devices, with relatively unsophisticated electronics, are very likely all you need if your problem relates to hearing dialog on the radio, TV, or in the movies. Those environments are generally quiet except for the audio information you are interested in hearing. However, if your problem also involves comprehending speech when there's interfering sound, such as at restaurants, dinner parties at a private home, while talking walks with one or more people adjacent to a street in an urban setting etc., they are often inadequate and true hearing aids may be needed.
Yes, I'm usually alone listening to the radio or TV (which I can just make a little louder) or with one person 80% of whom talk loud enough that I have no trouble. Or on the phone**. But a couple days ago I was in an informal crowd and noticed that with the Maihear yoke device it was hard to hear one convesation because an other kept interfering. And noises I would not have noticed, would have thought small, were just as loud as the conversations. When I took the buds out of my ears, I could hear the conversation I wanted without being bothered by the other stuff. It's strange.
It's also strange, IMO, that voices only get a little louder but other noises get far louder, like even the tapping of the keyboard keys or the rustling of paper. Maybe it's that logarithmic thing about sound, or maybe the little noises don't really get more louder but they surpass some level of loudness at which my mind doesn't ignore them anymore. Maybe we learn to ignore little noises below a certain level.
(Footnotes become less interesting the more asterisks they have.)
**the phone is interesting. When they are on speakerphone I have no trouble hearing them, but they sometimes can't hear me because my speakerphone is flakey***. When I use the handset, I often can't hear them. Sometimes I switch it on and off depending who's talking but I'm working on a long term solution which is connecting a Western Electric phone in the same location. I have a dial Princess phone from 63+ years ago that I'm sure works perfectly. Hmmm. It pays to discuss this stuff here. I also have a Western Electric handset that is hanging in the bathroom, connected to a wall plate with an on/off switch, a neon light to know when it's ringing, and a buzzer with a separate switch. No one calls me when I'm in the bathtub anymore and that would take up less space than a whole Princess. I hadn't thought of that until I tried to explain things to you.
***I don't want to buy another speakerphone because I'm cheap and I have a base station, 3 cordless extensions, and 3 spares with charging holders I bought on ebay for when the extensions fail. (After on one the on/off started failing, but after it failed entirely, I found the speakerphone button is as good or better.)
This is often because of microphone placement issues within a device and absence of hi-tech filtration both in items such as your yoke device and in lower tech hearing aids. You end up with essentially omnidirectional non-selective amplification of all sound in the environment. The higher tech (but more expensive hearing aids) have adjustable amplification levels for both the microphones designed and placed to emphasize sound in front of and somewhat to the side of the user and for the microphones that are designed and placed to give the user help hearing sounds behind (both for sound location and safety purposes). In addition, there can be multiple adjustable filters for frequency accentuation/attenuation, for damping of short duration, high amplitude sounds, etc. etc. However, unless and until properly adjusted, the hi tech hearing aids are likely produce results no better than the cheap stuff. That's why the settings need to be tweaked and personalized by a skilled audiologist in response to the detailed information provided by the user. This often takes 2-4 visits spaced about a week apart for reasonable trial after each adjustment. Also, apparently the brain needs some time to accommodate to the new characteristics of the auditory input. It's more complicated and difficult to obtain optimal results than with a visit to the optometrist for a visual exam and Rx for typical visual correction with eyeglasses.
Tried it with my earbuds with the collar-thing. Interesting. It says I have 16% loss in one ear and 12% in the other, but I know it's worse than that. It doesn't test low frequencies, but those really aren't important.
We tried one like that, but it really needs separate volume controls and hooks over the ears to keep the buds from falling out. The collar-thing is nice, but it would be better if there were also those soft over-the-ear hooks that keep the buds in place.
No, but the left ear is definitely worse than the right ear due to a sudden blast of really loud sound from my phone when I was holding it up to my ear. Loud enough to scare hubby sitting 6 feet away. Given that I have to turn the speaker function on for normal talking, I had no idea that the thing could make that loud a sound. Instant serious hearing loss, which hasn't improved in a month.
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