Hearing loss

[monkumonku]

In the below video, Paul McGowan of PS Audio answers a viewers question. The question is, if we suffer high frequency hearing loss as we age, should be get brighter speakers to compensate?

He says no, because our brain makes the adjustments for us.

Now what I am wondering - let's say in our younger days we could hear a 14Khz tone and, having perfect pitch, remembered what it sounded like. Now in our older days, our high frequency ability has declined and we can't hear anything over 10Khz. Will our memory and brain still be able to "hear" (recall) what a 14Khz tone sounds like, even though we aren't physically capable of perceiving it anymore?

[PaulBe]

Oct 29, 2023 11:29:14 GMT -5 monkumonku said:

In the below video, Paul McGowan of PS Audio answers a viewers question. The question is, if we suffer high frequency hearing loss as we age, should be get brighter speakers to compensate?

He says no, because our brain makes the adjustments for us.

Now what I am wondering - let's say in our younger days we could hear a 14Khz tone and, having perfect pitch, remembered what it sounded like. Now in our older days, our high frequency ability has declined and we can't hear anything over 10Khz. Will our memory and brain still be able to "hear" (recall) what a 14Khz tone sounds like, even though we aren't physically capable of perceiving it anymore?

I tend to agree with Paul McGowan here.

Being able to hear divisions of 14Khz is enough to make me remember what 14Khz sounds like.  We can all make octave jumps in our head; also arpeggios, scales, and other chord progressions.  We remember the sound character of any sound that becomes familiar.  I can sing a lot better in my head than when using my voice.

[Boomzilla]

I contend that your answer is "no." We should NOT make our speakers brighter to compensate for hearing loss.

Studies have shown that memory of audio is poor. That said, if the amplitude of a HF sound is sufficiently loud, you WILL hear it, despite your HF hearing loss. I've a friend who suffers at the dentist due to the amplitude of the HF sounds of the dental instruments. The dental hygienist told him that he shouldn't be able to hear that frequency, but he not only could, but also found it painful. The proximity combined with the amplitude allowed him to hear what his hearing exam said he couldn't.

I do agree with Mr. McGowan, though. Our brains DO compensate for what our ears are no longer sending. I can instantly tell, for example, whether a guitar recording has nylon or steel strings, flat-wound or regular strings, light-gauge or heavy-gauge strings, and whether the player is using fingers or a pick. And my audiogram essentially says that I'm deaf above 10Khz.

Boomzilla

[ttocs]

I'm resurrecting this thread because there is talk in another thread about hearing and hearing loss, and this happens to be a timely subject for me. Plus, this thread is a better place to expand on the topic.

Up till about 4 or 5 years ago I was able to hear up to 13kHz using my audio system at about 70dB as measured by REW's SPL meter. Now I can only muster about 10kHz doing the same test.

I just had my ears checked last week by an Audiologist for the first time in about five decades. The sound proof booth was really sound proof!!, at least as far as I could tell without measuring equipment, which I'll be bringing with me when I pickup the hearing aids in a couple weeks. I walked into it and heard nothing, absolutely nothing, except for my suddenly quiet voice and my heartbeat.

My hearing is Normal up to 2600Hz and then have Moderate Loss at 8kHz. That’s a nice way of saying there’s a lot of loss, but it’s in an expected range for my age group in the higher frequencies and both ears are affected the same amount. Don't know about anything frequencies higher than 8kHz, officially, because that's typically the highest measured by audiologists and also the highest frequency amplified by most hearing aids, and audiologists are interested in helping mostly in the frequency range where human speech resides.

So it's recommended that I get hearing aids, and the sales pitch is that they make life easier on the brain because it doesn't need to work as hard to decipher what it's being given as input. What these things can do these days simply amazes me!

The model I'll be getting is the Oticon Intent 1s. They're one of the best. So much is programmed into the DSP, which is one of the strong points of this model. They're also not the smallest but they have very high sound quality. It's what the Doctor recommends for audiophiles. I can't really complain about the price since it's only a little more than I spent on just my Center Speaker, but there's a host of support that goes along with the package which includes adjustments and tweaks for the first few years. There's a 45 day trial so there’s enough time to get a good feel for how they'll workout for me. I’ve watched a lot of videos with the pros and cons and it  does seem like the right choice for me.

Something I've had trouble with for quite a while now has been with difficulty in comprehending conversation in loud places, so I'm looking forward to knowing how this will work out.

Hearing aids not only amplify, but also, when a preset threshold is met, they back off. So there's some smart stuff programmed into them.
How will music sound with them?
Will they be comfortable when worn all day?

There’s some great tech in hearing aids these days. It’s not like when I was in fourth grade and my friend had to carry what looked like a mini AM radio in his shirt pocket with an earplug attached. A substitute teacher really thought was a radio he was listening to and she grabbed it from him and tossed it in the garbage can - which cost her $400 and a stern scolding by the principal!! Bluetooth is built-in and phone calls are said to have great sound quality on both sides of the call.

[AudioHTIT]

Oct 29, 2024 22:22:27 GMT -5 ttocs said:

…
So it's recommended that I get hearing aids, and the sales pitch is that they make life easier on the brain because it doesn't need to work as hard to decipher what it's being given as input. What these things can do these days simply amazes me!

The model I'll be getting is the Oticon Intent 1s. They're one of the best. So much is programmed into the DSP, which is one of the strong points of this model. They're also not the smallest but they have very high sound quality. It's what the Doctor recommends for audiophiles. …

It will be interesting to hear how you hear, I hope they improve your quality of life. I’m also interested how well the tech in your aids blends with your enjoyment of music and HT, and helps with daily conversation. 

I know many of us are dealing with various hearing issues, I have a right ear rolloff above 8K, but I can hear 1K like a 12 year old, so no recommendations for hearing aids so far, though when I’m listening to stereo I sometimes wish I had a balance control to goose the right a bit.

My main issue is tinnitus, I hear three different ‘types’; the traditional high frequency ringing, probably 8 — 10K, I hear it most of the time, a very low bass drone, maybe 60 — 80 Hz that I used to hear a lot, but now it’s becoming less frequent, and the most annoying, an upper bass honking about 150 Hz, I say honking because it’s a random beep, like someone hitting the horn on a crowded street. I went to an ENT specialist who thought the latter could be caused by TMJ, which has been bothering me more of late. I’m now actually going to PT for my jaw alignment and neck, it’s probably a long shot, but I got the time so I’ll give it a try. 

[Boomzilla]

Apple ear buds (ear pods?) have just received approval from the FDA as medical devices! This means that if your doctor prescribes hearing aids for you, your insurance will pay for your Apple ear pods. Cool things about ear pods:

* The ear pods can pair with your iPhone.
* Free software can perform a hearing test from your iPhone and store the results.
* The software can then create a personalized compensation curve for your ears.
* The ear pods can be used to reduce background noise while letting voices through.
* The ear pods can be used to cancel high ambient noise (on a plane or while using lawn equipment).
* Ear Pods can be used as Bluetooth headphones (pre-equalized for your own ears).
* The ear pods cost $250!
* You can buy AppleCare at the time of purchase in case you lose or break an ear pod.

I’m in!

Boomzilla

[hemster]

This is not medical advice but tinnitus (ringing in the ear) is exacerbated by aspirin. If you use aspirin, be aware of this. Covering the affected ear with your palm for a few seconds tends to help. If you have episodes lasting longer than a few seconds or frequent episodes, have it checked out by a medical professional.

[fbczar]

Oct 29, 2024 23:36:46 GMT -5 AudioHTIT said:

Oct 29, 2024 22:22:27 GMT -5 ttocs said:

…
So it's recommended that I get hearing aids, and the sales pitch is that they make life easier on the brain because it doesn't need to work as hard to decipher what it's being given as input. What these things can do these days simply amazes me!

The model I'll be getting is the Oticon Intent 1s. They're one of the best. So much is programmed into the DSP, which is one of the strong points of this model. They're also not the smallest but they have very high sound quality. It's what the Doctor recommends for audiophiles. …

It will be interesting to hear how you hear, I hope they improve your quality of life. I’m also interested how well the tech in your aids blends with your enjoyment of music and HT, and helps with daily conversation. 

I know many of us are dealing with various hearing issues, I have a right ear rolloff above 8K, but I can hear 1K like a 12 year old, so no recommendations for hearing aids so far, though when I’m listening to stereo I sometimes wish I had a balance control to goose the right a bit.

My main issue is tinnitus, I hear three different ‘types’; the traditional high frequency ringing, probably 8 — 10K, I hear it most of the time, a very low bass drone, maybe 60 — 80 Hz that I used to hear a lot, but now it’s becoming less frequent, and the most annoying, an upper bass honking about 150 Hz, I say honking because it’s a random beep, like someone hitting the horn on a crowded street. I went to an ENT specialist who thought the latter could be caused by TMJ, which has been bothering me more of late. I’m now actually going to PT for my jaw alignment and neck, it’s probably a long shot, but I got the time so I’ll give it a try. 

If you have Roon, or another music software that includes parametric EQ, you can set your system up as best you can and then use the Roon EQ to compensate for your hearing loss based on your audiogram. The boost required should be used in the areas of loss, but the boost will be far less than is shown on the audiogram. The EQ works very well with my 3.7i Magnepan’s, but it is even better with headphones because it Roon provides the ability to EQ each ear independently. Music is a major issue with hearing aids. As I understand it only Widex hearing aids compensate above 8Khz and are fast enough to deal with comb filtering. Even so, using something like Roon EQ is a better solution in my case for listening to music.

[AudioHTIT]

Oct 30, 2024 7:30:07 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

Apple ear buds (ear pods?) have just received approval from the FDA as medical devices! This means that if your doctor prescribes hearing aids for you, your insurance will pay for your Apple ear pods. Cool things about ear pods:

* The ear pods can pair with your iPhone.
* Free software can perform a hearing test from your iPhone and store the results.
* The software can then create a personalized compensation curve for your ears.
* The ear pods can be used to reduce background noise while letting voices through.
* The ear pods can be used to cancel high ambient noise (on a plane or while using lawn equipment).
* Ear Pods can be used as Bluetooth headphones (pre-equalized for your own ears).
* The ear pods cost $250!
* You can buy AppleCare at the time of purchase in case you lose or break an ear pod.

I’m in!

Boomzilla

Coincidentally, I just added some of this to the Apple thread, but you make some very good points. The exact model you need are now called ‘AirPods Pro 2’, though there’s nothing new about current AirPods Pro, and these new features will work on existing APPs with the H2 chip (available for over a year). You also need the latest iOS / iPadOS 18.1. I took the hearing test yesterday , but haven’t tried the ‘aid’ feature yet. Here are Apple’s bullets:

AirPods
* Hearing Test feature provides scientifically-validated hearing test results from the comfort of home (intended for users 18 years or older)
* Hearing Aid feature provides personalized, clinical-grade assistance that is automatically applied to sounds in your environment as well as music, videos, and calls (intended for users 18 years or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss)
* Hearing Protection feature helps users minimize exposure to loud environmental noise across listening modes (available in the United States and Canada)
* Features require AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or later.

Edit: One thing to be ready for if you’re going to take the hearing test, you must first pass the ‘fit test’, where it tests the pressure seal of your Pods. I had trouble getting past that with one of my pairs, but found my tips and switch them out for a better fit.

[AudioHTIT]

Oct 30, 2024 10:21:52 GMT -5 fbczar said:

If you have Roon, or another music software that includes parametric EQ, you can set your system up as best you can and then use the Roon EQ to compensate for your hearing loss based on your audiogram. The boost required should be used in the areas of loss, but the boost will be far less than is shown on the audiogram. The EQ works very well with my 3.7i Magnepan’s, but it is even better with headphones because it Roon provides the ability to EQ each ear independently. Music is a major issue with hearing aids. As I understand it only Widex hearing aids compensate above 8Khz and are fast enough to deal with comb filtering. Even so, using something like Roon EQ is a better solution in my case for listening to music.

Thats very cool! I don’t have Roon and use Apple Music, so I’ll have to see how they continue down this path, and integrate it into the ecosystem.

[AudioHTIT]

Oct 30, 2024 7:45:10 GMT -5 hemster said:

This is not medical advice but tinnitus (ringing in the ear) is exacerbated by aspirin. If you use aspirin, be aware of this. Covering the affected ear with your palm for a few seconds tends to help. If you have episodes lasting longer than a few seconds or frequent episodes, have it checked out by a medical professional.

Interesting, so probably aspirin is increasing your blood flow? I’ve found I can stick the back (rounded) end of my Apple Pencil in my right ear to give some relief for my ‘honking’ tinnitus. It’s probably not going to ‘trend’ anywhere 😊

[ttocs]

I bought the new Gen2 AirPods today to see what the fuss is about. It's not all paradise, but overall, not bad either.

First up is the Hearing Test, which is surprisingly similar to my official Audiogram! It's a mixed bag for which freqs tested higher or lower than the official Audiogram, but within 5dB for the most part. So this test really works very well!

I'm still getting used to how the new AirPods handle noise and such with some of the new settings that I've never used before. The ear sound quality is no different from the older AirPods, meaning, what I hear is the same quality except that I am now able to use the hearing test result for the EQ which works very well for me (but not for everyone as some videos show). The mic still has problems, and I have to repeat myself when on a call with the new noise cancelling settings. I'm not sure which settings might need adjusting so this will need to be ironed out. What others hear from me is not near as great as the Oticon hearing aids which have great microphones on them plus the super fast DSP, so for straight up sound quality the Oticons win.

The AirPods are fine overall. I don't expect them to compete with products that are primarily designed for one purpose, so for what they do and for what they cost, they're fine.

Hear's the thing, my hearing isn't bad up to about 6kHz, but I do have trouble with noisy room conversation. The recommendation to get the hearing aids is for keeping as much bandwidth that's possible going into the brain to keep it happier for longer, and for DSP to figure out what how to help me hear others under adverse conditions. Until I try the real thing I won't really know how it will or won't affect my daily life. But the tech in hearing aids right now is really great, and I'm really talking about just in the last year that great strides have been made with the DSP in hearing aids.

[Boomzilla]

Update:

I ordered the AirPods Pro v.2 from the Apple website on 10/30. They’re due to arrive (per FedEx - ?) tomorrow morning. You can get AppleCare cheaply, but it ONLY covers malfunction or damage - NOT loss or theft. If you want those coverages, you’ll need to shop for aftermarket insurance.

I’m very eager to compare the AirPod sound quality to that of my JVC on-ear Bluetooth headphones. Since the JVCs only cost me $29, I’m hoping for a sound quality improvement commensurate with the price difference.

I also found out that (despite FDA approval as medical devices) neither Medicare (parts A, B, & D) nor my secondary health care provider (Blue Cross) will pay for the AirPods since they are OTC (Over The Counter) devices. I find that ironic - if these were available as “prescription only” for 10x the price the insurance would pay for them, no questions asked!

Oh well…

[AudioHTIT]

So I’ve now had three hearing tests, my first over a year ago at a local guy doing molds for making AirPods Pro IEMs, then yesterday with AirPods Pro and iOS 18.1, and finally at Costco today. If you’re a member you’ve probably seen them is some corner of the store, the test is free, but it was about three weeks to get an appointment.

I have to say I was impressed, the audiologist was friendly, educated, and knowledgeable, the booth was well isolated. the equipment seemed modern, including the in-ear testing device, and the array of tests thorough and interesting. They first inspect and photograph your ear canal and eardrum, I had tried to clean mine before going and they looked pretty good (hadn’t seen my actual eardrum so well before).

Then they start testing, first the typical tones where you listen to various frequencies and levels, and push a button. Then people speaking words at different levels that you have to repeat, and then sentences with party noise in the background that gets louder and louder, had to repeat those lines back as well. Also bone conduction testing to help find out if your problem is outer, middle, or inner ear. They even did a dynamic range test, measuring the softest sound you can hear, and the loudest before it’s too uncomfortable or painful.

The sensitivity and frequency curves pretty much matched my previous tests. It shows a not quite ‘Mild’ roll off by 8K in my left ear, and almost ‘Moderate’ in my right, but upper bass, midrange, lower treble are good. I did well in the word and sentence recognition, 100% in one of them. The guy explained everything along the way very well, and he had a great ear diagram on the wall to study while he compiled results. This all took about 45 min, if you do the paperwork in advance.

Neither of the other two tests indicated I needed or would be helped by hearing aids, this one was no different, and since they’re there to sell hearing aids, it felt good that they didn’t try. So if you’re a Costco member this resource is available, I don’t know if there’s an age requirement (I’m old enough 👴), or if it’s a service any member can use whether you need it or not.

Oh, they had Dave’s thin slice bread too, hasn’t been in for a while!

[Boomzilla]

My AirPods arrived this morning and are currently charging. I feel obligated to make a generic comment on ALL Apple products’ “instructions” - they’re flaming feces! (despite the fact that I generally LIKE the actual products).

I have also had my fill of Apple’s cult of strange packaging. The Apple packages are merely aggravating for small products, but if you buy a large item like my Cinema Monitor, the box takes up half a closet by itself!

Oh well…

[ttocs]

Boom, I agree with you that Apple instructions are incomplete at best. I've had to resort to searches to get info on particular features that I know exist but which Apple deems unsuitable to explain themselves.

So, the AirPods are not well suited for use as hearing aids, but they do help with limited success. The first thing to consider is that the battery drains at a constant pace when used as such. They might last 5 hours, but it will depend on factors including the noise cancelling strength combined with the amount of noise being cancelled. I tried using them as hearing aids a couple days ago and gave up. Maybe there's a combination of settings that might make them acceptable as aids, but I'm not optimistic on this one aspect of their usage.

But, last night I went to the first of two King Crimson Beat concerts and tried three methods of sound attenuation. I first started with purpose built music attenuators I bought at the Audiologist. These are not the custom model which has two advantages, one being that they are custom fit to the user's ears, and the second being that they can be tailored to the user's hearing range. So the ones I got are simple -10dB attenuators. They suck.

Next, I used my tried and true paper napkin wadded up in the ear. This allowed for much better high frequency response, as expected as I've used this method for decades. This is frowned upon by friends who HAVE NEVER EVEN TRIED IT AFTER DECADES OF ME TRYING TO CONVINCE THEM, because they think it won't block enough SPL. Well, it does, and I can tailor the response as needed on the fly.

Thirdly, I used the AirPods. These work great!!! Plus, I used the hearing test result to tailor the frequency response. So while the first half of the concert was with the first two methods giving me a lousy experience, then a better and familiar experience, the second half of the concert was wonderful!

I'll be going to the second King Crimson concert tomorrow night and will use the AirPods for the entire concert. The SPL near the end of the concert last night was 110dB !!!!!!!!!!  The AirPods were able to contend with this amount of SPL and provide remarkable clarity and sound attenuation. Pretty amazing!

[marcl]

Nov 2, 2024 10:40:53 GMT -5 ttocs said:

Boom, I agree with you that Apple instructions are incomplete at best. I've had to resort to searches to get info on particular features that I know exist but which Apple deems unsuitable to explain themselves.

So, the AirPods are not well suited for use as hearing aids, but they do help with limited success. The first thing to consider is that the battery drains at a constant pace when used as such. They might last 5 hours, but it will depend on factors including the noise cancelling strength combined with the amount of noise being cancelled. I tried using them as hearing aids a couple days ago and gave up. Maybe there's a combination of settings that might make them acceptable as aids, but I'm not optimistic on this one aspect of their usage.

But, last night I went to the first of two King Crimson Beat concerts and tried three methods of sound attenuation. I first started with purpose built music attenuators I bought at the Audiologist. These are not the custom model which has two advantages, one being that they are custom fit to the user's ears, and the second being that they can be tailored to the user's hearing range. So the ones I got are simple -10dB attenuators. They suck.

Next, I used my tried and true paper napkin wadded up in the ear. This allowed for much better high frequency response, as expected as I've used this method for decades. This is frowned upon by friends who HAVE NEVER EVEN TRIED IT AFTER DECADES OF ME TRYING TO CONVINCE THEM, because they think it won't block enough SPL. Well, it does, and I can tailor the response as needed on the fly.

Thirdly, I used the AirPods. These work great!!! Plus, I used the hearing test result to tailor the frequency response. So while the first half of the concert was with the first two methods giving me a lousy experience, then a better and familiar experience, the second half of the concert was wonderful!

I'll be going to the second King Crimson concert tomorrow night and will use the AirPods for the entire concert. The SPL near the end of the concert last night was 110dB !!!!!!!!!!  The AirPods were able to contend with this amount of SPL and provide remarkable clarity and sound attenuation. Pretty amazing!
View Attachment

Most important to me in this scenario (IF I ever decide to go to a live show again) ... would be to counter the typical +10db shelf below 100Hz.  Bring the shelf down to flat then drop the whole enchilada by another 10db.  Could be actually listenable if that worked!

[ttocs]

Nov 2, 2024 12:32:36 GMT -5 marcl said:

Nov 2, 2024 10:40:53 GMT -5 ttocs said:

Boom, I agree with you that Apple instructions are incomplete at best. I've had to resort to searches to get info on particular features that I know exist but which Apple deems unsuitable to explain themselves.

So, the AirPods are not well suited for use as hearing aids, but they do help with limited success. The first thing to consider is that the battery drains at a constant pace when used as such. They might last 5 hours, but it will depend on factors including the noise cancelling strength combined with the amount of noise being cancelled. I tried using them as hearing aids a couple days ago and gave up. Maybe there's a combination of settings that might make them acceptable as aids, but I'm not optimistic on this one aspect of their usage.

But, last night I went to the first of two King Crimson Beat concerts and tried three methods of sound attenuation. I first started with purpose built music attenuators I bought at the Audiologist. These are not the custom model which has two advantages, one being that they are custom fit to the user's ears, and the second being that they can be tailored to the user's hearing range. So the ones I got are simple -10dB attenuators. They suck.

Next, I used my tried and true paper napkin wadded up in the ear. This allowed for much better high frequency response, as expected as I've used this method for decades. This is frowned upon by friends who HAVE NEVER EVEN TRIED IT AFTER DECADES OF ME TRYING TO CONVINCE THEM, because they think it won't block enough SPL. Well, it does, and I can tailor the response as needed on the fly.

Thirdly, I used the AirPods. These work great!!! Plus, I used the hearing test result to tailor the frequency response. So while the first half of the concert was with the first two methods giving me a lousy experience, then a better and familiar experience, the second half of the concert was wonderful!

I'll be going to the second King Crimson concert tomorrow night and will use the AirPods for the entire concert. The SPL near the end of the concert last night was 110dB !!!!!!!!!!  The AirPods were able to contend with this amount of SPL and provide remarkable clarity and sound attenuation. Pretty amazing!
View Attachment

Most important to me in this scenario (IF I ever decide to go to a live show again) ... would be to counter the typical +10db shelf below 100Hz.  Bring the shelf down to flat then drop the whole enchilada by another 10db.  Could be actually listenable if that worked!

Something about how the AirPods work is that I have yet to see anything where I can actually adjust the SPL limit directly. IOW, I think there's a preset SPL limit.

Now, we can adjust our target curve, and this can be done in more than one way. We may import audiograms, either by file transfer or simply photographing a audiogram. So if we use the latter, then all we need to do is to use a blank audiogram and draw our target curve onto it. There are specific characters for denoting specific aspects that I'm pretty sure we need to follow. But, we can make our own target none the less.

Further, we can store many audiograms to use, and apply one pretty much on the fly, so if you were to experience too much bass, then use a preset audiogram to adjust and load that in seconds. This is something that can be changed while using the AirPods and you just select the target from a list and apply it. Done.

I think the way it would work is to make the target with 250Hz as a negative number, top of the audiogram (opposite from what one would expect because the audiogram is based upon LOSS), and drop the curve by +10 (again, it's opposite, plus numbers are below 0, and negative numbers are above 0 and only go above by -20, but the numbers below go to 120) before proceeding with the rest of the target curve. It's possible that the target may need to be adjusted by more than +10 due to how it may work differently from what we expect and see when using REW for SPL curves, so you may want to make many audiograms to account for this. I don't have a firm grasp on how an audiogram differs from a audio SPL plot, but it's different none the less.

edit: I just searched for blank audiogram forms and found some with 125Hz shown. This is probably the limit that would be used to try to limit the elevated low bass. Just keep in mind that there's only so much that can be accomplished with the low bass frequencies. So I'm not certain what the end result may be, but it sounds like a fun thing to try!

[monkumonku]

Nov 1, 2024 13:15:39 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

My AirPods arrived this morning and are currently charging. I feel obligated to make a generic comment on ALL Apple products’ “instructions” - they’re flaming feces! (despite the fact that I generally LIKE the actual products).

I have also had my fill of Apple’s cult of strange packaging. The Apple packages are merely aggravating for small products, but if you buy a large item like my Cinema Monitor, the box takes up half a closet by itself!

Oh well…

The instructions that come with Apple products are horrible but all of the user guides are on the Apple site and are much, much better. And there are plenty of instructional YouTubes by third parties that are helpful as well.

After looking at the posts in this thread about the AirPods, I ordered a pair of the Pro 2's and really like them. Very comfortable and the sound is pretty darn good, as are all of possibilities with the different settings. Did the hearing test as well.

[novisnick]

Oct 30, 2024 7:30:07 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

Apple ear buds (ear pods?) have just received approval from the FDA as medical devices! This means that if your doctor prescribes hearing aids for you, your insurance will pay for your Apple ear pods. Cool things about ear pods:

* The ear pods can pair with your iPhone.
* Free software can perform a hearing test from your iPhone and store the results.
* The software can then create a personalized compensation curve for your ears.
* The ear pods can be used to reduce background noise while letting voices through.
* The ear pods can be used to cancel high ambient noise (on a plane or while using lawn equipment).
* Ear Pods can be used as Bluetooth headphones (pre-equalized for your own ears).
* The ear pods cost $250!
* You can buy AppleCare at the time of purchase in case you lose or break an ear pod.

I’m in!

Boomzilla

I didn’t realize that this has finally come to pass. Thanks Boomzilla