If you take anything away from all of this rambling, I hope that it’s a curiosity and openness to exploring some of these things if you have been on that mild to moderate threshold of “able to get by.” It’s been very beneficial to me so far, and I’m curious where this journey leads from here.

I think it would be very easy to fall in to a gear acquisition trap with all of the hearing aid options that are out there, both OTC and prescription, especially if you are a music hardware guy. I suspect that path is a most disappointing one - and expensive. Be aware of real limitations.

But i also think it’s important to temper your expectations, and be realistic about what hearing aids can and cannot do, and the fact that hearing loss - in most cases - cannot be restored to perfection. Be realistic about where you are and what can be done, and what you can and cannot live with.

I am very new to this. I’m sure that a lot of what I’m saying seems ridiculous to anyone dealing with much worse. But for you all dealing with being in that mild to moderate threshold, i encourage you to explore options, add most importantly, stick with it. We have more options now than ever.

The sonys also saved my ass when i had a sudden loss in both ears that was way asymmetrical that left me unable to normally understand anyone - not their use case, but after going through setup again, it compensated for the asymmetry and was enough help that i could get by with some effort.

At first, i did not like them, but sticking with them has paid off. They aren’t great for music, and you wont stream to them via bluetooth or anything like that - they are strictly for being out in the world, and they are outstanding for that… like, seriously a tangible difference.

Otherwise, for interacting with the world around me, i’ve settled on the Sony CRE-C20s for now. I’ve been advised that for my particular hearing loss, along with the added variability in it, these are a great starting point. They are tiny things that disappear in my ear and run all day.

For mixing and mastering, it sends best to stream through the AirPods and their “media” hearing correction and live with the delay - i can hear every audiophile screaming at the idea of this right now, but it’s the compromise that works for me - at least at the non professional level i work at.

Live electronic is a different story, with so many moving parts. For that, a separate eq for monitoring that’s the inversion of an audiogram seems like a reasonable idea, and is what I’m trying - things get muddy and weird through the aids I’ve tried, so i just do it without.

I’m still trying to figure out what i should compensate for here, and experimenting. For live music, i don’t know what options there really are- and honestly, how much it matters if you aren’t the sound guy. Just playing one instrument, it may not be a big deal - that’s all very individual.

Dynamic range and EQ are the things you’d expect to change, but theres a bit of a comb filter and a bit crusher on everything as well- and things can end up just sounding strange. Some of this you can adapt to, but for mild to moderate, you may actually be better off just not using a hearing aid.

Again, to be clear - I’m talking about this from the mild to moderate hearing loss perspective. For severe to profound, I know much of what i am talking about is a luxury.

For mild to moderate, we are in a position where hearing aids help us in some ways, but radically alter playing/making music.

So I “did my own research” as people love to say these days, and looked at other options.

One thing that quickly becomes clear when you look at hearing aids is that they are optimized for speech and interacting with the world around you - as they should be. Music - well, thats different.

So while the airpods are kind of incredible in terms of lowering the barriers for me getting over my own ego to try this, they had a few shortcomings - battery life seems suddenly short when you want to wear them all day, live music sounded odd, and you look like you are tuning the world out.

I used to talk really loud. I don’t think i realized this before. But that was a small thing… the big thing was the cognitive load that had been freed up.

I used to end every day exhausted, and i think now that this was just the effort of trying to understand people all day. I feel less so now.

Immediately after importing the audiogram, the hearing aid functionality kicked in. And at first, I just thought it sounded weird - like i was just hooked up to a comb filter. But i stuck with it, and it only took a few days for me to realize how much easier conversing was.

That got my attention - and i remembered that the airpod pro 2s that i already had could act as an otc hearing aid. I never was able to get the on-phone hearing test to work, but reading more, i learned i could import an audiogram - one i conveniently had right in front of me - it was dead simple.

Talking to my dr after my last hearing test, they were really recommending hearing aids - that was nothing new. What was new to me was the discussions of how even mild hearing loss can increase anxiety and depression, and feelings of isolation - and lead to further neurological issues.

This thread is really for those of you who are “able to get by” - you’ve had tests, you know there’s some mild to moderate loss, but you are fine, right?

Certainly that’s what I told myself, and i figured if i gad a critical enough ear for music, i was doing OK. Except - not so much.