“Oh, you wear hearing aids, do you?”
“…What?”
Once you get past the stock jokes, the subject of hearing loss and deafness has a serious side to it. There is a perceived stigma associated with wearing hearing aids, possibly stemming from the large, clunky and obtrusive devices which used to exist. Many of the people who could benefit from wearing hearing aids simply skirt around the issue and turn up the TV volume instead.
I’ve been playing with Sax Bandits for about three years now and for those who have met me, you may not have realised that I wear hearing aids! Modern hearing devices are tiny, unobtrusive engineering marvels which automatically adapt to your surroundings to deliver a rich, high-quality symphony of sound into your ears (they come in many funky colours too).
I’ve been playing in bands since I was at school and if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that one of the most important aspects of playing music is ‘listening’. I find myself constantly listening; to the tone I produce on my saxophone, the other people playing around me, and the tuning of my saxophone relative to the band (try playing high notes on a soprano saxophone and you’ll see what I mean)! Without my hearing aids this would be much more difficult, if not impossible, and my playing would suffer.
Hearing aids allow me to be the best player I can be.
Sound quality is the main thing that people worry about when considering hearing aids. A friend of mine recruits audio engineers both for Phonak (a big player in the hearing aid market) and for Sonos (a big player in the world of high-fidelity ‘smart’ speakers). What they have in common is the need to deliver high quality audio in differing environments; it is as important for hearing aids as it is for hi-fi systems. Each generation of hearing aids brings with it big improvements in sound quality and my hearing aids deliver a much higher quality sound than my ears do on their own! They allow me to enjoy playing music to the fullest extent.
So, if you find that you are turning up the TV volume more than you used to, or that you’re missing bits of conversation that those around you seem to cope with, you may benefit from a visit to an ear clinic or hearing aid dispenser. Rest assured that if you choose to go down this route that your saxophone playing experience will only be enhanced as a result!
Featured image from: www.signia.net/en-nz/hearing-aids
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