On Wed, 7 Aug 2013 22:45:41 -0700 (PDT), Mark Petiford wrote: > OK, just gotta tell my hearing aids story again.
I know this thread is a bit off-topic for the group, but I think it contains some very important information for all of us aging adults, and I've been following it with interest. I can identify VERY closely with your story involving the XYL. My problem is similar, but she just doesn't speak up and enunciate well. Something I want to get across to all of you, is that if you have a hearing loss and it stems from a period when you were in the military, whether it is service related or not, you ARE eligible for help from the VA. However, there must be documentation verifying the loss and when it happened. The VA covers losses and injuries that occur while you are on active duty, even if it happened at home and had nothing to do with your military job or duty. In my case, the loss was off-duty, at home, and my ex-wife was able to provide a letter stating when it happened and how, even though it was more than 40 years ago. Talk to your local VA representative. As far as the hearing aids go, I also have a Phonak pair, with iCom TVLink blue-tooth unit for the cell phone and linkable to an outside source like TV, stereo, and yes, ham radio. It works very well, but I would hesitate to recommend it for CW. If you work "high speed" CW, the amount of digital delay of the audio getting through the link and the aids will cause your sending to be poor if you are listening to the sidetone. For instance, you start sending a letter B. Your hand releases during the third dit, but that actually occurred before you heard it, so you send a 6 instead. Or, if you're going faster yet, there are larger errors. As for EQ, I have excellent low end hearing, but roll off very fast. With the hearing aids, which I rarely wear when using the radio*, I prefer a fairly flat response. Unlike many of the comments here, I find the lows to be very usable and easier to copy when they're present. All of the research says it's a waste, but I really prefer and copy better when the area of 100Hz is present If I roll the lows off, it is very tiring to listen to. My voice is very heavy in the 100Hz area, and I roll it down dozens of db to overcome my GM4's abundant response there. *I use the bluetooth to monitor the radio when I'm doing things outside the shack and want to keep up on what is going on. Just a few personal observations re the audio response and hearing aids on ham radio. Sorry if this has just irritated some because it is off-topic for the list. Gary ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
