Hi Pierre and everyone,

I recently upgraded my hearing aids so I now have a "directional setting" in addition to an "all around" setting.  The volume on these is very high compared to my former inexpensive Costco aids. My hearing loss is moderate, but I had been unable to hear what the director was saying during orchestra rehearsals, and now I can hear her, so that is a huge improvement.  However even with the directional setting (amplifying only what is in front of me) I am quite jangled by the brass section behind me, and music and radio all have kind of an irritating metallic "edge" to them which I am kind of getting used to. 

I'm curious if other hearing aid users have a similar experience, and if your audiologist has been able to tweak the settings for you.  My audiologist is not a musician, so trying to communicate my experience to him with words is difficult.  I finally took my violin into his office and played some scales rather aggressively, then played the same thing with my heavy practice mute, trying to create for him a sense of the jangling "edge" vs. a mellower sound.  He was able then to adjust the settings to relieve a lot of the irritating sound.

As far as my general practice at home, I  have not yet been able to tell if the aids help me have better intonation. Since the sound is right in front of me with or without aids, and my hearing loss is moderate, I'm not sure if amplification has made a difference or not.

I'd be interested in any comments from other hearing aid users.