This is the third post in a series about my journey navigating recent sudden profound hearing loss. If you haven’t read them already, I recommend reading Part I and Part II first.

“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears” – From “Julius Caesar” by Shakespeare

Today is 91 days since I suffered sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in my left ear.

I perceive no recovery or improvement in my left side hearing despite a long succession of treatments and therapies (described in previous blog posts).

As I wrote in Part I, I had the scary experience of playing in an orchestra one week after my sudden hearing loss and not being able to hear myself.

In Part II, I described receiving hearing aids that I hope might enable me to continue performing with orchestras. It has been two weeks since I received my new crossover hearing aids.

I purchased Starkey Omega AI CROS (crossover hearing aids) for single-sided severe/profound hearing loss. I chose them because a) they are the most configurable (a cell phone app allows me to configure unique profiles and adjust equalizer settings), and b) they can run up to 48 hours on a charge. They are expensive, but given a unique set of circumstances, my insurance covered nearly all of the cost of the purchase.

How normal crossover hearing aids work is basically a mic is placed in the deaf ear, and sound is transmitted to a “speaker” in the good ear. However, sounds on the good side are picked up through the air and travel as usual straight into the good ear.

Prior to my hearing loss, I diligently wore musicians’ ear plugs during orchestra rehearsals and performances to protect my hearing from the possible damage. Sitting close to woodwind and/or brass players, many experienced musicians suffer from hearing loss and tinnitus. I wanted to protect myself from that fate.

Note: Fellow musicians, please, please protect your hearing when performing in orchestras or amplified settings!

Since I now only have one good ear, I really need to protect it, so my audiologist ordered special “ear cones” I can attach to my good-side hearing aid. An ear cone is a flange that will help muffle natural sound coming in through my right ear. It attempts to convert my hearing aid into both an ear plug and a hearing aid at the same time.

Practicing Alone

I tried playing my viola by myself, and I’m reasonably satisfied with the quality of the sound I’m getting through my crossover hearing aids. Of course, my viola doesn’t sound quite as warm across the range of frequencies, but it isn’t tinny or low fidelity. Overall, I find the sound quality satisfactory.

But that was playing solo, in a quiet setting, and not surrounded by 40-60 other musicians.

I attempted to artificially create a scenario to test my hearing aids the week before my first rehearsal with the orchestra. Here’s how I did it:

1. I installed a large ear cone on my good hearing side hearing aid to muffle incoming natural sound
2. I put on headphones but covered my good ear only
3. I played recorded orchestra music at high volume through the headphones
4. I picked up my viola and played along with the recording

I was able to hear myself and the recorded orchestra music … but this was still not a real orchestra setting.

I finally got to experience playing my viola in a full live orchestra last weekend in rehearsal and performance with the Oregon East Symphony.

In brief, the hearing aids worked! I was able to hear myself and the orchestra, and I was able to perform to my satisfaction.

There were issues, though, and I hope I will be able to work them out with the help of my audiologist.

Difficulty Tuning Up

I had to jump in early when the orchestra was tuning.

Typically, the concertmaster will stand and nod to the oboist to play an “A.” Various sections of the orchestra will tune. Finally, the “A” is given for the strings. We wait for the concertmaster to begin tuning, then the string sections all follow suit starting with tuning their A strings and subsequently their other three strings.

If I waited until all the strings were playing, I found it very difficult to single out my own “A.” So I began quietly playing and tuning my A string soon after the oboe gave their A and slightly before the other string musicians began tuning.

Also, I found it impossible to tune during warm-up.

10-30 minutes before a concert starts, many musicians come out on stage, sit down, and warm up. They get their fingers moving, review the program, and play through difficult parts. The combined sound of all the musicians warming up and practicing different things can be a cacophonous mish-mash.

In the past, I could tune in the midst of this sonorous chaos — but no longer.

Normally, this would not be a big issue. My instrument typically remains close enough to being in-tune most of the time, and I can simply wait until the official concertmaster-led tuning to make the last minute fine adjustments to my strings.

But occasionally, a string may become seriously out-of-tune, and that can pull the other strings out of tune sympathetically. One may install a new string which will stretch significantly over the first few days. Also, one of your tuning pegs may slip causing one string to be way out of tune, even an octave or more.

The latter happened to me. My C string tuning peg slipped, dropping my C way out of tune. The change in string tension caused the remaining strings to compensate becoming a little bit tighter and sharper. This meant all my strings needed to be corrected.

In the musical din created by all my fellow musicians warming up, I could not hear myself sufficiently to rectify the situation. I ended up having to ask a sympathetic colleague in my section to tune my instrument for me. Thankfully, he readily agreed and in a few moments had my instrument ready for the performance.

Overall Sound Levels Playing In The Orchestra

After tuning, it was time to play surrounded by musicians in the orchestra. Was I be able to hear myself and the orchestra? Yes. But overall, the sound level was uncomfortably high.

I found the ear cone allowed more sound to pass through into my good ear than I was accustomed to. This caused the overall combined sound level in my right ear to be very high. The flutes, oboes, and clarinets, though they played beautifully, generated a volume that approached piercingly painful levels. It was not enough to give me a headache, but it more than was comfortable, especially during really loud or bombastic moments in the music (one piece on the program was Stravinsky’s Petrushka).

But the most important thing — being able to hear myself — that worked.

I was physically spent by the end of the concert. This would not be surprising given the length, concentration, and physical exertion a work like Petrushka requires. But I also had sound fatigue.

These days, if I am in a noisy bar or restaurant, or any situation where there are multiple simultaneous conversations, I last maybe an hour before I am physically and emotionally exhausted and need to retire to someplace quiet. I felt the same after the performance.

I removed my hearing aids and spent some time socializing with audience members and fellow musicians in an after-concert reception. But not for very long.

Soon, I was on the road driving home. I needed quiet. I discussed the concert with my partner, but in low tones just loud enough to hear over the road noise.

Next Steps

My next follow-up visit with the audiologist is later this week. I’m hoping there might be a more effective earplug/hearing aid solution for my good ear and future performances.

I cherish my hearing, and although I grieve the loss of my left side hearing, I still can play music and do the things I love. For that I am grateful. I just need to do everything I can to protect what I still have.