The importance of hearing music and how to get the most enjoyment out of it when you have a hearing loss.
The power of music
German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, famously said: “Without music, life would be a mistake”.
Plato said: “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything”, and Bob Marley gave us this great one: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Can you imagine a world without music?
Whether you like to listen to the radio, are a jazz connoisseur or simply enjoy the dawn chorus on a fresh spring morning, music has a unique way of positively affecting you.
Music can boost your mood, motivate you or help you to relax, and did you know that listening to music has even been linked with health benefits such as; restoring memory loss, pain management and reducing stress and depression?
Your favourite tunes are quite literally a medical marvel. If laughter is the best medicine, listening to music is definitely a very close second.
Music and hearing aids
Living with an untreated hearing loss could mean that you are missing out on the remarkable benefits that listening to music can offer you. Thankfully modern hearing aids can improve your enjoyment of music.
Up until recently, hearing solutions have only really allowed people with hearing loss to hear speech. Anything louder would be distorted, maybe even unrecognisable.
The evolution of hearing technology has improved the quality of sound through hearing aids so that any genre of music can be fully enjoyed.
A recent study of the Oticon Opn™ hearing aid and how it improves the sound quality of music and speech demonstrated that naturalness and clarity of sound can now be vastly better.
Everyone that took part in the experiment noticed that they could clearly hear individual instruments and better noticed the difference between listening levels. The musicians that took part noticed the improvements considerably more than anyone else. Musicians hear more detail in sound!
Professional musicians need professional technology
If you are a musician or an entertainer, then you are potentially more susceptible to hearing damage as a result of your day job or hobby.
Your ears are regularly exposed to high sound levels which can cause both temporary and permanent hearing loss. In all likelihood you have at least experienced the symptoms of tinnitus, such as a ringing, buzzing, or persistent noise in your ears.
Understandably, hearing loss for you would be especially challenging and life changing. You may have tried hearing aids already and still found that you are struggling, but don’t let that hold you back. The ability of your hearing aid can affect how much pleasure you take in your passion, you simply need to serve your trained or gifted hearing ability with the most capable hearing technology.
Mezzo-soprano opera singer, Janine Roebuck, notoriously lives with incurable, progressive nerve deafness. Janine is able to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an opera singer thanks to the evolution of hearing aid technology and is a global star despite her severe hearing condition.
When Janine was fitted with Oticon Opn hearing aids, her audiologist conducted a music test using a rudimentary set of speakers. Janine commented:
“When my audiologist tested me for music, I got terribly emotional because I had not heard the clarity of music that Oticon Opn allowed me to hear for years and years and years. It had just become a cacophony of sound, yet there I was hearing all the individual instruments again far more clearly than I had done for such a long time.”
You can hear Janine talking in full about her amazing personal experience with Oticon Opn here:
Ringing in ears or the calming musical sound of the ocean?
You may be surprised to know that approximately 80 per cent of those with hearing loss also suffer from tinnitus, and 80 per cent of those with tinnitus also have some form of hearing loss .
If you experience ringing in the ears, a buzzing noise or whooshing sounds then you could well have a form of hearing loss and it is well worth seeking professional medical advice from your primary care doctor or an ENT consultant.
There are many ways to help relieve the symptoms and one of the best treatments is sound therapy – complementing the sound of tinnitus with more pleasant sounds to help accept and often also reduce the tinnitus annoyance - yet another example of how music can play a vital role in helping medically.
The simple act of taking the time to relax and listen to your favourite music could be the difference between a restless night or a good night’s sleep.
Whether you have an underlying hearing loss or not, hearing aids could actually help relieve your symptoms. Oticon Opn hearing aids offer a variety of pleasant sounds, such as ocean sounds or broadband sounds to redirect focus away from tinnitus.
Read more about Tinnitus SoundSupport ™
“I think music in itself is healing.” – Billy Joel
Maybe music is actually the best medicine, and laughter should be downgraded to second place?
The power and influence of music is immeasurable. If you can’t enjoy listening to music anymore, consider booking yourself an appointment for a hearing test. You won’t regret it.