Do I still Think My Ukes Sound Good?

PhilUSAFRet

UU VIP
UU VIP
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
11,960
Reaction score
22
Location
Florida Space Coast
First time hearing aid user early this AM. My hearing has been going for a long time. Now I have to carefully evaluate the tone of all my ukes to see if I still think they sound as good to me as I thought they did when I first got them. Anyone else have this experience? How did it go for you?
 
I'm 68 and my hearing has been going little-by-little the last 10 years, especially the highs, but have not had to go to a hearing aid yet. I still find my ukes to sound good, I just changed one to string-through and I feel like the resonance improved, but that could be just be wishful thinking.
 
I have been wearing hearing aids for several years now. I have a love/hate relationship with them. I have a 50% hearing loss, so I really need them, but I find music harder to listen to now. I often take them out to play music.

Remember: no matter how good they are, things will not sound the same as they do with "real" ears. So, there will be some differences. That being said, they can be adjusted so make sure you talk to your audiologist about your needs. Mine have a setting that helps enhance music. I forget to use it, though, and that setting makes mine much louder. I need to get it adjusted . . . :p

Don't worry. It takes a little while to adjust to them but it will be ok. And you can always take them out if you need to. :)
 
For me it depends on too many factors, how well I slept, do I have a cold, was it a noisy day at work, etc. etc.
Sometimes I find my ukes too loud after a noisy day, then I'll do more fingerpicking than strumming.
I haven't focussed on how good they sound as much as how they feel when I'm playing.
And when I hear my girlfriend singing in tune from the next room, I know that my uke is sounding great :)
 
First time hearing aid user early this AM. My hearing has been going for a long time. Now I have to carefully evaluate the tone of all my ukes to see if I still think they sound as good to me as I thought they did when I first got them. Anyone else have this experience? How did it go for you?

I probably need ‘em, but I’m holding off as long as I can. I have trouble understanding lots of TV programs especially woman (but who doesn’t). Being a radio operator probably didn’t help my hearing all that much either.

My neighbor across the street is 91 and wears hearing aids, and we still manage to spin yarns together. My mother is 105 and her hearing has been going lately. She doesn’t hear me sometimes, but she can still hear my wife. I guess it’s the different pitches.

I’ve heard that some people take them out when they play music. Boy! Ain’t old age a barrel of laughs? :eek:ld:
 
RE: TV, for a long time, I had a speaker on my TV with adjustments, had to play with the volume, treble, and bass depending on which channel, which show, and how the sound engineer mixed the show. Unwieldy, but worked. I was told hearing aids are set up for speech anyway, so I'm not sure they are a reliable indicator of uke's tone anyway.

I probably need ‘em, but I’m holding off as long as I can. I have trouble understanding lots of TV programs especially woman (but who doesn’t). Being a radio operator probably didn’t help my hearing all that much either.

My neighbor across the street is 91 and wears hearing aids, and we still manage to spin yarns together. My mother is 105 and her hearing has been going lately. She doesn’t hear me sometimes, but she can still hear my wife. I guess it’s the different pitches.

I’ve heard that some people take them out when they play music. Boy! Ain’t old age a barrel of laughs? :eek:ld:
 
We just need to enjoy and listen to music. When we concentrate to evaluate the quality of tone, we can not listen to music.
 
;);)
We just need to enjoy and listen to music. When we concentrate to evaluate the quality of tone, we can not listen to music.

:agree:

I hear some folk make great music with so so instruments and others make so so music with great instruments. Folk think all types of different things - which is fine. I believe in taking pleasure from whatever instrument you are playing, and if you tune them right and play them well then take even more pleasure and a lot of satisfaction from the music that you have produced.

Hearing loss comes to a lot of folk, but even though hearing may be dulled your playing can still sound good to you and others too. If your Ukes sound better to you with your hearing aids either in or out then play them that way and enjoy.;)
 
Last edited:
I have needed aids for several years, too much target shooting when I was a young man with no hearing protection. I usually play without the aids because with them I get a slight echo that sounds a little tinny. I started a uke club at my church awhile back and I use the aids there since I need to communicate with people.
 
Top Bottom