It is well known that hearing aids can help positively impact someone’s daily life and career. In this video, you will learn how hearing aids can help you, the impact of the ReSound ONE hearing aids, and how hearing aids can truly change someone’s world around them. Many thanks to Richard for creating and sharing this video with us.
About Bio:
Dr. Richard Niles is a prolific composer, producer, songwriter, arranger, conductor, and musical director. Dr. Niles is the owner of Niles Smiles Music. He completed his Composition degree at Berklee College of Music in Boston and was awarded a PhD from Brunel University for his thesis “The Invisible Artist – Arrangers in Popular Music (1950 – 2000).” Dr. Niles has a hearing loss and wears ReSound ONE hearing aids to help him hear better.
Visit his website at www.richardniles.com and follow him on Facebook @richcomposer.
When did you first consider hearing aids?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
My wife was constantly saying things to me, and I said “What? What? What?” and you know my son would also be talking to me and I couldn’t quite hear him, it was getting annoying and happened gradually over a period of time. Finally, my wife said maybe you should see someone and have your hearing checked and I did. They told me that I did have some hearing loss. I thought that was because of years of playing Rock N’ Roll on this thing (guitar), that my ears have been blessed, but actually they said it was just the normal kind of hearing loss that you get with aging and that’s when I decided to do it. They said you need hearing aids.
Was it affecting your work in music?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
I also noticed it in the studio and playing live that the definition of everything was getting less and less and things were sounding more muffled than you know when you’re mixing it is very important that you control the EQ meaning the equalization of the sound: how much treble, how much bass, how much middle and my ability to do that was very much diminished by not having ears that were working properly so yeah it was a problem both personally in talking with people, but also with my practice of music.
Have You Ever Used Hearing Aids?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
I had never used them before, and my mother had them and my father had them. I have never used them before. I have seen people with them but have never noticed they had them until they told me.
Did You Hesitate To Seek Care?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
I never hesitated at all because I wanted my ears back. You know as soon as possible, I said do something because I was realizing I lost as much hearing as I did and it wasn’t that much, but it was significant enough to matter. I really wanted to fix it as soon as possible so luckily, I met you.
Were There Concerns About The Hearing Aids?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
One thing I was concerned about was that I would have to put it in and out every day and that it would take a long time. I thought it was difficult, but as we can see (oh there it is) it is just this little guy (showing the hearing aid) and the ReSound ONEs are really super easy to put in. They’ve got this new little bud at the end of it, the ear bud, and you just cram it in here (his ear) and flip this thing on your ear and as they say in England, “Bob’s your uncle.” Very easy and very quick.
Do People Notice Them?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
It is very rare that people notice them because you can’t see them. I mean there you are you can see them there (he turns his head to show it), but in normal conversations nobody even notices that I’ve got them, and I was just worried that they wouldn’t work. The other thing I was concerned about was that it would make everything sound unnatural and weird, but I must say that the ReSound ONEs are a huge improvement on anything. Because I had a different product before and they were a little bit tiny sounding and weird sounding, and it took a lot of getting used to, but these as soon as I put them in, I think you remember when I first put them in, I just went “Wow! I’m sold already!” and the reason I did that was because this has a much more 3-Dimensional sound.
Sound is my business and I was aware that suddenly I was getting not only the right kinds of highs because too much of that is going to sound unnatural and annoying and I was also getting the lows and the richer sounds so that was just a fantastic plus the other thing that this has is the Music program, gives me a lot of richness in defining all those middle parts of music, which I guess the ordinary public are not aware of, but those inner French horn lines, you know the Viola lines, all those kinds of things, I can now hear much more clearly and small bits of percussion in the background. I can hear a much more 3-Dimensional sound then I ever had. In fact, I always tell people that these things are so good that my ears are way better than they were before, I got bionic ears.
How Has ReSound Helped You?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
Before I got the hearing aids, I was in trouble. I was not able to do my job properly, I was uncomfortable in my daily life, and I was constantly having to ask people to repeat what they said. And also in a restaurant, it was just miserable because I just couldn’t make out what anybody was saying and when there is noise going on and even in a concert, I was just very uncomfortable so that’s a major difference and major improvement. And then I would also say that the ReSound ONE, the clarity of it and the naturalness of the sound has made a huge difference over the hearing aids that I had before. So that’s been a big improvement, as well.
How Is Our New “ULTRA FOCUS” Program?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
I absolutely love that and that is super helpful in certain types of situations where I’m in a room full of people or where I really have to focus on a meeting in kind of a conference room. It’s just great, it’s kind of like a man from uncle’s, James Bond kind of spy trick that I can do.
What’s The Trick?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
If there are people talking over there and I want to hear what they are saying, I can kind of almost spy on them by using that function, so it is a great function, and a great new function, very useful.
What Would You Tell Your Friends With Hearing Loss?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
I tell them to get them immediately. I tell them that and the reason is because they are so far and way better than anything that I before. Also, the improvement in your life, it really is crazy to not get them if you are having hearing problems. Not just for a professional musician like myself, but for anybody because we are born with ears that work and we are used to interacting with our world in a way that we can enjoy it and if I didn’t have these, I wouldn’t enjoy actually being alive and that’s a pretty good recommendation right there.
Compare Your ‘Before’ and Your ‘After’ Experience
[Dr. Richard Niles]
Well, it’s always a great idea that whenever you’re trying to do anything, whether it’s a walk down the street, swim, hit a tennis ball, or play music to be able to do it well without any impediments. So you know to be able to play tennis without you know your hands tied behind your back is probably a good idea. That is the way I would characterize having hearing aids. Obviously, hearing is one of our five senses, and it helps us not only understand the content of what we have, but it also helps us quantify and describe what we are hearing.
So if I hear a sound of clinking glass, I can say my mind tells me that’s a clinking glass, not an animal dropping on my foot. It’s not a car screeching coming at me and also if you’re walking down the street and you’re just trying to cross the street and a car comes screeching around the corner, it’s really kind of healthy to be able to hear that car screeching around the corner because you can get out of the way. So it’s just important in every facet of life to be able to have a very focused appreciation of what you’re listening to because it informs us about our world so I can’t recommend it enough to everyone. If you are having hearing problems, get this thing and it will change your life.
What Surprised You About ReSound?
[Dr. Richard Niles]
The thing that surprised me right away when you gave me these things was my awareness of the space I was in and I know that sounds kind of weird, but if you’re in a room your kind of aware of the space through ears, it’s not just through your eyes. And that amazed me, also when I listen to your voice, I am not just hearing sounds of words coming out of your mouth, I am hearing the grin in your voice, I am hearing that maybe you had a cold yesterday and I am hearing it in great detail, which of course helps us appreciate our outer world and understand our outer world better.
In terms of music, it’s invaluable because if I’m working on ensemble, I need to hear that second Viola player is out of tune, not that the Viola players are ever out of tune, but I need to hear that if I’m conducting an orchestra, if I’m working with a big jazz band, I need to hear that the base player missed number 4 on the page, and no you should’ve gone to A-flat there and instead you went straight. I need to hear those things and with the ReSound ONE, it really gives me the accuracy that I used to have and actually as I said before it gives me more accuracy because I can hear things now better than when I was 25 and certainly better than I remember when I was 25, if I can remember back that far.
