Singing with Hearing Aids

Thank you, Covid! You made me gray—and I mean really gray. That’s the one thing I see in the photo accompanying this post. The hearing aid that no one sees? Big deal.

I’ve been wearing hearing instruments—more commonly known as hearing aids—for eleven years now. And boy, does time fly. I got them during my last season at New York City Opera and a year after the sudden onset of tinnitus, the latter propelling me into getting them.

Did they help with that?

Yes.

This post is about singing with hearing aids.

My advice to you is the same advice I gave to a friend and colleague recently.

It’s really simple.

Put them in and don’t take them out!

It’s going to take a while for your brain to get used to them. Maybe even as long as a year. So give yourself time. Don’t be impatient. If you’ve waited a long time before getting them? Your brain is going to be getting a lot of stimuli and it’s going to need time to sort things out.

Wearing them only for a special occasion?

Dumb.

Turning them down because the sound annoys you?

That’s dumb too.

Instead of getting annoyed, I suggest you get curious.

Listen to music, go for a walk in the park, hear the sounds of birds, sit next to a fountain, and hear the splash of the water.

Find yourself in the sounds of life again.

Consider the whole endeavor a miracle of science and be grateful you can have them in the first place. In the second: sing with them.

You may have to get used to hearing your voice all over again. Yes, this may annoy you too since you may hear faults that you didn't hear before. Stay curious. Work on your technique. Find a teacher who can help you get your game back.

Your aid may need to be adjusted so that the sound of your singing voice isn’t interpreted as noise. This means having the levels adjusted appropriately. A good audiologist will know what this means and how to make the adjustment.

Keep your hands away from your ears and mouth. Don’t allow your music folder to be too close to your mouth and on the level with your mouth. Why? This messes with the audition of your voice.

Find the halo of your voice.

What do I mean by that?

When you are singing with Italianate tonal values you will start to hear the corona or halo of the voice. This is an inner hearing of the voice by means of bone conduction, which, when highly developed, gives the auditory impression of the voice surrounding the head. Singers who are trained in the principles of the old school often remark that the voice seems to be about 18 inches in front of their faces. We’re talking about the same phenomena. Yes, the phenomena also involve voice placement which is perceived as being high in the head, behind and in front of the eyes. This is a learning curve that starts with inculcating the principles of singing according to the teachings of Manuel Garcia and Francesco Lamperti.