[Elecraft] Tinnitus and the K3 RX EQ and Related Variables

Wed Mar 27 21:28:46 EDT 2019

I should probably see an audiologist someday. I've had nasty tinnitus as
long as I can remember. I spent most of my youth around loud musical
instruments, having begun playing brass instruments in 3rd grade. I've been
in many loud environments since, even though I don't recall it being a lot
of times until around 2001, when I got into shooting. But I always used
really good hearing protection.

I'm finding pulling weak signals out of radio noise difficult. The biggest
problem is that my tinnitus pulses. It'll get louder, change frequency,
then get quieter, and seems to shift from ear to ear, almost as if I'm
hearing a real sound that's changing phase. That plays hob with CW signals,
let me tell you! If I listen to S9 white noise, no matter whether there's a
signal there or not, I can always hear something that could be a very faint
CW signal. It isn't there, but my brain THINKS it is, and tries to decode
it and can't. It's very frustrating, to have a sort of bandit signal in
one's own ears. Maybe an audiologist can help me with it, and I'm glad
someone popped up with the idea, because it had never occurred to me that
there WERE audiologists (of course there are, why wouldn't there be?) until
I read this post.

Sorry if there isn't enough topic in it, but part of ham radio is being
able to perceive the signals, after all. If I'm going to be losing my
hearing, I want to start learning to use visual cues for CW signals early
on, so I don't lose the ability entirely!

Gwen, NG3P

On Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 7:02 PM Ken Widelitz <kwidelitz at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Ted,
>
> I lost about 60% of the hearing in my left ear about 6 years ago as a
> result of a virus that I didn't know I had until I thought I had water in
> my ear for over a week went to the doctor. The loss sharply increases after
> 550 - 600 hz, so it doesn't affect CW as much as phone. I also have a high
> frequency tinnitus, around 12 -14 khz. Honestly, I believe years of hamming
> have helped me filter out and deal with the tinnitus. A hearing aid also
> helps with the tinnitus, but for me does not help intelligibility at all.
>
> For me the issue with the K3 was I couldn't get enough volume to my left
> ear despite tweaking the RX EQ.
>
> I bought the new Heil PRAS as soon as it was available. I built a little
> breakout box to put it on the left ear only and I totally forget I have a
> hearing loss during contests. The PRAS can be optimized for your CW sweet
> spot or for SSB. It works very well. I turn up the volume until a mono
> signal is centered in my head overcoming the hearing deficit. I don't know
> how much credit the PRAS gets but the first time I used it for SS Phone was
> in 2018 and I came in 2nd SOU. I've never made the top 10 in SS Phone in
> any category ever before.
>
> Prior to the PRAS I used a FIIO headphone amp. They are much less
> expensive ($125 vs. $500.) They also worked for me, but IMHO the PRAS is
> better as it is designed for ham audio. The negatives are the price (I've
> asked Bob Heil to sell it without the powered speaker, but as of yet they
> don't) and the fact that it is a mono device (which isn't so much of a
> negative for me since my right ear still works fine.) To answer another of
> your questions, with the headphone amp I use the other K3 settings as I
> always have. Before I used a headphone amp, I never perceived an
> improvement in hearing from tweaking filters, RX EQ or other parameters.
>
> Does the increased volume further damage my hearing? I don't know. I don't
> care. I am functionally deaf in the left ear already. I do not perceive an
> increase in tinnitus or a further loss of hearing after a 48 hour contest
> as the result of using a headphone amp. Nor do I perceive an increase in
> hearing Morse coming from the fridge, faucet or AC after a CW contest,
> which I have always heard.
>
> 73, Ken, K6LA / VY2TT
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:
> elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Walter Underwood
> Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2019 3:20 PM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Tinnitus and the K3 RX EQ and Related Variables
>
> I m not quite clear about the audiologist s recommendations. Did they tell
> you to avoid loud, high frequency sound?
>
> If so, ask them whether they consider 3 kHz to be high frequency. That is
> the highest frequency you should hear from an amateur SSB signal. Unless
> they and you are in ESSB mode, which would make it 4 kHz.
>
> I expect that they don t consider 3 kHz to be high frequency. If that is
> true, you can do what ever you want with RX EQ.
>
> wunder
> K6WRU
> Walter Underwood
> CM87wj
> http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog)
>
> > On Mar 27, 2019, at 3:12 PM, Dauer, Edward <edauer at law.du.edu> wrote:
> >
> > A question about special settings for the K3 s RX EQ, AFX, filter width
> and passband settings and other on-board parameters for a particular
> problem . . .
> >
> > Just had a long visit with an audiologist, about a worsening tinnitus
> condition.  Principal underlying cause is loss of acuity at the high end of
> the audio scale.  I will not mention or ask about any of the contributing
> neurology, physiology, psychology or any other medical ology lest this post
> be branded with the Scarlet Letters OT.   Other than to say, that to avoid
> making the situation worse I am told I should avoid exposing myself to
> audio environments that would make the underlying acuity loss worse.
> >
> > Has anyone who has faced this learned anything by experience or
> otherwise about the filter, EQ, and other settings for the K3 in both SSB
> and CW modes that would be best for this sort of thing?
> >
> > Please, speak up.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Ted, KN1CBR
> >
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