[Listening to music in hearing loss with and without a hearing aid]

By means of a questionnaire it was investigated how in individuals who had previously had normal hearing deafness influences their pleasure and habits in listening to music, and which role a hearing aid can play in this respect. Out of 330 questionnaires returned, 206 could be statistically evaluated. 95% reported that formerly they had liked music, light music coming from the radio being the most frequently mentioned type of music and medium. 36% had formerly played an instrument or had enjoyed singing. 79% feel that their deafness has affected their pleasure in listening to music. Most common complaints refer to the fact that everything sounds distorted and wrong, melodies cannot be recognised any longer, the text of songs is not understood. 60% are fitted with one hearing aid, 40% have binaural hearing aids. 67% report that the hearing aid has rendered listening to music again more pleasurable, and 74% use their hearing aid more or less regularly when listening to music. The distorted sound and the fast alternating between "too soft" and "too loud", forcing the subject to continually adjusting his hearing aid, seem to be among the most annoying features.