The hard-of-hearing beekeeper

[Erichalfbee]

Fizzing
Started in the last few years but hasn't got worse.
It's always there but I can tune it out

 

[Old School Bees]

One of my beekeeping friends recommended I buy a stethoscope off Amazon…. (I suffer from tinnitus too. My hearing isn’t what it was.). I did and it is joyful to listen to the bees every few weeks in winter.

 

[elainemary]

Developed tinnitus in left ear, think due to a bad ear infection picked up from windsurfing on lake Bala. High pitched which I can tune out and a low buzz - spent ages switching off fridges & appliances thinking it was that. Learnt to live with it, no problem with hearing though. I know a couple of people who have said hearing aids can reduce it.

 

[Buzby]

What is interesting about tinnitus is the different noises that it produces. My standard one, which I’ve had since I was 9yrs is like the marching of feet on gravel. What do others have?

I've had mine, right ear only , for 15 - 20 years. Moderate high pitched whine, like a failing fluorescent tube. I really miss silence.

 

[oxnatbees]

...
Is there anyone who has the same issue of hearing deficit and has found a good method of 'assisted listening' to the hive activity from the outside? I'm considering pinching my wife's stethoscope.... but wondered whether anyone had come up with any better bespoke or commercially available solution?

I once saw a chap use a solid rod of wood pressed against the hive body and the bone just behind his ear. He said it transmitted the sound as if he had his ear pressed against the hive. I tried it but couldn't hear anything, but I didn't persist.

I find a stethoscope rather uncomfortable in my ears, but ou can also use a listeningc tube, i.e. any small diameter flexible pipe - just put one end in the entrance of the hive, or between frames if it's open, and the other end in your ear. The tube should be small enough that a bee cannot crawl in 8)

And it's just occurred to me you could probably use a funnel as a crude ear trumpet - put the large end against the hive wall, it may concentrate the sound? Could stick a flexible tube on the other end for more comfort / more ergonomic.

A totally different approach would be to run a spectrum analyser program on your mobile phone - for example Spectroid is a free app - and place the phone so the microphone is in the entrance, you would then SEE the change in tones.

 

[E&MBees]

I once saw a chap use a solid rod of wood pressed against the hive body and the bone just behind his ear. He said it transmitted the sound as if he had his ear pressed against the hive. I tried it but couldn't hear anything, but I didn't persist.

I find a stethoscope rather uncomfortable in my ears, but ou can also use a listeningc tube, i.e. any small diameter flexible pipe - just put one end in the entrance of the hive, or between frames if it's open, and the other end in your ear. The tube should be small enough that a bee cannot crawl in 8)

And it's just occurred to me you could probably use a funnel as a crude ear trumpet - put the large end against the hive wall, it may concentrate the sound? Could stick a flexible tube on the other end for more comfort / more ergonomic.

A totally different approach would be to run a spectrum analyser program on your mobile phone - for example Spectroid is a free app - and place the phone so the microphone is in the entrance, you would then SEE the change in tones.

That’s a brilliant idea! Thank you

 

[Arfermo]

I wear an NHS hearing aid in my right ear, when I remember to put it in! The hearing loss in the right on was due to a viral infection that went into the inner ear, and completely wiped my balance for several days (and VIOLENTLY bouts of illness), twice over within a week. I spent a couple of months being prodded and poked for "query Menieure's Disease" and facing losing my driving licence. Eventually, judged not Menieure's and no repeat within the last three years.
It's the tinnitus that probably stops me hearing the buzzing form the outside: quiet enough to ignore most of the time, but load enough to interfere with hearing the bees. Diving and viral infections: I miss silence.

Only one ear!! My NHS jobs won't work unless both are interlinked wirelessly through the holes in my head (nothing much in between of course) and being a stoopid old fart am not keen on them if I can avoid them as I wear spectacles too. Was replaced by NHS some 12 months ago with a much newer model. Sure you don't need an updated test and whatnot? Interestingly that last night there was a TV show (can't remember where) that said that clever geeks in Norway/Denmark?? had produced a new miniature hearing aid that is shoved in ones lugs and can't even be seen. It is based on a plastic mould of the users earholes which is then sent to somewhere in UK for the making of an acrylic plastic copy into which the electronic gizmos are inserted back in ????? and then bunged in the lugs of the waiting recipient end-user. Apparently gives a far better response. At a much better price of course!!

 

[Dornfield]

A totally different approach would be to run a spectrum analyser program on your mobile phone - for example Spectroid is a free app - and place the phone so the microphone is in the entrance, you would then SEE the change in tones.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sure you don't need an updated test and whatnot?

You do need to get the aids recalibrated every couple of years - when I had mine done at the beginning of the summer I was amazed at the difference it made (because of Carpal tunnel issues I have to adjust the volume before I insert the hearing aid - I almost blew my mind at how loud it was using the previous setting)

It is based on a plastic mould of the users earholes which is then sent to somewhere in UK for the making of an acrylic plastic copy into which the electronic gizmos are inserted back in ????? and then bunged in the lugs of the waiting recipient end-user. Apparently gives a far better response. At a much better price of course!!

It's old technology now - I remember meeting a representative in Poole Harbour to get moulds done for passive in ear ear defenders about twenty years ago, when discussing the possibility of getting an electronic version he suggested I get hearing aids instead as they were much cheaper and did the same job. Those were British made and virtually invisible then - the more modern ones are even more well hidden.

 

[Dornfield]

Still learning how to attach a quote from an earlier post (see above: credit to Oxnatbees!) , and clearly failing: I like the idea of the above! I wonder about inserting a USB C microphone inside the hive, and then plugging that into the phone when needed. I wonder how long before bees propolise a microphone beyond function!

Tinnitus for me is a high pitched whistle: like the morning after a particularly brutal heavy metal concert of my youth, or standing in a drunken stoop too close to the speaker stack in a nightclub/ youth club/ aural assault club.

 

[Arfermo]

the more modern ones are even more well hidden.

They are the ones in the TV prog that I mentioned. Very new design that syncs with mobiles, Pcs etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Tinnitus for me is a high pitched whistle: like the morning after a particularly brutal heavy metal concert of my youth, or standing in a drunken stoop too close to the speaker stack in a nightclub/ youth club/ aural assault club

And this is probably why you have hearing issues now!

 

[Spikedog]

One of my beekeeping friends recommended I buy a stethoscope off Amazon…. (I suffer from tinnitus too. My hearing isn’t what it was.). I did and it is joyful to listen to the bees every few weeks in winter.

Ditto.. have one for years.. very helpful for a listen in during winter months.. quick tap-response - alive - smile ..

 

[oxnatbees]

Still learning how to attach a quote from an earlier post (see above: credit to Oxnatbees!) , and clearly failing: I like the idea of the above! I wonder about inserting a USB C microphone inside the hive, and then plugging that into the phone when needed. I wonder how long before bees propolise a microphone beyond function!

Tinnitus for me is a high pitched whistle: like the morning after a particularly brutal heavy metal concert of my youth, or standing in a drunken stoop too close to the speaker stack in a nightclub/ youth club/ aural assault club.

Every now and then people resurrect the idea of the Apidictor or claim they've got a fantastic new gadget wirh microprocessors etc. I've looked at its patent. Valve tech, first order filters. I know a LOT about electronic filters. You can simply use a free spectrum analyser app and instantly see way more than the apidictor ever showed, like how each hive actually has a different dominant tone, depending I suspect on how many drones are active, forager flying weight etc - and it's a smear of tones, not one. Quite fun.

 

[Nannysbees]

My dad is deaf due to industry, unfortunately for him once the microscopic hairs in the cochlea are damaged the hearing aids give little benefit, he's always struggled big time losing his hearing, very sad

 

[The Poot]

Only one ear!! My NHS jobs won't work unless both are interlinked wirelessly through the holes in my head (nothing much in between of course) and being a stoopid old fart am not keen on them if I can avoid them as I wear spectacles too. Was replaced by NHS some 12 months ago with a much newer model. Sure you don't need an updated test and whatnot? Interestingly that last night there was a TV show (can't remember where) that said that clever geeks in Norway/Denmark?? had produced a new miniature hearing aid that is shoved in ones lugs and can't even be seen. It is based on a plastic mould of the users earholes which is then sent to somewhere in UK for the making of an acrylic plastic copy into which the electronic gizmos are inserted back in ????? and then bunged in the lugs of the waiting recipient end-user. Apparently gives a far better response. At a much better price of course!!

So nicely put Afermo

I too have tinnitus and miss the silence. Left ear mainly, made worse a couple of years ago by stupidly using an angle grinder to cut paving, without ear defenders. “It’s only a few cuts” but the sound echoing back on the left from the house wall has done the ear in.
I found I just couldn’t wear my glasses, a mask, goggles and ear defenders at the same time and left the defenders off.

 

[Amari]

I'm getting the impression that most members of this forum have tinnitus, deafness or both. Maybe beekeeping is the cause?
Maybe bee-sting venom attacks the ear drum, the hammer, anvil and stirrup, and/or the cochlea router?

 

[Repwoc]

What do others have?

I have it in both ears. It varies in volume quite a bit from day to day. It used to be a background high pitched hiss that was easily ignored but this has been augmented over the years with a high pitched whine and a lower pitched noise like chains being dragged over a hard surface - the latter in my left ear only. I can hear all three noises simultaneously. Otherwise I don't have hearing difficulty (as far as I know) except watching television with SWIMBO because she likes having the volume very low with the subtitles on and that's just irritating.

 

[Repwoc]

Still learning how to attach a quote from an earlier post

To quote the earlier post entirely just click the 'Reply' button in the post. You can then remove bits you don't want to quote, but be careful to leave the [QUOTE="..."] [/QUOTE] tags intact. Or to quote part of the earlier post just select the part you want then click 'Reply' in the bubble that opens when you release the mouse button.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'm getting the impression that most members of this forum have tinnitus, deafness or both. Maybe beekeeping is the cause?
Maybe bee-sting venom attacks the ear drum, the hammer, anvil and stirrup, and/or the cochlea router?

Or most of us are just old?