Shadowing Practice: Why Hearing Aids Sound Tinny (And How to Fix Them) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Well, you finally did it.
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You got a brand new pair of hearing aids and they have all of the bells and whistles.
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They have a deep neural network for artificial intelligence sound processing.
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They're rechargeable batteries.
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You've got the new form of LE Audio Bluetooth, which enables a feature called AuraCast, and they're even waterproof.
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So why the heck do they sound so freaking tinny?
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Hey guys, Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona.
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And this is a question that I get all the time about the sound quality of hearing aids.
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So in this video, I'm gonna explain exactly why your hearing aids sound so tinny, what's causing it,
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and what you can do to fix this problem to make your hearing aid sound as natural as humanly possible.
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So here's the deal.
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To truly understand why hearing aids sound so tinny to some people, you really have to have a good understanding of hearing loss in general.
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When people start to lose their hearing, it's usually the high frequencies that decline first.
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When this happens, you typically start to notice that you can hear that people are talking, you just can't quite understand what they're saying.
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It's a clarity issue, not a volume issue.
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An easy way to explain this is if you turn up the volume on the TV, it typically makes things louder but not clearer,
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especially if you're watching a show that has accents.
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Like the popular TV shows Outlander with their Scottish accents or Peaky Blinders with their English accents.
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This problem is even more apparent inside of noisy places like restaurants, where you have all this restaurant noise that you can hear just fine,
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but you have trouble understanding the person who's right across the table from you.
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This loss of high frequency hearing is caused by the deterioration of hair cells inside of your cochlea, which is your hearing organ.
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Let me give you a really quick anatomy and physiology lesson as to how this works.
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When sound enters your ear, it travels down the ear canal and vibrates your eardrum.
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Those vibrations are then passed through three tiny bones in your middle ear space called the malleus, the incus, and the stapes,
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and transfer that vibration of sound into the cochlea.
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Your cochlea is tonotopically organized, which means that different regions inside of the cochlea respond to different sounds, but these high -frequency sounds,
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up to 20 ,000 Hz, are at the base of the cochlea, which is right where the sound enters.
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If we take a look inside of the cochlea, we will see that you have different hair cells,
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and the hair cells that I'm specifically talking about here are the outer hair cells.
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Their job is to amplify those tiny vibrations of sound so they're strong enough to activate the inner hair cells,
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which then send signals up the auditory nerve to the brain so you can hear.
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But as these high -frequency outer hair cells become damaged, they can no longer provide this natural amplification effect.
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Without enough vibration, many of those high -frequency speech sounds never activate the inner hair cells, so speech information never reaches your brain.
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So what speech information is actually missing when you have a high -frequency hearing loss?
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For this, let's briefly look at an audiogram.
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For this typical high frequency hearing loss, any of the speech information that is above the X's
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and the O's in the shaded gray region can no longer naturally be heard by this individual.
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Any of the speech information below the X's and the O's in the white region can still be heard naturally.
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The high frequencies on the right hand side of the graph have most of your consonant sounds
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that provide the perception of clarity in speech.
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And the low frequencies on the left hand side of the graph have most of your vowel sounds
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that provide the perception of volume in speech.
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For a visual example, which word do you think this is?
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Is it fat?
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Is it sat?
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Is it cat?
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Or is it even a four -letter word, chat?
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When you have a high -frequency hearing loss, it could literally be any of those options and more.
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Which is why it's important
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that hearing aids amplify sounds in these high -frequency ranges to restore your access to this speech information.
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But what does all of that have to do with your hearing aids sounding tinny?
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Well, it has everything to do with it.
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You see, when you use hearing aids to amplify these high frequency sounds to restore clarity,
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it can also cause a tinnitus perception for two main reasons.
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And reason number one is that your hearing aids are not programmed correctly.
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The good news is a hearing care professional does not have to guess as to whether
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or not your hearing aids are programmed the right way.
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They can just verify it with real ear measurement.
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Real ear measurement is a verification technique
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that a hearing care professional can use to see
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if your hearing aids are properly amplifying sound for you to your hearing loss prescription.
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They can see if some sounds are being overamplified in certain frequency ranges, and they can see if sounds are being underamplified in other frequency ranges.
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To perform this verification procedure, they have to place probe microphone tubes inside of your ears along with your hearing aids.
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They then play a calibrated sound from a speaker in front of you
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and measure how much amplification you're receiving from your hearing aids by plotting it on their computer screen.
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Anywhere the solid amplification curve is above the hash mark prescription curve,
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it means that you're being overamplified and anywhere the solid curve is below the hash mark curve, it means that you're being under amplified.
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Now let's get to the tinny perception.
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If you have a tinny perception of sound, chances are that you're being over amplified in your ear resonance range.
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You see, when sound enters your ears, it receives a natural boost in amplification around 2700 hertz.
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On average, this natural amplification effect adds up to 17 decibels to an incoming sound.
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And I don't want to spend too much time explaining what decibels are, that's definitely a topic for another video, but 17 decibels is a lot.
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And if this is unaccounted for when it comes to programming the amplification levels of your hearing aids,
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you're going to be significantly over amplified between 2 ,000 and 4 ,000 Hertz on average.
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But the only way to even know this is if you measure it with real ear measurement.
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This is what an unaccounted for resonance peak looks like that causes a significant increase in the tinniness perception of sound.
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You see this bump right here, where it peaks above the hash mark curve?
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This is a resonance peak.
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And for this individual, it would make their hearing aids sound incredibly tinny.
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But once corrected for, it should look more like this.
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This would likely take away all of that tinny perception of sound while still keeping speech clear.
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Without real or measurement, neither you
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or your hearing care professional has any clue as to whether or not you're being overamplified in this range.
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And it essentially turns your hearing a programming session into a guessing game,
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where they're having to use trial and error to try to figure out which frequency ranges are being overamplified for you.
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And what they inadvertently end up doing, even if they get rid of the tinniness perception,
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is that they're then under -amplifying you in other frequency ranges, which is destroying your ability to hear optimally.
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The same thing is true even if you don't get a tinny perception of sound.
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You never really know if your hearing aids are programmed the right way.
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So if you're going to a hearing care professional who is not performing real -ear measurement when programming your hearing aids,
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it's probably time to find a different provider.
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And if you want to guarantee that you can find a provider who performs this critical verification procedure, make sure that you check out my website,
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hearingup .com, and find a HearingUp Network member in your area.
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Every hearing aid member has been vetted for their commitment to following comprehensive audiologic best practices,
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including real ear measurement, to ensure not only that your hearing aids do not sound tinny, but that you're able to hear your absolute best.
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Now, in addition to this resonance peak issue, there is another programming error that usually causes this tinny sound perception,
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even if you've corrected for the resonance peak, and that is not properly blending the amplification from the lows through the mids and into the highs.
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If your hearing aids are only amplifying the high frequency ranges for your hearing loss, but you don't properly blend the amplification into the high frequencies,
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a lot of the times this can make your hearing aid sound tinny.
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Of course, real ear measurement is also the solution to this problem
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because it allows a hearing care professional to see
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if they're also giving you enough of this blending through the lows and the mids.
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But what if your hearing aid programming was done correctly with real ear measurement
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and they corrected for your residence peak and they corrected for the blending of the lows, the mids, and the high frequency amplification levels,
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but you're still getting this tinny sound perception.
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Well, that could lead to the second reason why your hearing aids sound tinny, which is lack of auditory adaptation.
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You've got to remember that if you have a high frequency hearing loss, chances are you have not heard those sounds in a long time.
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And research tells us
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that it takes only approximately 30 days with a mild level
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of hearing loss before your brain starts to change the way that it processes sound due to this auditory deprivation.
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And on average, most individuals have had hearing loss for several years before they start to even realize it.
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But by that time, auditory deprivation has definitely set in,
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and other areas of your brain start to overtake your auditory cortex and use that space for something else.
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And when you bring back all of these missing sounds at once and your brain's not ready for it, you can get this tinny sound perception.
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The good news is research has also indicated
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that it takes your brain 30 days to revert back to the way
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that it was as long as you're treating your hearing loss with hearing aids that have been programmed properly.
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Inside of this first 30 days, your hearing aids may sound a bit tinny,
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and that's okay, as long as that tinny sound perception is not being caused by improper programming.
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Now, if you've been wearing your hearing aids for 30 days, and you've been very consistent day in, day out, and wearing those hearing aids,
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and you're still getting a tinny sound perception, then your hearing care professional may have to taper off the amplification levels of the high frequencies.
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You just have to be careful because you could be trading one problem for another.
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If you turn down the high frequencies too much, yeah, it'll get rid of the tinny sound perception,
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but it could also take away your clarity in speech.
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So if you have to take this approach because you just can't stand that tinny sound perception from your hearing aids,
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make sure that your hearing care professional takes it very slow one decibel at a time.
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Now to finish this off, one thing that you really need to understand here is that when you have a hearing loss,
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it means that you have damage to your auditory system.
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It may not be possible to completely eliminate the tinny sound perception of your hearing aids and still maintain good speech clarity.
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But as long as you're aware of this relationship between high frequency amplification with hearing aids and a tinny sound perception,
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you have a much better chance of getting rid of that annoying sound and still hearing really well with your hearing aids.
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Alright guys, if you enjoyed this video, do me a huge favor and click the like button.
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And if you want to see more videos just like this one, make sure that you're subscribed to the channel with notifications turned on.
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And I'll see you in the next video.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Why Hearing Aids Sound Tinny”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: hearing, sound, aid, tinny, perception. This video has 134 sentences and 2081 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:59. The speaker talks fast, about 208 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| frequency noun | /ˈfɹiːkwənsi/ | The rate of occurrence of anything; the relationship between incidence and time period. |
| perception noun | /pɚˈsɛpʃ(ə)n/ | The organisation, identification and interpretation of sensory information. |
| measurement noun | /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/ | The act of measuring. |
| curve noun | /kɚv/ | A bend, such as in a road. |
| clarity noun | /ˈklæɹ.ɪ.ti/ | The state or measure of being clear, either in appearance, thought or style; lucidity. |
| resonance noun | /ˈɹɛzənəns/ | The quality of being resonant. |
| blend verb | /blɛnd/ | To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other. |
| vibration noun | /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/ | The act of vibrating or the condition of being vibrated. |
| accent noun | /ækˈsɛnt/ | A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to… |
| verification noun | /ˌvɛ.ɹə.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ | The act or process of verifying. |
| hash noun | /ˈhæʃ/ | Food, especially meat and potatoes, chopped and mixed together. |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
| procedure noun | /pɹəˈsiː.d͡ʒə/ | A particular method for performing a task. |
| ear noun | /ˈɪə̯/ | The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea. |
| correctly adverb | /kəˈɹɛk(t).li/ | In a correct manner. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| take away verb | /ˌteɪk əˈweɪ/ | To remove something and put it in a different place. |
| add up to verb | To have a particular effect in combination. | |
| bring back verb | /ˈbɹɪŋ bæk/ | To fetch something. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| pass through verb | To go through, to travel through, to transit or lie across a place or from one place to another. | |
| turn down verb | To refuse, decline, or deny. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is caused · are then passed · be heard |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been vetted · you've corrected · have not heard |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | cochlea, which is · organized, which means · ranges, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 36 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, they're, you've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: perception /pɚˈsɛpʃ(ə)n/, measurement /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/, vibration /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/, verification /ˌvɛ.ɹə.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, hash /ˈhæʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: verification /ˌvɛ.ɹə.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, comprehensive /ˌkɑm.pɹəˈhɛn.sɪv/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like frequency, perception, measurement.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.