I also suffer high frequency hearing loss. I looked into the Songfinder a
few years ago. They have a page with sample songs (
http://hearbirdsagain.com/sound-samples/) that lets you hear how the songs
change when the frequency is lowered.

I just couldn't recognize the songs when the frequency changed. Dick Porter
refers to a similar experience using the device. I still have enough
hearing to recognize many bird songs and I decided it would not be worth
it to have to learn how they all sounded through the device in order to
hear the higher frequency songs.

I have tried hearing aids and they do not help me. A couple of years ago I
tried "hunter's ear muffs" which I found online. Some hunters wear ear
muffs to protect their ears when they shoot. The problem is that you can't
hear the deer rustling in the brush if you have ear muffs on. So some
models have microphones which allow you to amplify the surrounding sounds
but then turn off when they detect a high decibel sound like a gunshot. The
pair that I have has a treble/bass switch so I can favor the high frequency
sounds.

These muffs work pretty well for me. I crank the volume way up. They allow
me to hear a little higher frequencies than I can without them, but they
really help to "draw in" all the surrounding sounds so I can hear sounds at
the higher end of my hearing from a much greater distance. I wear them
pretty much all the time when I bird. Because they are designed to keep
sounds out they are tight fitting and can get uncomfortable after a couple
of hours but I just take them off for a half hour or so and then I am good
to go again.

The muffs I use are here:
https://www.walkersgameear.com/ultimate-power-muff-quads-black/
I paid $150 two years ago and now they are $200. There are lots of other,
similar products which cost less.

Randy Robinson
Seattle, WA
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