Bob Martin
http://www.rtmcreative.com
Bob was initially fit with the RITE1-156, the predecessor to the RITE₁-158.  Below is a testimonial he posted to a hearing healthcare forum

May 16, 2009

My name is Bob, and I have to make a confession. Starting last October, I began to deal with my high frequency hearing loss. A pretty dramatic 50dB loss starting at just around 2kHz and on a steep slope. I didn't realize just how bad my hearing was. After attending the Audio Engineering Society’s show in San Francisco at the beginning of October, and getting my hearing checked in one of those trucks they bring with the audiologist stations, I saw to my horror just how bad my hearing was.

So, I went to the audiologist. Got pretty much the same basic test there, and they fitted me for SIE hearing aids which have a piece that hangs behind your ear and a small, nearly invisible tube that places a speaker in your ear. I get to use this type of hearing aid because I have no hearing loss in the frequencies below 2K. I was initially fitted with a brand called Resound, in particular the DOT, which is auto-adjusting. They were loud and harsh and distorted when I played music at any volume above that of an acoustic guitar. Even my acoustic guitar sounded tinny and ugly. So, I tried Siemens' PUREs, which are adjustable to allow you to listen to music. But they distorted at levels below 100dB - a level that's easy to hit with a tiny amp, playing cleanly (considering a typical noise floor is greater than 50dB).

Anyway, I was about to bag the entire thing. Having given hearing aids a six week trial and, sure, I could sort of hear speech better, but I was completely overwhelmed by tinny, awful sounding high end. And I was sick of arguing with my audiologist who was convinced she knew what was best for me and how dare I question her and toss around terms like DISTORTION, FREQUENCY RESPONSE, COMPRESSION, etc.

I contacted a friend in the pro audio industry who makes IN-EAR monitoring for live performances. I remembered that he is greatly involved in the hearing conservancy movement and perhaps he had some idea where I might turn for hearing correction that would take the fact that I am a musician, producer, etc into consideration.

He told me about America Hears, who he has been working with, along with other recording and hearing professionals, to develop MUCH more natural sounding hearing aids for anyone, but in particular, people like me and other musicians/audio pros. I contacted America Hears 3 days before going to London to record. They told me that they needed the results of my hearing test to be able to program me a set of hearing aids, so I scanned and emailed them what I had from AES and my audiologist. They informed me that was only 1/3 of the tests needed to accurately evaluate my (or anyone's) hearing loss. So I quickly got on the phone and made an appointment with an audiologist who worked for the hospital, rather than one who owned a hearing aid store. They gave me the full work up (got an appointment 2 hours after I called) and they faxed the result to America Hears. This was on a Monday at 5pm. Wed morning, I got my new hearing aids, put them on, and it was like a miracle happened. I could hear completely naturally. Speech, music, nature - the difference was nothing short of amazing! So, I hopped in the car, took my other aids back to the audiologist I'd been working with, within the 45 day trial, got my money back and had hearing aids that give me my hearing back. On Thursday afternoon, I hopped over to London and on Monday night was rough mixing the tracks we recorded at Abbey Road that day and HEARING THEM PERFECTLY.

A forum member recalls that I was complaining about the sound of a certain guitar pickup. Well, I was complaining about the sound. Unless I got it loud enough, I could never hear enough high-end. I always used the magnetic pickups and piezo pickups together because I needed the high end boost to sound 'normal'. Once my hearing got corrected, I could hear just exactly how much high end I was putting on everything and man - I am thankful people stayed in the audience. Being able to hear it all, I now hear that there's a good amount of high end coming off the magnetic pickups in the buffered preamplifiers that is not there in a passive version of this guitar.
So, everyone - please disregard any comments I've made about tone prior to this year. I simply wasn't hearing things, and I didn't know I wasn't. I am now, and have changed my tune, or, um, tone. As we all know, tone is a very personal thing, so my comments are really only about my perceptions.

The cool thing about America Hears is that they give you the interface to be able to tweak your aids yourself. SO, I get my hearing checked annually now and can come home and adjust my hearing aids to correct exactly what my loss is. They are a great company and, if you are thinking at all about your hearing I strongly encourage you to get it checked and, if necessary, contact America Hears rather than going the standard audiologist route. I've described the events above, but I can't convey the stress associated with making the decision to begin with, then taking the initial steps, the stress of the first audiologist and thinking I'd never be able to really hear music again, and finally the relief and joy in finding Henry Smith and his great company America Hears and all the work they are doing for people who use their ears in critical evaluation of audio as well as just plain everyday hearing. PLUS - they are a GREAT DEAL LESS EXPENSIVE than Siemens (1/7th the retail price of Siemens Pure 700s - there's HUGE, and I mean HUGE markup in the hearing aid market). 
That's my story. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Bob

On July 1, 2009, Bob’s RITE1-156 hearing aids were replaced with the new RITE2-168 hearing aids.  His comments in an email are below:

July 4, 2009

First, thank you so much for doing this. I've been eagerly anticipating this next round!
I loaded in the new software following Kelly's instructions. The software picked up the settings from the hearing aids (I loaded it into a different computer to test it, not wanting to lose programming on my old hearing aids, just in case) and as soon as the software connected to the hearing aids, and I chose LISTEN for each side, the volume issue was no longer an issue.

The reaction this time was completely different. Not an immediate WOW! More of a series of WHOOAAA statements. At first, I didn't notice how MUCH smoother the high end is - no harshness at all. Listening to music, there is an unbelievable amount of detail. My acoustic guitars sound completely natural. Speech seems much more intelligible with less volume. There are no sharp frequencies that make me wince. In short, these are incredibly close to having non-hard of hearing ears. Maybe better (I don't really have a control group here...)

The feedback control issue for long sustained tones is greatly reduced as well. With the DBFC+ it seems to be best for not getting that hollow sound when a long beep (or a high C on guitar) is sustained. The DBFC++ presents the hollow sound a little more eagerly, but doesn't stay in that feedback rejection mode for nearly as long as my old aids did. What is the difference between these - meaning, if the hollow sound happens less in DBFC+, what would be the advantage of using DBFC++? Prior, I had to shut feedback rejection off completely to avoid the issue when listening to music. Now, I can be in DBFC+ and it seems just fine for music.

I am ecstatic about the sound of these new aids. Hopefully, I will remain ex-static! (sorry, couldn't resist the puns).

Thanks, Henry!
Bob