Hearing Aids

[electricrelish]

My father has gotten his hearing tested, and it's been determined that he needs hearing aids for both his ears. He's gone to see an audiologist. Here's the thing, each audiologist pushes a different company's hearing aid. You can purchase these items through their office or you can even order hearing aids off of Amazon.com.

 

He's had two audiologists show him Phonak and Starkey hearing aids. From what I've learned from the Internet, Siemens is the biggest manufacturer of them. How does one have any idea which is the right one? These folks don't have them in their offices. You have to order one and then take it back if it doesn't work for you. It's pretty time consuming.

 

Also they are very expensive. Each hearing aid ranges in price from $1,400 to $3,100. They go up higher than that, but that's just what we've looked at. The description will read active, less active, not active. Basically, it means expensive, less expensive, cheapest. The worse part is that he needs two.

 

Does anyone on the Huddle have any experience with hearing loss or have a relative that's gone through this process?

[Big John]

My mother had experienced this. She went to a doctor's office instead of the hearing aid stores that only sell one brand. With that, they knew she did not have much money and got the least expensive functioning model without going by one brand and were making sure it worked for her at the office.

[SEC=UGA]

You could always go with this option.

http://www.puretonehearing.com/hearing%20aid%20old.jpg

[BiggieFries]

My father just got one for his left ear about 2-3 weeks ago. His was about $2500. He hasn't been able to hear out of his left ear for over 25 years. As soon as he got the hearing aid he started hearing. And it's still on the lowest setting. He's actually able to follow conversations from people that are sitting on that side.

 

The doctors told him that it might take some getting used to since his ear hasn't heard jack in 25 years so his head might feel like it's in a drum

 

The only thing that he's noticed that he has any concerns with is that he can't really hear my son as well as he can hear us. He might need to get it turned up a touch since he's still having a hard time hearing him.

 

Let me know if you'd like me to get the brand he has.

 

Good luck.

[electricrelish]

Thanks for the feedback. I found hearingaidforums.com and was able to get some valuable information from experienced hearing aid users.

 

My father went to see two audiologists. Both only sold one brand. The first audiologist had Phonak hearing aids. She only had one model in the office to test with and it was their lowest level model. She told my father that he should have two hearing aids. However, she did not have two to test with, which I found strange. There's an assumption that the patient should just fork over the money to buy them and if it didn't work he could return in 30 days. In my opinion, that's a lot of money. Imagine having to pay up front before you got to test drive a car. Well, driving a car is not nearly as complicated or important as being able to hear.

 

He went to see a second audiologist, who sold Starkey hearing aids. They had none to test with. Again, the same story, pick the one that meets your budget out of our brochures, then we'll order them and see if they work.

 

Both places had hearing aids that ranged in prices from $1,400.00 to $3,300.00 for each individual hearing aid. Again, my father needs two and they don't have the models in the office to test with. I find this fact very disturbing.

 

Today, we went to Costco. That's right Costco. The reason is because I found several positive posts at hearingaidforums and hearing-aids.pissedconsumer.com. One forum poster had the Starkey hearing aids and was very unhappy with them. He went to Costco and loved the Benafon Verite model.

 

Costco gave my father a hearing test that lasted an hour. They had him try the Bernafon Verite model. They had their premier model in the store. They had two of them for my father to try. They programmed the hearing aids based on his hearing test. They told him to go walk around Costco and go shopping and to try them out. Costco sells multiple brands. They don't try to sell you on one brand over another brand. And the cost of their top of the line model from Bernafon was $100 less than the lowest end model at the audiologist's office. You can return it free of charge if you determine it's not the right hearing aid for you within 90 days. Everyone else has said 30 days. 90 days is fantastic. Plus., the warranty is good for 3 years. If you lose it or break either one within the first 2 years, they replace it one time for free. The Phonak's at the audiologist's office had the same policy, but they only had a 2 year warranty. The Starkey audiologist had only a 2 year warranty, and they make you pay $200 first for any lost or broken hearing aid.

 

They also schedule appointments with you within the first 90 days to make adjustments as you need them. They fully expect you to come back to their offices for hearing aid adjustments, which most folks do with their audiologists.

 

Overall, the service was a lot better at Costco than at the audiologist's office. The folks that you work with are not doctors. They are certified hearing aid dispensers. I was very impressed. We are still doing research because we don't want to rush into anything, but I was completely surprised that we would have a better experience in shopping for hearing aids at Costco than at two different audiologist offices.

Edited May 25, 2010 by electricrelish

[electricrelish]

My father just got one for his left ear about 2-3 weeks ago. His was about $2500. He hasn't been able to hear out of his left ear for over 25 years. As soon as he got the hearing aid he started hearing. And it's still on the lowest setting. He's actually able to follow conversations from people that are sitting on that side.

 

The doctors told him that it might take some getting used to since his ear hasn't heard jack in 25 years so his head might feel like it's in a drum

 

The only thing that he's noticed that he has any concerns with is that he can't really hear my son as well as he can hear us. He might need to get it turned up a touch since he's still having a hard time hearing him.

 

Let me know if you'd like me to get the brand he has.

 

Good luck.

 

My father was determined to not be able to hear high frequencies very well. High frequencies generally include children and women. This type of hearing loss is common. A hearing aid should be able to help with that problem. He should be able to tell the audiologist this information, and they will make adjustments. Did he get his other ear tested as well?

Edited May 25, 2010 by electricrelish