This hearing aid or that one?
Picture the scene: You are in an audiologists office, you’ve had a hearing test and you need to decide which hearing aid you are going to buy. You’ve saved up for a long time to get some money together for an aid because you really need to hear better. It’s a lot of money. It’s a big decision and you can’t afford to not make the right one.
Based on your test results your audiologist suggests a few different aids that would suit you. The three aids being recommended have all had really positive feedback from previous customers.
You’ve got a lot of aids to pick from but three are being suggested. One’s cheap and well within your budget, one is just under your budget and one is slightly over. Which do you go for? Do you stretch your budget that little bit? How much better would you hear if you stretched your budget?
The audiologist has already warned you that it takes time to get used to new hearing aids, your brain needs to adjust to the new sounds and you’re a first time wearer so it’s a big deal. You get a three month trial period for your new aids after you’ve paid for them.
Which aids are you gonna pick?
Now you’re faced with an impossible choice. You ask the audiologist how much better you would hear if you bought the most expensive one and all he can say is, “well, it’s got a better noise-reduction algorithm and more channels so it’s going to be better”. Yes, but how much better? Is it worth my money better?
So, you decide to pick the cheapest aid because money is tight and there’s a bunch of other stuff you could be spending it on. Add to that the fact that you are a bit uneasy about handing over a large sum of money for something you are really not sure about.
You go through your trial period and you are reasonably happy with the results, you hear a lot more than you used to. But you have problems getting used to some sounds and some things sound very unusual, there’s also some stuff you still can’t hear as well as you would like.
Do you trade the aids back in and go for the more expensive ones? How much better would they be?
Related posts:
Subscribe via RSS
RSS via Email
I have the same worries when buying a new hearing aid. It’s a lot more complicated and stressful than people think.
(e
As a private hearing aid audiologist I always advise to get the best technology you can afford without going crazy….
As a general rule the higher the price the better the performance hearing speech in noise, performance varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and circuit to circuit.
If you lead a quiet lifestyle and your hearing loss isn’t too difficult to address, generally mid range or maybe slightly above will give good results, if you have aspirations to hear better in noisier environments get the best technology you can afford within reason.
I have to add, despite the claims sometimes put forward by the manufacturers about the newest latest best tech, nothing can match good natural hearing, all we can do is try to get as close to natural hearing as is possible within the limits of your hearing loss and the technology itself.
Half the battle is selecting the appropriate level of technology from the right manufacturer (choose an independent hearing aid audiologist, the national companies as a rule have limited ranges!).
Check prices on the internet to make sure you are paying an appropriate amount of money, if a website doesn’t give indications of pricing it’s probably because their prices are way too high!
Then the other half of the equation is make sure the hearing aid audiologist you select knows his/her stuff!
If they don’t know the technology inside out they won’t be able to get the best out of your expensive new purchases…
I love the site and reading all the articles. All these articles sound like things I have said to myself over the past couple weeks. I am not vain or apprehensive about wearing hearing aids. I just want to know I am getting the hearing aid that I need. I think all the audiologist are out to sell hearing aids. There are offices popping up everywhere. How do you know they are prescribing the aid that you really need. Some of the decisions are logic…digital, behind the ear, 1 or 2 aids, but when is there a requirement to need 6, 10 12, or even 20 channels. Even if you understand the audiogram, it still does not answer the question of …how many channels.
There should be more of a standard across the industry to allow the consumer to understand what he is getting for his money. Hearing Aids are not like buying a glasses…but they should be. Tell me what I need based on what I want….don’t sell me some high priced latest technology aid, when all I need is a amplification.
Don’t sell me $3000 aids when all I need is $1500 aids. Maybe more people should follow thru with returning the aids after 30 days. It might take you 3 months to find the right one for you…but at least you would know you spent the right amount of money….
Still searching for answers….thanks
I have digital nhs hearing aids at the moment. But this year I’m really starting to resent my hearing aids. Even before all the bother I’m having at the moment as mentioned on my hoh blog (Liz’s HOH blog), which I’m closing down middle to end of June by the way.
I’m going to go back to the audilogist as one of my moulds has chipped slightly, and while there, I will look into further options I hope I can have. I’m also looking at private too. Will be discussing my options there Friday. Until then, I know what I want. But what happens I will have to see. But I know if I go private there will be some thinking to do.