Inexpensive hearing aid favorites?

LuvOrlando

DIS Legend
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
20,370
Hello Budget Board I have a hearing aid question.

I was told I should get some by the Dr but am not entirely sure I'll be able to tolerate them with migraines so to spend a ton without knowing seems ridiculous. So far everything I have been shown is in the thousands but what if I don't like using them? Yikes

Thinking maybe I tip-toe into the space by just trying out some inexpensive hearing aids to see if I would even be inclined to use them. I can see all sorts on Amazn with a really wide range in prices & suspect there are all sorts of choices in many other places.

Are there any brand favorites on this board?
 


I have no experience with any inexpensive hearing aids, but I have an Oticon Real and love it. It connects to my iPhone which is neat. My audiologist said I had a 90 day window to where I could return it and get my money back, just wanted to pass that info on to you.
 
Costco, around $1,500 and a generous return policy. Are you thinking the aids might induce migraines? Otherwise you could just remove them when a headache starts.
 
Costco, around $1,500 and a generous return policy. Are you thinking the aids might induce migraines? Otherwise you could just remove them when a headache starts.
This is the answer. Those cheap ones are garbage...all of them. Some of the new name brand OTC ones might work a bit better but you would be near or over $1k for them anyway.
 


I am not sure where you live and if you are working or retired but my state has a program that will pay for hearing aids if it could impact your ability to work. I have several friends who have used the program, it may be an option. My father is retired and got his through Costco. He returned his first pair they were too high tech for him and no issues with the return. He is really happy with the second pair.
 
My impression is that the cheap ones you can buy online are simply a type of amplifier and probably not very good. When my parents needed a hearing aid, we went to a location where the technician had to setup the device and tune various frequencies specific to them so it did what it was supposed to do. To me it seemed somewhat like buying a pair of glasses which you clearly can't just buy off a rack in the store.

Cheap eye glasses you buy in a store off the shelf are mostly just magnifying glasses. Prescription eyewear is specifically designed for that person. Cheap hearing aids are the same thing as they are simply amplifiers that increase ALL sounds. Quality hearing aids do a much better job as amplifying the sounds necessary for an individual person to hear better.
 
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Hello Budget Board I have a hearing aid question.

I was told I should get some by the Dr but am not entirely sure I'll be able to tolerate them with migraines so to spend a ton without knowing seems ridiculous. So far everything I have been shown is in the thousands but what if I don't like using them? Yikes

Thinking maybe I tip-toe into the space by just trying out some inexpensive hearing aids to see if I would even be inclined to use them. I can see all sorts on Amazn with a really wide range in prices & suspect there are all sorts of choices in many other places.

Are there any brand favorites on this board?
Hi LuvOrlando: I know you said you didn't want to try the expensive HA's because you might not like using them?
I went to a hearing aid professional that my insurance company will help pay for. They have you try them on and see how they fit and if you can wear them. I didn't think I could tolerate them either, but now I dont even know that I have them on. The company is very good and makes sure you know everthing about them. If you have a question of any type, they will take the time to help you and adjust things if needed.
My brother bought the cheap type and he had a horrible time trying to get them to fit his ear and then to work. I imagine there are some cheaper ones that are good, but none in our experience.
The cost was well worth it to me. Also the fact that the company reps come to our town and will see you anytime you need something is worth a lot too.

I don't know if this helped or not, but wanted to give you an opinion on the more expensive ones. Mine are a gift from Covid when I lost a lot of my hearing. I absolutely love mine and I really don't know I am wearing them most of the time. Good luck with whatever you choose.
 
I have a daughter with Down syndrome who has needed aids since she was a toddler and she’s an adult. We have always used Phonak. We replace them every 4 or 5 years to get the best technology. Her last pair are rechargeable, Bluetooth into her phone for listening to music or talking and include replacement coverage. We paid about $6000 for the latest ones. Pricey yes. But we want the best ones we can find for her.
 
Costco! My father got his first pair, but after 5 months, he wasn't happy with them. He returned them for a full refund (I think it's a 6 month window), and got another pair which he likes much better.

I think he had 3 different types from which to choose.

It's worth the Costo membership.
 
Costco, around $1,500 and a generous return policy. Are you thinking the aids might induce migraines? Otherwise you could just remove them when a headache starts.
Yes Costco. Good quality hearing aides that will last
 
Costco hands down. Great quality at a good price. The department works with you, even if you return years later with a question.
 
Hello Budget Board I have a hearing aid question.

I was told I should get some by the Dr but am not entirely sure I'll be able to tolerate them with migraines so to spend a ton without knowing seems ridiculous. So far everything I have been shown is in the thousands but what if I don't like using them? Yikes

Thinking maybe I tip-toe into the space by just trying out some inexpensive hearing aids to see if I would even be inclined to use them. I can see all sorts on Amazn with a really wide range in prices & suspect there are all sorts of choices in many other places.

Are there any brand favorites on this board?
Hi LuvOrlando,
I have gotten my dad the hearing aids that Joe Namath promotes on TV and he likes them and he can hear better. I don't know the name of the company that Joe Namath promotes but I got the hearing aids for Dad really cheap and they really work very well for him. Mom and I did try to get Dad some hearing aids from a hearing aid center once but they cost too much money for an exam and hearing aids but Mom and I saw these and bought them for Dad and he loves them
 
LuvOrlando,
One more thing I forgot to mention to you in my earlier post in this thread. When you look up the Joe Namath hearing aids be sure to look up a deal that the company is running and you can try the hearing aids with a trial run and if you like them you can keep them or return them when the trial ends which is how Mom and I got Dad's hearing aids
Good luck and hope you try out the Joe Namath hearing aids?
Dodger
 
As others have said, hearing aids fitted by an audiologist almost always have a long return window; if you cannot get used to them, they will take them back for a refund. Expecting to decide whether or not they are sufficiently comfortable while in the office, however, is impossible; you need to learn to live with ALL THE NOISE again, and that normally takes several weeks of consistent use and tweaking. (Seriously, you would be amazed at the roar that can come out of a central AC vent.) FWIW, I have migraines, and my aids have never triggered one; they do bother me a bit because I have a skin sensitivity to plastics, but I have special lotion to ease that irritation. Most BTE hearing aids only have a small nylon bell and thin coated wire inside your ear canal; if you can wear old-style wired earbuds, aids should not be any worse.

Some people actually can't stand the sounds that hearing aids produce because they have gotten used to a quieter world, but newer ones are easily adjusted via a phone app, which makes things much better. (Be aware that very few of these apps work properly on Android phones, so depending on what you buy, you may be forced to get an iPhone if you don't already use one.) Aids from an audiology practice also commonly have a lifetime warranty; the mfr. will fix any problem if you take them back to the practice to report it.

Here's something that was only recently explained to me by a new audiologist: the price grades available in hearing aids are directly based on your lifestyle, and most specifically, if you are employed full-time. Basic lower-cost hearing aids are meant for people who seldom leave their homes, so they almost never are in crowded spaces, and they are used to reading the lips of familiar people. Mid-grade are generally targeted to "active retirees" who get out a lot for social activities, but who don't have to worry about accurate professional interactions too often. Lastly, premium aids are aimed at users who work full-time outside their homes, who take a lot of business calls, and who may need to speak publicly fairly often and/or interact professionally in noisy surroundings. Premium aids interact a lot better with computer devices such as microphones or video-production software, and most new ones will seamlessly link via Bluetooth to any media device you commonly use, switching automatically from one to another (you do have to link them; they don't pick up other people's devices.) Many of the lower-end models don't play well via Bluetooth. Not that many public ALS systems are yet equipped with Auracast, either, but places like WDW will probably adopt the standard sooner rather than later, as it is much less expensive that the previous technology for broadcasting this way ("telecoil" compatibility).

Lastly, there is a cool new bit of technology that is just beginning to hit the market, called Auracast; this is a new bluetooth connection type that allows public performance sound systems to broadcast directly to a whole room full of hearing aids. For a device to support Auracast, it "must support Bluetooth 5.2 or later, and the Public Broadcast Profile (PBP) spec within the new LE Audio standard. " AFAIK, the only brand that presently handles Auracast is ReSound, most of the other mfrs. have yet to update their devices to Bluetooth 5.2 (FWIW, I had to explain Auracast to my audiologist; she had not heard of it. Needless to say, I found someone else after that.)

PS: Also what SirDuff said below. That's obviously the real reason for the higher cost, but I think that most people are told about that aspect when they go to the hearing clinic. I've worn aids for over 20 years (starting in my 30s), and during the earlier sales pitches, no one bothered to tell me that the simpler versions were really designed for retirees. If money is tight, many people will decide they can live without what they think of as the bells & whistles, but SD is absulutely correct to say that, depending on your loss pattern, doing that may further damage your hearing perception because of the effects on your brain of the loss of subtlety. If you're retired it may not matter as much how quickly it goes as long as you have aids to compensate, but in the working world the trade-off is more problematic.
 
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Here's something that was only recently explained to me by a new audiologist: the price grades available in hearing aids are directly based on your lifestyle, and most specifically, if you are employed full-time. Basic lower-cost hearing aids are meant for people who seldom leave their homes, so they almost never are in crowded spaces, and they are used to reading the lips of familiar people. Mid-grade are generally targeted to "active retirees" who get out a lot for social activities, but who don't have to worry about accurate professional interactions too often. Lastly, premium aids are aimed at users who work full-time outside their homes, who take a lot of business calls, and who may need to speak publicly fairly often and/or interact professionally in noisy surroundings. Premium aids interact a lot better with computer devices such as microphones or video-production software, and most new ones will seamlessly link via Bluetooth to any media device you commonly use, switching automatically from one to another (you do have to link them; they don't pick up other people's devices.) Many of the lower-end models don't play well via Bluetooth.
Yes, on the connectivity but also, the more expensive ones have more channels and more programmes. The importance of the number of channels depends on the type of hearing loss that you have (in addition to your lifestyle). Multiple channels allow the audiologist to fine-tune the amplification so if you're hearing loss isn't flat (i.e. you hear some frequencies better than others), this means that the audiologist can increase amplification on just the frequencies that you have the most trouble with, which helps prevent your brain from being overwhelmed by the sound in frequencies that you hear better. For me, personally, I have "cookie-bite" hearing loss and my hearing is worst in the frequencies around human speech - so being able to amplify those frequencies more than the high/low ones is vital for me to be able understand speech over background noise.
 
Also, I meant to mention that if you have a newer iPhone and good headphones, you can use the audiogram done during your hearing test to tune your phone's volume, which with headphones will give you a simple idea of what a hearing aid will do to improve your hearing. You can use a podcast to see how clearly you can hear the conversation with and without the tuning.

Here are the instructions for that: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Headphone Accommodations. Turn on Headphone Accommodations, then tap Custom Audio Setup. Follow the onscreen instructions to add an audiogram.

Android phones are not equipped to handle audiogram settings as of yet.
 













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