Posted on 12/11/2024 5:44:59 AM PST by LouAvul
Who to consult for preliminary considerations? The guys at Costco? Or a licensed ENT? I seem to recall some specific hi-tech test for best results.
Which type hearing aid is best? In the ear canal? Outside?
Cons? Short battery life? Don't do the job?
My situation is I like the tv louder than my wife; can't always hear her; miss dialogue in Bible class at church; etc.
thanks
I’ve had bad hearing in my right ear all my life. Mom and Dad bought me my first hearing aid when I was 14, for my bad ear. Working in loud factories w/out hearing protection made it even worse in both ears. When my wife and I watch tv I have the closed-captioning on. My daughter bought me Beat headphones when I’m watching by myself. Love those things!
I have Aetna, and I’m on Medicare, I’ll have check it out!
Sort of my experience. Too much racket. And make my ears itch. Behind the ear work better for comfort, but I am always snagging them with sunglasses.
Wife bugs me to wear them so I can hear her what she is saying
;-)
The idea is often so I can hear her when out to dinner, but they amplify everything so I cannot tell what she is saying over all the crashing and yammering around us.
I second Costco hearing aids, I too have Jabra with rechargeable batteries- $1,500 compared to over $5,000 from an audiologist whom I saw. My nearest Costco is 160 miles away, but whenever I am there, I just drop my hearing aids off at the hearing center while I shop and they clean them and put new filters in for free.
THIS is why we ol’ fahts talk to each other.
Audiologist. they will get you fitted right and tuned properly for each ear.
My recent hearing aids are from Costco. They work well. The rechargeable batteries are only good for 14 hours. If I put them in at 7 AM, they die are 9 PM. They save money, but it’s a pain they don’t last longer.
My aids are partially out. It’s nice to have people see them, and then speak loud enough for me to hear.
For Sunday school and church, I use LIVE TRANSCRIBE on my Android phone. It turns speech into text. It’s wonderful.
I use a device that sends TV sounds to my hearing aid by bluetooth. Some TVs don’t work well with them. Sony works, allowing my wife and I to have our own settings. One problem you will encounter is that when your aids are set to TV, you probably won’t hear your wife when she tries to talk to you.
I use an app called THRIVE, but the overall sensitivity of the aids makes them a huge PIA. ;)
I went to a regular full service (connected with a large medical system) place last year and then to Costco .
The full service was $5,800.
Costco $1,600.
Costco has excellent equipment to map the frequencies you need help with .
You know if you have hearing loss and need help .
I hesitated before I went, but they are in some ways life changing .
And you can’t see that I wear them.
You hear things like a bird chirping in a movie or song that you previously didn’t know was there.
And you have probably heard the high correlation to hearing loss and cognitive decline.
So yes go to Costco and get them .
I have had the best experience with Miracle Ear.
I’ve gone to audiologists, spent a lot more money and ended up with poorer quality hearing aids.
And they check up on you regularly at no extra cost.
I wear hearing aids and they help considerably with the TV and my husband’s normal hearing.
I also attend university classes. The professor wears a microphone that broadcasts directly to my hearing aids. Classes would be impossible without this help.
My hearing aids also connect to the computer by way of bluetooth. Unfortunately, the device that I wear on my collar will not broadcast from room to room and has a very short charging life. ( about 2 hours.)
The brand I use is Phonak.
Do I have the best brand and the best price? I have no idea.
Your primary care can give you a good referral if you’ve never seen anyone.
Possibly an ENT to rule out anything the ENT would need to deal with, then ENT could recommend an audiologist.
FWIW, that’s the route my hubby went with great success.
Hearing loss runs in his family, so his is related to that.
He loves his hearing aids.
They’re a huge improvement from what his older family members had. Much better performance and far more comfortable.
My loss/tinnitus was likely mostly from shotgun blasts bird hunting. Back then there was no such thing as hearing protection other than shoving a ball of cotton in your ear or breaking off the filter of a cigarette for the same.
Now when I shoot, at the range, I double up on plugs and muffs. Hunting, I use Sordin electronic muffs.
Thanks. I have several sets of electronic muffs as well as Walker over the head electronic plugs. My go-to field protection is behind the head Sordin electronic.
Get one at Amazon that has a lot of positive reviews. Read some of the reviews.
So sorry…I’m sure you have many replies at this point but I JUST took my 90-yo mom get her new hearing aids yesterday and she is SO happy. It has changed her life already (she has had hearing aids for about 5 years). They are PHONAX. Much better than her previous ones.
Hearing aids ping.
Yeah, I didn’t npmention there are other brands when I noticed the sale on Walker’s.
I consulted a hearing specialist at a ENT clinic and ended up with a Bone Conducing Hearing Aid which has turned out to be work very well for me. It is covered by Medicare and most others are not.
I have a friend who got some updated hearing aids at Walmart and paid about $2000 for them. So kind of depends on what your hearing situation is and what will work well for you. You definitely need a Hearing Audio test to see where you are and what recommendations you get.
I got my first pair from a nationally known company; at a cost of over $4000. They came with a “lifetime“ service warranty. Playing basketball in the gym one evening I took them out and put them in my gym bag, I thought. Never saw them again. Someone may have lifted them, or I may have put them in someone else’s gym bag. It turns out that there was a $400 per unit replacement charge; I didn’t read all the fine print in the agreement.
When I started having problems with the replacement units, and mentioned it to my primary care physician, he told me that since I am a veteran, the VA would provide me a new set at no cost. So I advise you, if you are a veteran, to see the VA first. The initial ones I bought were battery models; the VA replacement replacements are rechargeables. Better deal all around. They will replace them every four years if necessary.
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