Hearing Aids

[Solittle]

I have had hearing aids for around four years and while they have allowed me to hear a lot of what was lost to me for a long time I have never been completely satisfied. I have BTE Phonac in both ears. What gets me is I hear better with my wireless headhpones or iPods with ear buds than I do with $5,000.00 worth of hearing aids.

In the past couple of days I have been to Miracle Ear, Beltone and Opticon none of which is completely satisfactory - - - and prices range from $4,500.00 to $6,000.00. I am of the opinion that the industry is a huge rip off.

By the way my hearing is at the bottom of normal for the low frequencies and drops off significantly in the higher frequencies. Without aids of some sort I can make out very little of what is being said in meetings or resturants.

What has beeen your experience?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Hearing Aids

I agree its a rip off. I believe that if they can get a blue tooth head set to be rechargeable, small, compact, and sounds great for $100, they should be able to get a hearing aid that works for about the same cost. then again where would the capitalism be in that.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Hearing Aids

What pi@@es me off is that I have a wireless headset for the TV costing less than $50.00 plus ear buds for my iPod that cost less than $20.00. I hear better with any of these than my Phonacs.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Hearing Aids

What pi@@es me off is that I have a wireless headset for the TV costing less than $50.00 plus ear buds for my iPod that cost less than $20.00. I hear better with any of these than my Phonacs.

A few years ago I was having the same problem with my Dad who was in his nineties . Just for the heck of it I bought him a pair of hunter's ears from Bass Pro and it worked better than every hearing aid he had ever tried.....yes it is a ripoff.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Hearing Aids

What pi@@es me off is that I have a wireless headset for the TV costing less than $50.00 plus ear buds for my iPod that cost less than $20.00. I hear better with any of these than my Phonacs.

But they don't have to get FDA cert. that hearing aids do. I agree that this is a rip off

 

[bassman284]

Re: Hearing Aids

I think a big part of the reason that earbuds or phones seem to work better is that they block all the ambient sound. You are piping the sound you want to hear directly to your ears. The hearing aids are attempting to sample and select the available sound.

My impression is that people with tinnitus, in particular, tend to be dissatisfied with their results from hearing aids. I have had tinnitus for years and it seems to me that my hearing detection level is pretty good but I have difficulty sorting out what I hear from the ringing and hissing. I can hear a pin drop, I just don't know what it was that I heard. I've linked a review by a guy who seems to have to same problem I do although somewhat worse.

http://www.hearingaidsreview.com/types-of-hearing-loss/hearing-aids-and-tinnitus-my-story/

 

[Flynny]

Re: Hearing Aids

Hearing aids are much smaller than those TV amplifying earpieces, and they are custom made to your ear..if we're talking about the same hearing aids. There was a "How It's Made" episode on them and the modeling, molding, and assembly is all done by hand. Those TV amplifiers and your typical pair headphones are mass produced and probably never touched by human hands in the factory. $4,000 does seem kind of crazy for a device like that, but I wouldn't expect them to be as cheap as headphones.

For the same price (4K) btw, you could buy some of the nicest headphones in the world (audiophile me).

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Hearing Aids

Having worked in the hearing aid industry, here's a thought. One thing that figures in is volume, those earbuds with amps are made by the tens of thousands. Only 4% of the population uses hearing aids and are custom made for each user. The hearing aid contains in one tiny package everything that the earbud and amp do and runs on one tiny battery. Are they worth 4-6k ? Maybe not.