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Hearing aids advice for a friend


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I have Signia Pure 312 7NX hearing aids, which work just fine for me. I've tried to advise a friend of mine, and he just sent me this:

"Sorry to pester you again, but I settled on Oticons after getting some testimony from other old poops on music chat lists, and I’m disappointed. Sieman used to be king of hearing aids, but they sold that division years ago. My audiologist got in a pair of Signias for me to try and they were dreadful; apparently it’s common knowledge that they’ve gone right to hell. The Oticons are just not very good for listening to music and the app on my phone is pretty useless. There are three positions: normal voice, music, and cutting out extraneous noise (like in a restaurant) and they’re all childishly bad; they are supposed to be volume controls but what they are is crude tone controls, turning down the treble. Orchestral music sounds like mush. I’m afraid my problem may be the precise nature of my particular hearing loss; anyway,  I’m searching the Internet." 

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Hearing aids are out there on the horizon for me too, sooner or later.  I was tested a few years ago, and I was right at the bottom of the "normal" range.  And I can tell that my hearing has worsened since then.

Half the time, if my wife says something and she's not looking at me: "What did you say?!?!"

Ugh.

 

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10 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Half the time, if my wife says something and she's not looking at me: "What did you say?!?!"

You're surrendering the strategic advantage there! :g

But seriously...i find myself hearing what i want to hear better than I've been told that I do, but not as well as I probably could. So, at some point, just not wanting to hear something will stop being a self-defense strategy and turn into a real disadvantage.

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I lost a disturbing amount of hearing in one ear suddenly about 20 years ago.  I was tested for all kinds of factors that might have caused this, and my EENT guy was baffled.  His final word on the subject was "At least you're not Luther [Vandross]!"  So I too am very interested in a knowledgeable accounting of what is available.  Thanks in advance.

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Hearing aids are something I probably need. I have problems with clearly hearing people speaking unless they are close and facing me. My wife is always telling me to turn the volume down on the TV.

But other then preferring the volume to be a bit up, I have no problems listening to music on my sound system. When outdoors doing my usual 2 to 3 mile daily walk I am now using AirPod Pros, and find them very very good for listening to music from my iPhone.

 

I am likely missing some of the highs, but am not really aware of it.

There are so many stories of people unhappy with their hearing aids that it makes me very uncertain about going that route.

Also, don't want to do anything to lessen my enjoyment of listening to music via my sound system and AirPods Pros.

Edited by Peter Friedman
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A cousin of mine who's now 91 has used many hearing aids over the years, and hated all of them.  This has now changed.  He uses Oticons and loves them.  They connect via Bluetooth to his iPhone.  I can now have an easy, normal conversation with him over the phone, where I couldn't for years.  His son paired them with his TV, so he doesn't have his neighbors complaining anymore about the TV volume.  I think the iPhone app has different settings, where he can choose how much ambient noise to let in.  They're evidently pricey (~ $4,000?) but well worth it.

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My hearing loss started a very long time ago, in childhood. Never thought about aids though until new employers liked my work and they helped me purchase hearing aids about 12 years ago, utilizing a client who ran an office for a national hearing aid chain. They were siemens and certainly were an extraordinary blessing to be able to hear things normally.  They still function as back ups but the then-modern technology of ambient noise reduction and other "personalized" settings became non-functional so I sought new ones.

Second set of hearing aids, still in use, bought about 4 years ago at a Sam's Club.  Not as great - I've had to use the extended warranty plan far too many times, and I am not sure but I think it will expire around the end of this year.   At least the Siemens pair still turn on and work even now.

I did not buy any blue-tooth options, didn't want to spend the money. 

I remove the aids while driving on the highway.  They amplify too much road noise so signal-to-noise is messed up with the car stereo, which happens to be where I hear more music than anyplace else. So I take the aids out and crank the volume instead.  (I've never ever had a horn or a siren go unheard when I am on the highway with no hearing aids.)

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I’ve had Oticons since 2017 and I’m generally happy with them. I think they are the Oticon Opn model. They’ve improved my ability to hear and enjoy music. Until I started using them frequently, music I listened to at home sounded muffled. The car is a different story because you’re in an enclosed space. Without them I can’t hear the TV or what my family is saying too well. Do they have drawbacks? Yes. I find I have to change the battery frequently but it’s not difficult and when I’m driving if I get a phone call, they don’t interact well with the car’s answering system. When I purchased them Apple was the only cell phone where you could control the volume. I don’t know if that’s been expanded to Android.  They do take some getting used to.

One last note.  Since we live in a masked age, you’ve got to be careful in taking off your mask or you could easily lose them.

And, yes, they are pricey. I think mine cost about 5K and insurance only paid $500. 

Edited by Brad
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I forget the brand I that I bought earlier this year, but they are branded with the insurance company's name, TruHearing. This set is rechargeable, so that's less of a pain than battery operated hearing aids, which last two weeks max, no matter how little they are used. I wear them most days, except in noisy restaurants, where nearly everything seems amplified and don't dare sit near the kitchen...

 

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2 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

I forget the brand I that I bought earlier this year, but they are branded with the insurance company's name, TruHearing. This set is rechargeable, so that's less of a pain than battery operated hearing aids, which last two weeks max, no matter how little they are used. I wear them most days, except in noisy restaurants, where nearly everything seems amplified and don't dare sit near the kitchen...

 

Crowded places are definitely difficult. 

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14 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

I forget the brand I that I bought earlier this year, but they are branded with the insurance company's name, TruHearing. This set is rechargeable, so that's less of a pain than battery operated hearing aids, which last two weeks max, no matter how little they are used. I wear them most days, except in noisy restaurants, where nearly everything seems amplified and don't dare sit near the kitchen...

 

I've been looking into aids myself. I thought that they were supposed to help in crowded/noisy situations. That's where I have the most trouble.

Don't think I'm quite ready yet, but it's probably inevitable some day.

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Ok, hate to nag, but...how did you guys make your selection. I saw a TV ad this morning for MiracleEar, which is another "name brand" that I've heard about for decades, same as Beltone (although I've heard about them even longer).

What is guiding your selection, and did you make a conscious attempt to stay away from Miracle Ear and Beltone? If so, why?

Serious question. I really have no idea where to begin looking.

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3 hours ago, JSngry said:

Ok, hate to nag, but...how did you guys make your selection. I saw a TV ad this morning for MiracleEar, which is another "name brand" that I've heard about for decades, same as Beltone (although I've heard about them even longer).

What is guiding your selection, and did you make a conscious attempt to stay away from Miracle Ear and Beltone? If so, why?

Serious question. I really have no idea where to begin looking.

I can only report what my friend has said. He went to an audiologist and through him has tried several well-regarded brands of hearing aids with no satisfaction. What is guiding him, I assume, is what his audiologist has told him and done and above all his own response to the hearing aids he has tried. Beyond a certain limited point, I can't insert myself into this food chain; he hears what he hears. His hearing loss, he tells me is, and/or was described to him, as "sudden," which sounds ominous and may have involved a staph infection that put him the hospital for a while. He reached out to me because he knows I have hearing aids and am happy with the ones I have. I told him which brand and model they are, and I think he tried them and was not satisfied.I did suggest that he might try another audiologist. I spoke to my audiologist's knowledgable secretary (the audiologist was with a patient), and when I told her that my friend had put a price ceiling on the various models of hearing aids he had considered/tried out, she said that this might be the problem -- that the particular nature of his hearing loss might call for a more pricey high-end solution. I feel for him because he's a great guy whose life revolves around listening to music.

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3 hours ago, JSngry said:

Ok, hate to nag, but...how did you guys make your selection. I saw a TV ad this morning for MiracleEar, which is another "name brand" that I've heard about for decades, same as Beltone (although I've heard about them even longer).

What is guiding your selection, and did you make a conscious attempt to stay away from Miracle Ear and Beltone? If so, why?

Serious question. I really have no idea where to begin looking.

Maybe Consumer Reports would be a better place than your average TV ad?  Beltone and Miracle Ear still seem to have coverage in the Tampa area so I really can't imagine they haven't kept up with technology to compete in the market.

BTW I can't say that the batteries are such a terrible problem for me. $8 gets me three blister packs at Sam's Club, I think 30 or 36 total batteries per pack. Practically nothing, and since I am rarely away from the house, getting the "(tweet) - Low Battery" message in my ear every seven days is no big deal. Maybe its different if you are out and about regularly but when I wasn't working from home I just kept a battery package in my desk in case it ran out of juice while at work. Easy Peasy.

 

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Ok, perhaps I need to refine the question...I know that Beltone has staff audiologists, of what degree of training/expertise, I don't know. Probably at any range from novice to expert. MiracleEar, no idea.

How did you - or any other user of this product - select your audiologist? Was it an insurance-directed decision, a personal recommendation, or just what.

The last thing i want to do is to just "pick one out of the phone book", do that thing. Going to Wal-Mart or some such really doesn't appeal to me, but neither does getting sold a bill of overpriced goods, which is what I worry about with someplace like Beltone.

3 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Maybe Consumer Reports would be a better place than your average TV ad? 

Been subscribing to CR for a few years now, and find them to be anywhere from totally confidence-inspiring to totally head-scratching.

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4 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Ok, perhaps I need to refine the question...I know that Beltone has staff audiologists, of what degree of training/expertise, I don't know. Probably at any range from novice to expert. MiracleEar, no idea.

How did you - or any other user of this product - select your audiologist? Was it an insurance-directed decision, a personal recommendation, or just what.

The last thing i want to do is to just "pick one out of the phone book", do that thing. Going to Wal-Mart or some such really doesn't appeal to me, but neither does getting sold a bill of overpriced goods, which is what I worry about with someplace like Beltone.

You can't do anything to treat hearing loss in the state of Florida unless you are licensed. I have never concerned myself with the specific training or level of experience of anyone who has helped me in the past. Maybe that's a different kind of white lab coat effect.

In my first encounter, I went to the person who had an existing relationship with the insurance office I worked in. I did note that he was a few years older than me and had gotten his degree from Cornell. He also had a small "wall of fame" in his office, the only name I now recall is Barry Gibb, or whichever Gibb brother still lives.

The one difference between his office and the Sam's hearing aid center was discovering that Sam's did not allow the manual removal of ear wax due to the liability risk. I basically used an off-the-shelf product for a period of time, which took care of a good deal of wax build up and softened up the rest. He then used tweezers and a strong light to remove the remainder, (weird feeling to have wax gently pulled away from ear canal, I can tell you) and only then did I have my official hearing test the first time. Obviously you want a test that isn't effected by wax issues. (Believe me I clean ears often but it does build up regardless.)

At Sam's they could only use a camera and a probe to show me what I was up against and it took a period of time before he suggested that I find a doctor to finish the job. That turned out to be a Walgreens clinic, where it was about $120 for her to blast the ear with a water pik to finish it up. (They made me sign a liability waiver, too.)

So really I would prefer, in the future, a place that will handle final wax clean up themselves. Other than that, one audiologist or another, not my worry. I know what my hearing loss looks like.

 

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So, an audiologist is a doctor, right? Not just a "technician"? Or is it like a lot of places, there's a doctor in charge, but the technician does all the "real work"?

I guess that will vary from office to office....rhetorical question, then.

Really don't want them right now, but insurance will run out upon retirement, and I do NOT want to be fucking around with something that "sorta" works, if you know what I mean.

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1 minute ago, Larry Kart said:

He's a doctor.

So you were referred, or knew him already? Didn't just pick somebody out of the phonebook, right?

And does he do all the work, or was there "technicians" involved?

And he's an independent, right? Not affiliated with any one company?

 

 

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9 minutes ago, JSngry said:

So, an audiologist is a doctor, right? Not just a "technician"? Or is it like a lot of places, there's a doctor in charge, but the technician does all the "real work"?

I guess that will vary from office to office....rhetorical question, then.

Really don't want them right now, but insurance will run out upon retirement, and I do NOT want to be fucking around with something that "sorta" works, if you know what I mean.

I suggest you use that thing that is your "friend" and educate yourself.

(I will state that I have never worked with a 'technician' because again, everybody working with patients in a hearing center is a licensed audiologist.)

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53 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Ok, perhaps I need to refine the question...I know that Beltone has staff audiologists, of what degree of training/expertise, I don't know. Probably at any range from novice to expert. MiracleEar, no idea.

How did you - or any other user of this product - select your audiologist? Was it an insurance-directed decision, a personal recommendation, or just what.

The last thing i want to do is to just "pick one out of the phone book", do that thing. Going to Wal-Mart or some such really doesn't appeal to me, but neither does getting sold a bill of overpriced goods, which is what I worry about with someplace like Beltone.

Been subscribing to CR for a few years now, and find them to be anywhere from totally confidence-inspiring to totally head-scratching.

First, some years ago, I went to the Northwestern University audiology clinic, based on a recommendation from a music industry figure who had a had a lot of trouble finding help for her hearing problems. The audiologist there was just fine, but then she left -- last hired, first fired -- and re-settled in Texas. Then I went to a chain outfit, Hear USA (don't recall how or why I chose them) and was happy there, and now I'm on my second or third Hear USA audiologist  (they migrate) all of them very good IMO. BTW, I dumped Northwestern after my initial good experience there because it was a teaching facility, and and after a while they seemed to have not much time for me versus the time they had for the students.

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