I have been wearing hearing aids since I was fifty and am now 70. I have progressed from mild bilateral hearing loss to moderate/severe hearing loss. Here are the lessons I have learnt along the way.
Seek out an independent audiologist. If you cannot get a recommendation consult the Independent Audiologists Australia website. They carry the full range of manufacturers which means you can trial different brands of hearing aids. Different brands can process sounds differently with some suiting individual preferences more than others.
If you have a bilateral hearing loss wearing 2 hearing aids more than doubles the clarity of speech. I let vanity rule initially and couldnât believe the difference 2 made.
Behind the ear with amplifier in the ear are better than completely in the canal hearing aid. Completely in the canal which I initially wore for vanities sake caused lots of problems with itching. Behind the ear are now very discrete and most people donât notice them and for the most part I am unaware I am wearing them.
Paying extra for bluetooth connectivity has been worth it. It means the tv sound can be beamed directly into my hearing aids. Similarly with my android phone. Phone calls are now easy and listening to podcasts beamed directly into my hearing aids is great.
If you play a musical instrument have a program on your hearing aids attuned to playing your instrument. My latest hearing aids had a music listening program included but it did not account for the vagaries of playing a flute.
Paying almost double for the most expensive automatic model of your hearing aid will not double the quality of your hearing experience. I prefer being able to change programs myself.
Do be prepared to keep on going back to your audiologist until you are happy with the settings.
When you first get hearing aids do be prepared to put up with a very noisy world. Within a short period of time your brain will learn to ignore irrelevant sounds, like your shirt collar rustling on your neck and a myriad of other sounds you havenât heard for a while. Your brain is very clever and it will learn which sounds are important and which arenât.
Additionally my hearing aids do not help in all situations. When I am out horse riding with a group or having a riding lesson I need extra assistance. I bought 2 headsets with battery packs which are very comfortable to wear and mean my instructor does not have to yell at me or I have to stop riding to get close enough to hear what she is saying. Well worth the expense.
Just to be clear, we are doing a buying guide, which relates to the experience of buying hearing aids - testing them would not be possible due to the huge number of different models and the high degree of tailoring to the individual that is required.
Itâs disappointing that your Mother in Law has been sold such an inappropriate pair of hearing aids - it really does seem more like the work of a salesperson than a health professional.
With regards to the trial period, Iâve looked at quite a few hearing aid retailers, and all of them offer between 30 and 60 days satisfaction guarantee (trial period). I canât say every single retailer does, only the ones Iâve looked at. So take advantage of it - use them as much as possible in lots of different situations, keep going back for fine tuning within this trial period, and if youâre not happy then get your money back and try a different solution. Apart from playing a critical role in your health and wellbeing, theyâre expensive - after a house and a car, they could well be the most expensive âthingâ youâll own, so they need to be right for you.
Kbray, appreciate your feedback.
I expect Iâm next in line for some hearing help, so look forward to the guide.
I live in rural area so my options in respect of provider are limited. There has already been some great commentary re providers typically being tied to a particular brand and therefore limiting choices available. Also that there is a web site that lists independent providers. Hopefully you can include some of this detail in your guide.
I finally did something about it around 44yrs of age being about 6 years ago.
Being xMilitary I had a benchmark that I expected in terms of a professional, accurate & thorough hearing assessment & consultation. Those on the âoutsideâ may not know that routine yearly hearing assessment is part of life in the military & given the operational necessity of some positions in the Forces IMO the staff & facilities for Defence members hearing assessment are commonly of a pretty high calibre.
Unfortunately my first experience of a âciviâ street hearing assessment fell far short of my expectations & in addition the âdiscountedâ purchase cost quoted was enough to choke on. I donât consider donning a headset for a 5 min test, at a desk by an open window & then enduring a hard sell sales pitch even remotely close to professional.
In hindsight I should have just taken the headset off, laughed & walked out before the consultation was finished. But being on unfamiliar ground I succumbed to the sales pitch pressure & laid down the required sizable deposit. However, for days after, thankfully, I could not shake the feeling something was terribly wrong.
So embarking on what I should have in the first place, some thorough research had me looking very closely at alternative services. One in particular showed potential; too much in fact & I was skeptical. But what could I lose? Well I would potentially lose my non-refundable deposit to organisation âAâ, but even so at the very least it appeared I would get professionalism & still save several thousand $ against my first encounter.
My takeaway from the experience is that the industry is largely dominated by thieves but there are a select couple of Princes. The exact model of device through my current provider was $3k less than choice A & the devices I ended choosing were over $4k less.
There is no doubt, particularly for the self-funded, these devices are expensive little beasts. I still see them as glorified overpriced gadgets that comprise little more than microphone, speaker, microcpu & software, but I guess you pay dearly for R&D & miniaturisation in a less than mass market.
Lessons brainstorm >>
To some extent there seems to be a 2-3 channel market - Govt funded, partially Govt funded, self-funded. Be careful choosing an operator who primarily caters to the first 1-2 categories.
If it feels wrong walk out.
Donât accept non-refundable deposit & make sure you have an out &/or a trial period
There are services ranging from thieves to quality services to basic retailer
With a good outfit you are not paying just for the device but moreover for advice, service & support
There are devices that range from wayy more than you need & will use to individually selected devices that suits your needs to more or less a mini loudspeaker
Some features are just marketing gimmicks; some features are essential
If you choose the wrong operator or the wrong device - you have done your money as you wonât use them; they will be like miss-scripted specs - they will sit in a drawer
If the service assessment doesnât take at least 45mins they are shonks
Assessment at the very least should include sound booth audio & comprehension - comprehension with background noise eg traffic, speech, group (ie quantifiable in-booth test program vs an open window)
Off the shelf versus individual selection, I liken to my specs. If you wouldnât buy specs without a trusted eye exam why would you buy hearing devices without quality hearing assessment?
You will need quality support & follow up if you want to grow into them & continue to use them
Give it a good 3 months or more to get aclimatised if you are new to them
Some sounds will âinitiallyâ annoy you & sound out of place & unnatural; for me, keyboard tapping, water runningâŠ
They can be adjusted & adjustments matter - 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 1,2,3⊠years on
If unhappy return for adjustment & again & again; my audio initially took the edge off the above mentioned keyboard tapping just as 1 example
Why, why would you get âoneâ device unless you only have hearing loss on one side
Your hearing even diminished is still better than electronics - so let it in & let the gadgets âaugmentâ what you have; ie invisible in-ear devices suit very few people
TAKE CARE of them - mine are 6 years & still going; I will only upgrade when the cost vs additional improvement can be justified or my current ones bite the bullet
Use hooded jackets in case of rain, keep out of reach of kids & pets (& vermin!); have more than 1 case & keep one with you
Make your bath/shower a very SET routine that never waivers
If you are a bit techy learn how to carefully dissassemble, clean & dry them; have a hair dryer in the house
Slightly less than worse case, they can be repaired - depending - for a fraction of the purchase cost
I totally agree with everything Peter has said about the purchase and wearing of hearing aids. I have worn mine all day and every day for the past 45 years and cannot emphasise enough the importance of wearing them all the time. The initial stage of getting the brain used to all the new sounds and sorting out which are âbackgroundâ is vital to enable one to hear properly. I often liken the process to moving house and living next to a railway line or under a flight path. Initially the sounds are deafening but after a while the residents donât even notice the trains or planes passing. It is only when visitors come and comment on the noise that they think of them at all.
I have also read recently from the âBrain Expertsâ that you need to keep training your brain to sort out the particular conversation you wish to hear in amongst the many others around you, or you will lose the ability to do so. Many hearing aid users give up going to restaurants etc for this very reason. I use a remote control for adjusting the sound, direction and settings and would recommend these gadgets for anyone who is a newie and finding it difficult to manage the little buttons on the aid itself.
I will look forward to reading the reviews on this excellent and much needed topic.
Robin
As a pensioner, I obtained hearing aids about 9 years ago under the scheme that John Howard introduced. As a hearing aid user himself, he realised that being hard of hearing means people can become cut off from society and begin to suffer a deteriorating lifestyle. Totally deaf people have to learn to lip read and use sign language, both of which take years to perfect.
My first hearing aids were a boon but left much to be desired. I took the advice of my audiologist and used them throughout all the waking day; thus I soon became so used to them that my brain adapted and they worked well. They were made by Uniden and had replaceable soft tips, that fitted right inside the canal. This meant that they needed frequent cleaning and replacement of tips.
2 years ago, I was given a new design, made by Starkey. These had tailor made tips, made from moulds of the entrance to the ear canal. They are a hard plastic and a perfect fit into the entrance. I put them in when I dress in the morning and take them out when I go to bed, They are almost part of my ears and are extremely effective, plus I am totally used to them. They have a control on them by which I can go up or down 4 steps of loudness, by adjusting one only, the other automatically follows suit. I usually have them on 3 but occasionally change down in a noisy street or whatever. The only other time I change the sound level is when watching TV that has the sound adjusted to someone elseâs preference, then I can adjust accordingly.
The only way to use hearing aids is all the time, your brain then adapts quickly and you become used to them. Soon after receiving my new aids, I had occasion to have my ears syringed by our practice nurse. She found and extracted not one, but 2 of the soft tips from my old aids, from one ear. This cannot happen with the newer type.
Now 76 I got my first single hearing aid before I was a pensioner. When I left the clinic my partner said it was the first time she had seen me smile for a long time. The first weeks were a trial. The default setting was too loud and on subsequent visits adjustments were made that made the aid acceptable. However it seemed to have lost âqualityâ. The same thing has happened with every aid since. I have had three providers and each has made adjustments that have made the volume perfect but the quality has gone missing. The latest (now Government) pair were absolutely brilliant; it was like having a top-end hi fi set in my head - but too loud. I wish I had settled for that and reduced the volume manually each time I put them in. I reluctantly had them adjusted and I am now back at square one with good frequency response but cheap transistor radio quality. My specialist did eventually admit there were limitation to Government-funded aids and that I really did need something better. I DID have something better - nine months ago when they replaced the old pair. I am grateful for the Government help, and the provider has been incredibly patient, but it is frustrating to have repeatedly experienced something better only to lose it after adjustment. The effect, with the aids IN, is to not understand someone familiar looking straight at me speaking normally yet be easily understood with a slightly raised voice and the aids removed. As for TV and cinema, if every woman on television was Judy Dench life would better; Lord save me from young women, they might as well be speaking Martian.
I agree with you, but my main problem is finding a way to dispose of the batteries that can be recycled (or elements in the batteries can be recycled. I have tried to contact Planet Ark unsuccessfully about this but can only get services in the US
Margery 35
There have been occasions when I have offered my views on a situation and itâs associated penalties but it was unsolicited and I donât recall them being received well.
âconcernsâ ? I read them as âinfringement noticesâ not âconcern noticesâ ⊠they should cop another $20k for not taking it seriously ⊠there is a rating button on the press release:
The whole naming situation is a little misleading as well - even the ACCC seem to be confusing the act, the company and the department âŠ
Do I have this correct.
Government owns a for profit company
The government owned for profit company has been dodgy dealing
The government oversight agency caught out the government owned for profit company
The agreed fine was typically modest
The government transferred the cash from the government owned for profit budget to the ACCC budget (?)
That will really get shareholderâs attention! The responsible Minister disclaims responsibility for anything that is not great but reinforces for profits are the way to go.
The report mentions but somewhat glosses over Costco. Furthermore it is telling a very positive member comment about Costco audiology, without naming Costco, got 20+ down-ticks as well as many up-ticks. Human nature can be strange. My experience was posted previously and the differences in costs for any comparative quality as compared to those mentioned in the buying guide is non-trivial.
I have been wearing BTE (behind-the-ear) hearing aids for some 10 years now and despite several models and makes all have proved unsatisfactory. The latest (Siemens) were expensive but again, just did not give basic clarity. A web search shows many models and makes on the market (and price) and Iâm wondering if Choice can do a road test please? There is a huge disparity between prices quoted by providers in Australia and those from overseas (even allowing for after sales service). This topic needs exploration as many members would be suffering from a misspent youth listening to load music.
Hi @john.blakey, I totally agree. Although many Hearing Aid Manufactures have slogans like âgood clarity in noisy situationsâ or even âbetter than normal hearingâ they amplify and thatâs it. Some models are better at it than others and may also have better tuning and accessories. Hearing aids are vastly overpriced here in Australia and as mentioned previously the Australian hearing aid industry is a closed shop. All hearing aid providers / clinics or what you may call them should be forced to provide a hearing test without hearing aids fitted and one after the new hearing aids have been fitted. When I asked once for that service I was told it canât technically be done?!
