Hearing Aids -- How to choose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:100% go to Costco. They are literally identical to what you will get at the audiologist at half the price

Not true.

Costco is a good option, but this is not true.

[Anonymous]

Costco, $1600, they were great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100% go to Costco. They are literally identical to what you will get at the audiologist at half the price

Not true.

Costco is a good option, but this is not true.

Costco$1600, hearing aid store $6000

[Anonymous]

Costco is the number one seller of hearing aids in the US.

I’ve tried the AirPod option, but they work nowhere near as good as my Costco hearing aids.

[Anonymous]

Costco has audiologists.

[Anonymous]

We love Costco. Get ones that connect to your iPhone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100% go to Costco. They are literally identical to what you will get at the audiologist at half the price

Not true.

Costco is a good option, but this is not true.

I have used hearing aids for almost 30 years (I am only 61). I have researched this extensively over those decades and yes, Costco uses the same aids that are dispensed from audiologists and yes they are half the cost. No. Costco does not have every make and model that you find at an audiologist and usually doesn't have this year's technology. But can you, for example, tell the difference between an Iphone 15 and 16? Does it make a terial difference in being able to use the phone?

[Anonymous]

I just got the Sennheiser HA at Costco for $1,600. I'm still in the tweaking phase, but so far they are pretty good, and I have a difficult hearing loss type that makes "fixing" it difficult.

You definitely have to be patient while your brain adjusts to the new sounds. and be willing to go back in several times for tweaks.

I have 6 months to test them out through Costco. I don't know if that is state specific or a national Costco policy for the full 6 months. I believe by law HA sellers have to give you at least 30 days for full refund return.

[Anonymous]

I got hearing aids for the first time a few years ago, when my hearing loss was identified. I went to an audiologist and got the high-end hearing aids which were about $3K, and my insurance covered some of that.

I learned a lot from the Audiologist. They customize the settings in the hearing aids to my specific hearing deficits; they can make certain sound frequencies louder that I do not hear well, rather than amplifying all sounds. They even account for how sounds bounce around in your ear canal.

I believe some of the cheap hearing aids simply amplify all sounds, which was not what I needed, so a professional needs to calibrate them based on an assessment of your hearing (audiogram), which looks like this: https://post.healthline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1242346-How-to-Read-Your-Audiogram-1296x1423-Body-1.png

There are hearing aids that operate well in multiple kinds of sound environments, and other ones that operate well in more limited sound environments. I got the ones that operate well in many environments (workplace, in the car, in a restaurant, inside with a few people, etc). Mine are the Starkey Edge https://www.ziphearing.com/starkey-edge-ai?utm_source=hearingtracker&utm_campaign=price-promo&utm_content=listicle-product-list-top&utm_term=95588615&utm_search=s%3D%2Fhearing-aids%2Fstarkey%7Cd%3D20260118%7Cm%3Dbutton%7Cr%3Dstarkey-edge-ai

For someone who doesn't spend time out in the world regularly (like an elder who is housebound) but is only indoors with a few other people at a time, they don't need the more sophisticated hearing aids that adapt to many sound environments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some audiologists will let you wear them and see how they feel. An important reason to use an audiologist is that with the better hearing aids they can adjust the hearing aid to your specific needs. For example, I have trouble hearing in the low end of the audible spectrum, and they tuned my hearing aid to increase the audibility of those tones but not everything else that I was hearing just fine.

Last summer, my regular hearing aid conked out because the battery died, and I was on travel. I went to Walmart and got a cheap hearing aid that cost about $100. It really wasn’t very good - better than nothing, but still far inferior to my Oticon.

Another thing is that hearing aid technology is advancing fast. A new generation comes out every two years or so. They say the newer hearing aids will incorporate artificial intelligence, but I’m not really sure what that will been in practice.

Costco does the bolded. They set the hearing aids for my dh's specific needs. He felt very ripped off by the first 2 sets of hearing aids he got at an independent audiologists office.

[Anonymous]

My DH thinks the opposite. He has expensive ones from a private practice (Potomac Audiology). They are rechargeable like ear buds and he uses them with his phone as well. Given the research about hearing loss and dementia I would not skimp on this.