Hearing aids, anyone?

[PromoTheRobot]

I'm pretty deaf. Years of way-too-loud concerts and other things left me with a audiogram that looks like the Grand Canyon. I occasionally wear some 20+ years old aids that feedback a lot when I have to hear clearly.

 

But today I went and got, not the latest and greatest, but the best in hearing aid tech from 2024: Oticon Real Ones. They cost a fortune but they are pretty amazing. Not being able to hear damages your ability to socialize. You can only ask people to repeat themselves so much. Being in loud, crowded places are simply the worst. 

 

Anyone else shop for hearing aids recently? It's pretty confusing because they come in so many, brands, models and  price levels and you can get them online with no help, at Costco, or you go to an experienced audiologist, which I did.

[Doc Brown]

What?

[Simon]

I'm about to make that plunge this winter. Although my goal is less to hear people / socialize and more to be able to hear creeks, birds, the wind in the trees, wildlife on the move, etc.

Do you have any tinnitus and if so did you talk to your  audiologist about hearing aids (or anything else) that might be able to minimize it?

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

 

[Augie]

Serious (but silly sounding) question: What can’t you hear? 

 

I think I’m hearing just fine, but I often have a hard time picking the words out from the music and background noise watching a movie. I can hear my wife in the kitchen, but I’m not always sure what she just said. It’s not volume as much as clarity for me. This got considerably worse when we moved a few years ago to a house with higher ceilings. I know we need more fabric in here, because I can hear just fine in the basement acoustics with lower ceilings and fully carpeted. 

 

I’ve had a couple friends try hearing aids with varying satisfaction. Background noise in a restaurant or crowd is a frequent issue. I’m not far off from needing them myself, so I’m eager to hear what others have to say. I don’t even know the questions yet, much less answers. 

 

BTW - I don’t know if they are like that everywhere, but the Costco near us if full of saints dealing with my 97 year old mother and her basic hearing aids. They didn’t try to upsell to something fancy, and they have the patience of Job. 

[Draconator]

I've had hearing aids since 2022. I absolutely love them. Mine (and it sounds like yours as well) are Bluetooth enabled. So I can talk on my cell phone through my hearing aids. I simply adjust the settings on the app for my hearing aids when I'm in a noisy restaurant, and I can hear my wife and others at my table talk just fine. 

My in-laws were stubborn and didn't want to get hearing aids. Enter my wife who has to research everything. Not wearing hearing aids with hearing loss can have cognitive effects, and can be a lead-in into dementia and other brain related issues. I took that to heart myself and wear them whenever possible.

 

The only time I don't really wear them is when I have a gig, as I have In Ear Monitors (which are also life changing) and I'm too afraid of taking out my hearing aids and misplacing them while at a gig. 

[Augie]

 

A little inside joke with my wife from a dinner we had at an old blue hair place in Sarasota, the Bijou Cafe across from the Opera House. I don’t think we needed fake ID’s to get in, but we were the only working couple there at the time. A couple at the table next to us gets animated and we hear the wife say “Frank, you forgot your hearing aids, didn’t you?” 

 

 

 

Frank responds “WHAT???” 

 

I swear we still laugh at that, so we need to laugh at ourselves as well moving forward. 

[Augie]

16 minutes ago, Draconator said:

I've had hearing aids since 2022. I absolutely love them. Mine (and it sounds like yours as well) are Bluetooth enabled. So I can talk on my cell phone through my hearing aids. I simply adjust the settings on the app for my hearing aids when I'm in a noisy restaurant, and I can hear my wife and others at my table talk just fine. 

My in-laws were stubborn and didn't want to get hearing aids. Enter my wife who has to research everything. Not wearing hearing aids with hearing loss can have cognitive effects, and can be a lead-in into dementia and other brain related issues. I took that to heart myself and wear them whenever possible.

 

The only time I don't really wear them is when I have a gig, as I have In Ear Monitors (which are also life changing) and I'm too afraid of taking out my hearing aids and misplacing them while at a gig. 

 

When my father could no longer hear well enough to communicate even with his hearing aids, his decline was obvious and fairly rapid. He just withdrew from everything and I still feel sorry about the isolated state he was in. 

 

Any suggestions as far as brands or types? I know nothing about this world. 

 

.

Edited September 18 by Augie

[Draconator]

1 minute ago, Augie said:

 

When my father could no longer hear well enough to communicate even with his hearing aids, his declined was obvious and fairly rapid. He just withdrew from everything and I still feel sorry about the isolated state he was in. 

 

Any suggestions as far as brands or types? I know nothing about this world. 

Mine are Phonak's. I forget the model number, but they are middle tier. Cost me about $1700 for the pair out of pocket. I think Insurance covered about $900 of the total cost. I recently saw my audiologist, and I asked her about the latest technology. She said that the top of the line hearing aids now have dual drivers for more sound clarity and better audio processing. And those are about $4200. But with the quality of my hearing, $4200 is well worth it. 

[PromoTheRobot]

4 hours ago, Simon said:

I'm about to make that plunge this winter. Although my goal is less to hear people / socialize and more to be able to hear creeks, birds, the wind in the trees, wildlife on the move, etc.

Do you have any tinnitus and if so did you talk to your  audiologist about hearing aids (or anything else) that might be able to minimize it?

 

I do but I am able to ignore it most of the time. Let your audiologist know what you want because some aids are designed for speech, like the Oticons. That makes sound a little "tinnier" because it's boosting highs more. Being able to converse was my goal.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Augie said:

Serious (but silly sounding) question: What can’t you hear? 

 

I think I’m hearing just fine, but I often have a hard time picking the words out from the music and background noise watching a movie. I can hear my wife in the kitchen, but I’m not always sure what she just said. It’s not volume as much as clarity for me. This got considerably worse when we moved a few years ago to a house with higher ceilings. I know we need more fabric in here, because I can hear just fine in the basement acoustics with lower ceilings and fully carpeted. 

 

I’ve had a couple friends try hearing aids with varying satisfaction. Background noise in a restaurant or crowd is a frequent issue. I’m not far off from needing them myself, so I’m eager to hear what others have to say. I don’t even know the questions yet, much less answers. 

 

BTW - I don’t know if they are like that everywhere, but the Costco near us if full of saints dealing with my 97 year old mother and her basic hearing aids. They didn’t try to upsell to something fancy, and they have the patience of Job. 

 

Deaf was probably the wrong word to use. I can hear plenty. What I can't do is make out words. That's because my hearing in the 1K-4K hz range is really bad. My audiologist described it best: vowels are in the hundreds of hertz, consonants are in the thousands. Consonants carry the information of words. Lose them and you can't understand dialog.

 

Hearing aid technology has come a long way since 2010 when I got my original set. The newest aids have AI tech to know what direction your head is pointing and will focus your listening that way. The noise reduction tech these days is amazing too. 

 

Many people like Costco and you can get decent aids for under $2,000 or even $1,000, but as the old saying goes you get what you pay for. My year old tech aids were $3,200. The latest tech runs $6,000.

2 hours ago, Augie said:

 

A little inside joke with my wife from a dinner we had at an old blue hair place in Sarasota, the Bijou Cafe across from the Opera House. I don’t think we needed fake ID’s to get in, but we were the only working couple there at the time. A couple at the table next to us gets animated and we hear the wife say “Frank, you forgot your hearing aids, didn’t you?” 

 

 

 

Frank responds “WHAT???” 

 

I swear we still laugh at that, so we need to laugh at ourselves as well moving forward. 

 

That was my dad.

2 hours ago, Draconator said:

I've had hearing aids since 2022. I absolutely love them. Mine (and it sounds like yours as well) are Bluetooth enabled. So I can talk on my cell phone through my hearing aids. I simply adjust the settings on the app for my hearing aids when I'm in a noisy restaurant, and I can hear my wife and others at my table talk just fine. 

My in-laws were stubborn and didn't want to get hearing aids. Enter my wife who has to research everything. Not wearing hearing aids with hearing loss can have cognitive effects, and can be a lead-in into dementia and other brain related issues. I took that to heart myself and wear them whenever possible.

 

The only time I don't really wear them is when I have a gig, as I have In Ear Monitors (which are also life changing) and I'm too afraid of taking out my hearing aids and misplacing them while at a gig. 

 

Yes, in fact I'm listening to the Bills pregame streaming directly to my aids. I can take calls too. 

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Augie said:

 

When my father could no longer hear well enough to communicate even with his hearing aids, his decline was obvious and fairly rapid. He just withdrew from everything and I still feel sorry about the isolated state he was in. 

 

Any suggestions as far as brands or types? I know nothing about this world. 

 

.

 

Oticons are expensive but high quality. My Real Ones were discounted from Oticon ($3,200) thru my audiologist. If you have one, enquire about that discount program for Real Ones. But there are dozens of brands: Phonak, Phillips, Elehear, etc. Costco carries Phillips which are supposed to be made by Oticon. In fact the Costo Phillips 9050 are supposed to be equal to the top line Oticon Intents.

[Mike in Horseheads]

8 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Oticons are expensive but high quality. My Real Ones were discounted from Oticon ($3,200) thru my audiologist. If you have one, enquire about that discount program for Real Ones. But there are dozens of brands: Phonak, Phillips, Elehear, etc. Costco carries Phillips which are supposed to be made by Oticon. In fact the Costo Phillips 9050 are supposed to be equal to the top line Oticon Intents.

That was your total price $3,200? I had Otiicons for a few weeks, Audiologist place screwed up the insurance and then me when they wanted me to pay the insurance balance. I turned them in instead 

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

That was your total price $3,200? I had Otiicons for a few weeks, Audiologist place screwed up the insurance and then me when they wanted me to pay the insurance balance. I turned them in instead 

 

Non-insurance price. Some special deal from Oticon direct to the audiologist. Only for the Real One. Ask your audiologist. My guy is independent, not part of a franchise.

[Sweats]

My wife says i need hearing aids cause i don't listen to one thing she says.........the fact is, i hear her, i just don't listen to her.

[BigAl2526]

I've had hearing aids for about 10 years now.  In my case, I think the hearing loss is congenital.  In elementary school I was told I had a high frequency hearing loss, and it has gradually worsened over the ensuing 65 years.  I can hear low pitched sounds just fine, but without hearing aids everything else seems muffled.  Most hearing loss is high frequency.  It is important to know if yours is.  That will affect what hearing aids actually work for you.  Currently, mine are from Miracle Ear.  They are OK but very expensive.  They cost me close to $5,000 5 years ago.  Service on them has been free, but that just ran out.  When they break down, I'm going to try switching to a brand my current Medicare Advantage provider covers.  The technology is improving all the time.

[boater]

I got my first pair of hearing aids, they did nothing for me. In fact, they made things worse. I shoved them aside and didn't wear them for a year.

 

Finally, I took them into the audiologist and told her. She disappears into the backroom with them, she comes out later and says "no wonder you don't like them, they are broken." So the whole time I had them, they served as expensive ear plugs instead of hearing aids.

 

Note: the hearing aids were from the Veteran's Hospital, so they were low bidder