Buying Hearing Aids

Forums › Health and fitness › Buying Hearing Aids

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

edge

423 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3362210 9-Apr-2025 07:36

At 68 I decided to go to Bay Audiology (simply because I thought I should take up AA's offer of free secondary testing!) a few weeks ago. Didn't really thing my hearing was "bad" at all, but was a bit surprised to find how much my mid-high and high frequencies had dropped off (obviously some is expected as one ages). Long story short, I have ended up with some top range Amplifon (by ReSound) RITE ones - as other have noted, prices are pretty outrageous!). I'm still getting used to them (left them behind on a recent 4 day trip to walk Abel Tasman track) but the amount of extra high end sounds I am now realising I missed is significant. As others have stated, bird calls, insects and other higher frequency sounds are a refreshing improvement!!

I found Bay Audiology great to deal with here in Kapiti - the added benefit is I can go in for adjustments at any time and have three months in which I can swap out for other types if not happy.

Probably the other thing that convinced me was looking at the scientific literature around the links between hearing loss and increasing risk of cognitive decline/dementia, which is reasonably strong - anything I can do to help stave that of is definitely not a bad thing :-)

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into."
— most commonly attributed to Jonathan Swift, author/theologian

GoodSync

GoodSync. Easily back up and sync your files with GoodSync. Simple and secure file backup and synchronisation software will ensure that your files are never lost (affiliate link).

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18586 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3362212 9-Apr-2025 08:03

I keep seeing that about poor hearing and dementia. What about deaf people? Are they all demented?

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

johno1234

2695 posts

Uber Geek

#3362265 9-Apr-2025 11:55

mdav056:

I wouldn't buy from Specsavers, knowing something from about them from optometrists (family connection) because the initial settings are very critical and can make a great deal of difference to your experience with them. Audika gets me back yearly to check the settings across the frequency range, and this has been useful.

That's a opinion and having personally used SpecSavers Audiology I disagree with it. They use trained and qualified audiologists who know how to administer a hearing test and configure hearing aids. I can go back to them any time I need and last time I visited my local SpecSavers Audiology branch still has the same excellent young audiologist I first saw back in 2022.

On the other hand I would not go back to SpecSavers optometry. Too expensive, too keen to upsell features. I found OPSM better in those regards.

johno1234

2695 posts

Uber Geek

#3362266 9-Apr-2025 12:02

Rikkitic:

I keep seeing that about poor hearing and dementia. What about deaf people? Are they all demented?

Those sort of stats tend to get misused. It sounds scary to say that <x> gives you a 33% higher risk of <y> but if the risk of <y> is tiny then it is still tiny despite <x>.

I would say that deaf people are all demented based on their highly expressive sign language gesturing but it probably wouldn't get past the mods so will not.

SteveXNZ

58 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3367986 27-Apr-2025 15:39

Over two years ago Bay Audiology fitted me with their top of the line Amplifon Resounds. After multiple tuning sessions they just didn't perform, and I figured there must be something abnormal with my ears. Out of desperation I got a pair of Apple Airpod Pro 2s and what a revelation! Suddenly I could hear reasonably well, and I was astounded that a $400 pair of Airpods could outperform top line hearing aids costing thousands. After complaining to Bay Audiology they decided to allow me to trial both Phonak and Oticon aids, and interestingly both were better than the Airpods, but certainly not by an order of magnitude.

A parting of the ways with Bay Audiology then ensued when they wouldn't swap the Resounds out for the top line Oticon Intents, but they did give me a full refund. Cash in hand I knocked on Audika's door and now have the Intents fitted - and I'm very happy with them. Not perfect - no hearing aid will return your hearing to that of a "normal" person, particularly in noisy environments, but certainly good enough for 90% of my listening situations.

So I have some tips for anyone with hearing loss:

Get a pair of Airpod Pro 2 devices first to understand the nature of your hearing loss (and the Airpods' limitations - poor battery life, appearance, their fit & feel in your ears)
Fully informed, approach retailers to trial their hearing aids. Note they will have their preferred brands (where no doubt they get a better margin)
If you can, trial Oticon, Phonak and Resound at least. They are substantially different, and one may suit your hearing loss and listening situations better than the others
Decide if you want to spend anything from $3k to $10k on your hearing aids, bearing in mind you'll probably need to replace then in six years or so.

If you made the decision to buy hearing aids, were the Airpods a waste of money? No way! They helped you make an informed choice, they're great for Teams/Zoom calls, and they're a useful spare should you ever misplace your hearing aids (or the dog eats them). You can listen to music with them too!

Personally I'm amazed that Apple can produce such an effective hearing device for so little money. If they put their mind to it they could revolutionise the hearing aid industry with its cost-plus mentality. Just do a BTE (behind the ear) version of the Airpods, and throw in some AI smarts.

johno1234

2695 posts

Uber Geek

#3368065 27-Apr-2025 18:05

Apple stuff just works. Too bad the battery life on the AirPods is so short.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5