Hearing loss

[Jack Frederick]

My wife is reading todays Times and there is an article on HL. Prior to reading she read the title, “How To Tell If You Have Hearing Loss”. i immediately interjected that it is easy to tell when you have HL. You just have to acknowledge that your most frequently spoken words are “What & Huh.”

[Jim Koepke]

Now hearing aids can be purchased without a prescription.

Hearing aid prices should finally start coming down.

jtk

[Mark Rainey]

Now hearing aids can be purchased without a prescription.

Hearing aid prices should finally start coming down.

jtk

Yes Jim, glad to see this!

[Mike Henderson]

Now hearing aids can be purchased without a prescription.

Hearing aid prices should finally start coming down.

jtk

I really doubt if the name brand hearing aids come down in price. I expect those over-the-counter hearing aids will be like the AirPods, but with the ability to shape the amplification curve. For many people, that will be sufficient (although who will determine what your loss curve is, and will program the aid is not clear).

Doctors who specialize in hearing loss will continue to offer the more expensive aids and the companies will have a lot of reasons why their aids are better than the over-the-counter aids. And I expect the price will remain the same.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

I agree with you, Mike. The OTC aids will likely be new products specifically for that purpose and will likely be more focused on amplification, rather than actual sound mapping. (necessary for me) BUT, folks can already buy brand name hearing aids from Costco...the nation's largest supplier, AFAIK...for like a third of the cost that the independent and chain shops sell them for. The aids I wear cost me $1800. The exact same product costs as much as $6000 from other places. I think the impact that the OTC products will have will still be very good since there are a lot of folks who just need help with sound level that normally degrades as we get, um...more mature. (That's my left ear...just age related degradation. My right ear has been a more serious and complicated issue for many decades, but I never did anything about it until three years ago when I got my aids from the aforementioned retailer)

[Bill George]

Correct about Costco, good place name brands with the $2000 mark up. I went to another place for the last ones on the their advice I needed a special test, I paid $4300 for the same brand they carry for $2000. The only difference is I have ear molds now I Hate!

[Mike Henderson]

Yes, I agree about Costco and have recommended people to Costco. I used to get my hearing aids there before I qualified for free aids from the VA.

The price charged by the medical doctors has a significant markup in it - and that's why Costco can sell them so much cheaper. But I don't think either the hearing doctors or Costco are going to have lower cost major brands of hearing aids now that over-the-counter-aids are available.

Mike

[The hearing aid people justify their prices based on the research they do to improve aids. And this is not electronics research. Let me give one example. If you have very poor hearing at one band of frequencies, the hearing aid (a special aid) can take the sound in that frequency band and convert it to a nearby band where you can hear it. It's not natural sound, but your mind learns to work with it. There are many other research activities, many dealing with comprehension in a noisy environment. None of that is going to be available in those over-the-counter aids.]

[Stan Calow]

My understanding was that the OTC devices were basically amplifiers, that had little to no programming or customizable features. Is that true? My mother used HAs for 25+ years, and I was amazed at the evolution in technology and the improvements that would develop over the years. Yeah they were expensive, (not covered by insurance), but my thinking is that you get what you pay for. I'm going to need them soon, so taking a close look at options.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I am a bimodal hearing person. I use both a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. The hearing aid I use works in harmony and communicates with the sound processor used to power and control my cochlear implant. It also allows me to control the program selection and the volume levels with either device while having a corresponding effect on the other device with a change. The sound processor is expensive! The hearing aid from the clinic of which my CI surgeon is affiliated costs about $1000 less than the one it replaced from another office which was by the same manufacturer but with less capabilities.

I agree with Jim, I doubt the generic lower price ones will provide the same level of frequency compensation as those sound mapped by a trained audiologist. I use a hearing aid that is sound mapped on my right ear. With it I test at about 6% of normal hearing. That ear qualifies for a cochlear implant, and I have been encouraged by my CI surgeon to have it implanted but.... I do have some residual hearing and can hear the faint sound of a smoke detector without the aid of the hearing aid thus at night, not wearing my hearing gear IF I am sleeping on my right side I would never hear a smoke detector go off. If, however, I was sleeping on my left side, my right ear MIGHT hear a smoke detector thus I refuse to get that ear implanted. 99.999% of all implanted lose any residual hearing in the ear after being implanted.

It wasn't until I awoke deaf that I learned the complexity of the human hearing process. Typically, I have to have the sound processor for my CI remapped about twice a year. The process is similar to adjusting the equalizer on a stereo system. It's amazing how adjusting frequency can affect the ability of one to hear the sound of the pronunciation of certain letters, especially , for me, consonants, thus effecting the words you can hear. It's truly amazing!

I agree about Costco hearing aids. I'd bet they are manufactured by Phonak and they are mapped. Phonak owns Advanced Bionics who is the manufacturer of my CI. My surgeon's clinic sells the Phonak hearing aid I use that communicates with the sound processor for my CI at the same price as the HAs sold at Costco.

[Mike Henderson]

Costco seems to get bids from different hearing aid manufacturers about every two years. You can tell becasue they have different brands as the "signature" aids. But that doesn't really matter. Most of the name brand aids are about the same.

I definitely encourage anyone with a hearing loss to first, get evaluated by a physician. But then go to Costco to purchase your aids.

Mike

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Costco seems to get bids from different hearing aid manufacturers about every two years. You can tell becasue they have different brands as the "signature" aids. But that doesn't really matter. Most of the name brand aids are about the same.

I definitely encourage anyone with a hearing loss to first, get evaluated by a physician. But then go to Costco to purchase your aids.

Mike

Mike I agree with you in all aspects.

[Jim Becker]

My understanding was that the OTC devices were basically amplifiers, that had little to no programming or customizable features. Is that true?

Yes, I noted this in my comment above. Folks with simple age related amplification needs will be well served by the OTC option which means a lot more folks will have the opportunity to hear better. Other folks with more specialized needs will still need to work with professionals that can do frequency mapping and other things that are required to make for a positive result in their individual hearing. As I mentioned, my left ear could easily be serviced by a simple OTC amplification device, but my right ear...nope. Very complicated there. But things were affordable for me at Costco and my hearing is substantially better at this point...including stereo sound spatial field.

[Mike Henderson]

Very few people have a flat hearing loss. Almost everyone with age-related hearing loss has much more loss in the higher frequencies than in the lower. Maybe those OTC hearing devices will come with an app that allows you to adjust the response curve, like an equalizer. A flat amplifier is probably not going to do much.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

That's true, Mike. My guess is that the OTC stuff will approximate how folks' hearing degrades and that the lowest cost products will simply provide volume control while the more expensive products may provide some rudimentary larger control and perhaps some "situation specific" modes like brand name products do for things like reverb reduction/noisy environment, etc. Cost will matter for "features".

[Bruce Wrenn]

Friends ( a couple) went to a hearing loss clinic. Both at deaf in a specific frequency, which happens to match the others voice frequency. Guess their ears had been talked to death?

[William Lessenberry]

Do any of you have tinnitus related hearing loss? At times the ringing in my ears is so bad I can't understand a damned thing at normal conversation levels. When I went to the doc 6 years ago he said there wasn't anything he could do for me.
BillL

[Mike Henderson]

You might try another doctor. I don't have that problem but I have read that there are things that can be done to improve the situation.

Mike

[Walter Plummer]

I find I don't notice the tinnitus while wearing my aids. At night I do but I think it is better than it used to be.

[Bill Dufour]

In wonder if there will spring up some online hearing aide deal stores. Like the online drug companies. Seems a logical extension but returns could be a killer.
BilL D

[Jim Becker]

In wonder if there will spring up some online hearing aide deal stores. Like the online drug companies. Seems a logical extension but returns could be a killer.
BilL D
They have been around for a long time now, Bill. They do, of course, use careful language about what they are selling...

[Marc Fenneuff]

Do any of you have tinnitus related hearing loss? At times the ringing in my ears is so bad I can't understand a damned thing at normal conversation levels. When I went to the doc 6 years ago he said there wasn't anything he could do for me.
BillL

Currently the only way to manage tinnitus is to distract yourself with different sounds. It sounds strange but you have to train yourself to focus on the audible sounds to get your brain to ignore the phantom sounds.

[mike calabrese]

I have serious tinitus in both ears and have lived with it for better than 50 years. Constant screaming on a constant frequency and at times a warbling tone. Been to several doctors all say nothing they can do especially after so many years. My hearing is so far pretty good range wise it is just overburdened by the constant tones.
Fo me there seems to be no hope BUT please lookinto this guy Dr Alan Mandell, DC AKA https://www.motivationaldoc.com .motivationaldoc (https://www.youtube.com/c/motivationaldoc)
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=motivationaldoc+tinnitus&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
He demonstrates several things you can try at home to reduce and eliminate tinitus. He is all over YouTube with many topics but big on tinitus.
Unfortunately for me his recommendations / methods did not do anything for my ringing.
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=motivationaldoc+tinnitus&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Additionally do some research this is a topic that is getting slightly more medical attention.
About 50% of the medical profession in this area are beginning to think that tinitus is not centered in the damaged ear but in the auditory center of the brain . This is encouraging because the brain can be re-programmed (the Dr. mentioned above ) has included some of this theory in his recommendations.
I have learned to live with this but I would sure like to hear the sound of silence again some day.
GOOD LUCK all my best
mike calabrese

motivationaldoc (https://www.youtube.com/c/motivationaldoc)

[William Lessenberry]

Thanks to all of you. Mike, I'll look into the motivation doc and try all the things he mentioned, maybe I'll get lucky.
BillL

[Jack Frederick]

I have tinnitus in my left ear. It is the remnant of a Labyrinthitus virus I contracted in ‘92. I would try to stand and just go over with absolutely no orientation or ability to protect myself in the fall. Rather unsettling. I was supposed to do my long cross country solo that day. Still haven’t finished that flight, but the constant tone hangs in there. It took about 2 yrs before I was really steady again. About 5 yrs ago I was doing something or other and the tone changed slightly. That was a big deal.

[Paul Wunder]

The State of Connecticut has a Bureau of Rehabilitation that will purchase necessary adaptive equipment, including hearing aids, for an employed resident or one seeking to becoming employed. The object is to keep people employed. When I called them 10 years ago they sent me to a local hospital for a hearing evaluation and for a recommendation of what type of hearing aid would help. The State paid about $4K at that time for my aids. Three and a half years ago my doctor referred me back to the State because my current aids were not sufficient. The bureau of Rehabilitation sent me to Yale-New Haven Hospital for evaluation and paid for a pair of high end aids at a cost of $6K.

Qualifying for help is not income dependent and there is no means testing. I could certainly have paid for my aids as I had in the past and I voluntarily told them so at our first meeting. I am sharing this because perhaps other states have similar programs that others can benefit from. The State also paid for both a medical visit and a visit with an PhD. Audiologist.