I would like experiences and opinions from members over 80 about buying new hearing aids

Hi Euan, what is the name of the company that rents Phonak hearing aids?
I am in Auckland.

Paul,
Triton rent the Phonaks, Resonate rent the Resounds.
Euan

Are you a veteran? If so, go to the VA.
Do you have insurance? If so, find out what they will pay towards hearing aids.
My insurance plan paid a lot and I was able to get the Phonak I90 Spheres for half of what anything at Costco would have cost me. The audiologist I used also gave an AARP discount with active card which reduced my cost by 15%. Always ask about discounts.

Sorry to post this in not-quite-the-right-place but I couldn’t find the right spot. I recently took my hearing aids to Beltone to get the initial volume when batteries are put in them increased a little. I found when I start my hearing aids up they were too low so I always increased the volume (scale of 1 - 12 ) up 2 notches from 8 to 10 the Beltone person increased the Microphone volume up “3 DB” which was way more than needed - there were all kids of strange noses coming from the hearing aids - I couldn’t play guitar as the high notes caused the Hearing Aids to squeal etc. I took them back to Beltone and explained it was just too loud so she dropped the level down, however my hearing aids now don’t work at all - both microphones (L and R) have failed. I can still stream to them, use live listen etc. but normal operation is not there. I acknowledge that my heaing aids are a bit older but other than the startup volume I was OK with them - now I have to replace them. I’d like to rid myself of the suspicion that the over-adjustment made by Beltone somehow overloaded the Mics and caused them to fail. Is it just a nasty coincidence or has anyone experienced a software/volume adjustment causing a hardware (Mic) failure? Thanks

I am 83 and a first time wearer of Starkey Edge AI that I bought online at FitHearing.com2 at a price that was twice as much as Costco had charged me for the Reston Reach aids that I trialed and then returned - because research I did online convinced me the Starkey had better AI features for automatically adjusting in noisy environments to hear speech better. I am about to go on two trips to visit kin and hope to better test how well this works. Costco was a great place for me to start, as they did a superb job of testing my hearing before ordering and also did Real Ear Measurement when fitting the aids - and the six month trial period allowed me to learn a lot and still get a total refund when I learned they were no longer selling the aids I was trialing. (That may or may not still be the Costco situation, as I have not kept current on the situation.)

My mum is 88 and has phonak paradise 70 with a similar loss to yours. She’s had them a few years now and does well with them. Phone call streaming and Tv with the listener. She attends dancing class and other social events without difficulty.