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How do I choose between clinic-fitted vs. online-purchased hearing aids?

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Hi everyone,

I’m just starting my journey into getting hearing aids (mild-to-moderate hearing loss, mostly high-frequency), and honestly, I feel overwhelmed by the choices.

I see ads everywhere for online-purchased hearing aids that promise quick delivery and app-based fitting. But my local audiologist is recommending clinic-fitted Phonak or Oticon models, which are quite a bit more expensive.

I’d love to hear from folks who’ve had experience with both:

Are online models like Jabra or Lexie really that much worse in terms of sound quality?

How big of a difference does in-person fitting really make long-term?

I’m not looking for the cheapest option—I just want to get it right the first time and avoid frustration.

Any honest feedback or links to comparison threads would be amazing.

Thanks so much in advance!

— jhonnmick

14 people in this conversation9 min readJump to latest

If money is important, I’d highly encourage checking out Costco. For $1500-$1700 you can get professionally fit hearing aids that Costco will service for as long as you own them. (Cleaning and replacing disposable items) You also have professional advice available to you. With hearing aids you’re on your own. Unless money doesn’t mean much to you I would avoid paying $6000-$7000 or more for clinic fitted Phonak or Oticon aids.

@MDB said:

With OTC hearing aids you’re on your own

I believe Costco and Jabra offer some of these as well.

@jhonnmick said:

Are online models like Jabra or Lexie really that much worse in terms of sound quality?

Worse? You mean better, I’d start here on hearingtracker

Hear & Compare Hearing Aids - Phonak, Sony, Bose, and More14…

Remember only you’ll know which brand/models you prefer, as mentioned the Costco premium models you only need to choose from 4, post your audogram as this will help everyone offer advice, maybe all you do need is an .

With regards to my comment about hearing aids: I do believe Costco carries them but not through their hearing aid department. One is “on their own” regarding purchasing disposable supplies and any troubleshooting.

If your insurance covers hearing aids, you can visit an audiologist to purchase aids and receive ongoing support from them. If your insurance doesn’t cover aids, Costco is absolutely your best choice for high quality aids.

When I first made up my mind to get hearing aids in 2010, after stalling for years, I went to an audiologist at my clinic. The price she quoted me for Oticon brand hearing aids was so shocking that I put my plans on hold and did some research online first.

I was very fortunate to find this forum and to learn that I could get more affordable, high quality hearing aids at Costco.

At Costco, I was fitted with Bernafons, the Costco brand that is related to Oticon, and they were great for my “mild to moderate” loss at that time.

Within a few years, my health plan started covering hearing aids, so I returned to my original audiologist and got Oticon Opns.

My current, third pair of aids are Phonak Paradise 90s, also from the same audiologist, and they are a good match for my unfortunately worsened hearing loss.

I’m retired now, so I won’t have the generous insurance plan I had for the Oticons or the Phonaks when I get my next pair of aids. I am probably going to return to Costco the next time I need to buy hearing aids, although I would love to try the Phonak Spheres, which they don’t carry, someday.

I think that if you read the comments in this forum you will get all the information you need, and then some. It’s a wonderful resource!

@jhonnmick said:

I’m not looking for the cheapest option—I just want to get it right the first time and avoid frustration.

cheap + right first time + frustration free

Those words combined don’t work most of the time in life, especially in hard of hearing communities.

If you want one the best, then Costco is the way to go.

Otherwise, clinically fitted is the way to go in most cases, but you will have to shop around, for example, if you can get a good price on Phonak or Oticon or other big names, through your local clinic that would be ideal, otherwise, try getting those hearing aids online and fitted at clinic on a pay as you go basis, bearing in mind you will need to check the hearing aids warranty.

Note that Costco will replace one lost hearing aid for free, they will refund your money up to 180 days if you don’t like them, and they probably have a longer warranty that the hearing aids.

Edited

I agree that Costco is the place to go. Their hearing aids are the highest technology level of the big brands and are the latest models except for the Sennheiser which is the next most recent model. Costco brands are rebranded so they don’t appear to be direct competitors with your local audiologist but in fact they are. If for some reason you are not comfortable with buying from a big box store, I suggest you check out the ZipHearing website. They sell at discounted prices and work through local audiologists. I have done both. I would not buy from an online vendor unless you want to become a person and program your own hearing aids which I would not recommend for a first time buyer. Online fittings are less than great.

In reply to @user990

Actually, since I had to do it, they will replace both hearing aids for free once. The warranty on the aids for fixing sending back to manufacturer is 3 years, but the replacement warranty for loss and for user screw ups like drowning them is only 2 years. (I left mine where my puppy could get to them - and did.)

Edited

The Senheisser Sonite R is the Sonova product and is like the KS10 and the Phonak Lumity 90 I was referring to all brands sold by Costco, not the Kirkland brand.

Ah, nice! Thanks for that. I knew Sennheiser was now under Sonova, but slept on their new being available at Costco. I trialed the Lumity 90 and they were amazing. I see the Senny version also has the Lumity’s incredible StereoZoom feature I loved, rabranded too, as “Narrow Speech Focus.” I wonder of they have Sonova’s patented anti-IM microphone too?

Dissappointingly they aren’t available at any Costco near me. It seems they’re still under Costco’s rollout, with limited availability to just approx. 100 stores.

The 100 stores was a trial. I believe that they have been available at all stores for a while. Waiting for the upgraded model to appear at Costco , hopefully soon.

There are also a few clinics that sell prescription grade online. They will program based on your and most can do remote adjustments. There are a few on eBay who do this.

Those who are a bit tech-savvy and want to read up about how to fit hearing aids can also program their own hearing aids. It’s not difficult once you understand your hearing loss and what hearing aids can do.

In reply to @user715

The trial started in Fall of last year (November I think) They have expanded the number of stores who carry them but apparently not to all of them. Perhaps things will become more clear in November of this year.

In reply to @MDB

Good news! You were right. I stopped by my local Costco hearing center and there were the Sennheisers!

No big banner or logo in the display, just sat in the display case, wedged in beside the others and with just a price in front of them… and still not showing as available on the website. :man_shrugging:

I believe Costco doesn’t sell their prescription online. At one point, I compared Jabra’s prescription HAs from Costco to their aids sold online. The top online version at the time seemed like, maybe, the equivalent of the Costco offering but was alwaya more expensive than the Costco offering.

I just checked again. The online Jabra Enhanced Pro 500, which is the equivalent of the Nexia (2 years ago’s model) or Vivia 5 or 7 (middle-of-line), and it’s $1850 ($2000 - $150 ‘special’ coupon) with a 3 year warranty.

The Costco Enhanced Pro 30 is the equivalent of the Vivia 9 (top-of-line) and costs $1700 - 3 year warranty, 2 years of loss insurance, lifetime domes and , lifetime cleaning and adjustment.

If you are close enough to a Costco, the Costco value proposition is a LOT better than the online’s. And you can try out 4 brands of prescription aids at Costco.

Unfortunately, you can’t try out current Phonaks or Starkeys or Oticons or Widexes at Costco. If you think one of those will be better for you, it’s a private provider, hospital, university at higher price or something like Ziphearing at a price between high and low.

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