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Hearing aid brand affiliated vs independent clinics

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What are the pros and cons of a clinic that is affiliated with a hearing aid brand (they say they sell other brands, but obviously they’re going to push their own brand if they can) as opposed to an independent clinic that offers a wider range of brands but without the discounts? Cost is the biggest factor for me, living on a small, restricted pension with no savings. I have severe impairment in both ears, but only need to understand voices on the phone or in personal conversations in a quiet environment. No restaurants, no parties, no outdoor activities, no TV or radio. No need for “Bluetooth connectivity” or “streaming”, whatever they are. No cell phone of any kind, just a landline. My clinic choices are limited by geography to HearingLife (Oticon-linked and affiliated with CARP) or Amplifon (independent).

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You pretty much nailed it:
PROS
1.- You may get lower pricing, especially if they work with your insurance.
CONS:

  1. They might offer only one brand, unlike an independent clinician.
  2. Their primary goal is selling their product, so they may push hard for a sale.
  3. Their aids could be locked, meaning they might be the only ones able to program them.

The majority of aids these days include streaming at no extra cost.

Make sure to shop around and explore different brands, as this is a significant purchase. If you’re in Richmond , Costco offers excellent devices that are much more affordable than those available at local audiologists or audiology chains.

If visiting several available vendors is not terribly difficult, perhaps that will give you the widest perspective. Pay good attention to the scope of the testing. Some I visited did a quick hearing test and some did more thorough testing. One didn’t even do a hearing test!

I do suggest going to a clinic with an audiologist if possible. Or, go directly to an un-affiliated audiologist if you can. Many otolaryngology, neurotology and otology practices have in-house audiologists- many with doctorates.

Some hospitals have hearing clinics with discounted pricing on devices. You will be tested & evaluated by a student while being over seen by a licensed (and board certified) audiologist. Perhaps that is an option.

Is Costco available where you live? Many people I know are quite pleased with them as a moderate to low cost vendor. In some states (or maybe your province) you don’t have to be a member to use the hearing center.

I hope you can soon be on the way to enjoying better hearing!

Paul

If your only choices are HearingLife and Amplifon, I’d probably go with HearingLife. Amplifon hearing aids are often locked. They’re also not “independent” the way an audiologist who owns their practice is, they are pretty big and corporate even though they aren’t manufacturer-owned. In my area they are fairly predatory, but you’re across the country and it might be different where you are.

However, at the end of the day it comes down to the clinician.

In reply to @OcramSagev

There is a Costco store here, but I’ve never visited it because it’s some distance away, on the other edge of the city. I looked at their website, though, and although they show an ear symbol, it turns out they don’t seem to have a testing clinic, and the only products shown for sale are batteries and accessories. It would cost me $130 to join if I wanted to use their service departments, and the taxi fare would be about $50 round trip, so I guess unfortunately they’re out. But I’ll phone tomorrow just to make sure they don’t test, prescribe or sell. If they do, their lower aids price might make up for the membership and transportation costs.Thanks for the suggestion, though!

In reply to @Neville

I already have an appointment at HearingLife in November for testing, so I’ll see how that goes. If I’m not happy with the service, then I’ll also visit Amplifon to compare. I’ve had aids from them (Siemens) in the past, but they died of old age last year and I haven’t had the money to replace them. Now a friend says they’ll give me the money for a basic, entry-level pair, but there’s a dollar limit that is fixed, so it will be whichever clinic and brand that can come in under that limit. There’s a clinic that tests and prescribes at the city’s family services centre, but they only take children under 19 so that definitely lets me out :slightly_smiling_face: . And a neighbour warned me off the one other clinic in Richmond that his mother had used and which oversold her an expensive pair and then never could repair them when they soon stopped working. There are no audiologists practising independently. So that just leaves me with the two places, Amplifon and HearingLife, since I don’t have the transportation to get in to Vancouver and try there.

In reply to @PJB12

Thanks for the encouragement, but most of those possibilities are not available for me without my own transportation, and I’d need a paid helper to escort me on public transportation to get over the bridge into Vancouver. I looked at the website of the Costco store here, but their hearing centre just sells accessories and batteries. I’m going to phone tomorrow and double check on that, but I’ve never been to the store so I’ve never seen what services they offer. Our hospital only has a hearing clinic for children under 19; adults are expected to somehow get themselves to another hospital that is about an hour’s journey away. There are two practices here, neither mentions an audiologist on staff, and when my GP tried to refer me, they were booked up for at least 18 months, so that wasn’t too encouraging. At my age, you don’t make appointments that far ahead!

But I’ll keep trying. Nice to discover at least I can come here and whine a bit if needed :face_holding_back_tears: .

In reply to @Cat5

@Cat5 said:

I looked at their website, though, and although they show an ear symbol, it turns out they don’t seem to have a testing clinic,

Of course they do, you’ll need to have another look, it’s compulsory when they sell .

@Cat5 said:

the only products shown for sale are batteries and accessories.

Are you sure about that, What store? Maybe it’s a Canadian thing?

@Cat5 said:

It would cost me $130 to join if I wanted to use their service departments, and the taxi fare would be about $50 round trip, so I guess unfortunately they’re out.

You’ve done the math? So your saying $230 is not gonna make it viable? Those clinics you mentioned are how much.. 5k or more verses Costco $1800 or so, plus a government subsidy of 500 to 1k, seems you’ll be saving many thousands of dollars. Read this post.

Buying Costco Hearing Aids in Toronto
This morning I had a hearing test at my local Costco. This was my final stop in my hunt for an HA that started last June. HAs in Ontario must be bought from an HA store – no online sales are allowed nor are OTCs available. The hearing aid stores have a virtual lock on the market so if you want a device that is somewhat affordable; Costco is your only option. I visited two other stores along the way – an independent and a franchised shop that is connected to Sonova . I trialled the Phonak Sphere …

In reply to @tenkan

Government subsidies in Canada are provincial. Sadly, only provides subsidy assistance like you mention for hearing aids for children, low income people of employment age (I reached pension age in the 1990s), or First Nations. There is a charity that lends, for one year, a single aid – presumably you’re expected to spend that one year saving up for your own.

I phoned the Richmond Costco hearing clinic this morning, but the person who answered verified that in BC you need to become a member in order to use their service, even the free first test, although you don’t need a membership to use their pharmacy or their optical department. (So if you’re not a member and you put “hearing testing” in the search bar, as I did, it comes back as “not found”.) The hearing aids they sell are not posted on the website, she said, just the accessories I had seen, as their stock of aids varies according to availability to them at the batch discount prices they pay the companies. I did wonder if she was really allowed to tell a customer that, but didn’t comment!

And of course, the $50 taxi fare is for each follow-up appointment, not just once and done. I don’t even have $50 to my name let alone $230, in the bank or in savings, nor do I have credit cards anymore due to unpayable debt. The person who has offered to give me a lump sum of $3,000 for hearing aids is not willing or able to add transportation or other fees to it for ongoing care. Using HearingLife, for instance, I could get a discount on their current sale models, plus 10% further discount because I’m a member of CARP. They also include free aftercare, insurance etc etc for three years, and as it’s highly unlikely I’ll live even for that much longer, I’m not concerned about the longterm aspect. In theory, I could get a basic entry-level Phonak for just under $3,000 IF they allow their sale discount which is the ever-iffy “up to” c$1,000, “up to” being as likely as winning a lottery prize, plus the extra 10% discount thanks to CARP. But I have to try. I didn’t hear our fire alarm in a recent false alarm glitch, so now there are extra keys to my apartment floating around for staff or neighbours to come in and rouse me. And LifeLine has been warned on my personal profile that if I fall I may not hear the agent’s voice coming out of my pendant or be able to understand any instructions from them. They already know I’ve outlived my entire immediate family apart from one cousin in a nursing home with dementia.

To say this is isolating is quite the understatement.

Wow what can I say, yours is a very unique situation indeed, I can only hope you find a solution that fits your needs, God bless mate.

I look on it as one of those problem-solving exercises that are supposed to keep the mind sharp as you get older. (Although I sometimes wish now I’d done my PhD in something useful like math or economics and not medieval languages :money_mouth_face: .) But thanks!

In the US the Lions Club collects used hearing aids to donate to people who can’t afford a new one. You might check if any organizations do this where you live.

Hi Cat5,

In your original post, you mentioned trouble using a landline telephone. I don’t know why I did not think of this earlier, but landlines with closed captioning are available.

In the United States, there are several brands. I know that the brand Clear Captions works very well.

In the U.S, it is all free (device, installation & monthly service) as part of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

hopefully there is a similar free system in your province!

Paul

In reply to @kev716

The Lions Club in Canada does the same, I’ve been told, and there are some smaller initiatives working locally. There’s not much information about how or where to contact them, but if things don’t work out with new aids from a clinic, I’ll ask about those programs next. I know I donate old glasses whenever my prescription changes, but I just drop them in a box at the optometrist’s office and don’t really know what happens to them after that. I assume his staff knows and that they would know at a hearing aid clinic the same.

In reply to @PJB12

There’s a free service for the hearing-impaired offered by my phone company that I’ve investigated, but the description on their website seemed to be almost all about how I place calls out. I couldn’t find out how to handle calls coming in, particularly those from offices or other strangers who wouldn’t know they should preface their calls with an extra number – 711 or something close to that. And the description of how to handle calls when I can speak clearly and just need the caller’s words transcribed was too brief and not helpful. I keep meaning to write to the phone company and ask for clarification, but have been putting it off. If they say my current phone won’t be able to handle closed captioning or emailed texts, then that’s another expense for a new phone even if the service itself is apparently free. It would certainly help the garbled-voice-on-the-phone problem, though!

In reply to @Cat5

@Cat5 said:

I know I donate old glasses whenever my prescription changes, but I just drop them in a box at the optometrist’s office and don’t really know what happens to them after that.

The Lion’s Club here sends them to charitable organizations which clean, repair, sanitize and tag by prescription. Some stay in North America for low income people and some go to countries on other continents where low income and lack of resources are prevalent.

I’m very happy the learn that you donate! So many people benefit for clear sight thanks to your efforts!

I very much hope that you can find an affordable solution to your hearing challenges!

Paul

In reply to @Cat5

I wonder if AARP International can help you navigate not only solving the hearing aid affordability problem, but also finding information & resources regarding the captioned phone. (It is completely different from 711 TTY)

Here is a link to AARP International for Canada:

Canada

In 2015, for the first time, Canadians age 65 and older outnumbered those younger than 15. Even though older adults make up a smaller share of the population in Canada than in many OECD countries, the growth of this segment has dramatically outpaced...

We have CARP here, and I’ve been a longtime member. It’s been advantageous to use their sponsorships and affiliations with various services that bring discounts. They were the reason I looked at HearingLife first, since I can get a 10% discount there as a CARP member. But I’m looking at other clinics in case I can get a better deal from elsewhere even without the association discount.

I looked at captioned phones online, and there was a link to Amazon.ca . However, when you follow it, you find a listing that says something like “this service is only available in the United States. Do not order this item if you are in another country”. My phone company, Telus, says the same thing, that captioning on phones is not available in Canada. I’ll keep hoping, though. It would be so much simpler than going through a customer agent. (Although I just finished reading a list on Facebook of entertaining caption errors seen on that kind of phone by members of a FB group for the deaf community :joy: .)

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