My son was diagnosed with hearing loss and the audiologist is quoting me $3k for the Oticon px 2 minirite hearing aid. It felt very sales pitchy, reminded me of when I used to do retail sales for at&t and upsold people on bluetooth headsets lol.
Anyway, looking online I see the same hearing aids on aliexpress for $400, 10x less than what the audiologist wants. It looks like there is some proprietary software that "tunes" the hearing aid for his specific hearing loss, but im wondering if i can get that software myself, have it read the settings for the loaner device they gave us to test, and then just apply that same profile to the one i purchase online.
Has anyone done this? I don't mind paying for the hearing aid but i know its going to continually get lost and I feel like im getting taken advantage of with this markup
Hi there @cmbezln as this is for your son (how old? Post his would be helpful) I'd recommend going to Costco so long as he meets the age conditions, get premium models for a fraction of the price from any others, otherwise you'd best to stick with registered clinics for younger kids.
(1) That price in AliExpress is for a unit, not for a pair.
(2) You could buy a Noahlink Wireless, save the program and then transfer that to the pair you bought on AliExpress.
(3) You kid will be on his own: No warranty support (Oticon warranty mandates you buy from a licensed provider - no clue what happens when you buy from China), you will do the adjustments, etc. Also, no after care, no management if his/her hearing change or what happens if the current fitting is not optimal. The extra $2000 (AliExpress vs $3000) is for 3 years (or whatever it is) bundled specialist care service package, not just the hardware.
I am very pro (do it yourself) but, for a kid, that's a different story (assuming your son is a minor). There are other things to consider that the pediatric audiologist does that are different than the way adults are treated. If losing the aids is an issue, buy from a provider that offers damage and loss coverage.
Question is: Can you provide the audiology care he needs for the life of the aids ? Pediatric audiology care goes beyond a single visit to program the aids.
@tenkan : I'm almost sure Costco does not fit minors under 18 y/o AFAIK.
Hi, I'm a paediatric audiologist with more than a decade of experience. I've worked in all clinical settings with different funding models (private/insurance/tax-payer funded).
When it comes to children, their needs aren't the same as those of adults. There are many more factors to take into account. Professional care is definitely required and you need to ask, does the cost of these devices include the cost of professional care? If the cost is bundled, then you need to determine the value of those services.
I wouldn't recommend buying hearing aids from aliexpress in general, but especially not for children. You don't know if you're getting a real or counterfeit product and even if you are getting a real product Oticon forbids online sales without in person clinical support and will not honour any product warranties for devices sold through this channel, which could result in expensive replacements.
The current Oticon paediatric devices are actually the Oticon Play SI series which was released late last year which adds a lot of useful features but is only available in rechargeable form factors. I wouldn't recommend going for an Oticon paediatric device unless you're choosing the highest level of technology which is denoted by '1' at the end of the name. At the '2' level of technology they have a much poorer input dynamic range and don't perform as well in very noisy environments that most children find themselves in on a daily basis vs comparable products from Phonak or almost every other manufacturer.
If you could provide more information about your child such as their age, school environment, type of loss (mixed/sensorineural/conductive) and could enter their in your profile settings this would help us to give better advice. Information about hobbies/groups and other lifestyle factors such as a need for eyeglasses is also helpful. Finally, if they use devices of any kind (smartphone/laptops/tablets etc) the type and OS can also be really important.
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