Opinions needed on selecting the right hearing care professional for first hearing aids

If you can afford it, nothing beats a trained audiologist who tests hearing and dispenses hearing aids. I bought my first hearing aids online. I saved a few bucks, but I had nowhere near the followup that I have now. I tried Costco for my next pair and they were okay. I tried a couple of other audiologists and I am totally happy with the professional I have now. I have an unlimited number of visits with her, who has been tireless in getting my hearing aids right.

It is not an easy process and it is never perfect, but she never gives up. I now wear my HAs all day because I am comfortable enough to do so. Even though my audi is not seeing patients during the pandemic, she has been available to me by phone and offered to adjust my aids remotely.

If you are willing to, it is helpful to post your audiograms.

–Steve

There is as large a variance of competencies in the hearing field as in any other. Whether it is AuD, CCCA, BC-HIS or HIS it all comes down to who can do the job for you. Speech Mapping is essential, but only if they know how to interpret it and make the right adjustments. Speech in Noise testing is important but only if the professional knows what the results mean. A good start is to get a copy of audiology’s Best Practices and make sure whomever you choose uses them all (it could be an audi or HIS). It is not the answer you are looking for, but some of the burden falls on your shoulders, personal recommendations are good but your gut feelings during your first visit are also important. I have always believed that fitting hearing aid is like the old adage: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you are not happy or have questions, squeak a little or a lot. If you don’t make noise, your professional will not know something needs to be done.

I agree, that is what I have decided to do. The problem is, their all either closed or curbside only for the patients they have already. Hopefully this is all coming to an end soon and businesses will get back to business.

I did get some Bose hearphones. There great at hearing sounds but with my hearing loss, not much help for speech recognition.

Don’t give up on the Hearphones. Lots of possible adjustments. If you can’t get them right then you will at least have a lot of information to help with hearing aids afterwards.

I only stopped using them because I felt they looked too goofy. Not a big consideration these days.

This is my first day with them so I’m sure there’s room for improvement. I keep hearing how good the adjustments are but I’m only finding mic selection, world volume and bass & treble. Granted, moving one notch does have an effect. Don’t think I will ever get use to the loud high pitch sounds of everyday life, hope HAs do better.

I will keep them for nothing else but to use as noise canceling while mowing. I couldn’t even mow last week because my zero turn was unbearable, even with the foam plugs and ear muffs on. Hearphones makes it purr like a kitten, couldn’t believe it.

There were some early release pictures - they looked the same. I’m sure that there will be some improvements but I expect they will be minor. They just need to jump through some FDA hoops.

You are exactly right, I have so many questions now after wearing them for only one day.

There are so many here that know so much more than me that I am wary of giving any opinion on hearing issues but since you did post your audiogram and because it seems to be somewhat similar to mine - I will gine it a shot - but I might be way off.

My hearing loss, like yours, is somewhat flat. Not the “ski slope” loss that so many here have. I don’t think that I need a lot of the fancy processing that so many HAs do. I really need for things, especially speech, to be louder - but without distortion, and some minor tweeking of some frequencies. So, while the Hearphones really don’t work for many here, they did work well for me.

But, the best expression i picked up here YMMV (your milage may vary)

Awesome! I had seen mention of Dr Cliff but never looked into it.
Thank You

Choosing a hearing care professional is very much like choosing your primary care physician since this person is going to be providing on-going care for either your hearing aids or monitoring your residual hearing. For your Meniere’s which is chronic and fluctuating, if you already have a good ENT or Otologist who knows your medical history, then keep relying on them for that condition. If you do not, I would recommend working with an audiologist for hearing aid services who can also monitor your hearing and can tell you when you need medical care for the Meniere’s. Go with your gut feeling and think of establishing long-term relationships with your providers. If you feel that the audiologist is not looking out for your best interest or is not going to be there for you a few years, look for another one.

Thank you Chris.

I am going in the morning to meet with an audiologists, hopefully I’ll get that good gut feeling about her. I’m a little unsure about how the audiologist practice works. I know that she will take care of me for the life of the aids. What if after 6 months I realize my gut was wrong, how does another audiologists take over me and my aids when I have already paid for that service to the audiologists I left?

Many practices bundle the cost of the expected long-term care into the initial cost of the hearing aids but some do not. That is why you will get various quotes for the same hearing aids. So you’ll need to find out if their service plan is included or not in the purchase price. If it is and you end up going somewhere else for services, you will need to pay the other audiologist separately for the office visits/procedures.