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Looking for advice, is Truhearing 19 Advanced/Premium good for tinnitus and my situation?

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I have had tinnitus for a few years and visited an audiologist a couple of years ago. She did a hearing test and told me (much to my surprise) that I had some hearing loss and recommended hearing aids. I didn’t go through with it because of a) cost and lack of insurance covering them and b) not really wanting to wear a hearing aid. The tinnitus is still bothering me and I just went on Medicare, so I signed up for an Advantage plan with a provider that has hearing aid coverage through TruHearing. I picked the plan with lower co-pays ($499 for Advanced and $799 for Premium) than their basic Medicare plan. I got a name of a local Truhearing provider, and visited them before I started on the plan for a free evaluation. They did a new hearing test and confirmed the hearing loss (results attached). The audiologist said that the Truhearing Premium 19 that I can get with my coverage would be good for my needs, including the tinnitus.

Before doing anything, I decided to check with the audiologist who originally diagnosed me to see what she thought and to see if she was also in TruHearing, so I could use her instead and it turns out that she is, She had my old test results and told me “I do not have the software for TruHearing private label hearing aids. They have hearing aids from other companies that I can get for you but they will cost more and be better quality.” With my coverage, getting a different brand is not an option, so if I do not want to get one of the Truhearing models, I need to wait until I can switch insurance in 2021.

I am wondering if people here think that the TruHearing Premium 19 for $799 is actually a good solution for my needs (including the tinnitus masking) or if I should look into a different Medicare Advantage plan for 2021 with different coverage. I tried to look at the hearing aid options available with United Healthcare, but they did not have a list of co-pays or different models they cover, just a very wide range of co-pays ($375-2000 I believe). If anyone is familiar with how their coverage compares to what I have with TruHearing, that would also be useful.

Thanks in advance for your help!

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First off, your loss is an easy one to fit and just wearing hearing aids may help with the tinnitus. The maskers in the hearing aids have mixed results. I have had tinnitus for 50 years and none of the products I was able to try really did anything significant for my tinnitus. Just being able to hear the high frequencies I was missing did the most for making the tinnitus not noticeable. I would suggest trying a pair of lower cost aids on a trial basis to see if the amplification alone would help. I am not familiar with TruHearing private label aids but if you went that route I would find out who actually make them and if that manufacturers software could program them or if they are “locked” like some private label products are.

I second ‘try what they offer and see for yourself’.

Also, if that’s an option, get them, and then get accustomed to wearing them, see pros and cons during the months, and then upgrade in a year or two when you’ll have much better experience, expectations, wishes and confirmation that you’ll really wear them every day for bunch of hours daily, minimum is 4,recommended is at least 8, the more, the better.

It takes months for brain to extract the most out of them. Weeks to just get a feeling how they really work.

I’d also suggest start light informing yourself on general capabilities. But no pressure to understand everything now or that first aid have to have everything.

Most valuable are those which you will wear every day.

https://blog.valuehearing.com.au/news/do-i-really-need-expensive-hearing-aid5

https://blog.valuehearing.com.au/news/must-hearing-aid-features3

Most important is this
best practices summarised by dr cliff8

No matter the hearing aid brand or tech level, proper setup is of the utmost importance.

Also those two have youtube channels if you like that more.

Thanks for the replies. These come with a 45-day return period, which I think is pretty standard (although I looked into the AARP discount program, they allow a 90-day return but are much more expensive than what I can get with my insurance). It does appear that these are made by Signia, since they are mentioned in the Tinnitus section of the data sheet that I was given. I forgot to mention, but I had also spoken to someone from the AARP program, and she recommended a model by Signia. They were going to cost me $1195 per ear. From what I have read here/on the FB group, it seems like the ones offered by TH might not be the latest model, not sure if that really matters for me.

So I guess the question is do I got with the cheaper Advanced model or the Premium. I’m not sure how often one has to replace these but I’d rather not spend $1000 now and then have to replace them in a couple of years if I want something better.

@hearingtracker4 said:

I’m not sure how often one has to replace these but I’d rather not spend $1000 now and then have to replace them in a couple of years if I want something better.

Some people change them every 2-3 years.
I think most common is 5-6 and then jump to the new tech is significant and noticeable.
Some people hold them for longer.

Some people keep them longer bc of money, some because they don’t want to adjust to new ones.

So, it’s personal/budget issue.

However, there is huge number of people who buy them, and then don’t wear them. No matter the tech level.

Also, to put things into the perspective, new phonak paradises 90 here in Germany are a bit less than 3000 eur, per piece. Lowest tech ones are 1500 I think. One generation older is a bit lower but not much. Two generations older I think you’ll soon not be able to buy anymore. One generation = cca 2 years.

I think usd prices are similar numbers.

So, 1000 doesn’t seem that high if they really help you and you’ll wear them. Try and find out. You have 45 days to figure out details and what exists out there from tech and if it makes sense to try that or maybe even not if you don’t see the usage/need.

Unitron makes the UnitedHealthCare Hearing private label they sell, named Relate. The Relate Basic starts at $549 each, then $749 for more advanced Relate Reserve. United also sells name brands for a higher cost, starting at $799 for Entry level, $999 Essential, $1,249 Standard, Advanced would be $1,799, and $2,249 for the Premium.

Thanks. So how do those (specifically the 549 and 749 models) compare to the Truhearing Advanced and Premium models, which I can get for $499 and $799 respectively? To be honest, I’m not interested in paying more than the $799.

So I spoke to the audiologist, and she said that I would get the Truhearing 5, not 19, and is apparently the more current model.

So I need to decide if I want to pay $300 more per unit to get the Premium model as opposed to the Advanced (specs listed below). The audiologist told me that the Premium works better in auditoriums or crowded rooms, but neither really applies to me and I’m not sure that it’s worth $600. Both have the tinnitus masking that is really my top priority. Also need to decide if it’s worth paying $75 more per ear to get rechargeable. What do most people do?

The Premium has

  • Compatible with iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, and many AndroidTM smartphones
  • 2.4 GHz wireless
  • Premium Spatial SpeechFocusTM
  • OwnVoice Processing (OVPTM)
  • Premium EchoShield
  • Premium eWindScreenTM
  • Rechargeable battery upgrade option (available in the Li, Slim RIC Li, Standard Li, and Li models only)

The Advanced has

  • Compatible with iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, and many AndroidTM smartphones
  • 2.4 GHz wireless
  • Advanced Spatial
  • SpeechFocusTM
  • OwnVoice Processing (OVPTM)
  • Advanced EchoShield
@hearingtracker4 said:

remium works better in auditoriums or crowded rooms, but neither really applies to me and I’m not sure that it’s worth $600

It’s probably worth if you need/want it, but without need, I’d say no.

Check if speech in noisy situations is better in premium than in advanced, for phonak there’s also such difference between levels, even though they have the feature of the same name, it supposedly doesn’t behave exactly the same way.

Of course, if you maybe need such feature. If not, then happily go step lower and save your money :slight_smile:

About batteries vs rechargeables - if you have dexterity issues or are annoyed by batteries, go rechargeable.

If you don’t want to charge it everyday, and/or you stream a lot (like more than 6-8h/day, or you might because you discover how good is it), go battery.

Assuming hearing performance is the same.

Don’t worry about upgrading. The advanced level will be fine. Mostly with upgrading you are getting slightly better noise reduction, sometimes a slightly more comfortable sound, but hearing background noises is beneficial for tinnitus anyway. Typically, tinnitus features are all available even at basic levels these days, and if you aren’t having trouble hearing then you don’t really need to worry about the rest at this point.

The most effective thing for tinntus is appropriate amplification. Keep in mind that things may sound strange and sharp at first, but consistent wear is important. It’s also normal for the tinnitus to calm down when the hearing aids are in and come back when you take them out–be prepared for strategies to manage it if it interferes with your sleep.

@Neville said:

Typically, tinnitus features are all available even at basic levels these days,

Yet the hearing aids that Costco sells apparently doesn’t have that feature, which seems odd.

Anyway, thanks to you and @Blacky for the advice, I think I will go with the Advanced model without rechargeable batteries.

I think that’s largely it. I don’t know if there are any medico-legal issues involved or not. With all of their aids offering streaming it’s pretty much a moot point. Tinnitus masking apps are widely available.

In reply to @Neville

@Neville said:

I gather costco doesn’t want to deal with tinnitus patients if they can avoid it.

Why would they want to turn away customers?

@MDB said:

With all of their aids offering streaming it’s pretty much a moot point. Tinnitus masking apps are widely available.

Then it seems like they should tell potential customers that instead of just saying that their hearing aids do not have that feature.

I’ve never asked Costco about tinnitus. I don’t know what they tell their patients, but their aids do not have built in tinnitus features. They may very well tell people about apps if they ask. I don’t know.

I asked a while ago, and they told me that they do not have that feature. I think I even asked two different times. I can see where they wouldn’t want people buying a unit that did not have the feature and telling them to add it themselves. My issue was really about the earlier comment “Typically, tinnitus features are all available even at basic levels”.

It’s not an advanced feature and is available in basic models. Costco chooses not to deal with it. I’ll modify my statement a bit. Signia’s “Notch Therapy” is a little more complicated but I think still available on basic models. It’s also my understanding that somebody who knows what they’re doing can come close to replicating it with fitting adjustments. All that said, I think most of dealing with tinnitus is learning not to focus on it. Mine generally doesn’t bother me unless I’m talking about tinnitus! (It’s screaming now. :>)

In reply to @MDB

@MDB said:

Signia’s “Notch Therapy” is a little more complicated but I think still available on basic models.

Well, I ended up ordering the TruHearing 5 unit, which is apparently a rebranded Signia, so hopefully they will be able to program it (the audiologist confirmed that it has the feature). I’ve had this for a few years and chose not to do anything about it because my insurance did not cover it. As I originally mentioned, now that I am on Medicare and can get discounted hearing aids, I figured I would try it and see if it improves things. If it doesn’t, I can always return them.

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