No more excuses from me, wearing the Starkey Livio Edge AI 2400

I’m new to the forum and a first-time hearing aid user. My wife bugged me for the past year or so to get my hearing checked, but the sticker shock of hearing aids kept me from seeing an audiologist. Our health insurance provider (UnitedHealthcare) finally came through in a huge way this year by including a $5k coverage allowance for hearing aids, so my excuse for not seeing an audiologist finally went away. I did a lot of research on hearing aid websites and Dr Cliff YouTube videos to determine which hearing aids might work the best for me. The features that I wanted the most were rechargeability, smartphone accessibility, AI technology, and quality support. I was able to shorten my list down to Starkey Livio Edge AI and Phonak Audeo Paradise.

My audiologist was very patient with me as I tried RIC models of both brands. Both were comfortable and lightweight with similar features, but I had difficulties repositioning these hearing aids each time I took my glasses off and on, which I do many times each day. I was disappointed these wouldn’t work for me, but my audiologist recommended I consider trying ITC models. We did the ear canal impressions and Starkey had my new hearing aids back to my audiologist in about a week or so.

I’ve been wearing the Starkey Livio Edge AI 2400 hearing aids for a few days now and I am so impressed with them. They paired up easily with my smartphone, and I’m able to use most of the features of the Thrive app. They work with my car audio system when my smartphone connects to it, which is amazing and sounds terrific. The only issue with the app is I can’t hear phone calls through my hearing aids, which I will contact Starkey support and see if there is a remedy for my phone. Otherwise, I’m very happy so far with the comfort and many features of the ITC models. The double tap feature is so convenient for switching to Edge mode and it’s so easy to create my own custom memories and store them on my smartphone. My ear canals are a little sore by the end of each day, but I assume that will get better over time as my ears adjust to having a foreign object in them all day.

My audiologist was very fair in his pricing and accepted my insurance allowance as payment in full for the hearing aids. He was also surprised when I asked him to order my hearing aids in black, as he had assumed I would want the pink color. At my age I’m not so vain about my appearance, but I will say the black is very cool and looks more like ear buds than hearing aids. I never realized how much hearing loss I had and how much I was missing out on. I can hear things now that weren’t even muffled sounds without hearing aids, like a creaky sound in the wood floor under my desk, the crisp crackling sounds of rustled papers, and the songs of birds when I take walks. The TV sounds so loud to me now that I have to turn it way down. And I can finally hear the soft sweet sound of my wife’s voice without having to ask her to repeat what she says. That was getting very old, both for her and me. Now I have to ask her to speak in her normal soft voice again, as she had grown accustomed to almost shouting at me at times. I’m so thankful this whole process has gone as well as it has and I hope it continues for many years to come. Many thanks to my audiologist for his skills and to Starkey for making such a terrific product.