Bose self-fitting hearing aids are finally here (Bose SoundControl™)

@Um_bongo said:

That wasn’t the point she was trying to make. The risk is that parents will fit these rather than getting a correctable middle ear problem fixed,

Yeah this is quite scary to think about, I hadn’t thought much about that, but if underage kids could buy these, or as you say heaven forbid, that their parents could buy them and do this, is pointing to having to have some kind of compliance before buying (age restriction, audiogram etc) which defeats the purpose of OTC hearing aids in the first place.
I wonder if this is the reason why you can only buy them in certain states at the moment?

Actually Bose has an 18 year old requirement.

Serious. I have major anxiety that I am at the point of not being able to hear well enough to function in a business / office environment. I can’t hear on a standard office telephone. (Android cell phones work really well for me with or with HA) I witched from being a project manager to an estimator because I couldn’t hear well enough to work with customers. Estimating is pretty much a solo endeavor. In fact the Bose online test result was that my hearing damage was too severe for their product and recommended that I not buy them. I think they are being very careful about overstating the range and quality of their product. Day 4 and I’ve had a wide range of experiences now and they’ve best excellent.

@kjp111 said:

Actually Bose has an 18 year old requirement.

That’s a relief, thanks

They also seem to make my tinnitus a lot less noticeable.

I see you still haven’t shared your audiogram.
Starting to wonder what your agenda is.
Just joined the forum.

@kjp111 said:

tinnitus

At the end of day 3 and I’m still impressed. For the past two years I make my morning oats in an Instant pot, and the past two mornings were the first time I ever heard the timer go off. Out shopping I wasn’t afraid to interact with people. Makes me feel more like I’m part of the world again.

I ordered this just to try them and see if they made any difference, so far they have made a real and tangible difference.

About a month ago I set up an appointment at Costco (3 hour round trip) and the appointment is June 8th. I plan to make the appointment, and see what they offer. The extra $550 is no small thing to me (we are fixed income SS) and I don’t care about streaming or rechargeable batteries. I just want to hear better.

We take alot for granted here in the U.S. These would be a great alternative to people in areas of the world with little to no access to hearing help

@Raudrive said:

I see you still haven’t shared your audiogram.
Starting to wonder what your agenda is.
Just joined the forum.

My agenda is to not pay $6000 for hearing aids and to share my experience with $849 hearing aids. I’m starting to wonder what your agenda is.

@kjp111 said:

I can’t find my audiogram or I’d be happy to share.

@tenkan said:

But you did have to enter this information when you first got them right? Or did you just enter something random. I think most of us are really curious now.

I had an Audiogram done 4 years ago and bought Cellion 5 hearing aids based on that. I’m sure if I go tearing through all my old papers I could find it. I’m not going to do that because I don’t need to and I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. Bose has a test on their website which gives you a result yes or no. My result was no but I bought them anyway. You don’t have to enter any information. You do the test and you buy them try them and if they don’t work you send them back.
I do have a new agenda…try to never go to an audiologist ever again, try to never buy another pair of hearing aids from the established manufacturers, spend the least amount possible, and share my experiences, good or bad with as many hearing impaired people as possible. If they suck, I’ll be the 1st to tell you.

@kjp111 said:

I’m not going to do that because I don’t need to and I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.

Sure no problem, you don’t have to prove anything, but for other forum members thinking of buying these it would be helpful.

But for me anyway, I just don’t get how the Bose can just “work” for anyone’s particular hearing loss,as in without knowing exactly what frequencies you are missing, as in to know which ones to correct, this is where your audiogram comes in.
I took the online test as well, it’s hard to say exactly what tones/ frequencies they are checking by just speaking out some random numbers?

It does perform a self fitting routine which will obviously reflect your hearing loss which kinda is your approximate audiogram. I mean right now for HAs we do audiogram then fitting. They do more of a test and fit in place. For mild hearing loss that is that may be sufficient, and perhaps for moderate hearing that’s not complicated. I do not think it will ever help those with complicated hearing loss and audiograms, but it’s not designed for that. The principle of digital self fitting is becoming achievable with all the design enhancements that have developed over the last several years.

I hope the same from the Sennheiser products once they launch. If they perform well and maybe (fingers crossed) they can provide a good musical experience I’ll get them to try despite already having aids (yes I’m a fanboy of their audio headphones).

Eskie, Yours is a common sense point of view. Be open minded and see the possibilities. I honestly don’t really know how they adjust. The Bose app on the phone looks way too simple to me. I have Signia’s Audiologists software for programing hearing aids. With Bose there’s actually not much to adjust. My hearing loss is severe but the bottom line is that they just work. I’m also interested in seeing Sennheiser’s product as well as all the others that will come. Maybe hearing aids are not as complicated as the manufacturers would have you believe. If that were the case than maybe it’d be difficult to justify $6000 HA. Just a thought.

I think they’re still complicated, but maybe it doesn’t require $6K to take full advantage. Let’s face it. For many of the HAs out there, from basic to premium are usually the same chip but with different features enabled.

I don’t know where the insides of the Bose aids fall in comparison to Rx aids. The self fitting is an additional feature not found on big 5 aids. How complicated? No idea.

Still, items like these may, and hopefully will, drive down those $6K aids to something closer people can afford.

Audiologists still offer valuable services. If the hardware were lower and they decreased their fitting costs a bit, they will be competitive. Some users with severe hearing loss will always require a good Aud, and others may come in who normally wouldn’t, seeing prices becoming more palatable. There’s still a huge untapped market in the US. There can be enough work for everyone to benefit, including the individualized care from a professional Aud And that includes the manufacturers. If you move more volume you can reduce your margins and still make money. They’re already doing it at Costco.