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Seeking advice on backup hearing aids

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Tony looks like my hearing loss is about the same as yours. When thru Zip Hearing and they referred me to a Audiologist in OC MD. Currently wearing Oticon S1 witch I have been happy with but wanted something with new technology. My Audiologist who is wonderful, let me try the Oticon Real’s , the Phonak Lumity and the Starkey Genesis over the last 4 months! All were decent, none great with speak understanding! But I am choosing the Starkey Genesis because it gives me more control over back round noise. I thing the Edge setting on the Genesis works great and their App is the most user friendly. Also tried Costco (Jabra’s), cheap hearing aids, but the techs not very good at adjusting aids to your hearing loss and not easy to get appointments. If you can I would try the Starkey’s I think you will like them! As a further note I been wearing hearing aids for about 15 years.

In reply to @Sonny

Thank you for response. I phoned zip. They don’t service Canada. I wanted to try starkey. I called every audi in my area. Unfortunately starkey doesn’t have demos. I contacted them . They want me to purchase a pair to try them. They said I would have 60 days without a penalty to return. But that would mean I would be tieing up 7000 dollars to try them. I’m not impressed that they don’t have demos to try. So I kind of put me off and I stopped trying to try a pair.

You remind me of Darell Brooks, anyhow, here are some fax for you:

$1499 still not cheap, see below:

image

Reasons for Low Hearing Loss Treatment5

Most Americans with hearing loss don’t seek treatment nor wear hearing aids. Our experts dug in to find out why.

They are 2000 in Canada. Unfortunately our dollar is very weak! Thank you for the link

In reply to @Sonny

I don’t work for Costco and have buying my aids there for years. I wouldn’t call the hearing aids sold there cheap. The Bernafons that I bought years ago are still working.

As far as fitting, whether you go to an independent or Costco, folks have had issues with either one.

There is currently one topic when this person has gone to the independent and hasn’t be able to get a good fitting with the Starkey hearing aid.

David had to go to three different independents before finding someone who was able to program his hearing aids correctly.

The key to me is the communication between fitter and the person wearing the aid.

Costco isn’t going to able to help everyone, but if you live close to one, give them a try. You have 180 days to try them.

Thank you for response. It not the audiologist skills that is my concern. It’s the long wait to see an audiologist to make changes? I was told in the greater Toronto area, it’s about 2 weeks. I can see my Audi in a day or two max

In reply to @Tony3

@Tony3 said:

I will ask how much a second pair of more1 would cost? They may be cheaper.

They may be. But particularly, it’s possible your own provider will be able to give you a deal given that they have your current settings on file and it would not be a full refit. Also, if you are happy with your current hearing aids then the bonus would be that you would be happy with the identical, identically programmed set.

In reply to @Tony3

@Tony3 said:

I’m not impressed that they don’t have demos to try. So I kind of put me off and I stopped trying to try a pair.

One word: Ludicrous.

Ok, some more: how are folks to make an informed choice if there’s NO DEMO. That sounds like some kind of scam where you plunk down the money, takes days between fittings, and before you know it, 60 days are GONE and you may never have gotten the aids the way you want them. At that point, Buyer fatigue sets in and you just say, “This is as good as it gets.” The fact that Starkey aids have a reputation among audis as being tricky to get JUST RIGHT is more fodder for their “Buy first, trial next” strategy.

@1Bluejay said:

how are folks to make an informed choice if there’s NO DEMO.

All it takes is for one patient to walk off with a set of demo hearing aids to spoil it for the whole bunch, eh?

But if you consider it from another angle, in what other situation can you trial expensive devices for such an extended period of time without any cost? Why should that be the norm?

As I stated before. I would love to try starkey new hearing aids. But I refuse to buy them to try them. I don’t understand their policy.

In reply to @Tony3

Starkey is tight with their demos. Likely your clinician simply doesn’t have any, and so would have to order them in, pay for them, and risk you walking off with them. What’s the return policy? And why do you think this should be a free service anyway? Nothing in audiology is covered by OHIP. You typically do your work for free?

In reply to @Neville

But to take that analogy further … one goes for test drives in new (or used) cars with an attendant in the car. Granted, that person could be bushwacked and the car stolen, but that’s not a trend that I know of. On top of which some models of vehicles are tracked by GPS with the capability of being shut down.

Now here’s a chance for an enterprising entrepreneur to come up with a similar technology for hearing aids! I’ve often mulled over the future, where aids won’t work without a phone app. That’s how they can be shut off if not paid for, or at the end of a trial. Perhaps today’s research and investment is mainly going towards rechargeable tech, but I think there’s an opp’y for looking at The Big Picture. (and now I hope this paragraph will disappear 2 min after reading it)

If I was on the Starkey sales team, I’d be pushing to get MORE demos out in the field for testing and use. Most old folks are not gonna hobble away on their canes with expensive aids. A simple deposit of 10% down would seem to be a good start for affordable, accessible trials. Get some skin in the game and get the models all over the place for trial and sales. :slight_smile:

Sure, but you absolutely do not get to test drive the car for free for 3 months.

Some demos do shut off after X weeks. Patients still manage to not bring them back.

10% down and a copy of your credit card so that they can charge if you don’t come back. Sure, some clinics might do this. Still, nice of them to carry the cost of the devices for you for a few months while you decide, and to provide free services along side.

It’s funny, in my day to day life I am very happy to be providing pro bono services for my patients regularly. But some days I come on here and see people talking about how it is outrageous or ludicrous that clinicians will not work for free, will not automatically provide patients with hours of free services and months of free demos and it just rubs me the wrong way. With Canadians, I at least understand that a lot of them think that hearing care professionals are accessing OHIP or whatever provincial corollary exists (they are not), but I don’t know why Americans would have this attitude–don’t Americans pay for everything and so shouldn’t that be the expectation? In my most irritable moments, I figure that it is because the field is 80% female, and thus systemically undervalued for gross historical reasons.

In any case, sorry I’m grumpy this morning.

Edited
@Neville said:

Sure, but you absolutely do not get to test drive the car for free for 3 months.

LOL - that’s for sure! I like your idea of the credit card deposit, cuz there should be SOME kind of deposit and means of collecting full price if the person skips town.

Yes, my audi and the Phonak rep also say that mostly OLD folks give them grief about charging for services rendered and expect everything (trial, followups, repairs, etc) to be free. Boggles my mind, cuz in MY 68 years I’ve long since learned that you get what you PAY for, and these service providers are to be treasured and respected for being in a profession so critical to us.

I guess we can’t all be the same. But there should be some kind of come back like, “Hey, even your COFFIN is gonna cost you money.” How is it that a critically necessary medical device is somehow going to come cheap or free? It’s generous enough for folks to get discounted prices through nationalized health insurance or by their being veterans.

These cranky folks are the outliers. The rest of us WOULD pay a deposit, and for the record, I’ve always been billed IN FULL for my aids at the time of trial (did get a discount on the 2nd pair of Phonak Lumity Life aids I bought a month after the initial pair). Somehow, I must’ve gotten lucky, cuz I’d narrow that choice down to the one I kept - never needed a refund. Even in the case when my dear audi graciously exchanged a pair of Oticon aids for Phonaks years ago, he applied that price and I paid the difference.

GAWD, grumpy is HUMAN! Go have a cuppa cawfee and a DONUT, and you’ll be smiling from EAR to shining EAR! :grin:

In reply to @Neville

Plenty of unmet expectations all around, I suppose. I don’t know what the best solutions would be, but better communications has to be part of it.

I think that people are put off by not being able to shop prices on-line very much. Even though you don’t know what is the right fit for you without professional assistance, unless you’ve been around the block a few times and really do know what might fit your loss. And then you see ridiculously low prices and wonder what services come with it. Expecting Cadillac quality services with Chevy pricing.

People aren’t aware what the costs are to keep a shop open. Or if they are aware, conveniently ignore it. So $1500 or $2000 seem reasonable since Costco does it. But they want service from a small personable practice and not some big machine.

Lots to go wrong. And I don’t know too many people that love the whole car shopping thing. I hate it, personally, even saying that for almost 25 years I’ve gone to places that encouraged us to take the cars on our own and try them out. One said “go run your errands and evening activities, just have it back by closing time?” Sure, they took a copy of my license, but I was shocked. But it was the same day, not two months. When something is wrong, they’ve fixed it though.

Better comms.

WH

In reply to @Neville

I asked my Audi she doesn’t have demos, I asked starkey on line forum they don’t have demos, I asked all the clinics I’m my area they don’t have demos. Many manufacturers have demos, so I choose to use them and buy from them. It’s starkey loss,

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