Self Programming, Second Hand Hearing Aids and future of audiology needs

I just recently bought a Noahlink Wireless device which should be delivered in the next couple of days. I am looking forward to trying it out.

I had downloaded the Oticon Genie 2 software (2025.1 version) last year as I was planning to look at the settings and see what was possible. However, I never got around to doing that. Now that I have bought the Noahlink device, I wanted to check that Genie 2 was running the latest version. I discovered several interesting things. First, the updater does not work at all. It literally does nothing. Second, when I went back to Oticon to download the latest version, I discovered that the link is no longer publicly available and you have to have an Oticon account.

So, it looks like I will be stuck using my legitimately downloaded Genie 2 version 2025.1 to hook up my Noah link and Oticon Hearing aids.

In addition, I (like many others using this forum), have noticed a big uptick in the number of people using the classifieds category to buy and sell second hand hearing aids.

Now, maybe it is a co-incidence that the public can no longer download the Genie 2 software and now apparently can no longer sell second hand hearing aids. However, I suspect that this is as result of Hearing Aid manufacturers reacting to a decline in sales of new hearing aids, but more likely concerns that there is a growing number of people who are effectively self treating themselves (both with self programming and by buying second hand hearing aids that may not be suitable for their hearing loss) which under normal circumstances is never a good idea.

Second hand Hearing aids

I have mixed thoughts on the issue. When it comes to second hand hearing aids - I actually will side with audiologists and manufacturers here. Second hand aids (in my opinion) have two major failings. People may be buying a device that is not suitable for their hearing loss. More importantly I think given how vital it is to hear properly and engage with people in this world, why would people choose to try and save money on something so critical. I know that not everyone has loads of money, but this is one product I really think you should buy brand new as second hand is a false economy. However, that is just my personal opinion, but I can understand why hearing aid manufacturers, ebay and governments are appearing to be putting a stop to this.

Self Programming

My bigger mixed thoughts is actually to do with the loss of the public links to Genie 2 software etc. I fully agree that most people should be using an audiologist and that self programming is not to be recommended for the average person. You need to be quite technical, have quite a few years of experience of learning about hearing aids, understanding how we hear speech etc, that self programming is not something that should be handed out like candy to anyone.

But, this forum alone, provides more than ample evidence that a lot of people do not seem to have good audiologists in their country or their area and self programming may actually be their own route to getting decent health care. Not everyone gets bad hearing care obviously and we only hear about the failures not the successes in general. So, this is not a criticism of the audiologist profession as many of them do a really good job. I myself have found an audiologist that I am really impressed with as the fit is the best that I have ever had. She is really scientific in her process.

However, even if you do have an amazing audiologist, many people, myself included, have come to realisation that while they can create a very good fit, because they cannot hear what you hear, they cannot iron out those last niggles because the computer still does not compute everything correctly. I think the reality is that while the technology of hearing aids have improved massively, they are still not able to fully determine exactly what our ears are still not hearing. This is why I have bought the noahlink to see if I can use my audiologists program as the current gold image and test and tweak to see if I can address my remaining issue. I was inspired to do so based on the post of another user on this forum who reported that they had managed to successfully improve their hearing further.

Conclusion or TL DNR

Should the sales of second hand hearing aids be banned given that this means people are not receiving the professional care they should be? To be honest, I don’t think that buying/selling second hand hearing aids makes any sense given how critical it is to be able to hear properly. The public are not qualified to know what is suitable for their hearing loss.

Should people be able to self program? People like me or just the general public? In principle, like selling/buying hearing aids, I don’t think that the general public should be able to easily access programming tools as they are not qualified to do this. Having said that, while I am very impressed with my new audiologist, I have come to realise the limitations of audiology technology as far as testing, what the hearing aid and the audios and the manufacturers thinks your ears are hearing etc. The only way that I can further improve my hearing is to self program. So, I have very mixed thoughts about this because I can see the value for myself, and am annoyed, that I can no longer update Genie 2. In fairness, my case is quite unique as I have an extremely unusual and rare hearing loss caused by Scarlett Fever during pregnancy, so I was born that way. My hearing loss is quite challenging to be fair.

What do other people think? it seems to me that Ebay and no public links indicate a new direction by the hearing industry?

If you don’t have the latest aids or need the latest firmware updates you probably don’t need to update Genie.

There’s a documented issue discussed here about it sometimes not updating. There are various suggestions and you can post in DIY.

Used aids are not only about cost for one set It’s impractical to try many brands through audiologists. Most will not take kindly to this and do not sell all brands. Used is a good way to test a product for as long as desired at minimal cost with less effort. Now that so many aids have li-ion batteries and even the chargers have batteries, used aids are a significant financial risk and perhaps worth even less. DIY could be about used aids or new ones from an audiologist or online supplier. It’s also good to have a disposable battery aid as a backup because those can last a long time without use.