My 6 year old Widex C3’s have succumbed to the hazards of being with me and getting wet one too many times. I do not have insurance that will cover new ones so I am considering going with in/behind ear amplifiers instead. Would love to have your experiences with amplifiers.
Here is what I would like to have:
User adjustable volume and tone for each side
Bluetooth so I can listen to my TV, Computer, and iPhone without headphones.
Cost less than $1000 total for both.
Have no experience with amplifiers. Costco does sell a premium hearing aid, the KS9 (Phonak Marvel M90) for $1500 a pair though. You would likely find that much better than an amplifier.
Amplifiers are exactly that. They amplify everything. If that’s all you need than go for it. In my case amplifying everything would send me screaming and hearing nothing.
lt all depends on your hearing loss. And if you have full control of an equalizer to make the needed frequency adjustments.
It would not work for me at all.
But the amps will not help you with speech in noise, and they have nothing normally to help the noise issues that we all have with hearing loss, at least not for my hearing issues.
That is a lot for amplifiers…IMHO. I can afford what ever I want but I chose CHEAP because the extra money only buys more “features”. I want hearing.
The $14 amplifiers at Harbor freight are too cheap. They work, but they amplify EVERYTHING. I do use them sometimes because they have very good volume control.
The $6000 aids from the audiologist are fantastic and you can turn on your house with them. I dont need to spend $6000 to hear. My wife will tell me what I missed,
So in a quest to see what I needed I cruised EBay for used (not an icky problem, you can change out the ear pieces if cleaning and alcohol dont satisfy your “ick threshold”) But by getting used ones off EBay I can test even the very expensive ones for dirt cheap. I have bought about a dozen different pairs and all for less than $20/pr. Only expensive one I bought was a pair of ReSound Linx 962 that I bought early on in my search. BUT I only paid $600 for the pair and at the time they sold for BIG bucks new. They were GREAT till I got water on one and a repairman said he would fix it for $150 if I sent it to him. That would have been fine except he said if he couldnt fix it he would send it back AND KEEP THE $150. My question would be, how do I know he even tried to fix it. Just take my money and send it back to me. Good work if you can get it! I regret that big expenditure now but that was my first foray into the field. I would use them now if I could find an honest repairman.
Now I am using a pair of ReSound Canta 2 that I got off EBay for $20 and I did some customizing of the ear pieces that cost me $6. Not perfect yet, but getting there.
What question? I didnt ask one. Is that an insult to my wife??? I need good hearing at any price. But more money does not insure good hearing, just more profit for high priced audiologists.
It was not an insult to your wife. Sorry if you thought that. But some of have no choice but to spend a ton of money if we want to be able to hear at all. And some of us just can’t go out and buy amplifiers. They don’t work.
i did not recommend amplifiers and actually SAID that they didnt work. All i said was that expense did NOT necessarily represent quality and that cheaper without the extras were often as good for less money. I dont beleive that anyone HAS to spend a ton of money. If you CHOOSE to and can afford it, go for it. But it is not necessary. I am the founder of Visual Audio Memory Solutions (VAMS) it is dedicated to finding resources for low income clients. We are finding those solutions. BTW its non profit…
Looking at your audio gram we’re in two different worlds. So I’ll move on. I kind of expect that thinking from people who have normal hearing. Not from some with a severe high frequency loss but I guess you can get by, as you say. Good. Isn’t it a shame a lot of us can’t and have to spend the extra money to be able to hear in different situations, if at all.
I dont see what that has to do with it. If you need surgery, yes, it will be expensive, but If you can use , no, it doesnt HAVE to be expensive. But if you want to do it that way its ok with me. I can spend as much as it takes but I refuse to encourage theft.
I’m not saying they’re not overpriced. But we don’t all have the option to just say I’m not paying for all the bells and whistles that come with the hi priced aids. For some those bells and whistles are a necessity to hear. Are we getting ripped off. Probably. But for many it’s either that or go deaf. Try getting by with 20 percent speech comprehension in a meeting or crowded room. Things are not cut and dry in life. Is it ridiculously expensive. Yes. But for many we don’t have the option to say I’m not paying it. Because then the only option is not hearing anything or being able to carry on a conversation. It’s nice being able to say I’m not paying for it and still hear. God I wish I could say that
The pair of ReSound Canta 2s that I am wearing now, allow me to go to a birthday party in a bar full of partying customers last week and tonight to a church board meeting with 20 people in a small room. Those were two things I could not have done a year ago because the sound of the or the toilet flushing or the door opening or a nearby conversation would have kept me from hearing anything. These cost me $19.95 on EBay (used). I dont know what they cost new. Before you say, “but I need to try the features first”, let me say that buying 5 different sets of for $20 a set is cheaper than one $100 test fitting and gives you a choice and if one of them is right you are not out your $100, you are done spending!!! If none are right, another $100 gives you another test of five. Still far cheaper than a $6000 pair. I admit that i was wrong when I paid $600 for the ReSound Linx 962s but that was before I learned how to shop for HAs. But I admitted I was taken and went out to address the problem so it wouldnt happen again. At some point, you have to swallow your pride and cut your losses and find a better way. Price does NOT equal quality. A $600,000 Rolls Royce is half the quality of a $60,000 Lexus and a $10,000 used Lexus with 51,000 miles is even better yet (I got one of those!!).
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas