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Which hearing aid is the best

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I have seen this question or variations of it on this forum. I find that interesting in that the bulk of the participants here are hearing aid wearers and have maybe tried 1-3 different manufacturer’s product. Also given that no two hearing losses are exactly alike, one persons opinion will probably not apply to someone else. BUT, that question came up on an audiology forum recently and here is what a very respected Audiologist had to say:

Each has their strengths and weaknesses, so it depends on what their specific needs are.

I feel Phonak is best for performance in BGN.

Widex is best for musicians, people suffering from tinnitus, and very mild losses.

Resound has given me the best results for custom rechargeable aids.

Signia has some special features that are great for issues regarding occlusion effect, called “own voice processing.”

Starkey has always been great on custom aids.

Oticon is good overall, but doesn’t, to me stand out in any specific area.

Just remember that when asking advice on an open forum, your answer can be worth exactly what you paid for it.

22 people in this conversation9 min readJump to latest

This is interesting to know what they say about them as I’ve only ever tried 2 of them!

The best hearing aids is what works best for my hearing loss, I don’t care about anything other than general hearing and the very best word recognition and conversation understanding that I can get.

I think this is a little misleading. You are stating there is no best but list several options they are ‘best for’. Again, it’s really an opinion. I think stating it might be better for would be fine, but stating flat out these specific aids are best for these circumstances just seems inappropriate.

Certainly a good guideline for a starting point. And it is practically impossible to really try out multiple aids, especially as a new user.

I’m guessing he doesn’t get a kick-back from Oticon or fit much of their product.

Recommending a GN rechargeable, but not the Starkey one seems odd. He doesn’t mention that the GN App and Accesories are excellent too.

No mention that the Ceru-Sheild is a car crash for some users or which products have unreliable rechargeable systems.

There appears to be no consideration of connectivity too.

As for as someone that has been wearing Oticon aids since 2010, I don’t care about music, I just care about my general hearing, and I want the very best speech understanding I can get with my hearing loss. I have tried them all over the years and I keep coming back to what sounds most natural to me and that is Oticon. To I stand up and say Oticon is the only way to go to my friends, no way. I tell everyone that they have to make the decision of what works best for their individual needs.

Yeah, this thread is about as useful as saying ‘I think a Porsche goes around corners really well; everyone should drive a Porsche’.

Not sure that helps anyone looking for hearing aids in reality.

Also one variable not mentioned is the hearing aid fitter’s competency and familiarity with a particular brand of hearing aid. There have been many comments on this forum that it is as (or more) important than just the hardware itself.

I agree that background noise makes the most sense.

In reply to @Um_bongo

I believe he is retired so I don’t think kickbacks are an issue. I actually find it useful when professionals mention what they see as strengths or weaknesses of a particular hearing aid.

In reply to @cvkemp

I totally agree. I’ve worn Phonak, Widex and Oticon, each for several years. Right now Oticon More is the best natural sounding but who knows, after the next technology upgrade another may be better for me

Interesting responses. This was not meant as a recommendation for any manufacturer. and in the US providers do not get kick backs. This was just a comment to show that even among the professional community there are many opinions. There is not a single BEST hearing aid! An accomplished provider should be able to make any of the major brands work well for an individual. Today’s technology is really fantastic but it all comes down to where the rubber meets the road, as in how it is fit for the particular individual. I have seen really good hearing aids doing a lousy job and I have seen mediocre hearing aids doing a great job. It is like a musical instrument, anyone can play one, but some do make it sound much better.

So why post it to a forum where you know there are likely to be ‘tribal’ responses other than to evoke those responses (while creating meta-traffic in the first 100 words for certain search engines from a respected source)?

You know one of the most searched phrases is ‘best hearing aids’, followed by ‘best hearing aids in background noise’, don’t you?

I’m not entirely sure if the post is just low level trolling or discrete SEO. The former is a bit transparent, but the latter is quite devious as you know that making the post more controversial gets it to sit at the top of the page and drives further engagement.

In reply to @Um_bongo

Thank you.
Ceru-Shield IS a trainwreck for me. 1/3 of the time I find I put the shield in wrong, and that’s why I can’t hear. So I change them many times more than the old standard.

Your comments are very helpful.

DaveL
Toronto

In reply to @Um_bongo

You are reading WAY too much into my post. I thought it was interesting to get the perspective of a very knowledgeable professional with a very active practice. I never thought of SEO or most searched words or phrases. This forum has a lot of different perspective from users, I thought a perspective from the opposite would be interesting. That was it, plain and simple. No ulterior motive involved. I think you may have way too much time on your hands to sit around and read all of that into a simple post.

In all seriousness, if you’re not shilling for a manufacturer, then fair enough.

If you’re not aware of either the trolling or discrete SEO aspects of the post, then I have no argument; other than the potential naivety of the post.

It might have been better idea to cite your source for this apparent quote, just so people know from where it emanates.

I’m grateful for this post.
When I finally realized I didn’t hear well, I had several questions. One was: “Which hearing aid is the best”.
Then I tried to find out, and found it extraordinarily hard to find out anythng.

DaveL
Toronto

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