gnu:

I have been wearing hearing aids for about 3 years now. I have tons of information I can share with you but here are a few brief findings:

1. First, go to a medical doctor specializing in ear, nose and throat medicine to be certain that your hearing problem would be helped by hearing aids. Try to find one that does not sell hearing aids in their office so they will be unbiased.

2. If you need hearing aids, see a certified hearing aid dispenser. You do not need an audiologist for this who will charge you more.

3.We live in a rural area so there were not many choices. I visited about 5 dispensers and the prices for two aids ranged from $4100 to $6200 American (the highest was from an audiologist). Then I went to Costco and got them for $1800.

4. There are at least 3 Costco stores in NB (St. John, Fredricton and Moncton). I found them to be excellent and knowledgeable. I can return whenever I want to have them adjusted as my hearing deteriorates further. They sell name brand aids under their own label.

5. Battery usage varies with the brand and the way they are programmed. I replace the batteries about every 5 days. My local market charges about 1$ each but Costco sells them for 22.5 cents each. Don't let any offer of free batteries for life sway your decision as they only cost about $25 per year.

6. Be sure you get hearing aids that have several programmable modes. Mine have 4. One is for general use and helps immensely. Number two is for noisy restaurants (and other places) and it tends to screen out background noise so you can hear a nearby speaker. I can often hear the waitress better than Bev who has no hearing problem. Number three is for radio and TV and it emphasizes the higher frequencies so speech is easier to understand. I can even understand British accents in this mode which I haven't been able to do for years. Number four is specially programmed for use when Bev and I sing together unaccompanied. When I first got them, there was considerable feedback when we sang in the key of A. When I mentioned this to the installer, she programmed a fourth mode which specifically screens this out.

5. With regard to the phone, they don't work as well here as the microphones are behind your ears and so your ears are between the microphones and the phone. There are two fixes for this. One is you can pay a little extra for an added device that pipes the phone directly into your aids by radio waves. I haven't tried this. The other is to get a special phone that displays the conversation on a small screen. In the U.S. you can get one of these at no charge if a medical doctor recommends you. The captioning doesn't work very well but the phone has a volume control that allows it to be turned up so loud that a person with normal hearing will be in pain. It also has various frequency response curves so you can adjust it to your hearing situation.

In short, they work wonderfully and they are highly recommended.

More questions? Just ask

Jerry of