[rubicon]

Originally Posted by biker1

It is always best to shop around, educate yourself, ask lots of questions, and be willing to go outside the bubble. I have no doubt that many people are taken advantage of but technology and expertise never comes cheap. As we all get older, ears, teeth, and joints become problematic. Fixing them is generally not cheap and finding the right people may take some time.

biker much of what you say makes sense. However
I view the costs associated with getting hearing aids the same as I do prescription drugs or glasses.

A doctor wrote me a prescription drug for a sore knee that cost me $300 and it didn't work at all. yet 3 ibuprofen did the trick with just one treatment.

Same with a very expensive prescription for a skin condition. I went to /Walmart and found a substitute for $5.00

As to technology. You can get the same technology in a $19,000 car as you can in a $190,000.An article I came upon explained that customers all were experiencing the same problems with the same technology irrespective of what they paid for the car.

I'll make book that when the FDA opens up the right to purchase hearing aids over the counter all of the marketing mystery generated by manufacturers , ENT professionals etc will suddenly disappear.................

[biker1]

Prices for technology do tend to drop with time for the same functionality. I am sure that my wife's hearing aids could be replaced today for less than we paid 5 years ago. You will, however, probably still need to pay for expertise to evaluate your hearing loss and program the hearing aids. I did not see a lot of mystery associated with hearing aids. They measure your hearing loss by frequency and program the hearing aids to boost those frequency bands where you have hearing loss. Clearly there is some degree of art to the fine tuning that comes from experience. I don't have a problem paying people for their expertise. I recall some additional signal processing features to help with background noise in a crowded room. Shopping around and research will help eliminate those who would sell you more capability then you require.

Originally Posted by rubicon

biker much of what you say makes sense. However
I view the costs associated with getting hearing aids the same as I do prescription drugs or glasses.

A doctor wrote me a prescription drug for a sore knee that cost me $300 and it didn't work at all. yet 3 ibuprofen did the trick with just one treatment.

Same with a very expensive prescription for a skin condition. I went to /Walmart and found a substitute for $5.00

As to technology. You can get the same technology in a $19,000 car as you can in a $190,000.An article I came upon explained that customers all were experiencing the same problems with the same technology irrespective of what they paid for the car.

I'll make book that when the FDA opens up the right to purchase hearing aids over the counter all of the marketing mystery generated by manufacturers , ENT professionals etc will suddenly disappear.................

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

You very well may be right. My first pair were fitted by an audiologist and they did very well. Cost for all out of pocket, about five thousand dollars. (two aids) After five or so years my husband encouraged me to be checked again and see what the new technology was, so I returned to the same practice but a different audiologist. My first pair of aids were analog. The next were digital. There was no absence of tweaking and none of technology and they had things that cut back sound in a car or in a crowded room. They did not work well at all. I went back several times and no help. (This pair cost $6000.) I started wearing my old pair of analogs because I had complete faith in the practice and thought they had fitted me to their best ability. It was owned by a daughter of a long time friend. I wore my old analogs about ten years, one ceased working and so I just wore one. I am old school and I refused to throw that much money away. (They no longer made analogs)

I finally went to The Villages Ear. My husbands company had some kind of deal with a hearing aid company, but I didn't like their pushy calls. So I went to The Villages Ear on the advice of a poster on this forum who I trusted. I said ...Look. I don't really trust you, but I have this deal and it pays $2500 for both ears. They were great. I have a pair of aids that really work and they cost much less than the other two and I was seen a total of eight times until I said it couldn't get any better.

They are amplifiers. There is leeway in pricing. There are many in the hearing aid industry that will make as much money as they can on you. I am a good capitalist girl who likes to see people make money but I don't like them to hit a home run on me.

Oh..I almost forgot. Daughter one has a degree in Audiology from Miami, Ohio. She never used it. Made a career doing something else.

BOOM: [emoji41][emoji106]


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[dbussone]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

That too is true. I think I was impressed with their medical knowledge.

I want you to know that you are one of the people on this forum that I really respect, Biker1.

I certainly still have a lot to learn but I do fairly well for a stubborn old girl.

Especially one from Ohio.


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