Anyone have experience with TruHearing?

Hearing Aids
#1

I can get discounts up to 60% with TruHearing. Does anyone have experience or knowledge about them? They have several local providers and have aids from all 6 major mfrs. One local provider has 2 Drs of Audiology and one of them provided me my first hearing aid in 2010 at another practice. I would be very comfortable with her.

They provide a very long of HAs from all 6 major mfrs including their top HAs. For example, Oticon Real 1 lists for $3755 per aid and Tru’s price is $2250. There are similar discounts for other top HAs. HAs have a 3 year warranty including one replacement.

What got me thinking about this approach was BCBSNC told me about TruHearing and the only audiologist at my Costco is retiring. I had a scheduled test with her today but it was canceled and she retires Friday. Is this worth pursuing instead of Costco?
Thanks

Phonak or Oticon, also, Zip Hearing?
#2

Check out what others have been saying from right here on hearingtracker, with a 60% discount it’s a good deal price wise.

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/search?q=TruHearing

If it was me I’d still go Costco.

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#3

I do not have experience with TruHearing but with what I think is a similar firm – ZipHearing.com. My audiologist is in their network and my experience with ZH was outstanding.

Your call as to which way to go. I’m not sure where you are in Tar Heel country, but it might be worth checking to see if Costco has an audiologist (vs a “hearing specialist”) at another outlet that’s close enough to make it reasonable to make the drive.

Bottom line: I felt very comfortable dealing with one of these dot-com places in conjunction with the audiologist I wanted to use anyway.

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#4

I’ve bought 3 pairs of hearing aids from TruHearing. TruHearing is good. Their customer reps seem to be knowledgeable. My pet peeve is I never seemed to be able to get the same rep when calling back. They are kind enough to give you their extension but I couldn’t reach them. All your info and conversations are in the computer and all seem to know how to help you. I just found one rep I really liked and could reconnect with him. :woman_shrugging:. Other than that, Tru hearing and their follow up coverage and savings are great.

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#5

Great info tankan. Thank you so much for sharing.

I am still leaning to Costco but I have a couple of concerns. There is no audiologist in either Charlotte store. FWIW, the retiring audiologist said she had no concerns of a specialist doing my testing and fitting as long as I have no major hearing issues. My only issue aside from hearing loss is tinnitus. It was checked by an ENT a year ago and is a manageable issue. The audi did point out that Costco does not do tinnitus masking with their HAs. Should that be a cause for concern for me?

The specialist she booked me with did a hearing test for me a year ago. My hearing was slightly worse than the test done 7 years earlier: 80db loss versus 70db loss 7 year ago. He said improvements in HAs had not changed much in last 7 years and did not recommend replacing my 7 year old HAs. Most of the improvements have been in things like blue tooth (which I have), rechargeable, etc. I was dubious of that statement then and even more so after doing research recently. Everything I read is contrary to his statement.

I understand that Costco usually has 1 or 2 year old technology, but how much concern should that be? I would think there is typically only incremental improvement from one release to the next.

TruHearing seems like a viable option to save money and have the option to get the latest HAs from all major mfrs. I do have concern, as Dr Cliff pointed out in his video, that providers are not compensated enough to give the time necessary for properly fitting their customers. Also, the best providers may reject that approach as Dr Cliff has, resulting in less competent providers with TruHearing.

Thanks again.

#6

That is good to hear. Thank you for your reply.

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#7

Thanks eliotb.

I checked with ZipHearing first. Their nearest provider is 40 miles away. They do offer similar discounts and look like a similar business model.

#8

Yes it’s a real pain at times and as you’ve been found out Costco doesn’t get involved with setting them up for this, so for you you’ll need to consider TruHearing or another clinic, me I’d go DIY for this.

Not so, they do have the latest technology, but even the difference between the last platform and a new can be the difference in what the marketing hype says! I wouldn’t worry about this part to much.

Yes, you’ll find a couple on here who complained about this very thing, so in the end looks like you’ll some hard decisions to make.

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#9

I talked with one provider who does TruHearing aids. She said they have no problem setting aids up with funding provided by TruHearing. She seemed surprised that was an issue. All appts in first year are included in price and there is a 3 year warranty and replacement for lost HAs.

She said their firm (2 Dr Aud, each with 15+ yrs experience, and 1 HA specialist) only works with Widex, Starkey and Signia because those are the HAs they are trained on. They do REM only when needed and will address tinnitis.

I suspect it is common practice for smaller firms to only work with a subset of brands given the expertise needed with each brand. I am not as familiar with these brands but I am sure they will have good HAs. Also, she said TruHearing sometimes stipulates which HAs can be provided.

This allayed some of my concern but still pondering options.

One more thing. You stated that Costco has the latest technology for the HAs they sale. For example, Phillips is similar to Oticon More/Real and Jabra to Resound Omnia. Both those brands have 3 levels of technology. Do you know which technology level Costco has for each?
Thanks.

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#10

I have used Costco and true hearing. I am happier with Costco. No limit on visits, cleaning free, equal if not better service, equal in knowledge, better price at Costco. true hearing will limit visits to 3,

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#11

The Costco Jabra Enhance Pro 10 is equivalent to Resound Omnia 9 (highest tech level)

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#12

@rothlev1 TruHearing now had unlimited visits the first year.

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