Cheap ($30) ebay aids

Hearing Aids
#1

New member. Scanned topics, do see cosco, etc discussed, but nothing on the really low end stuff.

Am not an audiophile (no need to hear music without headphones, etc) and only ‘need’ for HA is to hear speech.

Zero hearing capability of left ear above 6 kHz, 50 dB loss at 1 kHz (cannot find my chart right off to post).

Have been using a $34 ebay HA for left ear for 4 years, seems OK, can carry on conversations OK.

Why is there no discussion on low end stuff, the electronic industry is capable of designing and producing HA for under $100 with programable frequency response.

Have seen responses such as ‘audiologist needs to pay for his boat’, but have not found any technical (eg. engineering) discussion on HA technology other than the ‘gee whiz’ aspects such as bluetooth adn gps trackers.

Anyone else used any of the low end stuff, and what have you found to be excellent. My behind the ear Britzgo is plenty good for me to hear speech.

#2

Welcome to the forum, ok so the reason we don’t bother discussing these here is because they are absolute junk, as in you cannot expect to gain anything at all in improving your hearing.

Well you haven’t looked very hard, if you use the search button from right here on hearingtracker you’ll see the tech is often discussed, so what is it exactly you were wanting to know, I’m sure I could find something for you.

I can’t explain how you seem to have used them for 4 years and have accepted that’s the best you can do?
But forget about them and start looking at the OTC market, lots of lower end/basic models to choose from that will make a real meaningful use in your everyday conversations, you want to improve your speech comprehension and not everything around you.

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#3

I believe dumb amplification without noise reduction could help with a purely conductive loss.

#4

This could be a not so good hearing loss. How about the other ear?
Sharing your audiogram will help us help you.

My entire time from start to finish was with used hearing aids. They were all top of the line aids when new. I learned how to program them from many people here on the forum, that was about 13 years ago. These aids were all phonak, it was good staying with one brand because of my limited knowledge about programming them. This avenue turned out to be a great thing for me. Quality aids at a much lesser price.

Lots of ways to save money in this world if you try.

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#5

My entire setup comes from ebay, all of it used. You can get Phonak M90s (top of the line from four years ago) for sub-$100 if you’re patient and savvy. If the $30 aid/amplifier works well for you, great! But for most people, it won’t be their best option even at the same price point.

I’ve experimented with a lot of OTC devices, and in my opinion the best for speech in noise are Airpods Pro 2nd generation and Nuheara IQbuds2 Max. Both can be had for under $100 on ebay. That said, I needed noise canceling more than I needed amplification, so I doubt either would work well for severe loss.

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#6

I disagree!
Before I started buying used hearing aids & programming them myself, I used one of the cheap Siemens aids off Ebay, and while it didn’t compare to the Phonak aids I now have, they did make a helpful difference. That’s what got me started in this.

At the time, before I knew I could buy used aids and program them myself, hearing aids seemed financially out of my reach.

This was before the OTC aids hit the market.

Had I known then that I qualified for health coverage from the Veterans Administration, I probably never would have made this journey into DIY. I could get new top of the line hearing aids for free from them, but I am so satisfied with what I have, that I’m not going to change. It all started with the cheap Siemens Ebay purchase.

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#7

While I’m happy that you’ve had some experience (and misfortune?) But it’s not the same thing as what the OP is talking about, Siemens
(Signia) is a very well known company and even tho the Run etc are a very basic model from yesteryear they can actually be programmed! Not so the absolute rubbish you can get on eBay or Amazon for $30 just cannot be compared.
Don’t know how anyone can hold a straight face and talk about these, they are absolutely worthless, and this is why you don’t use them anymore yourself right, and have gone on and done the proper thing and brought HAs that you know can be programmed to your individual hearing loss, plus with the additional benefits of DIY, nothing gets better then that!

#8

I think “worthless” is an overstatement here. I agree with you that programmable is much better, but it’s not workable for everyone, for all kinds of reasons. My grandmother uses a “dumb amplifier” system because she can’t/won’t see an audiologist. While I’ve brainstormed many ways to set her up with something better, doing that for someone else without an audiology license is illegal in many places. I’m sure a properly programmed set of aids would be an improvement over the amplifier, but the amplifier is a huge improvement over nothing at all.

#9

Yeah, I guess you’re right. Anything you get for $30.00 probably isn’t going to be of much help, but there are some other choices under $100.00, that do offer some benefits.

I do agree with you regarding DIY. With a little work, it’s possible to make almost any major brand hearing aids even the older low tier models perform great. It’s mostly about the programming, and less about the hardware. There’s a lot of hype in this industry.

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#10

100% with you on this.

Ha it’s not just my Nana after all! I know exactly what you mean in this regard,so puting the legal ramifications aside it probably wouldn’t matter anyways, as in people can be so stubborn, the constant “what did you say” or “I can bloody hear ya, stop mumbling” etc, the problem in these later years is, it’s always severe/profound losses, so these cheap PSAPs types are just out of the question, including OTC for that matter.

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