Eargo 8 review from an experienced user

I’m a physician and have used hearing aids for 3 years. I have Phonak Lumity and Signia Pure Charge & Go hearing aids. I initially went to an audiologist to get them programmed, but now I program them myself with fitting software because I’m a perfectionist. I even have a real ear measurement setup.

I had severe, sudden sensorial hearing loss in my right ear after I had COVID-19 in 2022. I had MRIs and everything, but at the time, I purchased Eargo 6 and used them until I got into audiology.

Ultimately, I returned the Eargo 6 because the right ear could not reach the prescriptive target, and it was so high that if I wore the Eargos in an enclosed room or walked down a hallway, I’d get too much feedback/squealing in the right ear.

I tried Signia Silks last year, and there was too much right ear feedback in those.

The Eargo 8s are significantly better than the Signia Silk or Eargo 6 at eliminating feedback and can approximate my prescriptive right ear levels. (To be clear, I know Eargos are not for severe hearing loss, but they work for my use.)

I want to be able to wear my stethoscope over them, but there is still too much feedback when the stethoscope earpieces are in place. I didn’t expect to be able to do that, as we are probably several generations of CIC aids away from being able to do that.

I will continue to wear the Phonak RIC aids at work to use my stethoscope, but these will be my home and off-work hearing aids.

I did do speech in noise testing. The Signia Pure charge and Gos did not outperform the Eargos. They were Identical. The Phonak achieved about a 5% improvement in performance compared to the Eargo in the right ear.

I will not be returning the Eargo 8!

Some questions:
Are you using the open or the closed petals?
Do eargos allow you to use your audiogram or are the gains set via an app test?
When you say 5% improvement , how were you able to measure that?

I haven’t heard much about the Eargos, I know they are among the most expensive OTCs out there, so this is useful information. Thanks for sharing.

The 8s don’t have open and closed petals. They have what they call trumpets, which approximate vented domes. Eargos are self-fit using the app test in situ test. I heard you can call eargo support and send them your audiogram, and they can set them for you, but I haven’t done that. Honestly I have better results with Phonaks and Signia using the in-situ hearing tests, and I do the upper frequencies one step above the threshold because that helps my tinnitus in my right ear. I did that with the Eargo, too, so I fudge it a little on purpose.

They are expensive. I got some $400 off promo from their direct site. They do honor the return period. In 2022 I returned the Eargo 6 after about 30 days and got a full refund no questions asked.

They aren’t for everyone, and for a specific use case, for sure. I much prefer them over the Sony CRE-10/20 and Signia Silks, which both squealed way too much in the right ear, even with closed domes.

I have no connection to Eargo other than just paying them a butt-load of money for OTC hearing aids lol.

Oh for the speech in noise I literally played restaurant ambience on my surround sound system from a youtube video and used my phone to play barely audible youtube speech clips (Dr. Cliff clips lol) and counted the words I got wrong after a minute, a few times each. Unaided with my left ear plugged my average was around 30% in my right ear un-aided, 84% with my Eargo, 83% with my Signia, and 91% with my Phonak Lumity. Nothing too scientific. If I use my Roger-on with the Phonak it’s near 100%.

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IIRC, the majority of sounds auscultated are in the range of up to ~600 Hz, so you don’t even have to use a hearing aid. Though, I understand that greater loudness provides some comfort.

First of all, the feedback should be corrected by closing the coupling. Active feedback reduction mainly exists as support. Occlusion effect should be less problematic if domes are pushed deeper towards bony part of ear canal (medial 1/3).

EDIT: I have been writing this post just before reading of the last post of OP.

This is very good and useful information. Thanks for sharing this!
I wanted to try them but the price scared me.

I have tubes in my ears so I can use steroid drops in them as soon as I get Covid, which I get about 3 times per year as an urgent care doc. Ear ringing is usually the only symptom I ever get. Prior to that I had to take oral steroids and once do hyperbaric therapy. So my low frequencies took a hit just because of the tubes ( I haven’t updated the Hearing Tracker audiogram to now include the 10-15 db air gap across all frequencies due to the tubes.) I use an EKO stethoscope but I wish it were louder. The breath sounds are easy to hear but I have to have radio silence to hear heartbeats!

From 2 weeks ago: those tubes are killing my lower frequencies!

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I understand. Sorry to hear that.

IIRC, EKO is a decent stethoscope, does it have Bluetooth capability?

Regarding heartbeats, I do know that it is not always possible, but try to auscultate them after requesting patients to lean forward, like 30-45° from the vertical. The heart slides a bit closer to the chest wall then.

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Yes, but IMO for low frequencies to amplify well I’d need headphones. I could do that in a pinch, but haven’t needed to yet. They add nothing to hearing aids that aren’t occluded with custom molds or something.

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I have Eargo 7’s.

You can get Eargo to remotely provide settings based on different Audiograms. They call them Sound Matches.

I have 3 Sound Matches I can switch between.

  • Online Eargo hearing test results
  • Apple online hearing test results using Airpod Pro 2’s
  • My Costco Audiogram

I ended up using my Costco Audiogram but the others were OK as well.

Most of the time I use my Jabra Enhance Pro 30s but occasionally switch to the Eargo’s. The Eargo’s are actually better for me on feedback vs the Jabra Enhance Pro 30’s (maybe because they are actually in the ear canal) so I use them when hiking and wearing a large sun hat (I am in California) which sits close to the hearing aid microphones in the Jabra’s.

The Eargo’s have multiple programs. I have normal (similar to all around), restaurant (similar to hear in noise), TV and music.

They also have a noise filter that can be set to adjust automatically or emphasize speech or reduce noise for comfort.

Using the Costco Audiogram (on both the Eargos and Jabras) there isn’t that much difference in most situations between the Eargo’s and the Jabra Enhance Pro 30’s. The Jabras may be slightly better for speach outside but there isn’t much in it.

Yes the Eargo’s are expensive (I got them on a black friday deal last year at $1999 but they are normally between $2000-$3000) but I got them first and then went to Costco. If I had done it the other way round I would probably just have got the Jabra’s

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Why Eargo not another manufacturer prescription IIC/CIC/ITC/ITE hearing aid? These from Oticon, Starkey or Phonak are much more expensive?

Perhaps consider testing bone conduction headphones? I have never tested anything, but there are from aftershokz, Philips, etc.

Sorry I am not understanding the question(s)?

In the US , prescription HAs are more expensive of course because, among other things, you have to include the audiologists bundled services, molds , etc .

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I askes why you choose Eargo instead of prescription non-RIC, non-BTE hearing aids.

@OcramSagev, thanks for response.