Hearing Aid Recommendation for Advanced and Profound Hearing Loss

[stevemink]

@tenkan

The only extreme risk is listening to anything you’ve said.
As I’ve and many others has brought from eBay over many years without issue, shows that it’s not “extreme risk

I’m not questioning buying anything on eBay, but when you get into expensive “health” related devices such as hearing aids - eBay is not ideal. Furthermore anyone would have to be a complete fool to think an aid they bought through a third party on eBay would be covered under warranty. You’re barking up the wrong tree tenkan.

@tenkan

I’ve dealt with both Phonak/unitron and ReSound directly, you can also check directly with the manufacturer with the serial numbers for HAs,

Now you’re throwing more stuff on the wall and it’s not sticking. Solid majority of HA manufacturers do not deal/take calls from hearing aid users. Their mainly set up to communicate through HA dealers/Audis and not John Q. Public. If you think someone can buy a HA on eBay and then have a person to person discussion with Phonak or ReSound - good luck with that. You won’t get far at all before Phonak and ReSound rep says “they only deal with HA suppliers and Audis directly” and certainly don’t want to discuss some ill-thought out HA purchase made on (throw the dice) eBay.

In fact many HA manufacturers don’t even have customer service, since they would prefer anyone with a hearing loss get answers from a trained Audi, hearing aid dealer, ENT, etc.

If you don’t believe me - Google it.

[tenkan]

@stevemink

Solid majority of HA manufacturers do not deal/take calls from hearing aid users.

Sorry if doesn’t work that way for you, but down under we don’t have a problem, I’m speaking from experience, so sorry not you’re made up think maybes.

@stevemink

I’m not questioning buying anything on eBay,

I’m sorry but I thought you said it’s “extreme risk” and I’m taking about HAs and accessories, don’t know why you think “medical” in general means you shouldn’t buy used, HAs are classified as a medical device tho, but so what, you can’t compare to say a CI, this is why as you mentioned before OTC is the way forward, and not just for mild/ moderate,OTC is pushing into severe loss anyway, plenty of people tried and using to attest to that.

@stevemink

If you think someone can buy a HA on eBay and then have a person to person discussion with Phonak or ReSound - good luck with that.

@stevemink

You won’t get far at all before Phonak and ReSound rep says “they only deal with HA suppliers and Audis directly”

I don’t think, I do it, so have first hand experience with dealing with this, being in a smaller country we must get better customer service! HAs get one year international warranty as well, so if you buy new on eBay you get this straight away, even when outside this period, the price is quite reasonable for repairs and still outways the ridiculous price charged by your clinics.

Again I’m happy that your happy with the way you do things, it’s just not for everyone, and I stand by my statements regarding eBay HAs sales, but your taking a lot… without any experience in doing this.
Sorry no need for uncle Google for something like this, but something I did notice through the pandemic, was a real willingness for everyone in the “industry” to help out with a lot of these very issues you mention.

[stevemink]

Sorry - but our just looking at one side of the coin. Suggest you read the following and then seriously re-think your position.

Here’s a brief list of the things that you should consider before buying your hearing aids on eBay:

Hygiene - Perhaps the single reason why you should not buy a pair of 2nd hand hearing aids is that you have no idea what kind of health issues the previous owner has had. Hearing aids are personal medical devices and contagious diseases can easily transfer from one person to another through the use of hearing aids.

Experienced users - Buying second-hand hearing aids for first-time users of hearing aids are not recommended. Even experienced HA users. Consult a local audiologist before buying any hearing aids especially if you are a first-time user of hearing aids. Your hearing loss may be pathological or may be a referable case that requires further investigation.

Suitability - Consultation with your audiologist could ensure that the hearing aids that you plan to buy online covers the range of your hearing loss. Also, other elements of the hearing aid for example the length of the receiver in RIC models is long enough and fits well on your ears.

Local or online support - Make sure that you have access to a local audiologist. Remember that it is extremely unlikely that the hearing aids purchased on eBay have any warranty left on them. And by chance if they do, you will have to get an Audi to assist you to transfer over the registration and any warranty left on the hearing aids to you by the manufacturer. But most Audi’s if not all, don’t want to get involved with used hearing aids because (1) there used and (2) a professional Audi would steer a HA user to new hearing aids.

Age of hearing aids - The life of hearing aid depends on the quality of the build and the way they have been treated. Buying a HA older than 3 years old is not wise and of course “why is the hearing aid” being sold in the first place. Did the dog try to eat it?

Technology level - The price of hearing aids varies based on their technology level. Make sure you consult with an AuD or search online to understand the technology and sound processing level of the hearing aids you might think to purchase on eBay.

Faulty hearing aids - There is a risk that the hearing aid that you buy on eBay is faulty or has had a history of intermittent problems. Make sure that you share the concern with the seller and leave the option to return them after a period from purchase if they didn’t work well. Again having access to a local AuD would help manage unexpected events.

Notice all of the above mentions Audiologists. Like “Warning - eBay doesn’t employ Audiologists”.

Enough said - moving on.

[tenkan]

Sorry but you cut and paste “recommendations” are nonsense, something you’d find on Google and pushed by the “industry” why to only buy “new” from a clinic, all of your “recommendations” are easily avoided or easily to rectify.
I’m glad we can move on, we both have better things to do then argue about this

[Zebras]

@stevemink

I’ve bought hearing aids off eBay for around 10 years.

Never once has one failed and needed a repair. Maybe I’ve been lucky? Maybe I know how to look after them better?

Been perfect for me.

Definitely will work if you learn enough for it to work. If you’re not willing to learn, then it won’t work.

[ierkamacar]

Hi Bluejay, how does this acoustic phone program work? I don’t understand. My left ear understands the sounds well, but not the right because I have a very severe loss. I activated it from Target, but I always use the left ear for phone calls. I added “360 Degree Speech” to the special programs, activated “ZoomControl” and opened the “DirectTouch” program, at least in the car or phone calls I will transfer the sounds from the right side to the left. It seems like they both work the same. I don’t understand.

[1Bluejay]

@ierkamacar

how does this acoustic phone program work?

OK - no techie here - but I have the SAME left-ear dominance as you - even tho my audiogram shows I’m flat on the floor in both ears. It’s a brain + ear thing.

But to address your question about “Acoustic Phone” it’s a feature that the more powerful, higher-end Phonak aids have. I have actually dedicated a program to JUST Acoustic Phone so that if I ever need to use a phone that I’m not already paired + connected to via Bluetooth, I’ll be able to hear the call stereophonically. It’s kind of like wearing headphones - I hear the sound in BOTH ears but not directly into the aids like with BT streamed calls.

The other features you’ve enabled (360-Degree Speech, ZoomControl, DirectTouch) are features that our smart aids should use when they detect that is needed. But Acoustic Phone is a different animal altogether when set up as a dedicated program. It ONLY works for calls when the handset/cell phone is placed near the BTE mic for pickup. If I walk around all day with my Acoustic Phone program ON, things would sound HORRIBLE. So it’s an emergency-use kind of feature that I’ve dedicated a program for.

[Zebras]

@ierkamacar

how does this acoustic phone program work?

It’s just a program that lowers the highs as the phone doesn’t pick up the very high frequencies so you hear less background noise as well.

[Zebras]

@ierkamacar

@1Bluejay

Phonak Acoustic Phone Program

I think the answer is that the network bandwidth available back in the day for transmitting telephone signals was limited so to achieve maximum capacity for many customers, AT&T figured out that only a frequency range of about 3 kHz between about 400 to 3,400 Hz was needed.

Exactly how the acoustic phone program works.

All to do with frequency range.