Hearing Aid Reliability

Question and Answer
#1

Hi Everyone,

I’m new to this forum so please excuse any dumb questions that I may ask over the next few days/weeks.

I’ve beening using hearing aids for the past several years and I want to buy a new pair with a higher frequency range. My current hearing aids have a range up to 6,000Hz and I have tried a hearing aid with a range up to 12,000Hz. For me, the 12,000Hz hearing aid was dramatically better in the sense that I was truly able to again hear consonents. Also, my original hearing aids were made by Oticon.

My first of probably many questions has to do with the reliabity of the many brands on the market. By this I mean hearing aid longevity, freedom of repair, durability, etc.

Please give advice on the many brands available.

Thanks in advance.

Bob Guercio

#2

i would say they break about the same expect for the real bad brands

#3

If you take out insurance Oticon will automatically replace a broken aid, as opposed to fixing it, which is nice. Aids that go in the ear have a tendency to break more often then BTE because of the moisture and wax problem. BTE are nice beacause the Audiologist can give you a loner while your aid is being fixed. A big deal for someone with a profound loss.

#4

You had hearing aids that had a range out to 12000HZ? That sounds like the old K-amps. What do you need to hear out there?

#5

Oticon is really quite amazing. i’ve had my hearing aids literally trampled on twice. Long story but when i was younger, i was in a big group and we were running around then someone bumped me in the head and knocked off the hearing aid. grrrr…i was so annoyed, but i couldn’t find it. people were running everywhere! i was sooooooooo worried, then i found it in the middle of the crowd, everyone had stepped on it and stuff, it looked very scratched up and bad, but it worked just like new when i put it back on! i was thoroughly impressed. The next situation was basically the same, except it was in a field not on concrete. Someone hit it off, and i spent a good 45 minutes looking for it while people were running around. That was another horrible 45 minutes of my life. We, i eventually found it pretty much buried in the mud! there were foot prints all over it, and in all honesty i shouldn’t have worked! but i put it in the dry-aid-kit and again it worked like usual! Now there were a few times when the hearing aids just broke for no reason what so ever…never understood why, but my audie sent it back and they gave me a new one. i think these are the sturdiest aids i’ve ever had in my life. OH btw i have Oticon Adapto. They work great, but i got them four years ago, so they’re a little old. Not sure what types you need, but i just thought i’d throw my two cents in…i think Oticon is very sturdy and great customer service as far as i can tell. I’m getting the naida soon though :smiley: (oh and you can bet that i’ve been a lot more careful with hearing aids and would never let the naida’s fall…lolz NEVER!)

#6

:o oh man, sorry that’s huge

#7

i think the new oticons are more reliable… Oticon remove the on-of switch…
still they have areas to improve as far as the reliability of the Sumo DM