[quote=BlueCrab;143187]The crabby part of me always assumes they don’t know their job, they have to prove it to me. 
If you have worn HAs for any length of time, Mr. Crab, your crabbiness is well-earned. I share it: I have spent at least $10k over the years on various hearing aids, always paying full price, and the audiologists have been completely incompetant, with two exceptions: Costco in Van Nuys, CA and a woman I now go to in Glendale CA.
That’s two out of maybe a dozen. They simply aren’t willing to work with you to get a good fit, hoping after a couple of appointments you’ll go home and leave them with your money.
When I’m asked about hearing aids, I always tell people that if, by the 5th or 6th fitting, they’re not yelling at you, you’re not doing it right. Patients need to make pests of themselves. Politeness is not an attribute that works in your favor with most audiologists. Insistence does. In the case of the Costco audiologist, she tried four or five times - I’m a musician and I brought a guitar and a banjo into the booth to get rid of pesky overtones. Finally, she had the Resound factory specialist drive up from about three hours south of here, and she got it right.
/john