Hi I was just tested and have moderate hearing loss. It’s worse in my right ear than my left. I do have decent insurance that will pay 80% of the cost. I am struggling with the idea of using hearing aids. I am a Flight attendant and I struggle to hear passengers who are sitting at the window seat. I find my self asking people to repeat their drink order to me 3 times . And than I ask the person sitting next to them to repeat what their neighbor asked for. I am vain enough that I see there are OTC glasses that have hearing aids built into the glasses. The technology is very good. It can be controlled by but the charge on the hearing aids only last about 8 hours( any thoughts on this option). They cost $1100 for the glasses and they’re not covered by insurance because they’re considered an over-the-counter product… I cannot wear AirPods in my ear because my company will not allow when I’m at work. Although I’m intrigued by this option for home use. I would post my results from my hearing test but it won’t attach the pdf from my iPhone. I would appreciate any and all advice that you folks forgive me! Thank you very much in advance help!
Welcome to the forum, I hope you will find here what you are looking for.
Your hearing loss isn’t that bad, so that’s a good news.
There are plenty of hearing aids that should take care of your hearing loss, from BTE (behind the ear), RIC (receiver in the canal), to CIC (Completely in the canal) which are hidden in your ears.
With plenty of new hearing aids on the market at the moment, that have AI and brain trained technologies, you will have plenty of choices.
Price wise, you can’t beat Costco if you have one near you.
RIC is the one to go for if you don’t have issues with wearing hearing aids behind your ear, they are discreet; they do offer better sound, Bluetooth and hands free call for most, see Oticon Intent, Phonak Sphere Infnio, Widex Allure,…
Otherwise, CIC is your other option.
Good luck
I can totally understand the part of being vain, specially when you are dealing with public. In my case, I have two sets of hearing aids, one of them is the Signia Active Pro that I use when I go out and hang out in bars/clubs (they look like regular earbuds).
You may want to go for the CIC (Completely in the Canal) hearing aids such as the Phonak Infinio Virto, Signia Silk. There are also invisible in the canal hearing aids like the Phonak Lyric and this one from Starkey
Since you have insurance coverage, see an audiologist and explain what you want/need. Just make sure that, before you purchase the hearing aid, the audiologist has a generous no fee return policy that allows you to make sure the selected model is a fit for you. Try this option before going for the OTC options
Hi Mike, hopefully you can get some good advice here.
I will say, regarding your post:
It’s probably obvious to most people that you have trouble hearing, so it’s not a secret. The fact that you are asking people to repeat themselves at your job means they notice too. It’s going to make your life SO much easier with hearing aids! Most insurances don’t cover much, if anything, so take advantage of it while you have this insurance.
Because you have a (presumably) noisy, busy job, you’ll probably benefit from getting higher level technology hearing aids fit by an audiologist. There are options that are quite discrete, so please follow up with a hearing care professional, preferably an audiologist 
Hi @MikeC, I also wasn’t too thrilled 1 1/2 years ago when I learned I needed hearing aids.
I got the RIC type, which is the most common form factor and surprisingly also one of the most discrete. My hair rests on my ears, and my ear canals are large enough so that I can push the speakers (“receivers” in the hearing aid world) far into my ear.
Absolutely nobody has noticed my HAs so far. Usually, when I told friends, they look at my ears and they go: “But you are not wearing them now, are you? I don’t see anything”
Only when I point out the wire that goes from the HAs to the speakers do they notice.
In your case, an airplane is a challenging environment with lots of background noise. That’s a problem because what the marketing doesn’t tell you very clearly, is that noise gets amplified as well.
That’s why good noise suppression would be important to you. I doubt you will get that from any OTC hearing aid.
Fundamentally there are 3 strategies the HA manufacturers use to reduce unwanted noise:
- directionality: primarily amplifying what’s in front of you. That’s pretty easy to implement, however it requires that each hearing aid has two microphones to locate the direction of the sound. Tiny HAs that sit inside your ear don’t have that.
- statistical noise analysis to identify what part of you current sound scape is noise, and don’t amplify those. The problem is that this only works to a degree and when applied too aggressively it will also degrade the speech signal.
- AI (or DNN): this is the latest technology and some people have reported really good ‘speech in noise’ performance using AI enabled HAs.
There are currently 4 choices that offer AI:
Oticon Intent: Oticon were the first to offer DNN technology, but by now the Intent is well over a year old and people expect a successor soon
Phonak Sphere: people have reported great performance, but battery lifetime is poor when AI is enable. Also, these HAs are bigger than the competition.
Starkey Edge AI: Starkey is the smallest of the big 5 HA manufacturers, so less people wear them and there are less reports available. Probably also pretty good, smaller size and better battery life vs Phonak.
Resound Vivia: the newest and smallest AI hearing aid. So far mixed reports about performance, but you can get them rebranded as Jabra at Costco at a very attractive price.
If I were you, I would try to find a place that offers at least a month-long trial of the Starkeys so get a feel for what it’s like to wear HAs and how they perform.
Then go to Costco and get the Jabras so you have something to compare it to. Costco offers a 6 month return policy.
Maybe worth reading this thread by a pilot, since you work at 40.000 feet:
You are in a very challenging listening situation. Are you flying short distances or long-haul? This may affect the devices you choose especially as some long-haul international flights are very long and battery life varies between devices.
I’d suggest trialling a number of different demo devices programmed using the same gain settings in your working environment to get an idea of what works best for you.
Oticon Intent and Phonak Audeo Infinio Sphere devices seem to have the highest consistent ratings for speech in loud noise and should provide you with good situational awareness and access to soft speech if the devices are programmed properly.
Check out Dr Cliff AuD on youtube to learn about best practice audiology to ensure that you choose a provider that is going to do the best for you. Expensive hearing aids will not consistently perform well if best practices are not followed.
You are getting some great advice. I agree with prescription hearings aids as well. Looking at your audiogram it is obvious why you are having difficulty hearing speech.
As a first time hearing aid user and the fact that you travel I would recommend Costco to get started. Their return policy and prices are great. You may have a bit of a learning curve getting used to hearing aids. A long return policy could be very helpful. Costco has many stores all over the place. If you have hearing aid issues while traveling there will most likely be a Costco handy.
You have come to a great place to learn about your hearing and hearing aids
Good luck
Thanks very much for your response. I don’t do long haul flying anymore. But I do struggle with back ground noise. Still trying to get to an ENT. If I can get a diagnosis that states my loss is due to congenital reasons or injury (which in my case) it’s caused by both they will cover my hearing aid at 80%. Thanks for all the useful information!
Thanks for your advice. I apologize the lengthy delay. I am still learning this website. Does Costco have OTC hearing aids or does they have an audiologist who help program it? I love the idea of Costco if I am not buying and OTC product.
Hi there thank you for your response. What does RIC mean? I have accepted the idea that I want the best solution so I will go for an hear aid that fits around the back side of my ear. It’s the recommended way to best solve my hearing problem thus far. Thanks and I am sorry for the lengthy wait in responding to your message. I appreciate your help.
Yes I have seen an audiologist and all the things you say are true. I will wear anything that resolves this problem. I have grown use to the idea that people are going to see hear aids
Thank you for such great advice. So does Costco have an audiologist or are their products OTC? The three things you mentioned are features? are they something that can be used in an app? I have insurance that will cover 80% of my costs if the loss is do to congenital or injury. I need to get a diagnosis from an ENT. In my case, it is congenital and it has been brought on much earlier from the injury caused to my ears from the loud jet engines for the last 30 years… so I’m hoping I can get that in a diagnosis from an ENT.
Thanks for your reply. I fly short haul flights now, that are usually 2-4 hours. So I don’t normally have long duty days. But I do have duty days that sometimes last 12 hours if I fly 3 legs. How do I try out a product without buying it?.
You don’t need to se an ENT just to get a hearing test (Audiogram) just pop into your local Costco and get one, they are perfectly acceptable and the same as from any others, getting and setting up ones HAs isn’t rocket science, don’t overthink it all, Costco only sell premium models plus some OTC, but until you have your audogram done you won’t know exactly what to look into, Costco trial period is up to 180 days, but most will allow in-store demos to try, yeah not always gonna be easy for you if you want to try them on the “fly” so to speak.
@MikeC RIC stands for receiver in the canal, see picture below:
They are discreet and you can find them at Costco.
Costco has a generous 6 month policy . Some audiologist give you trial HAs before you buy. In some states, like California, you can return the hearing aids from any providers within 45 days (or 30).
You may like these ones, they look like small earbuds
Thanks for your response. Good to know that Costco has audiologist. I need an ENT to get the correct diagnosis for insurance coverage. My insurance will cover the hearing aid at 80% if my condition is congenital or due to injury. And my condition is both. So it’s worth pursuing. It’s good to know that all this information. Thanks.
yes with 80% insurance coverage cost may not be a primary factor. Convenience may be more important, or choice of model. If there’s a provider who’s closer to you than a Costco, that may be worth a bit. Hearing aids often require a bit of set up at the start so that you may need to return to tweak the features of the aids. and they will eventually require repair or servicing. And cleanings. Easr wax can clog the aids and make them nearly useless. I used to have to go in for cleanings on a regular basis so it’s a great benefit that my provider is only 6 minutes away. Now I have a Jedi-vac home hearing aid vacuum and no longer need to do this last.