I have finally saved enough money for hearing aides. Tried Oticon Agil Pro Minis in the Audio’s office several months ago and was very impressed. Was able to hear sounds I have never heard before. I was actually able to understand what people said without straining and filling in the blanks. I did not have the opportunity to use them outside of a controlled environment. My only previous experience with hearing aides was over 15 years ago with poor results. Recently I have not tried any other types or brands of hearing aides. The cost for the Agil Pro Minis are $6300/pair with lifetime free batteries, follow up, parts, etc. This does not include the telephone, television and bluetooth adaptor, all at $350 as a package.
My question is: HELP!?!
Is this a fair price? Should I try others? Are other brands comparable in technology and price? I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know what questions to ask to help me make an informed decision.
I have had hearing loss for over 35 years. Typical noise induced hearing loss with tinnitus. Very noise shy. I hate driving and road noise, annoying background noises and restaurants. I would like to be able to enjoy life again without wearing ear plugs and cringing at every loud noise. I work in the medical profession (wound care nurse) and deal with many different sounds, people and environments every day. I come home exhausted every day because of the effort needed to understand patients and their family. Any advice and suggestions are appreciated. I do not want to make a mistake like the last time when I spent much money for a useless instrument.
Thanks to all for the suggestions and comments.
The price is pretty much what is out there more or less for the Agil, which was introduced in April. It’s $100 less than what I paid! That being said, posting your audiogram would help people here to be able to suggest any other options that may also be suitable for your loss. Make full use of your trial period (anywhere from 30-60 days depending on your audiologist). 15 years is a long time to go without aids, so you will have quite the adjustment period, especially being loud sound sensitive. The new stuff out today does a wonderful job at compressing sudden loud sounds so that should be helpful for you. Good luck!
Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I think I can read the audi’s report correctly and will post below. Since reading these posts, I am considering a trip to Cosco, about 100 miles away, just to try their services. The thought of spending half and getting a comprable instrument is appealing. Has anyone else had a good (or bad) experience with Cosco?Any suggestions are appreciated.
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Search for Costco here (in the first solid blue bar at the top of the page) - you’ll find alot of posts from people regarding their experiences as well as the aids offered by Costco. I’d say most of the posts are overwhelmingly positive. I couldn’t make an informed recommendation as to which of the brands they carry that would suit your needs, but the brands are good ones - Bernafon and Rexton are the ones that come to my mind first. The only issue I see for you would be the distance since you’ll probably want to go back several times for programming adjustments. You will definitely save at least a third, if not half, of the cost of aids by going to Costco.
My audi recommended Oticon Agil for me, and quoted $3,000 (USD) for a single aid (bundled price including life time batteries, 4 yr warranty, periodic consults, etc.), need for my left ear. I live in the SF bay area. i am wondering if it is worthwhile to go up to Vancouver, Canada (will be going there on a business trip). How much lower are prices there. How about India?
I’m from the bay area too. I also tried out the oticon agil and was very impressed after only using them for a short time. I would get them locally as it will be more convient to for you to get adjustments or take them in for repairs if necessary.
I am trialing the Agil Pro HA. At first they were unbelievable , but after a week they became weak & the right sounded dead.
Could they be occluded with earwax? I have the in the ear soft domes, but I see no way to clean them. I use Stor & Dry every night.
My old Unitron Yuu’s had a wax stopper I could change which prevented wax from getting in the HA.
These are now (after 6 days) so bad I can’t hear with them in.
Any advice on how to prevent these RITE from occluding with wax? I had my ears cleaned in the last 6 weeks & do not have excessive wax.
Thanks for any advice
there is a wax protector.
I wouldn’t be surprised if wax is the issue. Cerumen builds up in my ear canals quickly, so my audi asks me to wipe the aids down with a cleaning solution… this one, in fact:
when I go to put the hearing aids to bed for the night. I find that some nights there is visible wax building up on the aid, and other nights, none I see, but I have to think that if I didn’t do this, I might also find the performance diminishing as the microphone area clogged up with wax.
You can try looking at the area of the microphone to see if the tiny hole in the center might appear to be blocked with wax. If I recall correctly, the instructions advise against splashing alcohol on the devices, as to clean out wax, and obviously, it could be risky to jam a paper clip in that hole to clean it out, but if you can get some hearing aid cleaning solution on a cotton ball and gently clean the microphone area while even more gently squeezing the area so that any wax in the opening is pushed towards the outside, you might be able to remove visible wax.
I also assume you’ve tried putting in fresh batteries, as the ones the demo units came likely have worn out by now.
If you’re unsure what’s going on, your audiologist should check the aids out. There’s no reason to suffer through the rest of your demo period with aids that aren’t working. That’s one of the things the trial is for, and a good audiologist is happy to help advise on things like this. It is possible your issue is not wax but some technical issue with the demo aid that the audi needs to address.
Xbuilder!—Thanks! I just found out about the wax protector! They are the same as Unitrons!
Sylvester
I am on week four of wearing the Oticon Agil Pro Mini RITE. This is my first real set of HAs, not counting a short trial of non-digital HAs over 15 years ago. What a difference! Initially, I did not think they were working. They are not even noticeable in weight. It took only a very short time before I realized I was hearing things I had not heard in 35 years. I just did not recognize the sounds. Very natural hearing with no feeling of being stopped up or artificial highs or lows. The first two weeks were at 90% volume with no special programming. I was able to hear in noisy cars and restaurants fairly well. Speech recognition was amazing. I could actually understand what mushmouthed people were saying. I no longer had to strain to understand what people were saying. When I came home from work, I actually had energy to do things. Concentration was easier and attention span was much longer. My wife tells me that she saw an immediate change for the better.
After two weeks, I asked my audi of there is any way to improve hearing in restaurants. He was able to add a program that allows for frontal speech recognition. When used in noisy situations, this program makes a world of difference. At first I did not think it worked. After eating lunch in a noisy restaurant and switching between the programs, the difference was clear. I believe the HAs are doing things I do not even understand or recognize. The end results have been great.
I am having a bad time with the streamer, tho. The first one worked intermittently. The bluetooth from my iPhone would cut in and out, often shutting down after 10-15 minutes. The television adaptor was a joke, like listening down a well with lots of echo. It was better when the TV sound was way down but others could not hear the TV. Better without the streamer. Connection with a land line was mud. I could not get the streamer to work with my iMac at all. The computer recognizes the streamer but the streamer just does not work.
My audi contacted Oticon who suggested I be given a demo unit to try. Much better results. Connection to the iPhone for calls or to play music is flawless. TV connection is better but still not great. Land line connection remains very poor (maybe it is the telephone-over 10 years old). Still can’t connect with the iMac. Unless there is some sort of fix, will probably return the TV and land line connections and keep the streamer for use with the.iPhone.
Overall I have had great experience using the Agil Pro Mini RITE. They are well worth the $6300 paid. If I can only get the streamer to work how I think it should I will be ecstatic. Does anyone have suggestions?
Thanks for the replies.
j-6
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