Thanks for the suggestion about putting stickers on the aids!! I have been wearing bright RED Resounds because I can FIND them if I set them down someplace. (And NO ONE notices them even tho my hair is very short and basically brown!!!)
But new aids I am trying are only coming in pale “camouflage” colors. But I love the sticker idea!!!
I have a bright red pair of Siemens Pure BX7s. I do a lot of hiking. If I drop the hearing aids on the ground, bright red means I’m going to find them a lot faster. Wearing bright red hearing aids also tells the world that I have no concern about any hearing aid stigma.
In addition to the bright red pair I also own a pair in silver and another pair in two tone silver and black.
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Like many above I really wanted an interesting color. My audio and I agreed on a nice blue. When I went to pick them up she said casually that silver came in saying, “I guess I should have called you. They said they don’t have blue in adult size.” DUH! In retrospect no one sees them so it doesn’t matter in the end.
I didn’t really care. I just cared how well they worked.
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I ordered beige, and got champagne. Didn’t matter much to me though I was more concerned with hearing better. However, I like the idea of matching your glasses, next time that’s what I will do.
I chose grey because they would stand out a little. My audi then said oh good they’ll blend in as you get older. He ended up being right so now I just don’t care. Bte have become so small that people don’t seem to notice them no matter what color.
I’ve got pretty solid gray hair so I got the aids to match.
I had black BTEs for years, for no reason. They were hard to find when they fell, I am thinking of a brighter color. Silver would match my hair and be easy to find, but I am kind of thinking of a “statement” color…
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I put gold leaf on my Osia covers
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I picked graphite grey to match my titanium ear moulds. I don’t care that people can see them in fact I prefer that they are seen…
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I got my wonderful More3s in TerraFloppa, because my reserve of courage had been depleted by agreeing to try aids only 3 weeks on the market.
I wish I had gotten FFB (Feline Fecal Brown).
Those things that look like ear moulds, @TerryUK … do they house part of the main electronic circuitry?
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My OPNS1 are steel gray. My other choice was silver gray.
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My first pair of aids, which I got in my early 50’s, were a lovely metallic red. Now in my 60’s my current pair are a gorgeous metallic turquoise. From experience, I think people are more mindful of your disability if they can actually see that you are hearing impaired, so I am all for showing them off.
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I got Phonak M-90’s, silver gray, kinda matches my hair.
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I previously had brown shells for my BTE HAs in a colour that more-or-less matched my hair (which is what audiologists seem to advise… if you ask their advice). But having seen other folks’ HAs from behind in crowds downtown, it was clear to me that unless you have pretty shaggy hair, this doesn’t really accomplish much by way of “disguise” if that’s the intended purpose.
This time, I got my Phonaks in black, mostly because I have pretty consistently been wearing black glasses lately so it matches my “style” better. Plus my hair is starting to change colour so there’s a chance I’d be further into grey territory before I need new HAs (yikes)! I do wonder if there’s some risk of black HAs being mistaken for a “gadget” instead of a medical device, though, in circumstances where some kind of authority figure might insist on removal of (or be offended by people wearing) headphones but not hearing aids. The same could be true for white. No issues so far… not that I’ve been outside of the house much since getting them, though.
Regardless of colour, I’ve yet to have a stranger mention my HAs before I pointed them out… with one exception: an anaesthesiologist who was interviewing me ahead of surgery. Most other doctors will get an otoscope half way into my ear before I have to stop them and pull my HA out. People aren’t very observant of details in public these days - there’s just too much going on to pay close attention to other people’s ears. I’m sure some notice but don’t say anything, of course…
In theory, I also agree with many of those above who have indicated that it can be helpful for HAs be be visible rather than invisible. Perhaps many of those times I’ve had to put my hand to my hear (meaning, “speak up?”) might have been avoided with more obvious HAs? But with the relatively small BTE shells behind my ears, I’m not sure how much a difference colour makes to the person in front of me unless you can go with something really, really “loud”. I’m the kind of person who likes to “match”, though, so having a high-viz colour all the time would annoy me. So, black it is.
tl;dr - I’d say forget any functional rationale and pick anything you want
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Now this is a good point. I haven’t dropped my black HAs yet but will probably curse myself if I do.
