Suppress loud noises is the words I think I had read. A HA can suppress loud noises when they instantly happen and a PSAP doesn’t. I will look later for the web site I read it at, tks again for the input Volusiano.
Also I did not mention I have constant whistling in my ears. If you put a big ocean shell up to your ear you hear almost what I hear 24/7. Every once in a while its gone for a day no ringing, but my hearing is the same when that happens.
How about a trip to an ENT? Medicare will pay for that?
Again, there are kids in here why are people aloud to curse and why are senior members aloud to harrash newbees.
Back off punk, keep talking about my wife and u’ll have a big problem. I am in Logansport Indiana(PM me fore exact address), come visit me and we’ll talk about your insulting problem.
Now with the bill passed to purchase HA online without a medical exam things got easier…with caveats
You can have a hearing test done at an audiologist, most insurance will pay for testing even if they don’t pay anything for aids, since it’s a medical test. You can ask for a copy and submit it to an online provider such as Widex (I have no association with them, it’s just that I used them in the past) https://www.widex.com . They also provide online testing of their own but I don’t know how good it is. AARP also has a test which I understand is quite reliable for what it does (it’s a phone test). It’s free for AARP members $5 for non members Verify your AARP membership
If your hearing loss is complex your fitting may not be as good but I have a severe loss and once went this route and found the aids to be fine. You have a choice . Of course of aids, the ones without bells and whistles obviously less expensive. Downsides are you don’t have a relationship with an audiologist, you don’t get a “medical” evaluation to see if your problem can be medically helped, and if you have a problem and need to send the aid back for repair you don’t get a “loner”. Your aid may or may not be programmed perfectly.
It’s not the best or even recommended approach but it’s far far better than not hearing and have your brain start losing the capability to process sound
An idea worth considering is very simply trying out a set of hearing aids (take them for a spin, so to speak) to see what might be worth your while. Bernafon and Unitron have particularly handy solutions for this. Try out a set of the “lowest tier” hearing aids with a Hearing Instrument Practitioner in your area. If you don’t have one, call up Bernafon and Unitron to see if they can get you started.
The Bernafon process (BeFlex) lets you try out more than one price-point at the press of a button. See https://youtu.be/405GrnGz1MA. The Unitron (Flex:Trial) approach is to try out (for example) the lowest level and then to upgrade as budget allows. As for some of the cheap approaches out there though, folks often say “I wish I had my 20 bucks back.” While you are trying things, see how far a Pocket Talker 2 or a Sennheiser A200 gets you. It’s all worth a try.
Now if you have an iPhone this also could be worth trying out: Fennex
Look you little Schwuchtel , I never said my wife mumbled I said, “Lots of times I have to ask my wife to repeat what she says 2-3-4 times cause I can not make all the words out even when shes only a few feet away. I can hear her talk but the words don’t register.”
Maybe you need glasses to straighten your crossed eyes out, that way you can actually understand what people write. Its sad a few blowhards like you turn a legit site into a site its ok to bully others…
I’m not looking for a handout you snowflake, just something reasonable. My house is paid for, I don’t owe a dime and never taken a dime from anyone. I worked for everthing I have and for a caring forum I can’t believe they let Schwuchtel’s like you post here.
Come see me someday we’ll have a big old fashion talk, I imagine you’ll mumble the rest of your life after I’m done.
Yeah, But most times his judgement is correct. So Chill out @charly1954
Your comments aren’t exactly endearing,
Hi there! Great question here.
I also spent a lot of time at the start researching inexpensive options to hear better. It seems any hearing aid that’s worth while will cost you over $1000 for the pair.
There are PSAP’s for less money though… basically they are quiet sound amplifiers so they will increase the volume of soft sounds for you. Problem with these is if you get a really cheap one, then it makes everything louder and it’s hard to understand what the heck is happening around you. There is a newer one out that has background noise reduction… so it will boost soft sounds, but not background noise like when you are in a busy coffee shop. It’s called the Otofonix Personal Sound Amplifier. If you Google it, there website should show up for you. I think they cost roughly $500 (not sure about that), but from all the reviews I’ve read - seems well worth the money. People seem actually really happy with them. Oh and they have some sort of full return policy for 30 days. So that’s nice.
I also came across another lower priced hearing product called the Etymotic Bean. The reviews I’ve read people reallllly like this one too. May be worth Googling.
Best of luck to you. I hope you find something that you can afford that works for you.
There is no substitute for quality ha and a proper fitting. I just googled “free hearing aids” . There is an abundance of good advice for free and low cost
Providers as well as ha banks which offer donated aids. Good luck with your search your hearing is worth it.
Ole Doc Jake was a real dick wasn’t he Kenny? The guy never confused facts with hugs and bs.
Welcome back, Kotter.
Another choice for a low cost hearing aid that is more than a simple ‘PSAP’ device is a SIEMENS LOTUS 12SP type of hearing aid from eBay. There are a few models and are priced starting at around $100 each. I bought two of the earlier 12SP’s (that had three small adjustments for overall gain, frequency related boosting and maximum sound limits) a few years ago. My hearing loss is the typical higher end frequencies. I tried the prior Costco Kirkland 6’s for three months and ended up returning them in that I thought the two Lotus 12SP’s were giving me very similar results.
I see there are newer Lotus 12SP’s out that feature “6 Channels 4 programs” … they omit the small adjustments mentioned above and probably replace them with the 4 user selectable programs. I don’t have any experience with these new models.
Some of these also look to be on Amazon these days.
So an approach could be to buy one of these 12SP’s and give it a try to see if it helps you. I it helps … good, buy another and use them. If it doesn’t help, you’ve only invested $100-$150. If you buy from Amazon, You can probably just return it if you’re not satisfied.
Good Luck!
Actually, purchasing a pair on eBay might be a pretty good gamble. If you’re like most people and have hearing loss in the higher ranges. You could question the seller in this regard. Perfect solution? No, but you said any help would be welcome. JMO.
The problem with them (Lotus12) is reliability. I went thru 6 of them over the course of about a year. They could be found for around $50 at the time.
So, green as grass, I bought some used Siemens for $500. Those lasted about a year. The repair was $300 (2) that was fortunately refunded when the heat related (guess) problem didn’t go away. Of course there isn’t a factory warranty and aids from all brands fail with regularity. Used and Chinese seem more prone. I was lucky in one respect. My ENT had an audiologist who provided adjustments for a 1-time $75.
Of course it was about 2+ years and compared to the alternatives ($3-6K) it was cheap. Looking back, I’d have to say too cheap and problematic. For me, Costco works out to be just as about as cheap and supported.
Order them from Hearing Revolutions. Top of the line brand name hearing aids and you will save thousands off the cost per hearing aid than if you go to an audiologist and buy the same hearing aid from the the audiologist. Hearing Revolutions pays for a local audiologist to help you and you get a free hearing test, fitting, and 1 year of service and adjustments, plus 2 years free batteries. Can’t beat it. http://www.hearingrevolution.com/
I think that payment plans are the way to go! That way you can still get a really high end hearing aid but not break the bank entirely! I know that Care Credit has some good options!
I’m concerned that we’re starting to get more posts that sound like marketing and endorsements.
If you mean my post, you’re 100% wrong. After being financially raped by 2 different private audiologist who pushed me around, didn’t listen to what I wanted, and taking a whopping total of $700 in trial fees when I walked away unsatisified and still without a hearing aid, I found Hearing Revolutions and couldn’t be happier. I got top of the line hearing aids - The Widex Dream 440 back in 2015 which one audiologist tried to gauge me for $3800 each, for $2000 from Hearing Revolutions. That’s no small savings. I only needed one because one of my ears needed a cochlear implant and can’t use any hearing aid, but for someone that needed two, that’s basically saving them $1800 per aid. And recently, I use upgraded to the Widex Beyond 440 and got that for $1750. I’m done with doing it the old way and getting ripped off. The same local audiologist sells these same hearing aids to his regular customers for alot more. It’s pretty stupid not to save thousands per hearing aid when you’re getitng thr same exact warranties and service.
I’m glad you were happy with them. Perhaps it’s just a personal preference, but I always prefer hearing about somebody’s experience rather than being told I should do something.
