Hear well in a noisy world.
There's a lot of talk in the hearing aid world about "Breakthrough Technology." We thought you might like to hear what Consumer Reports had to say about the latest in digital hearing instruments.
"When we set out to test hearing aids, we encountered the same challenges that hearing-aid shoppers face every day: a fragmented , confusing marketplace and difficulty sorting out good hearing-aid providers from less capable ones.
We followed a dozen actual patients for six months as they shopped for and used hearing aids, conducted a national survey of 1,100 people who had bought a hearing aid in the past three years, and lab-tested the features of 44 hearing aids.
Here's what we found:
Once you've accepted your hearing loss and are considering getting hearing aids, your most consequential decision is finding the proper professional from whom to buy them because it's likely to be a long-term relationship. This is not a project for the faint-hearted because the industry is anything but standardized. Our shoppers encountered a variety of providers, including hospital-based clinics and strip-mall storefronts, all legally able to fit a hearing aid, but with varied resources and expertise. In this report, we'll help sort out things step by step.
Mediocre fitting. We had audiologists check how well providers fit our shoppers' hearing aids to their individual hearing loss. Two-thirds of the 48 aids they bought were misfit: They amplified too little or too much.
Choosing a good provider is a critical step.
66% of them were misfit! It really doesn't matter how low the price is, if the professional can't fit it to the patient.
So why bother with hearing aids? Medical evidence shows that they can improve your quality of life and relationships with friends and family, so it's worth persevering until you get aids that are properly selected and fitted. Of our survey respondents, 73 percent pronounced themselves highly satisfied with their aids. As one of our shoppers noted, "I'm hearing music sounds I haven't heard for over 20 years."
About one in five survey respondents got their hearing aids from a doctor's office. They gave those providers higher marks on their thoroughness in evaluating hearing loss than did respondents who went to other types of providers. Another plus: An ear doctor can rule out medical conditions such as a tumor or bacterial infection in the ear that might be affecting your hearing. He can also clear your ears of wax so that you're ready for your hearing test.
