Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

@h2h If you have severe to profound hearing loss you need to put your vanity in the rear view mirror and get the most powerful hearing aids on the market.
In my humble opinion Phonak with their I90 Sphere Ultra is far and away the best hearing aid on the market. Are they perfect? The answer is no but they are far superior to anything on the market today.
I would love to hear from others out there with severe to profound hearing loss.

IMO, no matter what level of hearing loss one has, they need to not be embarassed in telling people and becoming an advocate for better service, such as an assistive listening device at a bank tellers window, or govt office counters, doctor offices counters and in exam rooms, hospitals, etc...

I'd be interested in trying out the aids you have, but I know it varies from person to person how well a certain HA might work. For some, certains one's work great, for others not as well due to level of hearing loss, type of hearing loss, and other factors.

Fortunately I'm only at the moderate to severe level of hearing loss, so far.

@dworkenlaw1 Have you had your ears checked for wax? I went to the ENT because I was having trouble hearing and my left ear felt clogged. Dr. removed "an impressive amount," of wax from my ears and it did seem to help.

@daveshaw I am surprised you were able to buy Phonak I90 Sphere Ultra for $4,200. My guess would have been $7,000, at least!

If I may ask, did you purchase them from a private audiology clinic? Here in the Puget Sound area in July of 2023 the price of Oticon Real 3 hearing aids was $5,000.00. I paid half, my health insurance paid half. It seems from what I have read, the Phonak I90 Sphere Ultra are now widely considered the best on the world market.

@h2h Thank you for pointing out that different brands of hearing aids are very likely to work differently for each hard of hearing person. There is no "One best brand".

I'm a unique example of that as I'm bimodal. I have a Cochlear Americas cochlear implant. I use a hearing aid in the other ear. Cochlear Americas partnered with ReSound hearing aids for compatibility. That wasn't the case when I was implanted in 2025. They all worked together, but that was before BT streaming.

I have tried the compatible brand with little success. Yes, it helps with streaming, but in general use it doesn't. I am still using the Widex brand of hearing aid. I will try again when the time is right, but this is my reality.

It's interesting that I test at 100% understanding with both devices in sentence recognition. That goes down slightly with background noise. With only the CI, it's at 93%. With just the hearing aid it's way down like 30%. My brain has adjusted to the products I use, and I need both devices to get the most.

We are all different. It's obvious that the human brain is capable of making adjustments. I wonder how quickly I might adjust if I decided to use the compatible brand regardless.

I feel blessed to have access to the remarkable technology that's available to use now. I love telecoils! I look forward to Auracast! It's important to pay attention to all that is in development. It was soooo different when I was diagnosed with progressive sensorineural hearing loss in the 1960s!!

Julieo4

I bought them from a company called Audeo Nova. Check them out. They gave me the charger, custom moulds and the Roger Mike that hooks up to my TV all for that price.
Let me know what you think of the Oticon Real 3 hearing aids. My problem was background noise in crowded restaurants and other venues.
I don’t know how severe your hearing loss is but I am upgrading to a more powerful receiver. I would also recommend you look in to custom molds instead of domes. Just a suggestion. They might help them work better.
Good luck.

@daveshaw Thanks for the reply. There is an Audeo Nova clinic in Tacoma, WA, which I will definitely check out when I'm ready to buy a new set of HA.

My insurance kicks in $2,500 every fifth year. I bought my current ones two and a half years ago. The Oticon Real 3 HA are good - EXCEPT in noisy environments in which they are fairly useless. My hearing loss is moderate according to the Apple hearing test I took a few days ago.

As a stop gap, part timer, which I bought to help extend the life of the Oticons, I just two days ago purchased Apple Air Pod Pro 3's which have a hearing aid function. For $199.00, I am impressed.

How do you like the Phonak?

@contentandwell I have good news for you. I struggled with Signia IX hearing aids for years because they were so affordable on my Humana Gold Plus Medicare plan.
They only cost me $2,000 for both of them.
I kept on reading about Phonak I90 Sphere Ultra and finally I tried them. They cost me $4,200 for both of them and I can honestly say they are light years ahead of Oticon along with all the others for noisy environments.
They are truly worth the money and everyone around me has noticed the difference.
Give them a try and you won’t be disappointed. Just make sure you have them fitted by an Audiologist. There is a reason they go to school for four years.
Let me know what you think.

Not much to say. I'm on my second set of hearing aids with the Audicus Spirits.
I will have had these for 4 years this fall, after which my Anthem Advantage insurance will pay $1200 toward new aids.
I'm researching various brands and am interested in all the new AI features such as noise cancelling, DNN, etc., and my aids do not have any high tech features, say to say.

I can't use Costco aids, because the nearest one is 100 miles away. (I live in SW Virginia) I have mild to moderate hearing loss, and since I'm a retiree, I don't often go out to noisy places, but I still go to symphony, restaurants, and small meeting rooms. Those are the places I have the most trouble.

I look forward to learning a lot from the experiences of those on this forum.

@comeagain I hope you look in to the new Phonak I90 Sphere Ultra hearing aids. I have severe to profound hearing loss and they have vastly improved my hearing aid experience. You sound like you have far better hearing than I do and with the right board certified audiologist you can improve your hearing today.
I don’t believe you will find Phonak hearing aids at Costco and many times have to work with “ hearing specialists “ instead of licensed audiologists.
Good luck to you.