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Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others
Hearing Loss | Last Active: 6 hours ago | Replies (1451)Comment receiving replies
@judithmct Hi Judith, welcome to Connect.
Keeping in mind that hearing aids will never replicate natural hearing, if your audiologist is good he/she should be able to provide better hearing than it sounds as if you have gotten. My hearing loss has advanced to having trouble with speech comprehension, which is impossible for any hearing aids to compensate for, but some are better than others.
I did have Phonaks but three years ago I changed to Oticon Opn 1 HAs because at the time they were the best in providing the best speech recognition. They were definitely than Phonaks. I did love the Phonaks for restaurants, etc., they were very directional.
I had some problems for a while with my Oticons that my audiologist was not able to fix so she called on Oticon twice and the representative from there came to help. They finally decided to return those hearing aids and get me replacement hearing aids. Problem was solved. I understand that the newer Oticons are even better with speech recognition.
As others have said, you always have a trial period during which you can return the HAs. There may be some charge but it is not nearly the cost of the HAs. Also, how confident are you of your audiologist? Have you considered getting a second opinion? I trust my audiologist and I trust her to know my hearing well enough that she will make the best recommendation.
If you are in or close to NYC I would highly recommend Dr. Ellen LaFargue at the Center for Hearing and Communication. My daughter was working there at one point and when I needed new HAs she convinced me to go to her (I live in NH) so I did. Her recommendation turned out to be exactly what my audiologist here recommended, and Dr. LaFargue is very good and very highly regarded. She was the audiologist who recommended the Phonaks, that was quite a while ago.
JK
Replies to "@judithmct Hi Judith, welcome to Connect. Keeping in mind that hearing aids will never replicate natural..."
JK has said exactly what I was thinking about your audiologist should have been able to provide you with a better hearing situation. I also agree 100% with JK about Ellen LaFargue who was my audiologist until I got a cochlear implant a few years ago. Ellen is Director of Audiology at CHC (Center for Hearing and Communication), formerly known as the League for the Hard of Hearing, an agency which is now more than 100 years old and I think the oldest agency in the country serving those with hearing loss. I could go on and on about what terrific services CHC offers those with hearing loss but I won't indulge!
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Don't overlook, ahem, Costco. Their Bernefon aids are actually Oticons, but at half the price. In addition, you have 30 days to try them out. If you're not satisfied, you get your $$ back. In addition, you can go back for adjustments as often as you need to at no charge whatsoever. While it's true that Costco generally doesn't have audiologists, some of their fitters are exceptional. The one I go to keeps abreast of what's new and knows more about speech-to-text apps and new apps for aids than some audiologists. She also has taken the time to learn about Meniere's, which is a particularly tricky disease as far as hearing is concerned. Again, she knows quite a bit, while I've yet to find an audiologist who knows much (if anything) about the disease. So, in my book, Costco gets really high ratings, both for value and service.