How do I choose the best hearing aids?

You're very fortunate to have that insurance coverage. In all the years I've used hearing aids, (over 40), I have never had any insurance coverage. Thankfully, my cochlear implant surgery and external technology has been covered for the most part. I don't have BT with my hearing aid, but hope I can get it next time I upgrade the hearing aid. Does your husband use BT with the TV? Or is the relief based on the fact that he doesn't need it so loud?

It's important to know that the extreme loudness is most likely causing more hearing loss over time. Why are men so stubborn about this?

Most Medicare policies will cover the audiological assessment appointment. A few cover some of the cost of hearing aids, but not many. When you select your Medicare coverage each year it is important to ask questions about this coverage.

If not furthering his hearing loss, it’s sure affecting mine. 😅

Both. He didn't think he would use it, but he tried and liked it. This TV is old enough to need a receiver, but it works on our daughter's and will work in Texas. So he can ignore side conversations, which is a big deal in our tiny house.
Sue

It probably is, but you may be one of the lucky ones who are not affected. It helps to have your kids tell their dad that the TV is too loud. Worked here. 🙂

It's great that he is receptive to using the BT technology. A lot of people aren't. Especially the over 65 crowd. 🙂

A plan is already in the works. Operation ‘deaf-con’ level one. 😅
Our daughter and son-in-law will be spending the week with us between the holidays. She and I have hatched a plan for her dad…we’ve been manipulating that poor man for decades. Giggle.

You are lucky - when we do that, we are accused of "ganging up".
The first thing I did was make an audiology appointment for both of us, and she saw us together, asking each what our goal for the visit was, then explained our respective losses and compared our charts, explaining he really needed bilateral aids, and I was "not bad enough yet" in her experience, to be ready to go through the learning curve.
Next, after complaining about it being "so loud" to no avail, I reduced the TV to my volume whenever he stepped away, without saying a word. When he had to turn it up every time he came back I think it dawned on him how bad his hearing was compared to mine. Like you, being in our tiny house was the last straw on that, as the volume from the living room was too loud in the bedroom, so I had no escape.
Finally, unless critical, I quit repeating missed dialogue to him, making him ask whoever we were chatting with to repeat. This was really tough to do when "catching up" with friends in Texas, some of whom we hadn't seen since March 2020, but I persisted.
The day we got home, he called and made an appointment for new aids. Now he even wears them in the house, and he is so much less cranky I can't believe it! Last night he took them out and said "Wow, I had no idea how much I was missing!"

I hope your plan works!
Sue

@ sueinmn and @loribmt These strategies work some of the time, but denial is a huge factor, as is the stigma that is associated with hearing loss...which is associated with aging. No one wants to be old. Yet, when HL is not addressed it makes someone look a whole lot older than they are.

I encourage you to consider becoming a member of HLAA. It is the ONLY consumer organization that is advocating for the hard of hearing population. There is a chapter of HLAA in the Twin Cities and one of the oldest chapters is in the Fox Valley Region of Wisconsin. Not that a person who is a member of HLAA has to become involved in a chapter; they don't unless they want to meet other people they can discuss things. The other side of HLAA is similar to MCC. A primary purpose of the organization is to reach out to others who need support and unbiased information. The 'each one; reach one' philosophy has helped thousands of people who just needed to learn they were not alone. Of course sharing of coping strategies and knowledge of assistive listening technology is huge too.

The Fox Valley Performing Arts Center installed assistive technology when it was built because members of HLAA advocated for it. It has been updated and kept in excellent condition because the HLAA folks in the area educate and care. If a person's hearing aids have telecoils as an option, all they have to do is push a button and they will hear what is coming from the stage microphones directly...no background noise. It's wonderful! If they do not have telecoil equipped hearing aids they can get audio loop receivers to use to get the same effect. (Just a shame to not have telecoils in one's hearing aids...it's kind of like owning a car without air conditioning. It's not needed all the time, but when it is, it's fully appreciated.

Instead of no longer going to events at looped venues, as many hard of hearing people do, the PAC in our area is well attended by grateful people who appreciate and use the loop system.