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Non-Prescription Over the Counter Hearing Aids
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Mar 9, 2023 | Replies (20)Comment receiving replies
Behind The Ear (BTE) aids aren't too small or too big. Hearing tests are free many places without buying over priced high end hearing aids for simple mild hearing loss that many seniors have. But really a good hearing "test" for most mild loss cases is just buying a good pair of Over The Counter (OTC) aids ($500) and you'll soon know what you can hear and what you can't hear in different sound environments. A proviso is that if your new to hearing aids, be prepared to learn how to use and maintain them over many months of use to make them work for you. Rely on recommendations and reviews before you purchase and my recommendation is to choose the BTE style hearing aids from my electrical engineering background analysis. Note that background noise is often what makes it hard to hear other people whether with or without hearing aids.
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Background noise is definitely the most frequent complaint by people who have even a mild degree of hearing loss. Those with more severe hearing loss have even more trouble in those environments. Sadly, many of those environments are social settings.
It was mentioned that some of the OTC hearing aids are simple 'amplifiers'. That indicates that all sounds are amplified. That includes the background noise. Many of the more sophisticated hearing aids include noise suppression. Of course, those are the hearing aids that cost several thousand dollars a pair. There is little doubt that people with severe hearing loss; those who test poorly in a professional audiological exam, will find the OTC devices very helpful. Those OTC devices range in cost from under $100 to over $1000.
The best advice I can give is to be sure when you buy...to try in all logical settings...and make sure there is a return policy for the device you are trying. It's very possible that your hearing loss may be better helped with more sophisticated technology.