“Eh!?”
My Long Journey in Search of Affordable Hearing Aids
by Chip Poston
As AARP’s CEO Jo Ann Jenkins reported in the AARP Bulletin, 45% of people in their 60’s and 68% of people in their 70’s experience hearing loss. The article, “Listen Up,” states, “Hearing loss is associated with an increased risk of dementia, falls and depression. It is also a serious contributing factor to social isolation and loneliness . . .”
Like me, the average hearing-impaired adult waits 7-10 years before getting a hearing device, and 80% of hearing-impaired elders never get one. Here’s what helped me overcome inertia: We don’t really hear with our ears, we hear with our brains. I knew that my tinnitus-- a constant ringing in the ears-- was likely due to high-pitched sounds generated by my brain to compensate for high-range hearing loss. But the AARP article states that, “the longer a person has uncorrected hearing loss, the greater the risk to the brain of losing the ability to translate the sound of someone talking into comprehensible speech.” Yikes! Why hadn’t I ever heard that before?!?
So, dear reader, if you think you might need hearing aids, it is likely that you do need them! And the longer you wait, the worse your impairment is likely to become.
After a second hearing test confirmed my hearing loss, I began my quest in earnest. An internet search revealed that the average cost of a hearing aid is over $2500 per ear! And while this fee does often include the valuable services of an audiologist, the price is simply out of range for most residents in our rural county. Or should I say, way out of range?
And the average cost to manufacture a hearing aid? Somewhere in the range of $150 to $300. While most other small electronic devices have decreased in price by an average of 50% over the past decade, hearing aids have increased an average of 67%.
Thankfully the advent of digital hearing aids and personal sound amplification products (PSAP’s) has created less expensive alternatives for hearing assistance. In 2017 and again in 2019, the Journal of the American Medical Association published studies comparing PSAP’s with conventional hearing aids. While the studies were small--fewer than 100 adults-- the best PSAP’s compared well with higher priced hearing aids for adults with low to moderate hearing loss.
Over the past two years I tested six different sets of low-cost hearing aids. I am finally prepared to declare a couple of winners.
Here is what I learned along the way:
i. Part of being an elder is acknowledging our diminishments. When I put in my first pair of hearing aids, I felt like I had a neon sign flashing above my head that said, “OLD PERSON!!” But shortly after I began wearing hearing aids my tinnitus began to diminish. It’s still there, just not as badly as before. I don’t think of myself as an impaired person, but I am.
ii. If you live in Western NC and want to go the traditional route and work with a professional audiologist, MY Neighbors Members highly recommend The Hearing Center of Asheville. But bring your checkbook, they’re expensive. How much you end up paying will depend on your specific hearing loss and the type of device you choose. But the cost also covers professional support, insurance, batteries, etc.
iii. If you are looking to economize you can get a professional, thorough hearing test for free at Sam’s Club, even if you are not a member. They sell Liberty Hearing Aids, made in the USA. (Since Consumer Reports has not rated this brand I did not try them.) But their best hearing aids cost approximately the same as those at The Hearing Center.
iv. If you are an adventurous shopper and are willing to wear used hearing aids in order to save a pile of money, get on ebay and search for used hearing aids made by reliable companies like Costco, Signia, Phonak or Widex. Elders pass away and their relatives are left with expensive hearing aids, often lightly used. They can be purchased on Ebay for a fraction of what they cost new. Afraid to purchase something on Ebay that costs hundreds of dollars? Don’t be. Ebay provides excellent protection for their users.
The complication is that you have to get the used hearing aids reprogrammed, and almost no local hearing aid provider will program hearing aids that they do not sell. However, Ebay has numerous online providers who will program and repair used hearing aids for under $100. One of the best sets of hearing aids I tried were a pair used Phonaks that I had programmed—and later repaired—all via ebay. I used them for many months, but they were over five years old and so I started searching for a newer pair.
v. Hearing aids are fussy, and for most people the best idea is to work with a professional audiologist. It may take several trips to get them adjusted correctly. And they can break, get plugged with ear wax, or you can lose them or forget to take them out before you get in the shower.
vi. Let the buyer beware! The consumer market is currently flooded with low-cost hearing devices. Please trust me when I say that there is a wide variety in quality. One low-cost pair I bought new fell apart within weeks and the seller balked at refunding my money. I appealed to Ebay Customer Service and got a full refund.
I’ll spare you the details on the losers, but among best low-cost hearing aids I found are the HD 75’s made by Sound World Solutions, a company whose mission is to provide affordable high quality hearing aids to people around the planet.
Here is what I like about the HD75:
They are affordable, at $280 each or $500 a pair, with a money back guarantee for up to 45 days.
They come with three presets for different levels of hearing loss, one of which worked fine for me. However, if you have a smart phone they are self-programmable. You download an app to your phone, find a quiet place and you can program each hearing aid to your specific hearing loss. Thus, you don’t even need a hearing test to use them.
They have three environmental profile settings—for everyday use, restaurant (or crowd noise—remember crowd noise pre-Covid?!) and entertainment (watching tv or listening to music). These can be easily adjusted by touching a small button on the hearing device. The volume is also easily adjusted up or down.
These are small, behind the ear hearing aids and they are nearly invisible when in use.
Their customer service is excellent. I had a hearing aid that wouldn’t connect with my phone app consistently. They replaced it, free. Giving myself my first pandemic haircut, I severed one of the wires! I returned it and they repaired it at no charge.
The shortcomings: The batteries only last 4-5 days, whereas the batteries in my Phonaks lasted a week. (However, you can purchase batteries inexpensively online.) Also, in our high humidity area, Sound World Solutions recommends purchasing a hearing aid dehumidifier which costs around $35. I did so and my hearing aids worked well for months. When I changed batteries, I also made sure to keep them clean from wax buildup.
However, the biggest shortcoming I had was reliability—one hearing aid wouldn’t connect with the app, another arrived dead, one developed a buzz. While I was very happy with the hearing aids themselves, every few months I found myself mailing one of them back to Sound World Solutions for repair. They always fixed them free with one exception. Over the summer one fell apart and Sound World Solutions said it had moisture inside and could not be repaired. So I paid $200 for a replacement. But after a year or so I simply got tired of the repairs.
I got back online and did some more research. From the readers of Consumer Reports the consensus was clear. The highest customer satisfaction and top-rated brand were the same: Kirkland Signature at Costco. The problem is that there is no store within 90 miles of Yancey County. Whether it was hearing aid frustration or Covid cabin fever I don’t know, but I called and made an appointment at the Costco Hearing Aid Center in Spartanburg, SC. In late November I jumped in the car and made the two-hour drive. I got another hearing test from their audiologist, tried on some hearing aids and walked around the store testing them out. I was in Costco for several hours-- a lot longer than I anticipated and not recommended during a pandemic. However, I departed with a new pair of Kirkland Signature 9.0 hearing aids that cost $1500 for the pair.
These are quality Phonak hearing aids sold under the Kirkland brand name. I haven’t had a single problem with them in several months of wear. (However, I did return in January to have them adjusted, another four- hour round trip.) They have some bells and whistles that the Sound World Solutions hearing aids don’t have. They adjust automatically to different sound environments, so I never have to adjust them. They have a Bluetooth function that enables use of a cell phone via the hearing aids. They also have a 180-day trial period during which they may be returned for a full refund.
With regret I returned my Sound World Solutions hearing aids. To the company’s credit, even though I had used them for a year they gave me a full refund. As far as sound quality is concerned, the Sound World Solutions hearing aids were every bit as good as my Kirkland Signatures. I would still recommend starting with them for anyone who needs a low-cost hearing aid. My life is more active than many elders so maybe they just weren’t a good match for me. If you try them, let me know what you think: https://www.soundworldsolutions.com/
Or, if you are able to make the trip consider Costco.
Sure, if I were willing to spend $4000-7000 I could have a set of higher quality hearing aids. But after doing some research and experimentation I found some great alternatives at a fraction of the cost.
I hope this essay helps to begin a conversation about a serious health issue that challenges many in our elder community. My hearing loss journey is a work in progress. If you are on the search for affordable hearing aids please let us know what you have discovered.