This is one area where I feel like I don’t want to go there. I’m not averse to the idea of wearing hearing aids, but I’m not sure how much I need them or how much of what I might actually need they would help with. I think I hear pretty well for my age (75), I know I have lost some at the high end, but essentially I don’t have to ask people to repeat themselves or turn up the TV too loud. My father had major hearing loss by the time he was my age, but I’m not him.
So, I should get a hearing test. I should ask my doctor for a referral, I suppose, but do doctors who do hearing tests also sell hearing aids? That’s what I want to avoid. It’s not so much that I expect them to be dishonest, but I don’t have a lot of confidence that they won’t be.
If the doctor doesn’t also sell hearing aids, do they give me some kind of prescription, like for glasses? That’s what I like about glasses, you can go to an optometrist and get your prescription, and buy your glasses anywhere. I suspect it’s not like that with hearing aids. So please share your stories and your understanding of the process. If you’re an audiologist or hearing instrument specialist, please come on down. Especially, please help me to trust the process.
I believe Costco offers both hearing tests and hearing aids and is among the cheapest places to get it done.
It’s also a good place for low-cost eyeglasses. (And if you’re not already a member, it might be worth joining even if only for one year, if you’re shopping for either hearing aids or eyeglasses.)
I am a member of Costco and got my hearing aids through them. They do the hearing test, sell you the aids, set them up according to your frequency profile (per ear), and will service them when needed. I know that mine aren’t top-of-the-line, and I have mild-moderate hearing loss, but I don’t need $2500/aid, gold-plated contacts and Marantz-level hi-fi. I’ve accepted that my hearing is going, and if I can hear spoken sibilants again and can “zoom in” on a conversation in a noisy room, I’m fine.
I’ve heard that there are over-the-counter ones now that allow you to adjust the frequencies amplified via an app, similar to high-quality ear buds. I don’t have any further details, though.
My Dad gets his hearing tested and his hearing aids at Costco as well.
I go to the audiologist at my ENT’s office. So far, she hasn’t recommended hearing aids.
You got it in one. Not among the cheapest, but indeed the cheapest reliable, established to have a hearing test and to purchase hearing aids if you need them.
You don’t need a referral or order from your doctor for the type of loss you are talking about. Medicare doesn’t pay for hearing, vision or dental care except for the following:
I don’t know if Medicare Advantage plans are different. You would have to call your specific plan.
Yes, Costco is the wisest choice for hearing aids or prescription eyeglasses. A basic membership is $65 annually. I save $150 per pair of my progressives with prisms over what I have paid at opticians. Every.single.time.every.single.pair. If you try a membership and are unhappy they will no-hassle refund it the first time you ask.
Here’s a link to Costco hearing services. You can use the locator to find a Costco hearing center near you. The prices on that page are compared to the hearing aids I paid $5,500 for 6 years ago through a traditional audiologist. Same brands, same features, $4000 difference in pricing for the same brand and quality of hearing aids. I didn’t know then what I know now and my next pair will be from Costco. Same brands, same features and better follow-up and after care at Costco. Every time I needed the slightest adjustment or check of my bazillion dollar aids I got dinged for an office visit fee.
Here’s info about the process of hearing tests and buying hearing aids at Costco:
I go to an audiologist. I didn’t get a referral from a doctor; I just found her myself. She has her own practice and her dad was an audiologist, too. She’s competent and I trust her. I’m on my second pair of hearing aids with her. I’m very satisfied with them. They’re called “Oticon Opn.” Yeah, they’re expensive-- ~$6,000. I don’t mind spending that and thankfully, I can afford it. I don’t have any insurance to cover those expenses (or glasses or dental work-- I pay out of pocket for all of it).
I know a handful of people who also have hearing aids and NOT ONE of these individuals is satisfied either with the instrument or with their provider. They don’t wear the hearing aids or they complain about them constantly or they can’t get in to see the provider. On and on. Whine-whine-whine. It’s always something. The things cost a fortune-- even the “cheap” ones-- and I believe in getting my money’s worth. But people give up on trying to get the best out of the hearing aids and out of their provider.
I don’t know anyone besides me who is 100% satisfied with their hearing aids and wears them all the time.
My audiologist does this in her office. She has a chart on her computer that shows my hearing loss at different frequencies and she can wirelessly tweak the settings on my hearing aids while I’m wearing them. This has got to be more precise than trying to adjust them yourself-- especially if you have hearing loss. How can you pick out different shades of red if you’re color blind?
A person may be satisfied with their over-the-counter hearing aids, but they also may not know what they’re missing. YMMV.
I don’t know whether you consider that you know me, but I’m very satisfied with my hearing aids, I wear them all the time and kick myself for not getting them years before I actually did.
So, now you know at least one more happy hearing aid wearer.
FWIW, I decided to try OTC hearing aids first. I’m now wearing Jabra Enhance hearing aids. Haven’t had them long enough to decide for sure, but they seem to make it much less likely that I need to ask somebody to repeat what they’ve just said. Since they run about $1200 or so, it seemed like a good idea to try these first and if they don’t cut it, return them and go to Costco. Obviously, YMMV.
I could have said all of this six years ago. When I did go to an audiologist (because of difficulties related to hearing well enough to do a particular job task), I couldn’t believe the difference wearing aids made once I started wearing them. You don’t know what you’re missing until (or that you’re missing sounds) until you are no longer missing them. The tick tick tick of my turn signal (so I’d realize it and turn them off-I got honked at less then), other subtle traffic sounds or sounds of nature, much enriched conversational hearing in situations where there was more than one other person. I could again follow conversations around a table in a restaurant or at a gathering. Music performances or movies were much more enjoyable, with richer, fuller sound. I could have kicked myself for not doing it sooner.
Also, at our age, using hearing aids help forestall cognitive decline, can help to improve balance and therefore prevent falls as well as all of the mental health benefits from being more able to connect fully socially. They can literally help you live longer, as well as enjoy more every moment of the living longer. .
Trust Thelma and me, you won’t realize what you’re missing until you are no longer missing it.
I’ve read that (here in Australia at least) almost all audiologists are ‘captured’ by one of the major hearing aid brands and only ever ‘recommend’ them, regardless of your issue and state of hearing. How true that is I don’t know, and how to find a genuinely independent one I don’t know either.
I did get a hearing test recently - from my usual optometrist of all people - and it was fine in general, only a drop-off in higher frequencies in one ear.
CostCo do exist here but seem to be a MUCH smaller deal than in the US; whether they are allowed to provide medical services I don’t know - we don’t allow pharmacies in supermarkets for instance, they must be owned by a qualified pharmacist.
under moderate noise overexposure, the nerve fibres that carry signals from hair cells to the brain are more vulnerable to noise damage than hair cells are. What’s more, the damage doesn’t affect all the fibres equally. While they look similar, in reality, there are at least three different types, letting us process sounds at different volumes: quiet, intermediate and loud. The ones that process loud sounds are most susceptible to damage.
The findings — which were replicated in a variety of different animals — have several important implications. The first is that, if hearing loss that happens with ageing follows the same pattern, it explains why it is so common for older people to have difficulties understanding speech in noisy surroundings, like in a restaurant. Presumably, in some people, the nerve fibres that respond to quiet sounds are fine, but the nerves that respond to loud sounds have been damaged
You feel…? Don’t go by your feelings.
I was worried that I’d feel old, but even hearing a little better has quickly outweighed any feelings.
The process, for me:
My doc said I didn’t need a referral, and I could just pick an audiologist that was covered by my insurance and make an appointment. Easy peasy.
The doc, who looked like she was 20, was great. Asked why I was there, and I said “My wife’s been mumbling more and more…”
I appreciate all the responses. Let me clarify a couple of points: I’m not afraid of needing and getting hearing aids, I am afraid of being sold something I don’t need, of not getting disinterested advice from a knowledgeable person. Those things are expensive enough that it makes a difference. Also, I appreciate the point that I don’t know what I might need without testing, but in fact I don’t seem to be having problems (I can hear the ticking of my turn signal fine, for example).
This would be my ideal situation, especially if they do sell hearing aids there but didn’t try to sell them to you.
I am a member of Costco and do get my eye exams and glasses there; I was not aware that they had hearing exams. Perhaps I should just go and do that. When I read through their list of six symptoms, I don’t have any of them, but I suppose they won’t mind if I have the test anyway.
My audiologist is happy to do a hearing test for me even though I don’t need hearing aids. I do have a few defects in my hearing, notably is what seems to be the frequency around my tinnitus. I also find some people with higher pitched voices to mumble more than others. So there’s something there, it’s just not at the level to be corrected yet. The roughly annual testing I do lets us measure that and see if/when things actually degrade.
Which reminds me - I’m about due for a hearing test.
I’ve seen a lot about Costco here. My husband had a test through an audiologist, but the price they wanted for the actual hearing aids, etc would’ve done us in.
We heard about Costco. We didn’t have a membership, but we got one. We were very pleased with the service, and he got top quality hearing aids at a much lower price. We don’t use Costco at all, but I’ll renew the membership when the time comes just in case he needs service, etc. They’ve been a game changer for him.