I’ve got a family member that is struggling with their hearing and has finally been convinced to look into hearing aids. They are on Medicare, which of course doesn’t cover hearing aids (
) and cost/affordability is very much a factor.
Does anyone have experience with OTC hearing aids vs prescription ones? Any tips on what to look for or be mindful of with either type?
There are numerous recent posts and threads on the the Dope about hearing aids and where to buy them. Try a search.
I just posted recently that I was going to replace my hearing aids (my 7 year old ones are a combination of dead and lost and I really miss hearing my grandchildren). I went to Costco’s heating center’s audiologist (by appt) and got a free heating test. My hearing has gotten slightly worse, no surprise. I can replace my c. 2017 $5,500 aids for $1600 at Costco, with even more bells and whistles and a very favorable warranty including loss replacement.
Consumer Reports has excellent articles, in great detail, about where and how to buy hearing aids. They cover OTC heating aids as well.
OTC can work, if you get lucky and find ones that aren’t a rip-off or glorified earbuds for 5X the price. But you have to tune them (customize to your specific loss) yourself and for a new user, all that would be a real crap shoot.
Research Consumer Reports~go to your local public library and ask to librarian to help you access CR’s last 3 years of hearing aid articles.
I don’t know if you have to buy a $65 dollar Costco membership to get the free test. Call your nearest one and ask. Many traditional hearing aid offices also offer free, no obligation hearing tests. I just took a student of mine to one a week ago. If you go to one and they recommend you buy $4-5,000 aids from them, say thank you and take yourself to Costco where the identical aids will be $1500 or $1600. Same features, same manufacturers.
Whatever you do, don’t go near a Miracle Ear office-they are a guaranteed ripoff.
Apple AirPods now have hearing aid features and I’d far sooner spend $200 on a pair of those before I’d risk the crap shoot that OTC aids are.
I should have been suspicious when a search didn’t return anything within the last couple of years. I’ll try searching again through Google!
Also, thank you for your detailed post. That is super helpful, and I hadn’t considered getting access to Consumer Reports.
There are several recent threads that address hearing aids. I’ve been wearing them for over eight years now and been through five different brands/models, all through audiologists (i.e., none of them were true OTC).
Successfully wearing hearing aids does require commitment. They’re like CPAP machines in that respect. And if you get an uncomfortable or poorly-performing set, you are much less likely to commit to wearing them. What’s more, they vary a GREAT deal in fit, comfort, sound quality, and feature sets. For example, I couldn’t tolerate the Starkeys I tried and returned them within sixty days. My current Phonaks are fine.
Anyway, I strongly recommend going to an audiologist (Costco would be fine) as opposed to truly OTC solutions. I’m sure that many people have used OTCs successfully, but I don’t think they would have worked for me.