Hearing aids are one thing the VA gets right.
My dad suffered hearing loss working on the flight line. He eventually discharged with a medical disability in both ears. I think it was 70% in one ear and 60% in the other.
The VA provided him hearing aids for over 35 years. The audiologist adjusted them. He had a new set on order when he passed.
A dear childhood friend of hers wears them and loves them. She had hearing loss for unknown reasons starting in her early 40s. She does say now and again that she feels weird about having spent thousands of dollars on something so frivolous, which I had to chew her out for, as being able to hear is certainly not frivolous!
I have read good things about Costco’s hearing aid services, both on cost and quality. Worth checking out if you haven’t.
I spotted this thread a few minutes ago and immediately made @Typo_Knig read it - he just got fitted for his and gets them in about a week. He had experimented with AirPods as a temporary stopgap for the past year or so and found they helped, but not as much as a real device would.
His father has worn hearing aids for decades - working around a textile mill as a young man did some damage (this was back when hearing protection was, er, unheard-of), FIL got a pair that had a remote device, 20ish years back, and was thrilled, but his hearing has gotten enough worse that he was FINALLY approved for cochlear implants a couple years ago. He got one, and it worked out well; he just got a second one and is adjusting to it.
I got my hearing tested 7 or 8 years back - should redo it, I suppose. What prompted me to do it was that I always listen to an audiobook or something when I fall asleep - I’ll put an earbud in one ear. And I realized I needed a different volume setting for each ear, so I thought I had some one-sided loss, Nope - likely just due to ear canal shape.
I’m limping along with AirPods as a substitute myself! They really do help at work. The downsides are that they can fall out of my ears fairly easily, and the earbuds themselves cannot run for 8 hours on one charge - meaning I need to remember to place them back into the case periodically or risk getting that “blurp blurp blurp” battery depleted warning.
That is why I’m pursuing some decent hearing aids, as I’m really having to strain at work to hear people, especially since meetings are now more in person than they have been for the last couple of years, so I can’t just listen comfortably on my computer with headphones turned up as needed. 
I use something like these over-ear hooks for my AirPods. They fall out easily without them. I’d hate to lose a several hundred dollar item just because it was designed for mutants with huge ear canals. https://smile.amazon.com/ALXCD-Compatible-Adjustable-Over-ear-Generations/dp/B0BFGV2VJF/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?crid=2RFM3SV9D3FZF&keywords=airpod+over+the+ear+hooks&qid=1672271935&sprefix=airpod+over%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-13
Those look great. I also have small or weird ear canals and plug in the hole ear things don’t work for me at all. It’s getting harder and harder to find bluetooth ear pieces that have ear hooks.
Those look worth a try. I would never have thought of such a thing, hooks that you can add onto a non-hooked earbud!
I am wearing the same pair of Phonak hearing aids that I was initially fitted with back in 2011. I paid around $3500 back then, which I though was a lot at the time. I’ve had them adjusted a couple times since, but they’re still going strong over a decade later.
Pretty much the only times I don’t wear them is in the shower and when sleeping. Batteries have to be replaced about once a week, and I clean them every few months, but otherwise they’re trouble-free.
I also got us each (I’m Typo’s spouse) a cord that slips onto each earbud, and connects them - so it’s like a wired bluetooth headset. Makes it slightly harder to lose if it DOES fall out - but the earhooks do work better. The only difficulty with the earhooks is that I have trouble getting the Airpod oriented correctly when I use mine.
I also have Samsung buds live (I think that’s the name) - the ones that look like a large kidney bean, and basically rest in the curve of the ear. Comfy - but the people who declaim that they are so secure are full of baloney. And unlike the AirPods, there is literally NO way to attach any sort of leash to it. I only use them when sitting at the desk. If I need to be walking around, I’ll use the AirPods (or hell, trot out my over-the-ear headphones). None of that is relevant to the hearing aid question, of course.
I’ve had my Phonak over-the-ear hearing aids for just over a week, and I love them! I’ve had to ask people to repeat themselves a lot less often! There are so many sounds I missed - nobody told me my shoes squeaked, or my keyboard clacked. I’m a very happy customer!
That is great! I’m glad you love them and am hoping to have the same experience soon. I have an appointment to pick up my new Phonak Virto Paradise aids on Tuesday. My co-pay will be about $900, still a chunk hack, kaff but not as bad as it could have been.
They are the largest in-ear model so will be pretty visible. I got them in black in the hopes that they would look more like an earbud - hope I don’t regret that choice! They will have Bluetooth functionality and work with my phone, so that should be pretty cool.
I knew an older guy who was profoundly deaf in his later years, but could easily hold up his end of the conversation; he was smart, witty, experienced, and it was killing him to wait for me, and everyone else, to scribble a note for him to reply to. He finally got a bone implant dealie that allowed him to converse in real time.
As to why people resist, perhaps hearing loss has to get annoying enough for them to see the light. Speaking of “seeing the light”, wasn’t this a thing with people not quite being ready for a corneal transplant?
Dan
IMO it’s a combination of factors. It’s easy for hearing loss to sneak up on you if it’s gradual over the years. Mine has worsened in the last few years, and I’m just having to ask people what they said more often. It’s driving ME crazy at this point and really affecting me.
The only pair of aids I’ve ever had are these small in-the-ear Starkey ones that never fit right, always felt like they were about to slip out of my ears, didn’t seem to help me hear that much better if at all, and made everything sound like it was coming from a tin can.
My dad has probably worse hearing loss than mine, and he doesn’t want to do anything. He’s on Medicare, which AIUI does not cover hearing aids for some bizarre reason. I think he has supplemental insurance, which I’m not sure would help pay for some of the cost or not. He’s just at home most of the time, so he’s not as affected by the inconvenience as much as I am at work.
I’ve had hearing aids about 5 years. Behind the ear kind. I like mine but am hoping to switch to a different style when these need replacing because with glasses and the oxygen tubing I now have to wear behind my ears I just don’t have the real estate to keep them secure anymore. Then you add in taking Covid masks on and off and flinging $2500 per hearing aids all over parking lots and doctors offices and I’m moving on, probably to in the ear aids first sensible chance I get.
IME Medicare and supplemental insurance doesn’t pay a penny towards hearing aids. If your doctor tweaks the referral just right Medicare might pay for the hearing test but it has to be for a medical reason not just hearing loss. I don’t know about Medicare Advantage plans.
You might want to do some reading on hearing loss and hearing aids for your father. The research pretty universally strongly encourages hearing aids for seniors even if they live alone and stay home all day. Study after study shows that wearing hearing aids can slow or prevent dementia and depression related losses in quality of life for seniors. It is almost unequivocal.
I’ve heard that about dementia, and it worries me. I don’t get why hearing aids on Medicare are treated as a cosmetic issue! He can’t afford like thousands of dollars on his own, and he’s very stubborn and wouldn’t go to do anything about it unless he were sure it was very low cost and would work.
I’d have to get into politics to talk about why something as essential as hearing isn’t paid for by Medicare. Basically it’s done because they can get away with it.
He could probably get a pair of professionally fitted and programmed hearing aids through Costco for $1200 and that price may very well come down now that they can be sold over the counter.
The best thing you can do is model for him you wearing your hearing aids all the time and mention frequently how they add to your quality of life. Maybe give him a pair of headphones that amplifies his tv if he watches it~that might be a start. Basically he won’t want to do it until he is significantly inconvenienced and is aware of what he is missing out on, which is human connection through being able to hear others speaking to him and being involved in conversations. You have a very uphill battle in my experience.
I think you’re right about the uphill battle! And the political aspect of HA coverage. Very frustrating.
I have just recently realized with my own hearing loss how much it may be affecting my interactions with others, with the difficulty hearing making me feel less and less like talking to others and just chalking it up to my natural introversion.
A cochlear implant?
I’d be happier to have one done. The problem is insurance will not cover the surgery unless hearing aids have near zero effectiveness. My ENT guy told me ideally I’d have had a cochlear implant done 15 years ago.
ETA: cost without insurance is ~$100,000.00
Cochlear implant sounds right, and holy hell!
Dan
My over-the-ear hearing aids were $5k, MSRP. Something surgically implanted being 20 times that is not unreasonable. Except that both costs are unreasonable. Health care in the US, amirite?
Between insurance coverage and hitting my out of pocket limit, I paid nothing beyond the costs of my office visits. I’d have probably delayed getting my hearing aids if I had to pay for them. Which is a shame, because I need them!