Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Hearing aid life expectancy

georgeinsc

georgeinsc

Elite Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2015
Messages
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Location
Ladson SC
Some of us old codgers can not hear as well as we once did and have reverted to using electronic devices that fit in our ears so we can hear half way decently.

In talking to my audiologist she tells me that the Life Expectancy of a pair of hearing aids is three to five years. Not very long based on what the danged things cost. The cheapest pair I have ever had cost me $3700.

She recommended that I get a hearing aid dryer. Using the dryer every night I got seven years use out of a pair of hearing aids. Two or more years of use out of that pair for not a large investment. The dryer uses heat and desiccant to remove the moisture from the aids.

Something to consider if you are an old phart like me.
 
I have yet to buy a pair but have done some research because the time is drawing closer for me. There's a lot of them on Amazon for a LOT less money than what you said with great reviews comparing them to the high dollar ones.
 
KiowaRd said:
I have yet to buy a pair but have done some research because the time is drawing closer for me. There's a lot of them on Amazon for a LOT less money than what you said with great reviews comparing them to the high dollar ones.
Click to expand...


Just remember that those on ebay are not tailored to your hearing loss. It takes a trained audiologist to determine what you need and to adjust the aids to your loss.

Also the part that goes in hour ear is not going to fit. A mold of your ear has to be made and the part made to fit

Personally I would not waste my money on hearing aids that did not meet my needs or fit my ears.
 
georgeinsc said:
Some of us old codgers can not hear as well as we once did and have reverted to using electronic devices that fit in our ears so we can hear half way decently.

In talking to my audiologist she tells me that the Life Expectancy of a pair of hearing aids is three to five years. Not very long based on what the danged things cost. The cheapest pair I have ever had cost me $3700.

She recommended that I get a hearing aid dryer. Using the dryer every night I got seven years use out of a pair of hearing aids. Two or more years of use out of that pair for not a large investment. The dryer uses heat and desiccant to remove the moisture from the aids.

Something to consider if you are an old phart like me.
Click to expand...

Are you a Vet?? or retired military, thru their system top dollar is about $900.
 
As rapidly as tech advances, I am convinced that hearing aids are a racket. Someone will come along and blow current pricing out of the water soon unless the 'cartel' pays off their political cronies to legislate against their competitor (or they may already have done so).
 
Another old codger here. Have had hearing aids for the last 4 years. If you have a Costco in the area, the price of their own brand (Kirkland) is close to 1/2 of what you paid. It would be at least worth checking out. Dryer came with the set, and I highly advise using it.
 
bowwinkles said:
Are you a Vet?? or retired military, thru their system top dollar is about $900.
Click to expand...

Yes I am a vet. USN RET but I refuse to deal with the (expletive deleted) VA. I am lucky in that there is a program whereby military retired can get aids at actual cost IF and it is a big IF they can find a military audiologist that participates.

For the past 12 to 15 years I have been able to participate in that program but the audiologist I see has quit taking new patients due to the number of complaints she was receiving about the waiting time to get an appointment.

So far she is still taking care of her previous patients. But as the facility where she works is downgraded from a hospital to a clinic she is not sure that she will be able to continue.

She was the only one in my state who participated.

My early military records were burned in the 1964 fire so there is no way I can prove to the VA what my hearing was prior to that time.
 
Doctors and Audiologist make a killing on hearing aids. I will not say what mine cost me thru the military but the markup on a pair of hearing aids is more than 500 percent.

I had an audiologist ask me how much I paid for mine. When I told him he seemed shocked and then asked 'Each?" I replied No for the pair. He told me that he pays more for one than I paid for both.

I had a friend who paid almost ten grand for a pair. five thousand or more is not the least bit unusual.
 
georgeinsc said:
Yes I am a vet. USN RET but I refuse to deal with the (expletive deleted) VA. I am lucky in that there is a program whereby military retired can get aids at actual cost IF and it is a big IF they can find a military audiologist that participates.

For the past 12 to 15 years I have been able to participate in that program but the audiologist I see has quit taking new patients due to the number of complaints she was receiving about the waiting time to get an appointment.

So far she is still taking care of her previous patients. But as the facility where she works is downgraded from a hospital to a clinic she is not sure that she will be able to continue.

She was the only one in my state who participated.

My early military records were burned in the 1964 fire so there is no way I can prove to the VA what my hearing was prior to that time.
Click to expand...

They messed my Dad up pretty bad and then threatened that they'd make it difficult for him to get treatment if he complained or filed a report. That was maybe 15 years ago. I heard they got much better over the last year or so with the new administration. And now if they can't get to you in a reasonable time period, you can go to a private Doc for treatment I think. Also, VA employees can get fired now, and many of them definitely need to be shoved out the door. Heck, the VA doesn't (or didn't) require Dr's to be licensed!!!!!! Government healthcare=recipe for disaster.
 
The audiologists must have bought legislation to protect themselves. You can buy a giant color TV for a fraction of the cost of hearing aids. It's a ---- shame. People have to deal with the problems of hearing loss, unable to obtain a readily available remedy due to the greed of people in the field and the corrupt nature of the bureaucracy.
 
When I went to the VA to get a pair of glasses, they asked if I wanted a hearing aid instead. I told them that I just wanted glasses. Now about five years later I finally got a pair. I wonder if I should have went ahead and got a hearing aid. I hate to think that it would be another five years wait. The follow up on my glasses is June 2019.
 
When my son was born back in 2000, the nurse said he may have a hearing problem. I spent close to 5 grand on a set of hearing aids for him, I think he wore them for a month. We still have them, I’ll probably need them for myself some time in the future. Too much arena heavy metal hitting my ears over the last 40 years. Say what?
 
I always thought that hearing aids seemed way more expensive than what it would cost to actually make them. You feel like the manufacturers are taking unfair advantage of something that they know some people need enough that they'll pay way over cost.

Anyhow, did some online searching and here is just some of the results:

https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2016/hearing-aid-costs-prices-cs.html

(quoted from the above link)
""One reason the prices remain high is that a fairly small group of companies controls the market," says Dan G. Blazer, the J.P. Gibbons professor of psychiatry emeritus at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who chaired the NASEM committee. Six global manufacturers control 90 percent of the market. Consumer choice is also limited because hearing aid providers typically contract with only two or three selected manufacturers, says Carole Rogin, president of the Hearing Industries Association"

Consumer Reports: "5 Ways to Cut Hearing Aid Costs"

https://www.consumerreports.org/hearing-aids/save-on-cost-of-prescription-hearing-aids/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-hearing-aids-20170914-story.html

(quotes from the above link)
“Right now one of the barriers ... is costs because so many individuals are getting their healthcare through Medicare,” said Erin Stauder, executive director of the Hearing and Speech Agency of Baltimore, a nonprofit that provides hearings services on a sliding scale based on income."

"Federal legislation passed earlier this year aims to make hearing aids more affordable for people like Witt, who are elderly and have fixed incomes, by allowing some styles of the devices to be sold over-the-counter at drugstores and other retailers. The new law allows hearing aids for people with mild to moderate hearing loss to be sold at retailers and not through an audiologist — much like low-prescription “reader” eyeglasses are sold."
 
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