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My 73 year old father has needed hearing aids for years, and is finally ready to bite the bullet. He is also a Costco fan, so he's going that route. Costco is very popular for hearing aids in his area, and even his ENT doctor recommended the local Costco instead of the high priced audiologist that worked in his clinic.
Wondering who is using a Costco purchased aid these days, and if you have any recommendations on the process and the model to choose?
My Dad is a music lover and has loud tinnitus, so his main concern is how the hearing aid would affect those things.
He is also a very tall man with very large fingers and a bit of a hand tremor, so he is particularly worried about managing a very small hearing aid, and having difficulty changing batteries/controls. For that reason, he thinks he wants a hearing aid that is external so that it can be larger and easier to put on (and hopefully, harder to lose!), and maybe with rechargeable batteries so he doesn't have to change small batteries often.
So if you have any advice for him, considering his needs/understanding, we'd appreciate your input.
My father needed hearing aids for a long time. And finally bought them about 5 years ago (when he was 93). My brother - who is more technically oriented than I am - did a lot of research. And concluded that the high end Siemens hearing aids were the best at the time. My father bought his at the Mayo Clinic. Where I am sure he didn't save any money. OTOH - he got great hearing aids (for his needs) - and great support/assistance from soup to nuts. And he wasn't ripped off either (many people are ripped off when it comes to hearing aids - paying much money than they should for crummy hearing aids).
My father's hearing aids have a remote. I think that's a pretty important feature. So you don't have to pull your hearing aids out at the dinner table to change settings. I honestly can't recall what his battery situation is.
IMO - tinnitus is a complicating factor. Siemens seems to have hearing aid technology that deals with that issue:
They might or might not be the best option for your father.
Note that when my father bought his hearing aids - he was a big Costco fan. But - at the time - our local Costco only sold low end or middle of the road hearing aids. Not the high end premium ones like the Siemens products my brother was looking at. Perhaps that has changed - or your father's Costco is different. If it hasn't - you might look into a local health care facility like Mayo that can offer your father a full range of buying options and excellent service. Especially when it comes to finding the product that is best for him. Robyn
The audiologist who did my Dad's recent hearing test (that works in the ENT doctor's office) seemed very knowledgeable, but she wouldn't answer ANY specific questions about hearing aids without setting up a separate appointment. And it turns out that future appointment would cost $200-300 bucks (insurance wouldn't cover) and any follow-up appointments would also be billed separately. Apparently all of that is "free" and included in the prices of hearing aids at Costco.
And she refused to give us a price list to take away so we could look things up online and learn more/compare.
Don't like that.
I have also seen a friend who is a senior led astray and buying much more expensive hearing aids than she needed and then put them on a payment plan, leading to even higher prices down the road.
In our area the Costco Hearing Centers are staffed by "technicians"... not audiologist... so I suspect we do lose some expertise going the "cheap" route.
When it comes to hearing aids - you will never get more than you pay for. Although it's easy to get less. I have an uncle who gets his hearing aids from the VA. They're "free" and worth it (he can't hear worth a sh** with them).
The highest quality hearing aids cost about $5-8k/pair these days. To me - the biggest red flag in your father's case is his tinnitus. I've had some relatives with the condition (related to Meniere's disease) - and it is zero fun. If I had tinnitus - I'd be prepared to spend big bucks on hearing aids to deal with it (and my hearing loss too). If I could afford to. BTW - I assume a hearing professional has already ruled out Meniere's disease in your father's case. If not - that is one reason you should be dealing with health care professionals - and not a "big box store". Robyn
He will be ecstatic if his tinnitus becomes less noticeable with aids... that's my hope.
It almost certainly will. I have suffered from severe tinnitus since a water skiing accident in the 80s and progressive hearing loss since then. Hearing aids rock! One thing that works for me is to turn off noise cancelling. Everyone else hears these noises, why would we need to cancel them? When you cancel a noise, the tinnitus tries to fill in the void. YMMV.
It also helps to avoid noisy places. Open concept restaurants are hell on me. One meal can cause three days or more of tinnitus hell.
My husband can control his Oticon aids with a streamer, the lanyard is an antenna. For him the lanyard is a better option than one you put in a chest pocket or clips on a shirt.
He is able to dampen background noise with the streamer and uses that in restaurants.
I am sure other manufacturers have similar systems.
Costco is the world's largest seller of hearing aids for a reason. Costco's value adds dwarf those of an independent audiologist.
They offer multiple brands.
Their people are highly trained and every bit as capable of diagnosing, recommending and fitting - doing the program adjustments needed to match the programmable digital aids to your specific hearing loss - and making repairs, (which are mostly on the spot).
You can walk into any Costco nationwide and they will have your profile and history available, online. Ear wax guards are free, batteries much cheaper than anywhere else and my experience is their prices are more like two thirds less than audiologists. Costco has various price points.
Kirkland 7, (next 30 days or so), will be Siemens or a Siemens company brand. Siemens recently spun off their hearing aid business. Good company, good technology.
My experience with Costco HA's are not too different than buying eyeglasses from Zenni Optical and other similar companies. If you're dealing with a run-of-the-mill correction, they do a tremendous job. In my case I needed HA's for age-related and environmental hearing loss. Costco is more than up to the task for that kind of service, in the same way Zenni can fix you up with a perfectly acceptable pair of glasses if you need a standard Rx.
If your condition is out of the ordinary, you should probably use the services of a physician. That also applies to virtually any retail HA provider. Unless you need to deal with an MD, I think there is very little difference between dispensers and having been a patient with traditional hearing centers and Costco it's my opinion that Costco offers a far better service hands down.
What are ear wax guards? I don't have hearing aids, but they are coming sometime in the future. Ear wax is a concern.
Is a Costco membership required or is it like the pharmacy where anyone can buy?
Membership is $55 a year for the "basic" - there are sometimes deals on the LivingSocial website and others. But $55 is not much to pay for such good deals on hearing aids and even if you don't get one, just make a few trips for groceries, electronics, housewares and you'll come out okay.
Membership is $55 a year for the "basic" - there are sometimes deals on the LivingSocial website and others. But $55 is not much to pay for such good deals on hearing aids and even if you don't get one, just make a few trips for groceries, electronics, housewares and you'll come out okay.
It almost certainly will. I have suffered from severe tinnitus since a water skiing accident in the 80s and progressive hearing loss since then.
I agree. I'd suffered from tinnitus for years before starting hearing aids. They gave me immediate relief, regardless of type.
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