DeadSkunk (Warren) said:In reply to MiniDave :
What do you call "super expensive"? Mine were from a local audiologist office and were $5K.......if Costco units are good and significantly cheaper I may go there when the time comes.
I have been looking at Costco. They seem to be half the going rate at the boutique stores. The only thing that I worry about is the quality of the examination.
Costco eyeglasses are a great deal but the quality of the exam compared to going to a place like Mass Eye and Ear is huge. (I have done both). I usually take my glasses script to Costco.
I wonder if you can do the same with hearing aids.
In reply to kb58 :
When I was a kid my aunt had a mole on her jaw she didn't have looked at because "she just knew it was cancer". She spent the last 6 months of her life having dinner through a straw (they cut off part of her lower jaw)
From that day forward I vowed I would get things taken car off.
My wife mentioned she didn't think I was hearing her about 5 years ago. I went and got my hearing checked but it wasn't bad enough to require hearing aids.
It was this year so I got them.
My buddy paid $1500 for his at Costco......they were pretty high end.
For the record the invoice for mine said $5,985
My cost was $0
I always try to figure out the business model when researching a purchase like this. It helps me understand the significant price differences. All gave complimentary hearing test and they were very similar results. So yeah, I have "profound" loss at high frequencies. All the usual suspects. Firearms, noisy work environments, loud music, you name it, I probably did it...all without hearing protection. Biggest problem for me is crowds or general background din, but that's not a huge part of my life. I know it's getting worse. Yes on subtitles for quite a few years
Audiologist seems to operate like my eye doc. Big staff, suite of offices in a medical building, actual doctor and self proclaimed hearing aid technician. Lots of overhead, major brands of which there are only about 4 at this level $6500+.
Hearing aid specialist. Truhearing has some agreement with Blue Cross, my insurance provider. 2 people in office. Proprietary product. They claim I'm saving $2K with my insurance. Was most informative about ear structure and my specific loss and how I'd benefit. $4300
Costco claims to offer only the high end product of the brands they carry and that appears to be the case. No gimmicks, big sales volume, 90 day return. Treat it like a commodity, which I'm inclined to agree with. If it's like other stuff, they operate on a specific low percentage markup and sell gazillions, which gives them bargaining power with vendors. They also required a visit to an MD to be certain that my loss wasn't due to mad cow disease or whatever. $1600.
I would pay the higher price if I could assign value for $$ difference, but in my case I'll do the Costco dance and be happy to put the savings toward a turbo kit for the tugboat.
Jabra, Rexton, Phillips and Sennheiser are the big players and I imagine they brand for others. I'm not impressed with what I could find out about over-the-counter solutions, although Apple's AirPods Pro and their hearing aid app, are making some interesting headway.
To test your hearing, do a sound sweep from high to low.
onlinetonegenerator.com/frequency-sweep-generator
Set start frequency at 20,000 Hz.
Set end frequency at 20 Hz.
Set duration at 30 seconds.
Adjust to taste.
BE VERY CAREFUL OF THE VOLUME LEVELS
Supposedly kids can hear 20 - 20,000 Hz. I can't hear anything until around 9000 Hz and below.
Sweep Generator
To pin down your hearing upper limit cutoff, use this tone generator next. I can hear 8500 Hz but not 8600 Hz. (I adjusted in 100 Hz increments)
https://onlinetonegenerator.com/multiple-tone-generator
Tone Generator
My take on hearing aids is they fall in to the problem of the medical field economy. As soon as something becomes covered by insurance the price gets hugely inflated. It is a broken system. A 5k set of hearing aids is just crazy and I have had friends tell me about more expensive ones covered by insurance. 7-10k were numbers they notes. All it does is create a fake economy supported by high insurance costs. Life is good if you have that kind of insurance. I don't have insurance like that so I look for the fair deal when it comes to this stuff. I don't mind paying for quality but at some point I am not sure what you are actually paying for.
Glasses are another one. Insurance paid for my daughters 800 pair of glasses. I get the same or better glasses from Costco for $250. And my insurance costs about $300 a month less.
Perscriptions are the other place that this weird economy plays out. CVS wants $90 a month for one of my scripts. This is similar to what most pharmacy's want. I was told it is the price insurance pays. I get a 90 day supply for about $10 from an on line pharmacy. (Cost plus). This is less than my $25 deductible I would have to pay the pharmacy for a 30 day supply.
The system is broken. I suspect the hearing aids are part of this broken economy also.
This popped up on the Book of Faces today. Seems relevant.
Quite a few of us like this then? I know I have an issue, and I went last year to get tested, but the results were such that the consultant deemed that a hearing aid wasn't justified yet, said it would have more of a negative impact on my other frequency ranges that are ok. Oddly, I have a certain frequency range I can't hear in my left ear (I'd need to look up which) and it's a frequency that's very common in latin american Spanish.. 
As many folk, any background noise and conversations are impossible for me (also true in English, not just Spanish), I've got to really focus on the person(s) in the conversation to vaguely follow. Lots of loud music, loud cars, and loud tools in my history too.. (running A series engines flat out on a rolling road in a confined space surely can't have helped). I'm closer to 50 than 40 now.
In reply to paul_s0 :
Restaurants were tough for me; the aids have a feature that filters out background noise.
Besides not being able to hear my wife at dinners; finding out hearing loss contributes to dementia was one of the other big things that motivated me.
Tom1200 said:In reply to paul_s0 :
**; finding out hearing loss contributes to dementia was one of the other big things that motivated me.**
I was not aware of that.. I think I'll be heading back for another check up soon.. My daughter has cochlear implants, her latest processors not only filter out background noise, if they detect a sudden loud noise they'll automatically dampen the noise/reduce the volume, impressive.
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