Most things already covered before but a few comments..
The longer you don't hear certain sounds f's, s's p's,q's and the like the more your brain forgets them and becomes hard for you to recognize them again even with aids.
The price is determined by a huge markup, but they expect to and will cut it drastically. Most of the price is for tune up service which is needed since your hearing will continue to change as you age. Most decent one include a hearing test each year, clean up and tuning as often as you need it for the life of the aid. Warrenties vary on the hardware and effect the price a little.
There are advantages and dissadvantages of all types whether behind the ear or in the ear. Open ear buds versus closed has to do with frequency loss. High frequency loss, which most of us have along with tinnitus normally requires molded pieces in the ears to recover some of the high frequency. The ear pieces have to be well fit to avoid feedback whistle. This often causes excess ear wax build up so you spend a lot of time boiling out your ears with peroxide or a combination of peroxide and olive oil. As the wax builds the tinnitus become worse as does your hearing.
The digital behind the ear type are the most powerful and I find to be the most confortable. Some people are too vain to wear this type, but to me the hearing is what counts.
Digitals are multiprogrammable and this is very good for different environments.
You can push a button on the aid or click a remote in your pocket and change to a program that is tuned to cut out background sounds in public places, or to one set up to receive from the front and help more of the frequencies from TV speakers. There are even "blue tooth" devices to receive and retransmit to your aids, but a lot of clap trap that shouldn't be required if you have a person that knows how to properly program the aids to your real world.
The batteries are "air batteries" Once you pull the protective tape off the back and install them the clock begins, whether you use them or not. More hours use does shorten the time also.
Moisture, wax, and dirt, as well as physical abuse are the worst enemies.
It doesn't take much activity, beyond the chair, to get moisture build up in the tubes. Airing the aids out at night is very important to the longevity.
Hearing aids sure don't give you perfect hearing, but to me are worth the bother and inconvenience just to cover up part of the tinnitus, and to not have to be saying "what's that" all the time when somebody tries to talk to me. It is great to hear the birds again and to be able to participate in conversations at family get togethers.
The longer you don't hear certain sounds f's, s's p's,q's and the like the more your brain forgets them and becomes hard for you to recognize them again even with aids.
The price is determined by a huge markup, but they expect to and will cut it drastically. Most of the price is for tune up service which is needed since your hearing will continue to change as you age. Most decent one include a hearing test each year, clean up and tuning as often as you need it for the life of the aid. Warrenties vary on the hardware and effect the price a little.
There are advantages and dissadvantages of all types whether behind the ear or in the ear. Open ear buds versus closed has to do with frequency loss. High frequency loss, which most of us have along with tinnitus normally requires molded pieces in the ears to recover some of the high frequency. The ear pieces have to be well fit to avoid feedback whistle. This often causes excess ear wax build up so you spend a lot of time boiling out your ears with peroxide or a combination of peroxide and olive oil. As the wax builds the tinnitus become worse as does your hearing.
The digital behind the ear type are the most powerful and I find to be the most confortable. Some people are too vain to wear this type, but to me the hearing is what counts.
Digitals are multiprogrammable and this is very good for different environments.
You can push a button on the aid or click a remote in your pocket and change to a program that is tuned to cut out background sounds in public places, or to one set up to receive from the front and help more of the frequencies from TV speakers. There are even "blue tooth" devices to receive and retransmit to your aids, but a lot of clap trap that shouldn't be required if you have a person that knows how to properly program the aids to your real world.
The batteries are "air batteries" Once you pull the protective tape off the back and install them the clock begins, whether you use them or not. More hours use does shorten the time also.
Moisture, wax, and dirt, as well as physical abuse are the worst enemies.
It doesn't take much activity, beyond the chair, to get moisture build up in the tubes. Airing the aids out at night is very important to the longevity.
Hearing aids sure don't give you perfect hearing, but to me are worth the bother and inconvenience just to cover up part of the tinnitus, and to not have to be saying "what's that" all the time when somebody tries to talk to me. It is great to hear the birds again and to be able to participate in conversations at family get togethers.
It was prepaid. :laughing:
