OT: Re: Hearing (was Re: HP3000 Marketing Collateral)

<Message: 6 <Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:47:43 -0700 <From: "Chuck Guzis" < cclist at sydex.com > < <snip> <So, does anyone know of any publicly-owned hearing aid manufacturers? <Looks like a growth industry... < <--Chuck <(with some ringing in his ears) The best manufacturers are German or Swiss: Phonak, ReSound and Siemens. I recently got hearing aids and find them both amazing and annoying. Amazing in how small they are (less than a cm^3 in volume, including the battery). The best now have digital equalizers that can adjust the amplification across a dozen or more frequency ranges and can automatically adjust to filter out background noise. They can also be controlled wirelessly -- mine even have an "airplane" mode the shuts off the wireless when you are flying in an airplane and electronic devices are banned. Annoying in that they are far from perfect and require a new set of batteries after every 75 hours or so of use. For any of you who live in the US, the least expensive place to get good hearing aids is Costco. Most insurance plans do not cover them, so my cost was $2600 for the pair, which is 30%-50% less than anywhere else charges for a similar model. Bob