15 Aug
2012
15 Aug
'12
10:32 a.m.
<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
15 Aug
15 Aug
11:46 a.m.
On Wed, 15 Aug 2012 feldman.r at comcast.net wrote:
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.
Buying hearing aids at Costco is EXACTLY the same as buying your computer
hardware there!
They have great prices, IF AND ONLY IF their extremely limited selection
happens to include what you want/need. If you need the level of
programmability of a Widex Senso Diva, or the connectivity of Oticon
Chili, Costco not only won't have them, they won't even KNOW about them.
Ask them to DEMONSTRATE the T-Coil! BUT, the Costco Hearing-Aid-Dispenser
IS more competent than their "computer specialist".
If you expect hearing aids to restore your hearing to "normal", then you
will be extremely disappointed - THEY WILL NOT. Will your iPhone provide
you an intelligent conversation, as in the commercials? New generations
of hearing aids are merely a succession of reduced disappointments.
Reducing background noise is a matter of lowering the amplitude of certain
frequencies that are expected to be useless, certainly NOT an analysis of
the entropy level of the signal to determine what is or isn't "noise".
Yes, it will help cut out a drone (whether or not it is the drone that you
want), but kids, obnoxious drunks across the room, etc. are still gonna be
louder than what you want to hear.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
$6K for current aids
4512
days inactive
4512
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cisin＠xenosoft.com -
feldman.r＠comcast.net