HA's: price vs quality?

Hey for those who wear HA's, or have worn them. I have questions. If you've worn lower end price scale HA's or very expensive ones, do you think it makes enough difference to your quality of sound and ease understanding speech to make it worth the expense, or do you think moderately priced, or low end price aids do well enough, if you can't afford latest technology, or even if you can.

Not many deaf/hoh people in my country can afford aids, and only small children, pensioners, and veterans, or people who had accidents and lost hearing, can get subsidies for HA's.

Many people I talked to lately said that they could only afford cheaper ones or maybe none, so don't get them, since they probably are no good anyway if only basic cheaper HA's.

What do you think?

suggust to have a 30-day trail.. to see if u're comfortable with it.. try the expensive one first.. then use it for 30 days.. then give back to audiologist.. then try the cheap one for 30 days.. then decide which is best for you..

if there's 30-day trail in ur area.. here in US is required by law to have 30-day trail..

ive never had a 30-day trial cuz i already know which brand i like best --

ive noticed now a days with the newer HA's out and all that -- they break MUCH easier than the older ones that werent digital HA's -- i have a newer HA thats now broken (and for the 2nd time) :roll: and now i use my partner's old HA thats still working on occasions for now til i get around to getting my own HA fixed sheesh

Thanks fly free, that's what I was wondering. That maybe some of those newer expensive ones aren't always worth so much money anyway. Also that having any aid, might still be better than no aid for some ppl, if they feel they need one.

deafscuba, it's a cool thought, but most of these people would only want the expensive kinds more then, and feel bad if they have to settle for cheapies. Most of them wouldn't want to pay for audy appt for nothing either. So they complain about not having aids bc they can't afford the top of line ones. There's no point in trying something you know you can't buy.

I haven't used cheapest or expensive ones, only in between, so don't really know myself from experience what is worth it if ppl are in that situation. I'd like to be able to say to them that other's have had experience that might be useful. Then they wouldn't keep wondering about their decision, and might try one, or just feel better about their choice not to, instead of feeling like being deprived, and resenting that. These are people I care about, but don't know of much practical advise to give.

Honeypot...definiatly experiment with all sorts of aids. Digital high end aids aren't always the best type. You have to experiment and find which ones you like. As an aside, I thought that New Zealand had a universal healthcare system just like 99.9 percent of the cilvilized world. Aren't hearing aids covered under universal health care?
As for me, I have a simple conductive loss so I don't need any fancy gadgets...I just need the volume turned up!

Hi deafdyke, no HA's aren't covered here. They were, back long before I was born, but the ammount the govt pays in subsidy hasn't kept up with inflation, so now ony 3-10% of the cost is subsidised. You can see the audy for free, but have to wait almost a year in some places. If you need to see one sooner, you have to pay private. If you are on a benefit (welfare) then you can get a loan of up to $1000 for HA's, but you have to pay it back of course, and you have to have seen the audy first ($). If you're working, or not working but your partner is, then you better have kind bank manager, and some disposable income! HA's in NZ cost maybe $500-$4000 NZD each (That's $250-$2000 USD each) and there's not much choice. We don't get all the options you have in bigger countries. Most things that are prescription, or treatments, etc, are covered here by govt, but not really HA's. Only little children, elderly, veteran's (who are also usually elderly & male), or accident victims (usually men with NIHL) get them paid for. If you're not elegable for cheap bus pass (ie old or child) then also not elegable for HA's. These friends are all women between 19 & 32.

Most of these people know they can't afford anything but the basic kinds, so don't bother going, that's why I asked. I had suggested that maybe the cheaper ones might still be worth getting, but they have all said that they don't believe they could be, or why else would new expensive ones keep coming out (Um, to make lots of money for HA designers/manufacturers?) It's hard. I was lucky to get mine since I was studying at that time, so got a special deal on mine & cost me less, otherwise I would have had to settle for cheaper than I have too. I would still have got whatever I could have afford, they help so much, especially since I have to lipread many of interactions with hearies.

Stupid thing is, these are mostly young people, who could earn more and pay for HA's in future, if only they had HA's now to get them started... GRRRRR! How do you encourage someone to just try anyway? They can always change their minds, yeah? Maybe I should leave it alone, since one at least, seems to have very defeatest attitude, almost depressed. It just frustrates me to see friends struggling and bitter but not thinking it's worth trying to do something for themselves to try.

I myself use what I can get now, and know that as I earn more, over years, as I progress, then I will be able to afford what I want, not just what I can get. Not a common attitude though. Maybe I'm really weird! LOL!

wear vs price

The hearing aids are not depend on the price. Its depend on how well they think their business is value to people. Some business not made any sense, one company I know that selling 2,000 for one hearing aids here in USA. Its just brand name. The most thing you can try out to listen any various sound or research somehow to find better result the positive due not able wear trail for thirty days. My insurance doesn't cover the costs for hearing aids.
:fruit:

Well, regardless of price, one should get an aid and have it adjusted as best as possible based on what your audiologist's test shows what your deafness is. Of course, we know that, too, digital aids cost quite a bit more than analog ones....

I belive the older the best quailty would be usable, the fancy shamcy one isn t of value cuz its not the cost that's the issue its the hearing itself thats a quality, i wouldn't go for that anyhow... mine's from the state of CA and this ha has been with me let's see now..... since 99/2000 as that was * stolen* and * destroyed* the stolen one is a long story the destroyed one my former doggie chewed it up into piece turns out i somehow inadverntly left the aid on and the HA was squealing and really agiated my dog poor thing he got SO pissed he just destroyed it before i could grab it back he was MAD at me and i didn t blame him but luckily i didn't have to pay for the loaner yep it was a loaner i was so embarrassed abt this.... BUT got a free replacement and this one is MINE to keep! im wearing a Oticon380p HA its been good to me since my first oldest lasted me 15 yrs now this is my 3rd HA and i perfer this over any other HA....

and the HA was squealing and really agiated my dog poor thing he got SO pissed he just destroyed it before i could grab it back he was MAD at me and i didn t blame him but luckily i didn't have to pa

Click to expand...

Dogs can hear the high frequnies which the hearing aid (and CI) generates. The high frequncy noise is very irritating to them and so they attack it.
I really want Oticons for my next set!

deafdyke said:

Dogs can hear the high frequnies which the hearing aid (and CI) generates. The high frequncy noise is very irritating to them and so they attack it.
I really want Oticons for my next set!

Click to expand...

can you back up on your claim about dog being able to hear the CI? and attack it?

Do you know that there are a Dog Whistle(20,000hz or greater) which can emit at high frequency that adult human CAN'T hear but a child can! (from 20hz to 20,000hz) and Dog does not attack the blower of the dog whistle. The dog whistle are used to call the dog in at long distance!

Dog whistle can hurt human ear if used INSIDE the house! but does not hurt if outside.

so suppose CI emit at this frequency, I have a microphone hooked up to my computer and the software will show the meter when sound are made, it show colors increasing and decreasing.. ok, I hold up the CI with power on.. it is not picking up any sound. I have a dog whistle. I blow it, the meter fill up! well?

Dog does eat earmold WHEN power are OFF. Cat even like to lick and try to bite.. it is because of smell and wax! Dog likes to eat anything and tries to chew whatever is in front of them! Cat takes off right away when the power are turned on. if HA is left unattended with power on, emitting high pitch (lower than 20,000hz) dog will just bark and thinks it is strange item because it not held by a human. dog will try to play with and even bite till it finally stop and give up.

I even had my eyeglass bitten by a cat! my left len has teeth mark! it does not make sound! weird!