Liberty hearing aids as Sam's Club. Any Good?

Oh, since the last time I posted a link to hearing aid prices, the link died. Here's a current list. http://www.aidright.com/researching_hearing_aids.html#C8

It's enough to make a feller start shopping in the Sunday Supplements.

I don't know much about the topic but I know electronics. I wonder this: Is it possible that the batteries can be replaced? Or is 5 yrs a typical end-of-issue for hearing aids?

Five years is more or less the lower life expectancy. I think mine is somewhere around six years old We have kind of an advantage here. The worst factor in cutting the life span is humidity, and we have very little, unless one choses to sweat. The batteries are replaceable. I used to get several days from one when I was working and using it not less than eight hours a day. Now, it's kind of "as needed" and batteries seem to last about a week. By the way, they are a zinc/air affair which lets them be much smaller than would otherwise be possible. On the other hand, once you pull off the sealer tab, they begin to degenerate. I'm glad they are not rechargeable. I've got enough unique chargers and cables around to power a small town or large car. Anyhow, battery cost is just barely a recordable expense.

For what it's worth, it failed around March of this year, and I had it sent in for repair at $450.00, so that worked out around 100 or so per month. They no longer repair this model, but I wouldn't have gone that route, anyway.

Thanks. I was hoping that you'd help educate me. At that price it seems that they should last longer. Maybe the company can be contacted to see if they can extend some customer satisfaction a bit more. IMHO, the whopping inital price and service of $450 should have gotten you a bit further. It's a shame there isn't at least a 10-yr-warranty.

I understand that in addition to ambient humidity also sweating and wax buildup can contribute to problems.

Is it possible you could use a different battery or different type of battery to see if you could get more life from them. Sometimes with battery mfrs and electronics usage, it's a case of quality control - even massive high rate of failure.

Likewise, a friend of mine has recently gone the hearing aid route. I will see if I can getr you any more info:

FWIW, this is an excerpt of what Consumer Reports stated in their review about hearing aids:

"Digital hearing aids, which have captured more than 90 percent of the market, come in five major types (see "Which Type Is Best for You?"). In those aids, sound goes in the microphone and is digitally processed by a chip, amplified, and delivered into the ear. Those aids also have features to modify that sound, making it more lifelike and correcting for other problems.

Because individuals' sound perception is, well, so individual, a hearing aid that thrills one person might seem just so-so to another with almost identical hearing-test results. Even within brands, there might be several versions of a model. That kind of variation makes judging hearing-aid models and brands almost impossible. "There are differences between brands, but they're not significant enough that you can say what are the best brands," says Todd Ricketts, Ph.D., associate professor of hearing and speech sciences at Vanderbilt University.

Our laboratory tests didn't compare brands, but we did evaluate features. Among the most useful were the telecoil and directional microphone. Don't pay for unnecessary features, as some of our shoppers were pressured to do. The more features you buy, the more you'll probably pay, but you might not need every one.

Even with features appropriate for you, you might need to temper your expectations. In crowds, for instance, your digital hearing aids will never completely eliminate jarring background noise. "It's going to bring people back to hearing, but because of the way we process sound, it's not going to bring them back to normal hearing," says audiologist Patricia Chute, dean of the School of Health and Natural Sciences at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. "

Consumer buying advice info:

"Where we could verify the wholesale price of the aids we tested, the average markup was 117 percent, so there's room to bargain. Only 15 percent of our survey participants tried that, but more than 40 percent of those who tried succeeded. Cheryl Wruk, 62, a county board member from Crivitz, Wis., got her aids discounted to $1,500 from $1,750 by declining promotional extras such as a $100 gas debit card.

Make sure you clearly understand the terms: extra visits not covered by the hearing-aid price, length of warranty, the cost to replace a lost or damaged aid, the cost of batteries, the length of the trial period during which you can exchange or return your aids, and the return fee, if any. Make sure your contract allows you to return your aids and get all or most of your money back if you're not satisfied.

Consider your future needs; ask whether the chosen hearing aid has enough residual amplification to handle a hearing loss that gets worse.

Insist on having brand and style choices. Survey respondents gave lowest marks for choice and selection among all aspects of their shopping experience. Just less than half of our shoppers were not offered a choice of hearing-aid style. "They sold me a completely-in-the-canal model without asking if I minded using that style," a shopper reported to us.

Keep in mind that if you're not thrilled with the first provider's evaluation or personality, or want to see what other providers offer, you're entitled to a copy of your audiogram to shop elsewhere.

Before you leave with your new aids, practice inserting and removing the battery, cleaning and storing the aid, putting it into your ear, using its switches and controls, and using the telephone while wearing it. Most of our shoppers got no telephone training or help with volume controls. "

Hello! Hello!

Roger needs help on this.

What?

Hello?

Call the repair folks on the on the phone and tell them they need to refund your money. (And then shout "WHAT! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" every time they try to tell you no.)

That's sort of like iMacs and motherboards.

Wonder if you can find repairs like you can find iMac motherboards via the internet.

Just a thought.

As you know, my iMac problem turned out not to be the motherboard, but I learned a lot about possibilities while I was going through all that.

Have you checked out any of the hearing loss forums? some models of Liberty seem to get decent reviews - the word is that it's all about the adjustments - and it depends on the technician at individual locations. Apparently Costco also did/does carry Liberty.

The repair was guaranteed for three months. The first failure was just inside warranty. That repair held up about as long as the first one. Thanks for the thought.

No. I should have known there would be some. I'll dig around this evening and see what I can come up with.

I've poked around in a few. The bottom line seems to be that a new Liberty hearing aid is better than a 4 or 5 year old high-quality hearing aid, simply as a result of improvements in technology.


this guy's review is fairly representative

http://hearingmojo.com/noise-reduction-a-hidden-benefit-of-hearing-aid




new high-end hearing aids will be even better, but the low-end ones seem to be pretty darn good in comparison to what used to be available


hearing aid forum

http://69.16.228.230/index.php


QVC has pretty active forums with good discussions

http://community.qvc.com/forums/Wellness+Health/index.aspx

put hearing in the search box there

Oh, Boy! I'll do some poking around on my own, but that review is exactly wanted, expecially from someone with prior experience with hearing aids of the approximate vintage of my own.

hi Roger I'm an audiologist in Virginia. $460 is a little high for repair - the manufacturers try to force people to replace their "older" aids instead of repairing so they price the repairs by how old the aids are. Starkey will repair any manufacturers aid no matter how old and it will come back with a one yr. warranty for repairs. Best deal.

Hi, wrac, and thanks. I'm on it at $175.00 and tax. Unfortunately, I bought two 'reconditioned' aids from the same shop. I don't know if he's having problems because mine are the GN Metrix instead of a Starkey model, or what, but he's proven completely incapable of correctly programming them. I don't doubt his sincerity, but it just isn't working.

Once my various holiday committments are past, I'll see if the audiology department at the local hospital can run a new exam and get them programed. I'm not new to hearing aids or the Metrix, and I know what they are capable of.

Again, thanks for the answer.

I have a set and they are so much better than the Siemens I paid $ 4,000 for 5 years ago and the warranty with Sams is 4 years repair and 2 years lost replacement and Sams will repair them in store as long as you have them,(or they carry them.) Is most likely . I am very happy with them and would buy them again without question.

My wife and I have had our 64 channel Liberty hearing aids from Sam's Club for about 6 months. We are very pleased. Total cost for all 4 hearing aids $7,200. Each time we are in a Sam's Club, we have them cleaned just in case. The last time there they updated the program for better noise reduction. We had received a notice that this upgrade was available. We have the 5 year warranty and was told to expect about 6 years of life. By that time there will probably be new improvements we will want new ones.

are these hearing aids as good has they claim/

That's pretty much the thrust of the title question. They do sound good, but we really don't know the background of the people who praise them, do we?

My mother yesterday purchased the 64 channel hearing aids at the Sam's Club in Ann Arbor. She was not convinced that she needed the hearing aids, but decided that as she had 90 days to try them, she would give it a try. We went shopping after leaving the Sam's Club. Before we even got home, one of the hearing aids fell off her, and she did not notice it right away. We were not concerned as she had the 90 day return guarantee and the lost/damaged insurance. We went back today. We were told that we could pay the $200 for a new hearing aid, but if we returned it we would only get $200 back instead of the $1900 we paid for it. Seems that because we could not return the original hearing aid, we just lost the money on that one, in spite of the insurance. We would only be eligible for the $200 for the hearing aid we would be returning. Beware before buying. Sandra Richards