Roger's Hearing Aid Thread

THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY, ROGER! DOES THE THING WORK?

Oooops, sorry, I guess I can tone it down now.

Yowza! $2,500 and health insurance doesn't cover it, does it? Thanks for the info, roger.....

Remember the one where the two old-timers met on the street and the first one excitedly says, "I got my new hearing aid! It works great."

The other guys says, "What kind is it?"

Guy looks at his watch and says, "3:15"

Wow, great collection of info, roger.

One thing I've said to Eva several times is that even if a hearing aid is the best possible one for you, it will be an annoying cacaphony for a while. The problem is that if it's not the best hearing aid for you, it'll also be an annoying cacaphony.

But I've gone from annoying cacaphony to ahhhh several times (because my hearing kept changing, I've had the "like new" experience a few times as I got ever-more powerful models), it does happen.

Yes, it works. Especially when some raggedy old diesel pickup pulls up along side of you. Sorry, Gus. They warned me my voice would adjust to a lower level now that I can hear myself.

No health insurance does not cover it, thanks for asking. They do cover the crumby ENT's exam. VA doesn't either, unless it's service connected. I find myself kind of resentful of the $175.00 sales tax, more than anything. I do have a good impression of the device itself.

I checked it out pretty well, soz. Eva even let me try hers for a comfort fit. I priced out the ResoundAir model from GN. The local hospital wanted two grand even. Hearing planet on the internet was second best in price, but the nearest outlet is 150 miles away, in Albuquerque. Anyway, they all agreed that the resound was marginal at present, and wouldn't get better. I just had to have the physical comfort factor involved in it and the one that worked for me. I think it's going to be a goodie.

Thanks for all the advice from you and Eva. It helped a bunch, and got me off dead center.

I'm glad you got the h.a. I wish it was less expensive for you. It'll be a long time coming before I get me one of them money pits.

I'll probably be getting advice back from you guys -- my insurance covers some but not all of the cost and I'd have to get The Most Powerful Thing They Got (read, The Most Expensive Thing They Got) and I want to get my financial footing first, but will be checking out how technology has improved since I last had hearing aids at some point in the future.

Soz, that's exciting!

I sure hope so, lilk, but when you don't go to movies and lectures, you might have to bite the bullet. I attended a talk by Michael McGarrity recently. He is a writer of modern New Mexico western detective stories. I could tell from the audience that he a good speaker, and knew how to tell a funny story. That's the only way I could tell.

Why do libraries, convention centers, and meeting rooms have such lousy acoustics? It must be some kind of architectural fad.

Aw..... my hearing isn't that bad yet. I don't think.

Oh, soz, I hope you can find something that works for you. I had the impression you didn't have any more to work with than I do in my right ear.

Well, I don't. (120 db loss.) But still want to see what's out there since I last was on the market -- doubt anything would work, but don't want to assume.

Well, don't assume that what you need is necessarily going to be the most expensive just because it'll be the most powerful, Soz. I found that the price depends on how SMALL the unit is, and how new the technology is. The CIC models, for instance, were twice as expensive as the BTEs. And the BTEs without ear molds (like mine) were more expensive than the ones with molds. Since you'll need one with molds (those have the greatest power) you may find they cost less than Roger's or mine. (The ReSoundAIR Plus models I have cost $1700 ea. through my ENT's office. But my insurance picked up the entire cost because my hearing loss was due to an accident. If it had been aging, I would have been SOL.)

ROGER!!! I am so happy to hear you found something! You know, it amazed me how loud everything was at first, too. (And it had only been about a year since my hearing loss.) In fact, the volume gave me headaches. They had to turn the power down, then raise it back up gradually as I became accustomed to hearing at normal volume. If it really bothers you, you can ask them to do the same for you.

Oh, and I know what you mean about large rooms with high ceilings. Restaurants are often terrible, too. All that background noise interferes with what I really want to hear.

Roger--


Wonderful.

Er...um...could you sorta, kinda remember that your new toy will whistle when you adjust it and that people who love you don't necessarily automatically love that whistle?

My congratulations to you--and to your near and dear.

Hold your dominion.

It does? My little darlin' gives a very discrete little beep when I switch from program a to program b. If they can hear it at all, they should rejoice in their great gift of hearing. Otherwise, they can learn to love it.

It isn't adjustable for volume, in the usual sense. It adjusts itself. I can cover the microphones with my hand and get a minor chiming sound, but all that stuff is behind the ear, not in the ear.

Roger--

Knowing you on line for six or seven years, I've never felt the need to shout. We communicate with the clicks of the keyboard and our romantic eyes.

I'm thrilled that your Near and Dear will have the same low volume glow.

Hold your dominion.

Eva, you're totally right about smaller models, but last I knew anyway, once you get to the more powerful models -- which all have earmolds and are all BTE -- the price goes up according to complexity/ power.

I think I mentioned my friend who cashed in his stock options at a hot Internet startup (and he was just customer service -- sigh -- lucky boy) and bought cutting edge aids -- $25,000. I remember that figure but not if it was for one or two.

So, whole different price bracket when we're talking about the ultra-powerful ones.

WHOA.