Anyone buy hearing aids lately?

So, I've had my Widex Moment hearing aids for a little over a week and I am unimpressed.  

For $3300, I expected more profound performance. It's definitely an improvement watching TV, at the movies, etc. but the noise-cancelling capability is way unsatisfactory. An example: Tuesday evening, I was sitting at the bar at Finelli's in Soho chatting with a lovely young woman from Moscow who had also lived in and studied in London, the Czech Republic and elsewhere around the globe. She was very bright and interesting and could talk your ear off. Not a strong Russian accent although it was very present. Sitting 18" from here I was struggling to hear what she was saying. I changed my settings on the iPhone a few times but finally wished her a good night and left, very frustrated (by my inability to hear her). This is why I wanted the HAs, to chat with bright young women in bars and these $3300 babies let me down. 

I've come to understand that the factor that differentiates HAs at different price points is the quality of the noise cancelling. I go back to see the audiologist on Jan-9. I will have a conversation with her at that time. 

To be fair, the Doctor said to give them 2 weeks to be fully comfortable and have my brain adapt and reach their full potential. But I don't see this changing in the next week or two. 

Color me underwhelmed. 

Adjusting to hearing aids is a bit like adjusting to progressive lenses.  It takes time for the brain link with the device.  Even then, hearing aids are not a perfect replacement for a well working pair of ears.  

Progressive lenses - Grrr.  Had them for a year and never adjusted.  They were dangerous to drive with.

mrmaplewood said:

Progressive lenses - Grrr.  Had them for a year and never adjusted.  They were dangerous to drive with.

I love mine and have since about 15 minutes after I first got them (not that I didn't experience some adjustment) but I still felt the improvement immediately.) If yours were dangerous as you describe, I suspect that the measurements were not done well to ID where to position the progessions between the correction levels.

Are your in-ear pieces closed or open dome? can't recall which is better for noisy environments, but your audiologist will know. 

ril said:

Are your in-ear pieces closed or open dome? can't recall which is better for noisy environments, but your audiologist will know. 

I don't know but will look into it and ask the Dr when I visit for my follow up. 

I have been wearing hearing aids for over 25 years now, and have gone from tiny in the ear ones to over the ear beasts as my hearing has declined.  Just bought a new pair of Phonak rechargeables and getting used to them.

Since I am a heavy phone user and I am on the go (ears in) from 4:30 AM to 11:00 PM I am finding that the batteries run down by the end of the evening.  It is not feasible for me to recharge them during the day since that will mean pulling them out and I will be totally deaf.  So I hope that the batteries do not decline over time.  I do carry my backups with me just in case. 

On the other hand, the sound quality is amazingly good compared to my previous ones, and I am about to get the Roger On microphone so I can place it on a table during a meeting and get even more directional sound clarity.

I have always used audiologists (I have an amazing one in Morristown), but if he retires I will try Costco.  The price I just paid is punishing.  I am also seeing lots of ads for "over the counter" hearing aids that seem not only cheaper but also have the features of higher priced aids.  But I am skeptical and really cannot afford to take a risk with my hearing since I am still employed in a high-pressure job.

I also have always been stunned that with so many of us aging and losing our hearing that AARP and other lobbying groups have not focused on getting aids covered by insurance.  Heck, even Medicare barely covers them--I think you can get like a small credit if you purchase them via Medicare.  Kind of mystifying.

Sonova produces Costco’s Kirkland Signature (KS9) 9.0 Digital Hearing Instruments. 

Jaytee said:

Sonova produces Costco’s Kirkland Signature (KS9) 9.0 Digital Hearing Instruments. 

produced

Costco hasn’t sold its KS brand for over a full year now. Last was at least KS10.

Brief story on All Things Considered tonight about hearing aids.