Saving Money Buying Hearing Aids

jem16

jim83 wrote: »

To highlight what I was saying about sticking to "own brand", it's worth noting that the Specsavers Advance 520 and 620 you have mentioned are effectively the Starkey Destiny 1200 and Destiny 1600. (you can confirm this by looking at the specifications.) They are being sold cheaper than the standard wholesale price + vat that most independent stores have to pay.

You mentioned the Starkey Destiny 1600 earlier - would you say that it's worth the extra £200 over the Destiny 1200?

I have been trying to find the actual specifications but without success - most just have a list of features so not easy to compare.

You will find that the Specsavers Advance products ending in 30 will be pretty much the same as the instruments in the David Ormerod Digital Value range. So it's definitely worth seeing what the audiologist there has to say about them.

Are the Advance products ending in 10 and 20 inferior in any way?

jem16

Errata wrote: »

Jem, I've just had a thought. Phonak make an infra red wirefree mike/ receiver. It's a little larger than a fountain pen and you lay it on your desk or in your hand and point it at whoever's speaking and it gets transmitted straight into your hearing aid(s) through a small boot that clips onto the end of them. Cuts out all the background noise and I found mine invaluable when I was working and chairing large meetings in large rooms. Bit difficult to describe, but info is on the Phonak website - just google. HTH

I tried to find this on Phonak's website but couldn't find anything. If you have a link that would be great.

Errata

Just had a v quick google and found this, same as mine and I got mine about 8/9 years ago so there may be an even better model now.
http://www.connevans.com/technical/tx3.shtml
If it will help you in the classroom, your employer should pay for it under the Reasonable Adjustments rule. My employer paid for mine and at the time it was being dispensed to schoolchildren free on the NHS, but not adults.

jim83

jem16 wrote: »

You mentioned the Starkey Destiny 1600 earlier - would you say that it's worth the extra £200 over the Destiny 1200?

I can't say whether or not it will be worth the money for you, but the 1600 is Starkey's flagship product so you can't go far wrong really. I've had a lot of success with it.

Starkey do tend to take a different approach to other manufacturers, opting for simplicity and ease of use over bells and whistles. Top of the line products from other manufacturers will include things like bluetooth integration, remote controls, etc. Starkey's selling feature is that the audiologist has as many tools as his or her disposal to get the prescription spot on with the aid in the ear.

Are the Advance products ending in 10 and 20 inferior in any way?

Not that I'm aware. As far as I'm concerned, ending in 10 means Siemens, 20 means Starkey and 30 means Phonak.



You're venturing into the realm of loop and FM systems in looking at the Phonak TX3 (these specifically have been discontinued, but there are newer things on the market).

This is Phonak's area of expertise really and if it's an avenue you want to explore, it's not uncommon for Phonak to get directly involved in the recommendation and fitting. But you should be aware that as a general rule this limits you to behind the ear hearing aids in a similar style to what you have tried from the NHS.

This sort of setup can get pretty costly. When I have provided them in the past it has been through Access to Work programs. To be honest, I'd speak to the audiologist about whether you are suitible for it. If you only have a mild loss it could be venturing into the "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut" territory.

Savvy_Sue

I was beginning to wonder whether a personal loop thingy would help jem in class. If you wanted to try the cheap'n'cheerful option, RNID do the Sonido for less than £60. My sister can't function in meetings without one of the expensive ones (but she got that before the Sonido came out). I've had a play with hers in restaurants, and did find it helped a bit with eliminating background noise. We also all had a play with someone's Sonido in lipreading class ... One of my cousins JUST uses a communicator rather than a hearing aid.

One thing about getting anything like that under the Access to Work scheme is that it doesn't then belong to you. For that reason sis bought her own communicator, so that a) she can take it home and b) it can never be borrowed for anyone else's use at work.

Of course ONE of my problems with background noise is that one ear is fine. So while I can up the volume in my hearing aid, I can't shut down what comes in through the 'good' ear!

jem16

jim83 wrote: »

Not that I'm aware. As far as I'm concerned, ending in 10 means Siemens, 20 means Starkey and 30 means Phonak.

I see what you mean now. Do you know what the Advance 510 and 630 models are effectively?

You're venturing into the realm of loop and FM systems in looking at the Phonak TX3 (these specifically have been discontinued, but there are newer things on the market).

I don't think this would be any use to me. I'm a Primary teacher with 33 pupils in my class. A personal loop wouldn't be useful as I would have to pass it around the children. Installing a permanent one wouldn't help either as I may be in different classrooms each year depending on what age group I have.

To be honest, I'd speak to the audiologist about whether you are suitible for it. If you only have a mild loss it could be venturing into the "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut" territory.

Personally I don't see the need for it at all. I can manage without hearing aids by simply moving myself around the classroom if necessary. Meetings give me no problem at all and neither does communicating with parents or anybody else on a one-to-one basis. I would simply like better aids that would allow me to hear the children better in class without going over the top.

My hearing loss is at 45db at the most.

lolly5648

Does anyone know anything about these - they were launched yesterday. My husband has hearing loss of the higher frequencies. He has an NHS aid which he wears occasionally at home for watching television but finds it uncomfortable.

He wants an in the ear aid that is not too noticeable that he could wear for meetings or when eating with friends in a noisy restaurant.

Our local PCT does not provide in the ear aids.

Savvy_Sue

No, lolly, I don't, but I've merged you into an existing thread on hearing aids because I am sure our resident expert will have some suggestions.

Mine would be that if his hearing aid isn't comfortable he should go back and get the mould checked / get a new mould. I was on my third mould before I got my 'open-fit' one, and would have carried on hassling if that hadn't done the trick.

jim83

lolly5648 wrote: »

He wants an in the ear aid that is not too noticeable that he could wear for meetings or when eating with friends in a noisy restaurant.

To be perfectly honest, I think it would be a waste of £150. There's no chance they will work in any kind of noisy situation and as they're not programmed to prescription they will be of limited benefit elsewhere if your husband's hearing loss deviates at all from the average.

If he wants to try it, he should speak to someone at David Ormerod (this is the group that provides hearing services at Boots) and see if he can have it on the usual month's guarantee period. This is usually the case with all privately bought hearing instruments, but as the Hearplus is not to prescription I have a suspicion it could be exempt.

I can assure you that it is being used as a tool to get people through the door and sell them more appropriate hearing aids at much higher prices.

Definitely worth checking if the local PCT do open fitting aids yet. They are designed for high frequency losses, so may be perfect for your husband. They are still behind the ear, but a bit more discreet than the usual ones you see and a lot more comfortable.

Beyond that you can go privately, but you can realistically expect the costs to go up by a factor of ten.

jim83

Oh and apparently Specsavers also do something similar to this Hearplus. No prices on their website, but I'm sure it would be no more than at Boots.