Q&A

Subject: Digital Hearing Aids
May, 1998
From: JZ

I would like to ask you about how the features of the digital hearing aids that are currently available in the market. I am planning to replace my pair of Argosy Eclipse with the new technology. I was reading your Director Corner and I found some information on the equipment that you have mentioned, but the decision of which equipment is the best is still unanswered. How I can compare the features of such digital hearing aids? Is there an independent company (like Consumer Reports) that can develop different test in order to determine the best one? Regards, JZ

This web site is close to being the latest information that you'll find anywhere. New digital hearing aids are being announced every day, but quite a few of them are just relabeled versions of ones that are already on the market. Some are totally automatic, no user adjustments needed. Some have remote controls for adjusting the "program" and volume. Some have volume controls on the aid itself (a push button).

There is no best hearing aid. They have different features and some may be more important than others to you. The best way to get honest independent advice is to visit an audiologist who sells many different brands. She will not be biased toward a particular brand, and should match the hearing aid features against your hearing needs. A rating "agency" would have trouble keeping their reports up to date. Clinics are selling aids that weren't on the market a month ago!

Most clinics, for example, try not to sell brands that have a poor reliability history... it's just too much trouble. Most of the cost of a hearing aid is in the audiologist's time over the years, taking care of it. We audiologists certainly don't want a lousy hearing aid out there that we'll have to take care of.

Solveig