A couple, (a man and a woman-there was a time when I wouldn't have had to state that fact) who have been married to each other (there was a time when I wouldn't have had to state that fact) visited my office for a consultation and evaluation,on the Husband's hearing problems.
The Man had a delightful personality, as did his Wife, and she was very tolerant,patient,and understanding of her Husband's problem.
The Hearing Aid User, had been under chemotherapy treatments for Cancer, for the past year, and they both felt that those treatments had a delerterious affect on the Husband's hearing loss.
I'm sure it did, but it also saved his life. He still functions very well, even though he uses Hearing Aids.
As is not uncommon, while he suffers from what we classify as a severe to profoud hearing loss, especially in the higher frequencies, where it is mot critical to understanding the spoken word correctly, he also is very sensitive to loud sounds and input.
This problem is called: Dynamic Range, which means he needs a lot of amplification to hear, but becomes very uncomfortable when the amplification is about 10 DB higher than his MCL (Most Comfortable Level) and so he is aperfect candidate for Digital Signal Processing, which provides features to limit his exposure to loud sounds.
He was wearing Electone Digital Hearing Aids, Full Shell or In-the-ear (ITE) with a power circuit.
The model of Hearing Aid, was classified as Entry Level, which basically means, within the industry, it is the cheapest hearing aid a Manufacturer offers.
The conflict is, that this Man paid a former COSTCO Hearing Aid Dispenser, now self-employed, with her own Independent Office, $2,800 each, for the Entry Level Hearing Aid.
Among other features, it did not provide any feed-back management feature. There were very few adjustments availabl, and Electone said it was a single channel hearing aid.
This is a case, where Man paid for what he thought was a Cadillac, and instead received a Chevy.
I didn't know what to say.
How do you tell somebody that they have been taken advantage of.
How are they to know?
I took Impressions of his ears, and will let him try some Siemens BTE's to see if he can understand speech better.
The proof of the pudding is in the eatng.
The 48 Year Old Salesman that I tested yesterday, came in this afternoon to be fitted with new Rexton Revo open-fit hearing aids.
He said, at this point, he has never been more impressed with Hearing Aids.
They can't be seen by anyone, and he doesn't feel plugged up.
In fact he said it didn't feel like he even had Hearing Aids in his Ear, which is the main attraction of Open-Fit Hearing Aids.
Time will tell.
Today had several interesting experiences.
In the end, the Hearing Aid User will determine how well the Hearing Aids function.
And even at our reduced prices, whether the Hearing Aids are worth the money.
For further information call: Eugenia Mironoff @ (800)432-7114
Many factors are involved in fitting a hearing aid or two. Lifestyle, audiogram, dicrimination, and checkbook are all factors. If someone has a limited lifestyle(not going out much) they don't need premium hearing instruments unless they have difficult loss to fit. A flat loss is easier to fit then a sloped loss and only someone who knows what they are doing can recomend the appropriate fit. Also watch out for return times and fitting fee's. Do you get loss and damage coverage and how much will they charge you as a deductable. Anyone you go to that doesn't allow you to walk out.. isn't worth going to. The harder the sell the faster you should run
Just an FYI Electone & Rexton are sister companies and both owned by Siemens, just an FYI
Also, analog hearing aids are sometimes all people can afford or all that medicaid will cover for a particular state. Also, as we all know the more time passes more sophisticated technology becomes cheaper, so maybe at the time the analog aid was purchased it was cheaper than digital.
This is an attempt for a little free gratuitous advertising. Who else will pat this poor little Audi on the back but themselves. Get a life. If you ask a bricklayer how to build a house, he'll say, with bricks????
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Get a life. If you ask a bricklayer how to build a house, he'll say, with bricks????
