[Tweeters] Hearing Aid advice

[Robert O'Brien via Tweeters]

I'm glad you asked, John.
For decades I've had poor hearing in both ears but my left ear was far
worse.  This was confirmed every two years or so at Kaiser NW here in
Portland.  Other than showing me the test results, no action was taken by
Kaiser.
It had gotten to the point that my wife was constantly asking me to get
hearing aids, since I was constantly asking her to repeat things.
Finally Covid hit both of us late, about a year ago.  Neither was very
serious and soon abated.   Except for my hearing, which became far worse in
my already bad left ear.  I looked online and found this to be one of many
after effects of Covid.
I then went to Kaiser to try to deal with it.  I won't talk about the
details, which were ridiculous, ultimately culminating with a Kaiser
Audiology MD giving me a small Kaiser pamphlet describing the process to
purchase hearing aids from Kaiser.  He wrote into the pamphlet the
estimated costs for each ear.  $5,000 for the left, $3,000 for the right.
Total $8000..  He did mention I did not have to purchase them from Kaiser
(I knew that)..  Wow.  I asked whether over-the-counter hearing aids would
work.  He doubted it, given the seriousness of my hearing loss.
My next step was Costco, having my hearing tested there, with the same
results as Kaiser had gotten.  But the outcome was a little bit different.
A pair of Costco hearing aids would be $750 each, total $1,500.  Naturally
I went for that.  The Costco person had extensive experience with their
hearing aids, although he did not have any real medical training that I
knew of.  He was very knowledgeable and helpful.  Great.
When they came in and were 'installed', the hearing in my historically bad
left ear was restored within a day.  That is, both ears were the same
*without* the hearing aids. They remain so.  (That after a decade or so of
tests at Kaiser with no advice).  My hearing was still poor but was nicely
restored by the Costco hearing aids.  I now could hear high
frequencies that I had not heard in decades.
I was so amazed by the restoration of my left ear that I tried to schedule
another hearing test with Costco to double check the 'miracle in my left
ear'.  Saw the same Costco person who said that another test was not
necessary, since the restoration of my left ear was 'normal'.  He was not
surprised at all.
I'll let the reader draw their own conclusions about Kaiser Audiology down
here.
It's now been almost a year and the hearing aids continue their excellent
performance.  I have never even adjusted them.
One caveat though.  Although I can hear the kinglets now, I can't really
determine the direction of their calls.  Turning 360 degrees is no help.
This, of course, remains a real Birding deficiency that so far I've not
tried to correct or deal with.
Bob OBrien Portland
P.S. My Kaiser covers Portland and Vancouver.  Seattle would be a different
'branch'? of Kaiser that I know nothing about.  Costco has 3 or so
different manufacturers and I followed the advice of the costco adviser,
which was not the most expensive.  But the pricing is not that much
different between them.
P.P.S.  The Kaiser adviser told me that the hearing aids could be adjusted
by cell phone but my ancient Samsung S7 phone was not up to the task.  So I
purchased an S23, used, online.  When I went to download the software for
the hearing aid (Phillips) I was required to allow Phillips to listen in to
all of my conversations and sell anything and everything to whomever they
pleased.  Perhaps this is why they were so cheap?  Sorta like cheap
printers and expensive ink?  I skipped the software and have not adjusted
for a year, even though there are buttons on the hearing aids so it can be
done manually..  I had bought the new (used) phone unnecessarily as my S7
worked fine.  However the camera on the S23 is far better  than the S7, so
that was not a total waste of money.



On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 9:07 AM jgretten via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> Hello Tweeters,

>

> I'm starting to look at hearing aids and was wondering if anyone had

> advice/experience on brands or types as it relates to hearing birds,

> particularly those high-pitched kinglets. Thanks.

>

> John Grettenberger

> Olympia. WA

>

>

>

> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

>

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> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

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>

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