Comparing Hearing Aids
The hardest part of being an audiologist is determining which hearing aid will be better suited to a patient. There are a number of factors that we need to consider e.g. type and degree of hearing loss, hearing ability in noise, lifestyle factors, dexterity, appearance/visibility, sound quality, advanced features, and cost as well.
As we are a completely independent clinic we have come to the conclusion that there is no hearing aid manufacturer that is significantly better than the other. Via a thorough case history and in-depth testing we are able to narrow down devices to find the hearing aid that is most suitable to the patient. We can have 2 people with the same hearing loss, yet we might make 2 completely different …show more content…
With greater exposure to a number of device combined with clinic experience we get a greater insight into what the hearing aid manufacturers have to offer. What we have noticed over time is that we tend to see trends reported by patients. It's the feedback we receive from patients that we then pass on to other patients. An example of this is when we perform the end of warranty service, as we send someones hearing aids away for their final service we would then loan out a modern device. The patient ends up wearing them for 2 weeks prior to collecting their own hearing aid. It's their feedback which gives us a better idea on how new technology compares to previous technology. Or we may get a better understanding of how 2 different manufacturers may sound.
However, most of our input on hearing aids were based on patient feedback. We wanted to find a way to get a better understanding of how different hearing aids sounded. The issue with hearing aids is that we not able to truly test a number of devices to determine which one your preferred. When you purchase a car, you would narrow down your choices and test drive the ones that made the final cut. However this is not possible with hearing aids, even though some of them cost the same amount as a small
The hardest part of being an audiologist is determining which hearing aid will be better suited to a patient. There are a number of factors that we need to consider e.g. type and degree of hearing loss, hearing ability in noise, lifestyle factors, dexterity, appearance/visibility, sound quality, advanced features, and cost as well.
As we are a completely independent clinic we have come to the conclusion that there is no hearing aid manufacturer that is significantly better than the other. Via a thorough case history and in-depth testing we are able to narrow down devices to find the hearing aid that is most suitable to the patient. We can have 2 people with the same hearing loss, yet we might make 2 completely different …show more content…
With greater exposure to a number of device combined with clinic experience we get a greater insight into what the hearing aid manufacturers have to offer. What we have noticed over time is that we tend to see trends reported by patients. It's the feedback we receive from patients that we then pass on to other patients. An example of this is when we perform the end of warranty service, as we send someones hearing aids away for their final service we would then loan out a modern device. The patient ends up wearing them for 2 weeks prior to collecting their own hearing aid. It's their feedback which gives us a better idea on how new technology compares to previous technology. Or we may get a better understanding of how 2 different manufacturers may sound.
However, most of our input on hearing aids were based on patient feedback. We wanted to find a way to get a better understanding of how different hearing aids sounded. The issue with hearing aids is that we not able to truly test a number of devices to determine which one your preferred. When you purchase a car, you would narrow down your choices and test drive the ones that made the final cut. However this is not possible with hearing aids, even though some of them cost the same amount as a small