So most of my fellow C-14 owners are 'long of tooth' as I am and therefore, I believe have some experience in an area new to me.....
I am 60 yrs. old and my hearing sucks (technical term meaning significant loss of sensitivity to both very low and mid- to- high frequency sound). I often use the CC portion of TV and just read the words. I am having all the 'usual' problems with speech from an individual, lots of 'white noise' in public areas such as restaurants, and the inability to discriminate consonants. Now while this has a distinctly humorous result, such as when the wife and kid want to watch "Doctor Sour" and I cannot find it because the real title is "Darkest hour", it also has its drawbacks such as conversing with other humans generally.
So, after having a hearing test by an audiologist (real M.D., not a hearing aid center), and getting the curve of my hearing loss, it has been presented to me that I "require" XYZ brand and type of hearing aid. Fine and well. But these hearing aids are $6,200, out of pocket, and I am currently researching how much better 'the best' is from the middle- of- the pack hearing aids, which start at $150 each and run up to $1,200 each. ??
So, here is the question: is $1,000 worth of hearing aids 90% as good as the $6,200 hearing aids? 70% as good?
??
I did test- drive a pair of Opticon One hearing aids for the weekend and I must say that 1) they really seemed to "cure" my nasty tinnitus, which is GREAT all by itself. They seemed to help my overall hearing, starting with human interaction and ending with TV watching. They are comfortable and I actually fell asleep with them installed without any discomfort or problem. But the real question remains: will $300 worth of hearing aids perform well enough by comparison? How about the $1,200 hearing aids?
So to all you half- deaf, 'old people' out there, any insight in choosing between a lesser priced but "full capability" set of hearing aids, and the 'top dog', very expensive, 'state- of- the- art' hearing aids? Is the difference worth 6 or 10 times the cost?
Any useful input appreciated,
Brian