Bernafon, Phonak, Oticon, Siemens or Starkey for CICs?

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aaferizis

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After 6 years of wearing two Siemens Signia CICs I'm shopping around for an upgrade.

So far I'm considering the following:

Bernafon: Neo
Phonak: Maxx or eXtra
Oticon: Gaia or Adapto
Siemens: Triano
Starkey: Axent III

Note that I haven't considered the top of the line models of each manufacturer because the prices are just too high (nearly double the price of the least expensive model).

I'm leaning towards the Oticon Gaia or the Phonak eXtra, which are in the same price category as the Siemens Triano, though I don't know how to compare the 3.

It's a tricky situation because of all the above manufacturers, only Starkey and maybe Phonak will allow me a totally FREE trial (others demand I pay the full amount first or at least the cost of making the shell). Ah the joys of NOT living in North America... :)

Help!!

Alex
 
I think Oticon's Adapto would be best choice..
Adapto includes a speech recognition algorithm in its processor so It is best
choice for you, I suppose..
Phonak's Maxx could be a second option..

Good luck :)
 
The shorter list

I'm narrowing it down somewhat to:

Oticon Gaia or Oticon Adapto
Phonak eXtra
Widex Diva
Starkey Axent III

So far all the others I've seen are out of my price range.

Has anyone had any experience with the above in a CIC?
 
Alex, why do you want to have cics? Cosmetic reasons? You may want to take the oppertunity to try larger aids. Ask if you can trial a larger aid in the audi's office. You just don't want to take the risk that you could hear better with a larger aid. Plus the larger aids tend to be cheaper. Trust me......I remember thinking that I could hear with the ITE aids that I wore in jr high and part of high school..... my mom then took me to Mass Eye and Ear.....they put a BTE aid on me......have not looked back since then!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Stay away from Starkeys! They are the worst! I have used Phonak, Octicons, and Starkeys. Octicon and Phonak are wonderful. Starkey is horrible - I bought mine like a year and half ago and it is sitting on my desk right now. It has broken like 3 times since I bought it. There is another lady who works at the same location I work - and she bought some Starkeys and within 2 years she had to dump them they broke continously and the quality of the sound is not good. (which I can agree - you can tell a big difference on quality of sounds between phonak, octicon and starkey) My mother had a Starkey and she dumped it in a year - it wasnt even clear for her - so she opted for an Octicon and has not looked back.
 
I agree with Deflord..

I've been using an Oticon E26 P analog hearing aid since June,1996..
Still works.. Oticon is so robust.. I am going to get my digital aids soon
probably I'll choose Oticon Sumo DM for my severe to profound loss..

Select either Oticon or Phonak ... Not others... Follow my advice :)


DefLord said:
Stay away from Starkeys! They are the worst! I have used Phonak, Octicons, and Starkeys. Octicon and Phonak are wonderful. Starkey is horrible - I bought mine like a year and half ago and it is sitting on my desk right now. It has broken like 3 times since I bought it. There is another lady who works at the same location I work - and she bought some Starkeys and within 2 years she had to dump them they broke continously and the quality of the sound is not good. (which I can agree - you can tell a big difference on quality of sounds between phonak, octicon and starkey) My mother had a Starkey and she dumped it in a year - it wasnt even clear for her - so she opted for an Octicon and has not looked back.
Click to expand...
 
Good posting ,deafdyke..

I never think of getting CICs.. BTEs are best devices in practice..
They're far more robust than CICs.. and cheap for repairing

deafdyke said:
Alex, why do you want to have cics? Cosmetic reasons? You may want to take the oppertunity to try larger aids. Ask if you can trial a larger aid in the audi's office. You just don't want to take the risk that you could hear better with a larger aid. Plus the larger aids tend to be cheaper. Trust me......I remember thinking that I could hear with the ITE aids that I wore in jr high and part of high school..... my mom then took me to Mass Eye and Ear.....they put a BTE aid on me......have not looked back since then!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
 
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