Hearing Aids: What brands are best?

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Bennny

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I currently have "behind the ear" Unitron hearing aids that are about six years old. After shopping around lately I have noticed that the new hardware is half the size of my current set, and almost twice as powerful. My question is; what brands of HA's are known to be reliable and of good quality? My Unitron set has not given me any issues, but I have a set of Starkey "in the ear" HA's that have been sent in numerous times for repair. I know I definitely do not want Starkey, but wouldn't mind another set of Unitron's as these have never given me problems. Any advice is appreciated and I will be searching the forums to help find answers as well. Thanks!
 
Bennny said:
I currently have "behind the ear" Unitron hearing aids that are about six years old. After shopping around lately I have noticed that the new hardware is half the size of my current set, and almost twice as powerful. My question is; what brands of HA's are known to be reliable and of good quality? My Unitron set has not given me any issues, but I have a set of Starkey "in the ear" HA's that have been sent in numerous times for repair. I know I definitely do not want Starkey, but wouldn't mind another set of Unitron's as these have never given me problems. Any advice is appreciated and I will be searching the forums to help find answers as well. Thanks!
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I have Phonak Savia's which are really old, 9 years old and still going, but I need new ones. I love this brand which is good and looking at Oticon Alta Pro as well.
 
Bennny said:
I currently have "behind the ear" Unitron hearing aids that are about six years old. After shopping around lately I have noticed that the new hardware is half the size of my current set, and almost twice as powerful. My question is; what brands of HA's are known to be reliable and of good quality? My Unitron set has not given me any issues, but I have a set of Starkey "in the ear" HA's that have been sent in numerous times for repair. I know I definitely do not want Starkey, but wouldn't mind another set of Unitron's as these have never given me problems. Any advice is appreciated and I will be searching the forums to help find answers as well. Thanks!
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It's possible that it wasn't a starkey problem but an ITE problem. BTE are more durable whatever brand. The names you'll see dropped most often are Phonak Oticon and some widex, but prob more of the first 2. It really comes down to how you like sound of them.
 
ambrosia said:
It's possible that it wasn't a starkey problem but an ITE problem. BTE are more durable whatever brand. The names you'll see dropped most often are Phonak Oticon and some widex, but prob more of the first 2. It really comes down to how you like sound of them.
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I hear that the ITE hardware is more prone to failure. What is the reasoning behind this?
 
Bennny said:
I hear that the ITE hardware is more prone to failure. What is the reasoning behind this?
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Probably moisture, that's hard plastic against skin......that has to get messy
 
khar59 said:
I have Phonak Savia's which are really old, 9 years old and still going, but I need new ones. I love this brand which is good and looking at Oticon Alta Pro as well.
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Thanks! That's two replies that mention Oticon and Phonak. I'll look into them.
 
Bennny said:
Thanks! That's two replies that mention Oticon and Phonak. I'll look into them.
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I've had both, I liked the sound if the Oticon better, but I need the power of the Naida now, had to switch.
 
if you can, get a trial period so you can try different hearing aids before settling on a set that you like best and feel will work best for you. I have a Phonak Naida (first generation), and have been happy with it.
 
ambrosia said:
I've had both, I liked the sound if the Oticon better, but I need the power of the Naida now, had to switch.
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I'm only looking at Oticon because my insurance is now covering aides and to be in network it appears I have one choice of Audiologist who is with a hospital. He flatly refuses to deal with anything other than Oticon because he said, he knows the brand and unless I can give him a really convincing argument on Phonak, I will just have to do what this man says. This is why I have preferred to go private as hospital Audiologists can be Nazi's like this guy, who refuses to allow anything but what he says is the best. He will probably try to tell me what style I should wear too. My argument is that I'm paying the money, so give me what I want!

My mother has Oticon Chili and she says it's one of the best she's ever had. her hearing is like 1%, and I have 70% & 60% loss per ear respectively.I would like the new Phonak Audeo which I tried on today and is so tiny with an open fitting or something. The ha's I have now are In the Ear half shells and yes my ears feel plugged up but I'm used to it and yes, they get moisture, but nothing like the In the canal's did. They were the worst for needing repairs and replacement parts because of the moisture.
 
Mine are Oticon Sumo - 8.5 years old. They've been pretty good (but dying now...:( ). I've had experience with Phonak and Widex (Senso I think).. but Oticon has been the main brand I've had over the years. There was one set that wasn't any of these three brand names- can't remember what it was U (might have been Unitron.. who knows). Getting a trial period is good advice though I've never had that luxury partly because what I could use was limited (those old analog...digital seems to be better).

Will be interesting for my next pair. Every hearing aid I've had I've had to max out the power including turning up the volume full blast... Loud sounds don't bother me (that MCL and UCL level test- I just sit there when they hit 105 db lol)
 
I have Oticon, love mine!!!!! (my 2nd pair is crap but my purple ones are awesome!!!)
*also will be upgrading this year now that my insurance is already renewed!*
 
Sarfarigirl2011 said:
I have Oticon, love mine!!!!! (my 2nd pair is crap but my purple ones are awesome!!!)
*also will be upgrading this year now that my insurance is already renewed!*
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Will you be going for the Alto Pro like I'm looking at do you think? Seems to have all the bells and whistles and I do want Bluetooth!
 
I have HA that has button to change the setting on it and I really do not like it. I like my HA that had a little switch on it . I when to answer the phone tonight and the button did not work right and I could not hear my daughter on the line. I will never did a HA with a push button again.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I when to answer the phone tonight and the button did not work right and I could not hear my daughter on the line. I will never did a HA with a push button again.
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Hmm... I have rexton charismo with a little button and can't hear on the phone. I assumed it was just unrealistic with my hearing - but maybe the issue is really the style of HA.
 
Konijnen said:
Hmm... I have rexton charismo with a little button and can't hear on the phone. I assumed it was just unrealistic with my hearing - but maybe the issue is really the style of HA.
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I pushed the button but it must had got stuck and did not go into mode for the phone . My HA will go beep beep then go dead and the battery is new. Maybe your HA is not turned up high enough or it's not strong enough for your hearing lost. What kind of ear molds are you using are they custom made or one that came with your HA? Do you get a lot of feedback ?
 
Bennny said:
I currently have "behind the ear" Unitron hearing aids that are about six years old. After shopping around lately I have noticed that the new hardware is half the size of my current set, and almost twice as powerful. My question is; what brands of HA's are known to be reliable and of good quality? My Unitron set has not given me any issues, but I have a set of Starkey "in the ear" HA's that have been sent in numerous times for repair. I know I definitely do not want Starkey, but wouldn't mind another set of Unitron's as these have never given me problems. Any advice is appreciated and I will be searching the forums to help find answers as well. Thanks!
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I had Starkey for the analogs for years and years and they were great. The digitals were terrible so I bought a pair of Widex and never looked back. Difference is night and day.....


Laura
 
are there any models that DON'T go 'beep beep beep' when you switch between the options (M, M/T, T) or when you close the battery door? It drives me nuts and apparently it is loud enough that some hearing people can use it. It gets worse when the battery starts to die. BEEPBEEPBEEP.....BEEEPBEEEEEEEEEEEEPBEEEEEEEEEEP Augh!!
 
DeafDucky said:
are there any models that DON'T go 'beep beep beep' when you switch between the options (M, M/T, T) or when you close the battery door? It drives me nuts and apparently it is loud enough that some hearing people can use it. It gets worse when the battery starts to die. BEEPBEEPBEEP.....BEEEPBEEEEEEEEEEEEPBEEEEEEEEEEP Augh!!
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My Oticons would beep when the battery was going to die. A few times it happened in the middle if a massage whe I couldn't do anything about it and had to listen to that beeping for twenty minutes or whatever. My Phonak naiads don't do that, they do make a chiming noise when they turn on and when you switch programs manually, still it's not as obnoxious as the beeping.
 
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