The Complete Guide to Hearing Aid Types, Cost, Brands, and More

Wir überprüfen jeden von uns empfohlenen Artikel unabhängig und schätzen Ihr Vertrauen und Ihre Unterstützung. Wenn Sie über unsere Links kaufen, erhalten wir möglicherweise eine Provision.Mehr erfahren.

Unabhängig. Unvoreingenommen.

Produktbewertungen.

Are hearing aid brands really that important?

We think hearing aid brands are important, but not nearly as important as the skill and care of your hearing care provider.

Competition among the Big 5 global brands is fierce, and many other brands are also vying for market share, particularly in OTC and other niches. Every hearing aid brand has its own distinctive history, R&D approaches, and manufacturing philosophy for arriving at the best hearing aid user outcomes, as well as giving providers the best tools to achieve these outcomes. And, at any given time, there can be some standout features of one brand that may make it a better fit for you than another brand. A good hearing care professional should be able to guide you to the optimal solution, and our hope is that HearingTracker can also give you some ideas for input during the decision-making process.

Ultimately, we think that any high-quality hearing aid fitted using best practices by a skilled hearing provider who has the time to get the fitting right for you (including return visits for adjustments and counseling) is more important than the brand.

Is it important to choose a hearing aid provider that offers multiple brands?

The answer to this question depends on whom you ask. If your hearing provider offers a limited selection of brands and/or belongs to a network that dispenses hearing aids from one or two brands (e.g., Beltone, Miracle-Ear, HearingLife, Audigy, etc.), you'll have to stay with that brand(s) unless you change providers. However, assuming these are high-quality hearing aids, there are two schools of thought on this issue:

With fierce competition and superior technology usually determining market winners, it's pretty common to see the Big 5 hearing aid manufacturers taking turns leapfrogging each other with product innovation. Multi-brand dispensing offices are in a better position to get "the very best" technology compared to offices that offer only one or two brands. Offices offering multiple brands can also pick and choose from more specialty devices, such as those for severe-to-profound losses, CROS systems for people with single-sided deafness, tinnitus remediation, accessory products, and more.
All of the Big 5 brands produce high-quality hearing aids that are suitable for almost any hearing loss or lifestyle. Typically, hearing aid technology makes incremental improvements with every new product release, and the competition is rarely more than a year or two behind the leader. One brand may outperform its competition in a particular aspect but be surpassed by that same competitor in another. Further, one landmark study showed that a well-fit basic hearing aid with fewer advanced features can still perform about the same as a premium high-tech hearing aid if it is skillfully fit using best practice procedures like real-ear measurements (note: in the study, the premium devices performed slightly better in noise).

Traditionally, hearing aid sound quality has been limited by several factors, including physical space and the need to conserve battery life for advanced sound processing for 12-16 hours per day. Providing amplification in the extended frequency range (e.g., 6000 to 10,000 Hz) has not been a priority because the most important speech cues are found below 6000 Hz. Even music is predominantly a low-frequency phenomenon (Middle-C4 on an 88-key piano is 261 Hz and the highest key, C8, is 4186 Hz). Because many people experience greater degrees of hearing loss in the higher frequencies, the industry has historically not concentrated on providing amplification there. However, with advancements in today's receiver (electronic speaker) technology, you are now seeing some hearing aids providing amplification out to 8000 Hz.

Whether this capability for extended frequency is usable by an individual with high-frequency hearing loss—or even wise to amplify—can be the big question for hearing care providers. “There are phonemes (speech sounds) in the 6000-8000 Hz range, and amplification at those frequencies could potentially improve clarity and understanding of speech. I have fit some patients with those devices and they really like the sound,” writes John Coverstone, AuD, a Minneapolis-based audiologist who also hosts podcasts for the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA). “However, additional amplification in that high-frequency region comes with a cost: We are much more likely to be battling feedback (whistling) when amplifying at those frequencies. When fitting [these] devices, it has often been necessary to adopt a different fitting strategy (such as custom molds) in order to take advantage of those higher frequencies and still control feedback.” Accommodations, like custom molds, often come with their own sets of pros and cons.

“Most adults with significant high frequency (2000-8000 Hz) hearing loss do not have usable hearing that is much above the 8000 Hz range,” continues Coverstone. “Therefore, I am not sure that we will ever try to chase frequencies above 8000 Hz, as no significant speech information is found above 8000 Hz and the majority of people with hearing loss could not receive significant benefit from amplification above 8000 Hz. It would truly not be worth the effort.”