Hearing has been a bit of an outlier in messaging on healthy and happy ageing. It shouldn’t be. Communication is so important to our mental health and well-being. Modern research is clear that being able to hear, and the life that this lets us lead, is important to our overall mental health, and we should no more neglect hearing fitness, than exercise and healthy diet. I often look at it a simpler way – it’s so much easier to use hearing aids than to get on the treadmill, so why wouldn’t any one with hearing difficulties try and fix it and get the best hearing they can?

One word of of warning though. You need to take control of the “Getting Hearing Aids Process”. Be proactive and take control of the process. Prices vary a lot, and price is no longer a good guide on quality. Within one retailer, or one brand, price is a guide. Between retailers and brands, price is not a good guide. We, for example, price our hearing aids much lower than some companies price high end hearing aids.

Read up about the features, on the company’s website, and pick the ones that suit your needs.  Check prices between retailers.  And it’s a bit like restaurants – I’d worry if the prices are not displayed, unless money is no object to you. Hearing aid prices are often bundled with a service component.  If this is the case, ask for a breakdown of what you are paying for. How much is service? How much are you paying for your free box of batteries?

For some reason, buying a hearing aid is usually  more complicated than buying a phone.  At some point you need to have the device customised for you.  We have made our technology so that this is very easy to do for yourself.  We feel that this is better, as you can do this in your own environment, with familiar noises around you. And it also saves you money.

Hearing aid prices may tell you more about the business owner philosophy and profit margins than about hearing aid quality. I have been told by some of my clients, that they have been quoted upwards of $10,000 for hearing aids.  We are keeping a tally on our wall. The highest quote I have heard so far is $18,000. We assume that this must have been misheard, but it’s hard to push out a message of early hearing aid adoption when we hear this kind of tale. You can buy a car for that.

We don’t spend much on marketing, and we supply direct to the customer, so we can afford to bring top quality hearing aids at a very reasonable price.