5 Great Digital Hearing Aids, Costs and More

Many of us eventually need help hearing. When you are in the market for a hearing aid, remember that nothing will bring your hearing back as good as new, but many will improve your hearing. See if your state requires that you receive a 30-day trial period. Most states do require this, but allow the manufacturer to charge you 5 to 20 percent if you return and do not buy. Review the warranty carefully to make sure both labor and parts will be covered. You also want a loaner if yours is sent in for repairs.

If you are a qualified veteran (first and foremost, I thank you), then your hearing aid will be paid for. My dad was a 100 percent disabled veteran of World War II; so thankfully, cost was not an issue for us. If you are a veteran, contact your local Veterans Affairs office. If cost is a big issue, there are places that will help, or will pay 100 percent of the cost for your hearing aid. Medicaid will foot the bill for hearing aids, while many private insurance companies will only pay for the exam and often just a percentage of the cost of the actual hearing aid. If you are low income, and no assistance is available, contact Audient Alliance here and they will assist you in purchasing a hearing aid.

The Bravo hearing aid, by Widex Hearing Aids, is the hearing aid my dad used first. Not a bad hearing aid, but not the best either. While they do advertiser that you don't have to adjust very often, ewe found that not to be true. It was necessary to make adjustments according to background noises. This model is now selling for $1,599.

He upgraded to an Applause hearing aid by Sonic Innovations. He was much happier with this model. This was the last hearing aid he used. On the market now for $2199, it has super technology. It focuses on the noises that are in front of you and tunes down the noises to the side. It took me 6 kids to learn to do that! This is a great hearing aid, and made my Dad's life more enjoyable. He didn't have to worry about noises blasting his ears, or missing out on conversation because he could not hear.

Sonic Innovations offers two 24 channel hearing aids in the $2800 price range. The Velocity and the Ion 400. These hearing aids process out background noise. If you can afford one of these models, I would suggest something with background filtering. Background noises were a great source of irritation for my Dad. The more channels, the better the filtering.

For a very informative buyer's guide, follow this link to The Hearing Planet.