The hearing aids fitted here
Seven manufacturers, chosen after your results rather than before them. Which name ends up on the device matters considerably less than most websites suggest.
Seven manufacturers, one recommendation
- ReSound
- Oticon
- Phonak
- Signia
- Rexton
- Starkey
- Unitron
Carrying several manufacturers is the point. A practice that fits one brand can only recommend that brand, and the recommendation ends up following the stock rather than the patient.
Technology level matters more than the name on the box
Within any manufacturer there are typically three or four technology tiers at substantially different prices. The hardware frequently looks identical from the outside; what changes is the processing — particularly how well the device separates speech from background noise, and how many independent channels it has to do it with.
The top tier is not automatically the right answer. If most of your listening happens in quiet rooms and one-to-one, the extra money buys capability you will seldom call on. If your week is meetings, restaurants and crowded rooms, that is exactly where the higher tiers earn their cost.
Working out which of those describes you takes a conversation about your actual week, and it is the part of the appointment most worth spending time on.
What genuinely differs between manufacturers
Where the manufacturers do diverge is in sound-processing philosophy. Some work hard to isolate a single speaker in front of you and suppress everything else. Others deliberately keep more of the surrounding scene audible and let your brain do the separating.
Neither approach is correct in the abstract. Someone who wants to follow one conversation across a loud restaurant and someone who wants to stay aware of the whole room are asking for opposite behaviors, and the right choice depends on which person you are.
The practical differences worth weighing are usually more mundane than the marketing: the physical style that suits your loss and your dexterity, whether rechargeable or disposable batteries fit your routine, whether the device streams directly to the phone you actually own, and whether it can pair with a remote microphone if lectures or meetings are part of your life.
The device and the fitting both matter
Choosing the right technology level is part of the recommendation. Your audiologist also programs the hearing aids to your hearing loss, verifies the fitting with real ear measurement and makes adjustments during follow-up.
Ask how your recommended device suits your listening needs, how the fitting will be verified and what follow-up care is included.
Common questions
Which hearing aid brand is best?
There is no single best. At equivalent technology levels the major manufacturers are broadly comparable, and the sensible choice depends on your results, your listening life and how a device physically fits your ear.
Why do you fit several manufacturers rather than one?
Because carrying only one makes the recommendation follow the stock rather than the patient. Several means the device can be chosen to suit your results.
Do you fit devices I bought elsewhere?
Please ask when you call. What is possible depends on the device, its age and whether the programming software and any manufacturer restrictions allow it.
Is the most expensive model always better?
No. Higher technology levels mainly improve performance in complex, noisy environments. If most of your listening is quiet or one-to-one, the difference is modest and the cost is not.
Can I try before I commit?
Trial arrangements vary. Confirm the details with our office when you call, including the length of any trial and what happens at the end of it.
Where to go next
- Fitting and real ear measurementThe part of the process that determines most of the result.
- Hearing aidsStyles, what is included, and how the process runs here.
- Should you consider OTC first?An honest comparison, including when the cheaper option is the right one.
- Comparing brands, the longer readThe five questions worth asking wherever you go.
The device is the last decision, not the first.
A hearing evaluation comes first. The recommendation follows from it.