Quick Read
Quality in hearing aids can vary widely, so it’s best to research reputable brands or ask the advice of a professional in order to find the best hearing aid for your budget.
Buying a hearing aid is a significant investment, and so naturally you want to ensure you get the very best quality possible for your dollar. At The Hearing Center, we will work with nearly any brand you prefer, but we do have professional opinions about what makes a superior hearing aid and why.
One of the first factors we consider when evaluating a hearing aid is the build quality. Many “bargain” aids use poor-quality or out-of-date materials, or display shoddy workmanship. They may use old or inferior components for everything from the speakers to the microchips, which obviously results in a less than ideal experience. For example, a couple of years ago many manufacturers started to produce hearing aids with 24-bit chips, rather than the old 16-bit standard. This allowed the aids with the new chips to do a much better job of converting music and speech without distortion, but hearing aids with the older chips are still produced, and will inevitably deliver sub-par results. Furthermore, not all hearing aids meet ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards or have an IP68 rating (which ensures they are water- and dust-proof), resulting in devices which might be less effective from the beginning and/or degrade quickly over time.
Another important aspect of hearing aids which can affect their effectiveness is the level of access the manufacturer allows for audiologists to make adjustments. Not all hearing aids allow equal “under the hood” access. Naturally, as hearing professionals, we prefer maximum openness on the part of the producer, with myriad controls for calibration. It’s also worth noting that software varies widely between different brands of hearing aids, and furthermore the level of fine tuning possible between low-end and high-end products in the same brand can be dramatically different.
Of course, all of this is important and informs our opinions and recommendations, but none of it matters nearly as much as making sure that whatever hearing aid you choose is properly configured from the beginning, well-maintained over time, and is compatible for your lifestyle. Ultimately, the brand of hearing aid you choose will never be as important as the service it receives. If you think you need hearing aids, be sure to check out our article on how to choose an audiologist!
You can also read up on our most commonly recommended hearing aids here.