Eyes & Ears Online – Part 2

By Wayne Maruna

            In last month’s Tribune I posed the question:  what would you not purchase online.  I suggested eye glasses and hearing aids as two things most people associate with the need for local service providers. I related my success ordering glasses online after obtaining a prescription from an eye doctor.  In this month’s column, I’m going to share my experiences with online hearing aids.

            I was still working in 2007 when it became apparent that everyone in our staff meetings was mumbling.  I eventually realized it more likely my problem than theirs.  But it seemed that most people I talked to who had purchased hearing aids wore them for a brief period of time and then confined them to a dark corner of a drawer. I was unsure if my experience would be any different, so I made the decision to purchase a single hearing aid in early 2008, after adjusting payroll deductions into my medical Flexible Spending Account (FSA - a way to pay for medical expenses with pre-tax dollars.)

            Because I wanted to minimize my investment just in case I could not adapt to wearing an aid, I made my purchase online though www.hearingplanet.com.  They connected me with an audiologist in Kinston who gave me my hearing test and sent the audiogram to HearingPlanet.  The sales rep there discussed the various devices they offered, and we agreed on a basic device made by Siemens, a well known brand.  Long story short, it arrived, I wore it, I adapted to it, and the following year I ordered its mate using dollars from my replenished FSA.  The only major problem I ran into with the aids was that my office was on a mezzanine out in the factory, and when tow motors would round the corner below and honk their horns, I would get annoying feedback in my ears.

            Time passed, technology improved, and eventually I decided that a new pair was in order.  After examining options, I opted to get my new pair from Costco down in Wilmington.  These were Phonak hearing aids.  Phonak is another of the big six hearing aid companies, and was just starting to sell through big box stores.  To appease their long time independent professional providers, Phonak tweaked the Costco devices and related software such that you were required to return to Costco to have any adjustments made.  That meant a four hour round-trip drive for me, but I determined that at $2,600 for the pair ($600 less than I had paid years earlier for the Siemens aids) I could make the compromise.

            The two times I needed repair service on the Phonaks, I would drop them in the mail to Costco who would fix them and mail them back.  Service was incredible. Both times I mailed them out on a Monday and got them back on Wednesday!  That was impressive work by both Costco and the post office.  If I needed adjustments to improve my hearing, I would schedule an appointment on my way to Myrtle Beach.

            Nearly three years passed and I started having issues with the Phonaks.  Batteries were not lasting very long, and noisy environments would set them off beeping in my ears like the batteries were going bad again.  I decided to look for alternate devices.  Once again driven by the cost factor, I purchased a pair of hearing aids online from Audicus.com.  Their devices are made in Germany and their sales and support staff are based in New York.  I was required to obtain an audiogram from a local audiologist at my cost, which I did.  I purchased Audicus’s top-of-the-line devices for $1,400 for the pair delivered. The Audicus aids solved my two major issues with the Phonaks, but over the 45-day trial period I was allowed, they developed other issues.  The sound was too ‘bright’ and I was having problems hearing specific voices in crowded environments.  Further, I started having feedback problems.  Just walking through a normal doorway would set off feedback from the door jamb proximity.  I called customer service and returned the aids for adjustment.  Since I was not face to face with an audiologist or hearing aid specialist, the process entailed filling out an online questionnaire to clarify what sounds were too pronounced or too weak. The aids were adjusted and returned.  They were better, but there was still some feedback, and moving to any of the larger domes (the part that goes in your ear) they sent me did not solve the issue.  With time running out on my 45-day trial, I elected to return the devices for full credit.

            We made another trip to Costco on our way to Myrtle Beach.  I explained my issues with the old Phonaks, and the hearing aid specialist, who has always been very nice and accommodating, gave me another test and reprogrammed the devices.  But she also sent them back to Phonak to have the battery and noisy environment issues resolved.  By the time we got back from Myrtle Beach, the corrected aids were back to the store and have been working well since.  Since they were still under warranty, there was no cost to me.

            By chance, there was a meeting of the local chapter of the Hearing Loss Assoc. of America at McCarthy Court the morning of the day I sat down to write this article. Doctoral students from ECU gave a talk on Personal Sound Amplification Products, Online Hearing Aids, and Over-The-Counter aids.  The latter devices are not available quite yet but are being considered for approval.  The presenters gave statistics on the large number of people who need hearing devices but avoid them due to cost. As alternate marketing channels continue to evolve, there will be increased options for rebalancing the service/cost equation. My own experience tells me that there is definite value to keeping professional involvement in the process.