Thanks, Dr. Cliff. We have discussed this before, but regardless of the level of care received, $7,000 is still $6,000 more than many people can afford. Thankfully, mine are free. As a comparison, The first AuD that sold me hearing aids charged $7,500 for everything. That same year I had a complete new roof put on our home for $6,200. And my share of a coronary oblation by my cardiologist was $1,700. The prices for hearing care are simply too high.

The problem is that Dr. Cliff and his audiologist assistants are not following with youtube followers questions and commentary. I have asked already a few questions relevant to many HA users and never got any one addressed for benefit of all us HA users?

So glad that you follow Best Practices, Cliff. 😁💕

My wife convinced me that I need hearing aids. (She has used hearing aid for a couple of years and likes them a lot.) To try to learn more about hearing aids I've been watching your videos, which I appreciate. This one is the first that made me a bit skeptical. The question that naturally popped into my mind when you suggested calling HearingUp is the relationship you have with them. I found it troubling that you didn't explain that relationship.

Finally! The “HearingUp” tip is what I’ve been waiting for, thanks

Thanks for making these videos! I just started my journey to address hearing loss, and this information has helped guide me in the right direction with confidence that I’m getting proper treatment. I was surprised that my audiologist steered me toward the P70 even though I am willing to pay for the P90. The reason being many of the P90 features require two hearing aids to work. I would love to see content discussing unique challenges for moderate, single ear hearing loss such as this.

Currently, Hubby’s ENT audiologist is patient and wonderful. We go to NY Presbyterian at Columbia (NYC). His former audiologist was in solo private practice and charged an arm and leg ($7,500 in 2014). We grew to dislike her tremendously.

Thank you SO much Dr. Cliff. I'm new to hearing aids after years of talking loud and difficulty understanding what people are saying. Unfortunately, I live in Missouri. I have ordered a Starkey though Miracle Ear.

Dear Dr, I suffer from tinnitus from some of your previous videos when you went through the 10 different sounds or Tones my was comparable to number one and five. It’s a sound of jet engines when the jet reaches altitude and throttle down. However, I have lost 40% of hearing I do suffer from sjogren’s syndrome, taking hydroxychloroquin control the chronic rheumatoid arthritis. Basically, my question is will the hearing aid tone down the ringing.

Hi, what is your opinion for Unitron Stride B3UP hearing aids model..i was advised to buy this model for my son.

hey Dr CLIFF can you make a video about high frequency hearing lose and what the best chouse of aid for that situation

I totally agree with Dr. Olson! It is all about services, not ‘hardware sale’. In my believe and experiences the individual best and most optimal hearing aid solution is for the majority rather a highend than a low end solution. What is the primary goal of a hearing aid? Yes…the improvement of the quality of life. And this can better be achieved by a highens than a low cost solution, for most of the hearing impaired. For both, client and spouse, or family members. Top dollars for a solution? Yes, but accompanied with its necessary services and consultations.

I would like to know specifically the differences in price between tiers for example...phonak p90, p70, p50, p30.

Can u do a video on swimmers ear and what medication is best for pain? Thank you

Trying to narrow my hearing side choices down after 3 years research and your videos. It’s between Signia premium 7AX over the ear Ot Costco Kirkland premium aides also over the ear so comparing apples to apples except for Costco everywhere service 6 months return and repairs within 3 years which is the best ?

So the title isn't the best suited. It seems to be more about the services and not the actual hearing aids. Good video, I am very satisfied with the Swedish health care quality regarding hearing loss, only the waiting time is too long. I need good water protection for working on my hobbyfarm so now I'm eager to get my P90-RL. It's not all done yet, but I think I'm paying 20% and the rest comes from government tax income. I read some more and it seems that it is included in a "high cost protection". That would mean a max cost for me of about $100US for two Phonak P90-RL 👍

Hello Dr Cliff Thank you for the great UKposts channel and the many informative videos. after a covid infection i suffered a severe hearing loss and am now dependent on hearing aids. Your information helped me to make my decision and what to look out for when it comes to devices and audiologists. thanks again for that. I'm in the process of a first fitting right now and it would be great if sometime in the future you could make a video with tips for newcomers to hearing aids, describing the first time in the fitting process such as things to expect , or which can demotivate the first-time user but simply have to happen and are then reduced in the adjustment phase , that would be an enormous help, so that one can roughly assess what is to come, what is abnormal or not. maybe that will also help patients who, assuming they know in advance, are not deterred from going through with it to the end.After i had put on my first test device for 30 seconds, it was horrible and i wanted to get out of it immediately :-), ( but I didn't do it). Such ups and downs in the fitting process would certainly be a help for many from a professional like you and also a way for the hearing impaired to reduce their inhibitions to accept help with a hearing aid Thanks again Andreas

What about miracle ear I’m curious because I was thinking about purchasing a refurbish pair of hearing aids for $1000 but somehow I feel like I can get better ones

The information you provide in this video is great. The hearing aids I have are by Signia. My insurance company gives me a $3,000 allowance and provides only one source for hearing aids. Hearing Care Solutions in Colorado with locations (contractors) throughout the US. I generally have about one or two choices and I'm the second to highest tier. I do have Bluetooth which is great for phone calls. I did get a hearing test and follow-up visits.

Have you heard of Oticon aids chronic disconnecting from Android phones? Also, is it common for one aid to have a slight delay in reception, maybe 2 to 300ms?

I just went to my doctor who sendt be to an ENT, who sendt me to an ear surgeon and an audiologist. Free of charge. The audiologist (after lost of hearing tests) basically sat me down and asked me what color hearing aids I wanted to try first. She then ordered two different types, one that was most common (Phonak Paradises), and one that she said had a good music program (Oticon More) because I am a musician so she recommended trying them to see if they worked better for me. No obligation to buy either of them. They were just ordered so that they would be available when I wanted to try them. Got to go in and got the Phonaks auto programmed and then tweaked based on that test where you put those tubes in your ears to figure out what sounds you are getting, and my own comfor perception. Then she sendt me home with instructions to play around with the app programs and note down what I ended up adjusting. As well as several types of domes to play around with to find the best fit. So I left for vacation after signing the paperwork that the audiologist prepared for me that applied to the state health care system to cover the costs. Got a text from audiologist checking in on me and setting up my next appointment later. After a month I went back with a great experience using the Phonaks, and was lent the Oticon Mores. My audiologist did the same fitting following best practice with those as well, but we had a little trouble with a slight auto tune like quality that we worked together to solve (she was great at listening to my in put). In the end we figured out some good settings and I got to try those out. Now since I had such a good experience with the Phonaks she decided to kind me both just in case. Though recommended that I give the Oticons a fair shot before comparing them. She then told me that If I found other options to try she would order them up for me. Which I took advantage of since I had seen the Phonak Lifes and wanted to give them a go. Now the point of all this is that this was very easy on me as the patient. I didn’t have to pay. I didn’t have to just make due with the bare minimum of programming. I have 6 months per hearing aid I try to make a decision about which ones I want to keep, and when I do make a decision the paperwork that lets me get my hearing aids funded have been filled out by a professional for me.

Love your ears its like your eyes!! My friend have deafness always help them if they can + if your use sing language as such with what you say. Just like for a group conventions no fomo for them ❤️

Respected sir, Last night while I was cleaning my ears through earbuds I saw that I can hear very less. In the morning, I went to the hospital and the doctor checked my ears. She told me it was just an earwax and she prescribed me an ear drop. She told me to drop it in my ears continuously for a week and in the meantime, it will be removed automatically or if doesn't work then I've gotta go after a week. So I just wanna ask drop for removing the earwax will get its job done? Or do I've to ask the doctor for a cleaning? By the way, I thank you for the information you are providing. Thank you

Dr. Cliff, I using a pair of Phonak Virto M 90 half shell hearing aids. They are a year old and my constant problem is having to wait for the phonak app to connect to my phone so I can adjust them. It is a little embarassing to take your phone out in front of quest and stare at my phne while it connects. Phonak customer tells me that is a battery saving feature to have the app disconnect when not in use. But if a phone call comes in, my hearing aids begin ringing immediately and a touch of my hearing aid and my call begins immediately. Do you understand what is going on here. Clark King

Which hearing aid best for severve hearing loss and tinnitu..?? Iam vinay from india please reply sir

I treat hearing loss by protecting my hearing A LOT! I am 26 now and I genuenly played in a lot of bands and exposed myself to some concerts in my teens. Now early, I did not use hearing protection but I was very lucky ant didnt damage my hearing long term (I do hearing tests every other year). In my later teens I started using hearing protection by getting one that was formed to my ear and who dampened all frequencies by 25 dba to not cut off high frequencies. This is still not enough and concerts are still loud BUT it makes a large difference earing 2hour of concert with loads of high frequencies at 120 dba vs 95 dba. For band pratice I started using another layer of over ear protection the recent years bc 25 dba dampening is still not enough for standing 1 m beneath a drummer that likes to hit at max strenght. I always used hearing protection in band practice but skipped it at home for practice because I thought my guitar amps just need to be played loud to sound good which is true for tube amps... Thankfully I stopped that and played quietly and nowadays I use only digital devices who are not loud at all. Also for all kids, turn down that music. We wanna enjoy music when we are 50 as well, its not worth destroying hearing now. And when music is more quiet, you can ear certain instruments better in a mix... It just hurts listening so loudly. Now recently I had an accident with 1 bar of compressed air moving out a barrel of beer 30 cm near my ear due to my ex boss not setting up propper working tools to release the co2 out of used barrels and I had months of tinnitus and 3 days of moderate hearing loss on that ear. Thank god, I recovered fully but a slightly bit of tinnitus is there occasionally but very low level. Reminded me of how important it is to also save your ears when working... After he told me that the accident was nothing and I am just whining, I stopped working there.... People protect your ears, we only have one hearing. To those who clicked on the video bc of dealing with hearing loss, they will tell you how much of a handicap hearing loss can be... All the best to those of you who suffer from it...

Doctor Cliff I am kind of afraid of getting less Expensive Hearing Aids because they might not work at all for you. I keep thinking that if you need the most amplification possible and I have two Audiologists working with me now and they are having me go to ENT Specialist with all of that too now I just better take the Oticon Exceed Ultrapower hearing aids they showed me and like last time they never showed me anything else so I think that they are the only ones they think will work for me is what it seems like to me so they just keep giving me more amplification because that is what I need to hear sounds.

Although I agree and follow this same model, I disagree on the time spent.. In my 30 year experience of best practices, more than an hour can be overwhelming and exhausting for a patient. Moreover, with 3rd party benefits, you can’t keep the doors open with an hour to 2 hours appt these days.

Some people with a mild loss and decent word discrimination can often get a good result with low tier devices unlike those with poor discrimination on the profound end who need all of the options in the tool box. Either way don't purchase your hearing aids in a bundle, the money you save can be yours or used towards higher tier aids. Pay for your supplies and your audiologist's time as needed . Most importantly do your homework and find a competent best practices audiologist who behaves like a fiduciary financial adviser. You'll know when you have one, so treat them right. Tony

Would be interested in your thoughts on United Health Care hearing aids. My husband has that insurance which offers hearing aids.

I think that it would be good for people to have more choices in Ultrapower Hearing aids than you have now that Cost less but do the same things for you. I always just wanted to Hear so I take what my Audiologist gives me and he never tried any other kinds of Hearing aids with me. I think that they know from the Testing how much Amplification you need and he just kind of prepared me and let me know that you will be able to hear some sounds you never heard at all before and it will be confusing for you and he was right about that and everything else so he knew what he is doing I guess so I will always just get whatever my Audiologist wants me to have now because of that.

Hearing aids, CPAP machines and supplies, wheel chairs and walkers, mobility scooters, etc.,etc. (anything "medical/health" related) are overpriced and it's difficult for patient to choose the best for their money or their medicare/health insurance coverage. When you buy a hearing aid set, find out in advance about warranty coverage, audiologist support included in the purchase price , whether custom ear molds are covered or cost extra.

Dr. Cliff, please expand your practice to San Diego, CA

Agree with everything you mentioned except....I needed to choose the lowest level of technology available on the hearing aids I eventually received. I simply did not have the funds or could be approved for the extra coinage that would give me a higher level of technology. Having said that I received fantastic care and my hearing aids we're expertly tweaked to flog out the best performance possible for my specific needs. I know that I am hearing far better than someone who might have purchased top of the line, but did not get the time and commitment from their audiologist to get the best results possible. I did not go cheap. I went smart. I really liked the best practices checklist but there are several terms and practices that I no idea what they do or mean. I know you have created videos on some of the items on the list, but it would be great from time to time to do a video on some that may have already been discussed. Thanks again for the education I've received here. It really helped and made a significant difference in my outcome. Kudos to Jennifer Ratner, my HearingUp audiologist.

A suggestion for your videos Doc. Make sure that you explain EVERY acronym that you use. The first time you reference Ear, Nose and Throat clinics (ENT clinic), you should have said "ear, nose and throat clinic".

The closest place for best practices is way to far for me to drive. Hopefully Indianspolis will will get that kind of provider.

Well great. I'm even getting effed on my hearing aids. Once I got 'em I never heard (literally!) from the provider. I never knew how to change the filters in my first set...

The variance is INSANE! I got offered the lowest level of Phonak for $12,000. Went to another provider and got offered the highest level of Phonak Audeo Paradise Life 90 and got it for $4500 from a way better provider. The more expensive provider didn't even do a proper hearing test, so I said no. The provider that charged me $4500, includes unlimited adjustment appointments for 3 years. Ever ytime I needed one he scheduled me for the next day.

When you feel you can trust a 2nd hand car dealer more than a hearing clinic you know that this industry is in deep trouble. Doctor Cliff does a great job at rectifying this but his attitude is rare.

I had my right ear rebuilt 98% now i dont hear the tinnitus but my hearing is alittle better

There are zero HearingUp providers in my state.

Just got a pair of Costco Phonak Brio 5 B675s for $1299 each (+$40 each for earmolds). The Brio 5 B675 is an Ultra Power hearing aid that is VERY similar to the Phonak Naida Paradise P90 UP that Kaiser wanted to sell me for $3000 each (including earmolds), with the Brios lacking the tinnitus masking and installed Roger software that the Naidas have (new Roger external microphones come with licenses for a pair of hearing aids anyway, allowing the software to be added to the Brios, should I want to use a Roger later on). I was not impressed with Kaiser's audiology, partly because I got a different audiologist with each appointment, and 3 appointments (with co-pays) to get as far as making ear molds (not even getting as far as being able to try the hearing aids themselves!). Kaiser also used live speech, rather than the calibrated recorded speech to test Word Recognition, making that test less precise, telling me the difference didn't matter for a profound hearing loss like mine (wouldn't it matter MORE?), and recorded that I didn't have tinnitus, when they didn't actually ask me about it. One of the other audiologists spent only 5 minutes for the whole (paid) appointment to ask me which kind of phone I had, iPhone or Android, before recommending the Naida, with no other consideration. Couldn't that very minor care have been bundled into one of the other (also paid) appointments? Although I did have follow up appointments with Costco (all appointments free), the dispenser's first-day fit was so good that I couldn't find anything to change in the aids themselves (definitely a first in hearing aid fitting for me!), so spent my time in the later appointments talking about how to make the phone app do what I needed. The Phonak apps, "myPhonak" for the Naida aids, and "Easy Line Remote" for Costco's versions of the Phonak aids, are notoriously fickle, mostly because Bluetooth doesn't always connect correctly. Bluetooth is used both for regular Bluetooth listening and for 2 additional separate "LE" Bluetooth control channels to modify the programming on each hearing aid, so there are 3 different potential points of failure in Bluetooth connectivity for the app to deal with for 2 hearing aids. While the app allows temporarily customized fitting for special situations, it is not needed for everyday use of the hearing aids. I now hear better than I have in years, and am completely happy with my new Costco aids and their fitting, which DOES include Real Ear Measurement, which I agree is needed to tune the aids' amplification to your audiogram for best first-try fitting before subsequent tuning to your needs, mine being for speech clarity in noise.

Sam's Club Lucid 96U, 96 channel hearing aids $1624.98 each + 2 tubes $150+ 3 year warranty for $700 - $340 discount = $3759.96. I hope they work for me. Also the battery type; not the rechargeable type. 90 day trial period, if they don't work I get some of my money back. My hearing loss is somewhat severe. I can hear some conversations, It's difficult to hear some television programs. No high Hz sounds or birds chirping, that's why they say I need 96 channels. All out of pocket no insurance. Seems like I'm the one with the problem.

Isn’t verification of telecoil a “Best Practice”?

Mine are covered by Veteran's Affairs but they go up to $6000.00.

You remind me of another Olson I know, who I used to work with in the wireless industry - Matt Olson. Are you guys brothers?

My Phonak paradise are 3 months old at a cost of £3100 the left one is broken already the Bluetooth has failed, I feel totally ripped off.

DR YOUR THE BEST, I WILL NOT PUT UP WITH ANY CRAP FROM MY AUDIOLOGIST, I WANT TOP CARE AND MAINTANICE TIME ALSO, YES WHEN THEY WANT $6000+ I WILL EXCEPT ALOT MORE CARE.!!! I WISH I LIVED CLOSER TO YOUR CLINIC BUT IM UP HERE IN MINNESOTA TUNDRA.!! I LOVE WATCHING ALL YOUR VIDEOS.!!! THANK YOU, FOR BEING THERE FOR US ALL.!!! JOHN, MINNESOTA

Why can’t we decouple the device from the services.

I have signs charge and go x seems to be working well for me I paid 1,000 out of pocket does that seem ok

Went to hear USA. The woman who sold me was great as you say and followed up. Meanwhile she left and service reduced to once a year calls to check up. Then I moved to another state and now they act like they didn’t make the sale and don’t care.

OTO 313 went really bad. How come they went from promising results in a previous phase to a complete bust in phase 2? Otonomy sucks.

Is this pleasant young man really offering an independent review ?

I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME. I DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY. YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE IMPRACTICAL! I AM CAN NEITHER AFFORD NOR DO I HAVE THE TIME…SO I WILL JUST NOT GET HELP. ALSO I CAN’T AFFORD STEAK, SO I AM A VEGETARIAN. ALL YOUR ADVICE IS JUST SO IMPRACTICAL!

Ok thanks 👍 ‼️ Dr.Cliff now I'm hungry for biggest Bar-B-Que steak 🥩 from Western Sizzler restaurant and baked potato 🥔 with stone ground horseradish sauce ‼️ And if I wanted a bologna sandwich 🥪 I probably will be buying a bologna sandwich at the grocery store and making myself a sandwich 🥪 since I have no girlfriend yet to go on a picnic to the lake and together making a cook bologna on the campfire 🔥 with cheese 🧀 and tomatoes and both of us making a good cooked bologna sandwich 🥪 . I'm sorry for getting hungry . I'm going now . You started Dr.Cliff ! Terry Olson taught you well by ordering the biggest Steak 🥩 or was that your father ?

You should Never Ever Pay more then 200Us for Hearing aids 👍 High quality not mean super high prices.....

Quality care don’t exist in Veterans Affairs hospitals

SHILL.......

Absolutely NOTHING in this video about "Quit overpaying for Hearing Aids" Just a sales spill.

I'm sorry, Dr. Cliff, but you look and sound more like a car salesman than anything else. I'm not trying to be nasty. My brother-in-law paid about $7,500 for hearing aids, and over the next few years spent (he estimates) about 3 hours in the clinic, getting various adjustments and cleanings. That works out to around $1,600 an hour, based on what the industry itself admits to (retails price being 1/3 device, 2/3 after-sales service). he's hardly able to buy groceries for himself and his wife, because the hearing aid industry is impoverishing him. Next stop for him: Costco. (Note: since the Los Angeles Times estimates a pair of hearing aids costs less than $200 to manufacture, the real numbers are even more shocking)