Hearing Adjustment – It Just Keeps Getting Better

I wrote a while back (here) about jumping into the pool and ruining my Jabra Enhance 500 hearing aids. I got a new pair for free under the warranty, and have been using them for a week. I notice that I don’t hear speech as clearly, but I wanted to give it some time before I made an appointment.

Make An Appointment???

But you bought these online? These are over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. With whom are you making an appointment?

Great question. The beauty of OTC is that we’re buying online with limited support for a much-reduced price.

Traditional hearing aids come with a series of in-person assessments, fittings and adjustments. If we need a follow-up tweak, we call and schedule an appointment and our audiologist will work their magic.

Buying OTC, I understand I’ll have less support, but I’m saving time and money. I save time because I can order online, skip some visits and have them in a day or 2 v. a weeks-long or months-long traditional process. My current hearing aids cost $2,000. A comparable traditional hearing aid would cost $5,000.

However, there is a care team icon on the bottom of my iPhone app. I tapped, expecting I could set up an appointment for adjustments. Because, on top of the warranty that replaces my hearing aids (one time only) based on my stupidity, I also get 3 years of support. Let’s see what they offer.

Appointment

3 taps later, I have an appointment for 9am on March 18. 10 days away, not bad, but these days, who wants to wait?

I go back to the app, tap on care team, scroll down and see Request a Remote Adjustment. This sounds interesting.

I tap, answer a few questions and describe my problem. 1 hour later, I get an app alert, as well as an email telling me my remote adjustment is ready.

I saw the app alert before the email, so I tapped and it asked me to remove my hearing aids from the charger, and then it installed the changes. Huge improvement. I’ll test drive these a bit but off to a good start.

Better Than An Audiologist

I got a professional adjustment that solved my problem in less than an hour on a Saturday morning at 10am. How cool is that?

Best case with traditional hearing aids is that I’d call Monday morning, they’d squeeze me in sometime in the afternoon, and I’d drive to the office and spend an hour getting an adjustment.

…And It’s Easy

I’ve recommended OTC hearing aids to a few friends and some have said that they’d rather go to a doctor who would guide them through the process. I get it, and we’ll talk more about this in a sec, but check out how easy this adjustment was. Look at the email.

Analysis

So, first, let’s see if Candace is legit? It looks like it, see details here.

Now, look at the instructions in the email. I know a lot of folks are hesitant to take on the responsibility of do-it-yourself, but this couldn’t be easier. Sure beats a drive to the audiologist.

And if it’s not quite right, I can open the app, tap, enter some info and have an adjustment in about an hour.

Support: OTC v. Traditional

in 2016, I went through the whole traditional hearing aid process. It went very well. My doctors were thorough. They even sent me for an MRI to make sure there wasn’t something under the surface causing my hearing problem.

It took several visits over a month or so and cost about $5,000.

I test drove hear.com Horizon IX, Lexi B2 Plus Powered by Bose, and Jabra Enhance 500. Read the details here.

hear.com is the winner for service. They shipped me the clinic-in-a-box that contained all the equipment to do remote audiologist exams and fittings. I had several appointments with remote adjustments. It was as thorough as my 2016 experience (without the MRI – apparently they couldn’t fit the MRI machine in the box.)

Jabra has been a close 2nd. I can make appointments any time I need them and they respond quickly to emails or contact via the app. Getting a new hearing aid program in an hour via the app today (on a Saturday) blew me away.

I only had the Lexie B2 Plus for a month, but I was able to get an appointment immediately through the app for questions and support in adjusting. The big difference is that Jabra pre-programs the hearing aids based on an online hearing test, while Lexie B2 Plus hearing aids have a hearing test within the app that sets initial settings. All of the settings are available for the owner to adjust.

Wrap-Up

I am incredibly impressed with the over-the-air update I got today. It’s a big improvement and the fact that I was able to get it on a Saturday without leaving home is amazing.

I’m more than 6 months in with the Jabra Enhance 500s and I am hugely impressed.

• sound quality is better than my old Oticon hearing aids
• online order, including hearing test is a breeze
• 100 day risk free trial really is risk-free. I’ve returned the hear.com and Lexie hearing aids with no problems
• the warranty is great. I get questions answered and adjustments and they covered my replacements after my jump in the pool.

The folks I’ve spoken to at all 3 companies have been knowledgeable and helpful and from my research, they are also qualified audiologists.

I cannot think of any reason that a traditional fitting would be preferable over any of the 3 OTC experiences.