When Is A Hearing Aid Good Enough?

"When Is A Hearing Aid Good Enough?" is a question I get asked a lot.

When we originally set up HearingDirect.com one of the questions that was often asked of us and still is today, is how can your hearing aids be any good if they are so cheap? It is a difficult question as the industry has always rated how “good” a hearing aid is by its feature set. How many channels it has, how many bands, what kind of processing, what kind of algorithms, how many programmes etc., etc., all of which mean very little to the customer.

How good a hearing aid is surely measured by how satisfied a user is with it. Our hearing aids have very many good features and do compare very favourably with those available on the high street but rather than revert into a feature-set war that means little or nothing to users we had to come up with an analogy that could be easily grasped. Sure our hearing aids do not have Bluetooth connectivity so will not link up to your iPhone but is that what the customer wants and is a hearing aid that isn’t Bluetooth enabled, therefore no good?

If someone wished to buy a car to use everyday for everyday tasks, would they be better off with a Ferrari or a Ford? We know that if they bought a Ferrari they would be financially worse off but what about everyday use? For some, a hearing aid is the difference between hearing and not hearing. For others, who may have been using hearing aids for a long time, they may wish to find aids that offer greater compatibility with their lifestyle - the iphone use or the need for bluetooth connectivity.

We know you can buy an expensive hearing aid in your local high street. And you may find that if you pop into the shop you will be steered towards a more advanced hearing aid.

Our argument is that most people would be very happy and very well served by a standard hearing aid at a cost-effective price. Our hearing aids may not yet have Bluetooth but if you want to hear more clearly and improve your ability to communicate with the world around you, they can do a terrific job at a fabulous price.

Now everyone wants choice so we don’t just sell basic hearing aids, there is a selection of hearing aids available to suit most pockets and to suit most requirements. You can chose which hearing aid is right for you without any pressure.