Finding a hearing aid that works for you.

by Martin Jurek, Campbell River Hearing Clinic

“How do I choose the best hearing aid?” It’s a question I get asked frequently. Plenty of factors come into play when making this decision, and your hearing care practitioner will have to help you with all of them.  A good starting point is looking at your degree and type of hearing loss, which will help determine the level of technology you need.

Next, you’ll need to determine the style of hearing instrument you need or want. Depending on your lifestyle and ear canal shape and size, there are numerous options available, such as in-the-canal (ITC), completely-in-the-canal (CIC), in-the-ear (ITE), behind-the-ear (BTE) and others.

Finally, you have to decide which manufacturer will best suit your needs. This is where you really have to trust your hearing care provider. As with virtually any product on the market today, there are some good companies and some that, shall we say, leave a bit to be desired. This could be due to things like lower quality materials, poor workmanship or design.

One of the benefits of being an independent hearing clinic is that there is nobody telling me which instruments to use. I choose the companies that give me the most free pens. Just kidding, I use the ones that I feel serve my clients best.  They need to provide the best technology to benefit the wearer, offer great physical quality and reliability and show a willingness to go the extra mile when necessary.

Having said all this, no matter how fantastic the quality of the aids, these tiny electronic components sit in a moist and waxy environment and sometimes do get damaged. Your hearing care provider – providing you have a good one – will be there to keep things clean and in top shape, keeping downtime to an absolute minimum.

If you wold like to know more about the various hearing aid manufacturers, hearing aid styles and features, feel free to stop by our office or you can call me at 250-914-3200 or email me at martin@tohear.ca  I am always happy to answer questions.