Introduction
As an electrical engineer with many years of experience in biomedical research, I have carefully reviewed hearing aids to provide you my expert opinion on quality, affordable, and easy-to-purchase hearing aids that can help with your hearing problems.
The hearing aids that I found to be of good quality, easy to purchase and affordable are these:
- Eargo
- Audicus
- Lively hearing aid
- Embrace Hearing
- MD hearing aid
I will discuss the pros and cons of each of these hearing aids to help me make an informed decision on which of these hearing aids is best for you.
You should know that there are many more hearing aids that are available online, however, the ones that I listed above are the ones I found to be of good quality.
Buying hearing aids used to be a complex process. You had to go for hearing tests, and your hearing aid had to be fitted by an audiologist. Furthermore, the earing aid market was controlled by a few companies. This made earing aids very expensive. And to make things worse most health insurance plans did not cover hearing aid.
This was bad news for people who had earing problems. And this is a significant proportion of the population because according to a CDC study, one in four US adults suffers from hearing loss. And most people with hearing loss do not seek help simply because they could not afford the cost of hearing treatments. And also because they do no know how to deal with the complex process of getting hearing aids through third-party audiologists.
However, earing problems, if left untreated can lead to worse problems. Some of the consequences of leaving hearing problems untreated are:
However, hearing problems if left untreated can escalate. It can lead to other problems such as:
- Metal health problems because when you cannot hear properly, you become less alert and your mind is less sharp
- Physical health problems: People with earing problems are more reluctant to participate in physical activities that are good for physical health
- Social Isolation that results from trouble with communicating with others: Hearing problems makes it more difficult to interact with people thorough conversation
- Other Problems such as stress and depression
If you are one of those people who want to live better by hearing better but who does not want to pay through the nose for hearing aids, then I have good news for you. Now, there are quality hearing aids that you can buy directly online without going through the complex procedure dealing with middlemen.
My good news on affordable hearing aids does not end on the availability of direct-to-consumer hearing aids without middlemen. Importantly, the FDA is currently planning to make hearing aids available over-the-counter (OTC). This means you can walk into a store, and buy hearing aids. While I do not recommend buying hearing aids without some diligence, I do welcome the possibility of buying hearing aids OTC. Because OTC hearing aids will further make hearing aids prices go down.
The FDA guideline that will guide OTC hearing aid manufacturers in making OTC hearing aid that is FDA-compliant was meant to be released in August of 2020. However, the guidelines were delayed, unfortunately, due to COVID-19. Nevertheless, the prices of the currently-available direct-to-home hearing aid are very competitive prices. And you can easily purchase these hearing aids online. Therefore, If you need to purchase a hearing aid, do not wait. As I mentioned earlier, hearing loss, if left untreated for long can lead to severe consequences.
The hearing aids that I will be reviewing are FDA-approved hearing aids. I deliberately excluded hearing aids without FDA approval because I know the importance of FDA approval for a health product. . FDA approval is a guarantee that a biomedical device will do more good to you than harm. Therefore, any non-FDA approved hearing aid is automatically disqualified from my list.
You need to be very careful about this because a lot of non-FDA approved hearing aids are also available for sale online. These non-approved hearing aids try to attract you with low prices. But beware, these devices may do more harm than good. You do not want to take any chances on your hearing and on your ear.
Important Factors to Consider When choosing a Hearing Aid
Below are the factors that you need to consider when choosing a hearing aid. These are the factors I used in selecting the hearing aids that made my list of best affordable hearing aids.
- Is it FDA approved?
- Is the design technically sound?
- How much feature is packed in the hearing aid?
- How Affordable/value for money?
- How easy is it to use?
- Are the batteries rechargeable?
- What is its battery life?
- How much customer support does the hearing aid maker provide?
- How much warranty/ what is the return policy?
- How easily can I upgrade an old model to a new model?
- Is there a money-back guarantee?
- What is the size of the hearing aid? Will be invisible to others when I wear them?
- How easily can the earing aid be customized/programmed to help with my particular hearing problem?
- Is the hearing aid for mild, moderate, or severe hearing problems?
- Can my hearing aid be connected to my phone/ tv/ radio to stream sound directly to my hearing aid?
- Can my earing aid be programmed remotely?