Archive for September, 2009

Hearing aids in England

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Let’s talk about hearing aids and their usage in England. While hearing aid usage in England is not as wide spread in the US it certainly is well spread. The citizens of England are realizng (as the rest of the world are) that life with a hearing aid is simply better if your hearing is not perfect.

According to the latest numbers, there are eight million people in England using hearing aids. England has pushed to make hearing aids available to all who need them under a number of initiatives but this has yet to come to fruition. They should be rewarded for trying. Hearing aids in England have come a long way.

Hearing aid cash for clunkers

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Certainly we have noted that millions of people in the world who need hearing aids have simply avoided getting them. Many people think that they can do just fine without hearing aids when in reality they are lowering the level of their lives and the level of those around them. Many others would love to get a hearing aid but simply can not afford them.

Another problem that exists, while it is slightly less serious but still an issue is people using old hearing aids that are far below the new levels of technology. A great solution to this would be a take on cash for clunkers for heairng aids.

America Hears actually offered a program like this in 2008. It offered up to $200 on trade in of old hearing aids for current hearing aid users. I have heard this was a massive success and I will look for more trade in programs that are still happening. If anyone knows of some solid trade in programs, can you please let us know?

Hearing Aids being stolen

Friday, September 25th, 2009

It is a shame to report that many hearing aids are being stolen as people are confusing them with standard blue tooth hearing devices. The fact is that while criminals are bad, they may not want to steal a hearing aid from someone as that is very cruel. They think they are just stealing a $40 blue tooth device. Instead they are stealing someone’s crucial hearing aid.

This is a factor of hearing aids becoming better and better looking. Please be safe and always hide your hearing aid when you are not using them.

Hearing aid tax credit

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

One of the more popular ideas on ways to make hearing aids more affordable for the millions of people who need them is a simple tax credit. This is a strong idea on a way to help the masses of people who really do need a hearing aid and simply can not afford one via government subsidy.

As I type this, I can imagine all the people who are against taxes and credits shaking their head, but I know they would want this in place if someone they loved needed a hearing aid but could not afford one.

Since 2004, member of the house have been trying to bring this idea to reality but it simply can not get the steam to be realized. It is just a common symptom of the problem that people do not realize how crucial hearing aids are to the life and happiness of people. There is a common misconception that hearing aids are a luxury or are only needed by those with extremem hearing loss. The tax credit for hearing aids is a wonderful idea and it should be promoted.

Hearing aids in Texas

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

I am headed to Austin, Texas soon to watch a  Pearl Jam concert and it seemed like a perfect reason to discuss hearing aids in Texas for two reasons. One, I am heading to Texas ans two, the concert will be very load and potentially bad for my hearing.

One can only imagine how much damage the loud rock concerts do to people’s hearing and push the need for hearing aid use at a young age. Pete Townsend of the who used to love playing his guitar at super high volume but today he suffers form tennitis and surely needs to use a heairng aid.

Texas is is a massive state and home to some of the greatest hearing aid providers. Please have a look at our map of local providers that you can access from the home page of hearing aids 1000 to find the best in every city. From Austin to Dallas to San Antonio, you can find top notch hearing aid help in Texas.

If you have any certain providers that you consider worthy of mention in Texas can you please respond to this blog post? We are located in Seattle and do not know a ton about Texas so we could use some education on their heairng aid providers.

Hearing aid fashion

Friday, September 18th, 2009

We spend so much time on this site discussing the technologies and challenges with hearing aids. Let’s lighten up a bit this Friday and talk about hearing aid fashion.

It is no secret that in the past and today, lots of individuals work hard to hide their hearing aid. We see a future where hearing aids are worn proudly and in stylish ways similar to the way glasses are worn.

We realize we are fighting an uphill battle here, but why can’t hearing aids be considered good looking for fashionable?

Starkey hearing aid manufacturers have decided to take this problem head on. Congrats to them for being so innovative. At their last product unveiling, Starkey had high fashion models wear their hearing aids in a runway format. Very cool!

This couragous effort by Starkey can help people realize that hearing aids are ok to wear. It is a real shame that the stigma of hearing aids keeps people who really need to use hearing aids from wearing them.

Hearing aids are simple, elegant pieces of technology just like glasses and should be worn with pride. Fashion forward hearing aids!

Hearing Aids Types

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

One of the hottest topics in our community is Hearing Aids Types. We receive hundreds of emails each month from people all across the world which as questions and have ideas around all the hearing aids types. It is no secret that the world of hearing aids is full of types of aids and of brands and it can become very complicated to keep track of it all.

Let’s try to list some of the hearing aids types in an effort to give a bit of clarity.

There are so many different ways to categorize hearing aid types but first we should differentiate between hearing aids you wear and those that are implanted. Implant hearing aids are cochlear implants. The kind of hearing aids that are worn come in many different types.

Hearing aids that can be worn come in digital, analog and programmable variatins. These hearing aids are alse divided between behind the ear, in the ear and in the ear canal hearing aids. These differences are huge and represent hundreds of differnent types of hearing aids.

There is no doubt why this is such a hot topic on our website. There are so many types of hearing aids that it is almost impossible to keep track of them. For this reason, as usual, we recommend talking in person with a professioanl about your hearing aid needs. This is the best way to insure you are treated with the aid that you need!

Hearing Aids Blog

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

We are excited to be celebrating the one year mark of the hearing aids blog!! Let’s be honest, it is not always easy to come up with new topics to blog about but it is important to keep writing about heairng aids!

We are very proud about our hearing aids blog and how much we are blogging. We want to uncover every possible article that can be written for hearing aid users but we know this is not possible! We remain humble in our approach. Thank you for reading and participating in this blog, We are proud to be part of your experience. Hearing aids 1000 glad to be here.

FMs and Hearing Aids

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

I just read an interesting piece on yahoo in which a student just started college and was having trouble hearing the professor. The student was hard of hearing and using a hearing aid but was still having troubles hearing.

She wisely went to the school disability support. They actually provided her with a FM device. The student was confused by the difference between and FM and a heairng aid and wondered which would perform better.

FMs are traditionally provided at movies, operas and other events where hearing the talk can be difficult. They are used by people who are not yet using hearing aids (though the probably need t0). The FMs are not custom fit as hearing aids are and generally lack the sophistication of hearing aids. Fms are actually recieving a signal. In many cases the FM can be worn as a sleave around the heairng aid and actually plug into the aid itself. This would likely be the best case scenario for the student discussed above.

Rayovac introduces Green Hearing aid technology

Monday, September 7th, 2009

It has long been known that the batteries of hearing aids not only present a major economic challenge to the owners and the makers of hearing aids. These quick-to-wear-out batteries also pose a threat to old Mother nature. Hearing aid batteries are horrible for the environment.

In May 2009, Rayovac released a press release claiming to make a leap in green technology for hearing aids.

The have released and are shipping zero mercury hearing aid batteries in Europe. Rayovac is claiming that these are the longest lasting mercury free batteries. They push a life of over 30% longer than the other hearing aid batteries without mercury.

While this development is not 100% original, we salute and life span additions to mercury free hearing aid batteries. Great work Rayovac!