Growing Older / Liz Taylor
Listen up: Shop carefully for your hearing aids

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The aging of America makes hearing loss an increasingly important issue. One in 10 people in America has a hearing loss, but at age 65, the number is 1 in 3. Hearing loss ranks with arthritis, high blood pressure and heart disease for affecting huge numbers of people. The most common solution — hearing aids — is expensive, costing as much as $3,000 per ear, yet Medicare and most insurance plans don't cover them.

So I was inspired to find answers when I received this e-mail from a reader, Tammie Martinez of Seattle:

Q: "My husband is at the point of needing a hearing aid. One? Two? Digital? Behind the ear? In the ear? There are many places that dispense hearing aids. Everybody tells us not to go to discount stores, but why not? Many dispensers have "This month ONLY" sales. Are they legitimate? We're told that one hearing aid isn't enough, though his good ear has 85 percent hearing. My perception is that the hearing-aid industry is like the jewelry business, with a markup of 400 percent. Even selling at 50 percent off, they can make a good profit. What can you tell us about how to shop for a hearing aid?"

A: As a consumer-fraud investigator years ago, I learned the value of understanding how a particular industry works — and what to know about a product before plunking my money down. So how does the hearing-aid business work, and what should you know before buying one?

It turns out the answers are a lot more complicated than I'd imagined. The good news: The Pacific Northwest is unusually rich in resources for people with hearing loss.

I began by visiting the mother of all hearing-loss centers, the nonprofit Hearing, Speech & Deafness Center (HSDC) in Seattle. Founded in 1937, the HSDC offers a spectacular array of education and other solutions to enhance communication for people with hearing loss. Half its work provides services to individuals — audiologists who fit hearing aids, a walk-in and online store of assistive devices (which you can see at www.hsdc.org), a parent-infant program that's a model for the nation, communication therapies, a device that stops stuttering, and lots more, with fees based on your ability to pay.

The other half works on creating systemic changes to support and integrate deaf and hard-of-hearing people in our society. An example is its on-site sign-language classes offered to businesses. At the head of the class: Starbucks and Microsoft.

"The most important thing to remember when buying a hearing aid," says Susie Burdick, HSDC chief executive officer, "is, 'You get what you pay for.' So shop carefully!"

Computer technology has improved hearing aids significantly. Older models were analog; newer models are digital and can be programmed for individual wearers. The newest hearing aids switch automatically from noisy to quiet environments. As a result, sound is more natural, more precise. Background noises can be reduced so that the user can better understand conversations.

Hearing aids are expensive, but they're relatively cheap to make. A major component of the price lies in the fitting: Who'll give you the best customer service, including follow-up visits? Who'll give you a hearing aid to try, then let you return it if it doesn't work?
 
The reason service is so important is that one person's hearing loss — and solution — can be dramatically different from another's. Not only are there many types and causes of hearing loss, but there are many sizes of ears. So you want to buy from someone with the expertise and commitment to keep working with you until you're satisfied. Beware the adage, "One size fits all."

For some people, visual and listening devices might work better than or enhance a hearing aid. Such devices might include amplification gadgets for telephones and televisions, personal listening systems (small microphones that friends talk into that go to a receiver in your ear or hearing aid), an alarm clock that shakes the bed, cellphones that vibrate instead of ring, and strobe lights for fire warnings, door bells and telephones.

If you have partial hearing in one ear, my experts advise that you buy two hearing aids to ensure balanced sound, giving you a sense of where it's coming from.

But dealing with hearing loss isn't just a matter of getting the right equipment. It also affects one's personal and family life. "When I lost my hearing at age 40," says Penny Allen, "I thought it was my problem, and my response was to withdraw. Then I discovered my behavior was affecting my family. We all had things to learn." Of enormous resource and support was SHHH ("Self Help for Hard of Hearing People"), an educational, support and advocacy group started 21 years ago on the East Coast that has spread worldwide.

Allen, a local SHHH leader, can be reached at pallen@wasa-shhh.org or 360-871-0997. You can read about SHHH — and their excellent newsletter — at www.wasa-shhh.org.

Liz Taylor's column runs Mondays in the Northwest Life section. A specialist on aging and long-term care, she consults with individuals and teaches workshops on how to plan for one's aging — and aging parents. E-mail her at growingolder@seattletimes.com or write to P.O. Box 11601, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. You can see all of her columns at www.seattletimes.com/growingolder/.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company