1st time hearing aids decision?

"We live together, but I will not always be available to help. She does handle her own medicine bottles and pills which can be awkward."

No mention of dementia, but perhaps a timed/locked dispenser would help her with the pill issues? I know some of those child safety locks on bottles can be difficult. The nice thing about the dispenser is only that day/time medication is available for taking. There are audio and visual alarms to remind the person. In her case, if she doesn't have dementia, you could skip the lock. Depending on how many meds and different times of day, you can set it up for a week up to 4 weeks at a time. For instance, if all medications are taken at one time, it can be set up for the month!

Even without dementia, this is a good method and a time saver. It would also allow you to monitor and know if she misses any doses Once the time period is over and it moves to the next scheduled dose, that slot is no longer accessible.

Additional note on hearing loss. Some are better suited to hearing aids, others are not. My mother had otosclerosis (I dubbed it Florence Henderson hearing loss as I had seen her talk about her own journey with this!) Basically the little "bones" in the ear start to calcify. Eventually they no longer "vibrate", effectively making the hearing loss total. The one GOOD thing about this condition is there is a medical treatment - replacement of the bones. They do one ear at a time, just in case anything goes wrong, as it can affect balance. HOWEVER, this, like any surgery has a risk, and this is it, so the doctor had to say it. It is likely rare, but once mom heard that, nope! She was probably in her 50s when this started and she could have prevented most of her hearing loss, but she went with hearing aids instead. They helped, but they don't stop the process.

My point in that last paragraph is to ensure you ask LOTS of questions after her hearing is tested. What is the cause? What can hearing aids do for her? Is there a money back guarantee, even if it just comes down to she won't wear them? Are there options besides in the ear hearing aids? I would also talk with her and get her take on hearing aids. I mentioned it in my other post - some people just refuse to wear them! I recall reading someone's post that said the mother wouldn't wear them because they make her look old!!

I'll also repeat the suggestion of the LCD Boogie Board. Until you get the hearing tested and perhaps have hearing aids in place, this LCD display is VERY helpful and will help eliminate your shouting and distressing your throat! If there are no affordable hearing aids or she refuses to use them, this is a great way to allow you to "talk" to her without having to yell.

My husband’s hearing aid experience has been really good: the Costco audiologist is excellent and the cost was less than $2000; batteries are very reasonable; follow-up questions/care excellent. The referral to Costco was actually made by medical clinic with high recommendation. Note: although our mother’s were in Nursing Home and Assisted Living, my husband is not. If your mom is a resident, it would be best if you are able to visit your mother on a regular basis so you would be able to monitor more closely the battery replacement (normally last 5 days) and the cleaning. (If facing dementia, there could/would be issues with remembering to wear them, where to keep them safe, etc. ...just thinking of how our moms would have managed if they would have had hearing aids makes me cringe a bit!)

I have one question. Does your mother want the hearing aids? Does she really want the hearing aids, or is this what you know she needs ?

I ask because we went through the process to get hearing aids. It was my idea. Mom went along with it because I knew she needed them. I did not shop around. We went to one doctor and wound up with the $6,000 pair.

Long story shorter, she did not like them, wouldn't use them. We took them back within the 30-day full money-back guarantee period and received a very nasty, cold and icy tone from the doctor, total 180-degree turn from the friendly sales attitude at the beginning. But Mom did get her money back.

So many great answers here but I can’t read them all so I hope I’m not being redundant. Both my mother and my uncle earned a bit too much for Medicaid but some fine office worker for Medicaid told me how to spend down her income legally by getting some useless hearing or vision or dental insurance policies. My uncle has been on auto pay for his $175 policy for five years now.
It is one way to get on Medicaid and Medicaid will pay for some pretty darned good hearing aids. My mom lost hers four different times and each time they replaced them. Both she and my uncle really depend on those hearing aids even though they are not perfect, Meaning they sometimes increase some ambient sounds that they do not want to listen to.My mom had dementia and she still put them in every day. I noticed that without them they became more disoriented and we all felt that they were worth the effort. Good luck.

Costco. Great hearing aids at a fantastic price. Submit to your insurance company for reimbursement.

Costco. Great hearing aids for about $3000. And if anything goes wrong in the first 3 years they are replaced at no cost.

This reply doesn't answer the specific question of the online post, but might be helpful for those of us who are just starting to look into hearing assistance. The FDA is getting ready to open the market up for over-the-counter hearing aids. Here is some info about the current state of things:

https://www.hearingtracker.com/over-the-counter-hearing-aids

I've read articles that it's expected that other companies, such as BOSE (they produce high quality stereo speakers for example), may get into the business thus increasing options and updating technology. And ultimately the competition may help to reduce prices.

In the meantime, for low cost alternatives to prescription hearing aids, it might be worth checking into over-the-counter hearing assistance devices, especially if money is an issue. While these may not be sufficient for extreme hearing loss, the cost/benefit may be worth it if it helps somewhat and there's a concern about hearing aids being constantly lost or misplaced.

Dad got great 6k rechargeable hearing aids from the VA. His first pair were with batteries that went out pretty quick and he hated fiddling with the batteries. The doctor told him he MUST use these (not only not to waste the investment) but because hearing gets worse over time much faster if you don't use the aids, plus she said that people with significant hearing loss that is not addressed are at a higher risk of developing some form of dementia. She said it may be that without that auditory stimulus there is a part of the brain that begins to shut down!

Lots of good info provided. If not said already, we paid extra for rechargeable. A God send! Paid about $4000, but all adjustments, annual evaluation, etc. included in that cost. Phonak. He will wear them!! Makes a huge positive impact because those brain functions are being used, not neglected which means lost. Good luck to you.

I have been wearing moderately priced aids for a little over 5 years. For me, they are wonderful and they keep me in touch with the world. My mother has owned very expensive aids for nearly 10 years but never wears them. The differences? I bought mine when I first started noticing a loss of clarity in my hearing. With properly tuned aids I discovered other areas of sound that I didn't even realize that I was missing. Mom's hearing was extremely bad so that she was turning up the TV as loud as it would go. At first she loved the hearing aids, but was not patient at learning to focus on the sounds she was trying to track. After a couple of months she quit wearing them because she didn't like hearing the sounds of the nearby highway or the racket of the lawnmowers. She liked the quiet she had become accustomed to.

In answer to your question, I would urge you to answer some other questions. Does your mother want to hear better or do YOU want her to hear better? Is your mother willing to work at re-learning some skills she has lost? If she is nearly deaf her brain has lost the ability to tune out background noise and focus on the person she is trying to hear. This will take months to re-learn and it will be frustrating for her. Unless she really wants to hear you clearly, it will not be worth the bother to her.

If you are considering low-cost amplifiers understand that they are not hearing aids. They cannot be tuned to amplify the frequencies that your mother most needs. They amplify everything equally. She will hear your voice, but she will also hear competing sounds: creaking doors, noisy birds, the air moving through the HVAC system.

For younger people who are really interested in getting back in touch with the world around them and who are ready to work at learning to hear again, I would definitely try for aids. In the case of an older person with severe loss like your mom I might incline toward first getting one of the amplifiers you can get online for a hundred dollars and see if she will use it. If she uses it, then consider real hearing aids.

Look at the websites of the manufacturers. They will give you lots of information on what their aids do best. No aid can reproduce the hearing of a healthy 20 year old, but all aids offer a particular focus. Find an aid whose focus matches what your mother will find most appealing. Most have reviews or forums where users describe their own experiences. Perhaps your Mom would do well on an aid that I would find inadequate.

Bear in mind that many audiologists will refit used hearing aids for new patients who have financial constraints. I am considering getting new aids this summer. If I do I will donate my current aids to such a person. The outer shield that contacts the moist portion of the ear is replaced and the aids are re-tuned for the needs of the new patient. In this way someone in your position will get a gently used pair of $5K aids for the cost of cleaning and tuning and a couple of appointments.

I wish you luck. I do know what it is like to have a parent who does not hear. It was really frustrating to all of us when Mom gradually stopped using her aids because they were a bother to her. She does not seem to understand that her not being able to hear is a bother to everyone else.

By the way, shouting is not always necessary. We have found that if we can make her focus on our faces when we talk and if we speak very clearly and slowly, enunciating things a little overmuch, she will understand most of what we have to say. We began this when she was cutting back on the use of her aids. She can understand the slightly exaggerated pronunciations with, perhaps a bit of lip-reading that she doesn't know she can do.

It's SUCH a rip off. The audiologists barely know what they're doing. The equipment is marked up 1000% because they know seniors typically don't know any better. Sadly, just like many other health-related products and sectors that leech off the American people, this gets into politics and legislation because so many "jobs" are at stake, I mean profits. There are literally lobbyists involved to keep certain products disqualified from insurance because the margins are so lovely for those up top. The tech behind these shouldn't cost a consumer more than a couple hundred at most and that's retail. You'll see paid shills badly reviewing any company that tries to disrupt this market, such as the recent Bose hearing aids.

My mom has had $8k ones from a direct seller and more recently I bought her a new "Bluetooth" and higher-tech set that cost $4k from Costco. After being with her through the entire process and even seeing the pro adjust her frequency bands, I could tell that this industry really could do much better for those in need.

I've considered hacking it to see if I can create a comparable or better software using existing hardware but am preoccupied as an unpaid round-the-clock caregiver, and when I have any free time, I'm maintaining the house which is falling apart. — I don't know how I'll end up in the future, seeing as how my career has been automated away and I'm losing time from building up savings for myself to retire on later in life.

Paid $3700 for rechargeable behind the ear hearing aids after wasting $130 for online in the ear ones that were only amplifiers and did not work. I’m patiently waiting to see if the new ones by Oticon work. Blue Cross is a partner and supposedly gave a reduced price. I was told these are the most advanced technology on the market so we’ll see. Being rechargeable is a huge plus as the batteries are tiny and difficult to use if you are elderly.

Please do NOT get offended but I have been through this. I was a POA for someone for 28 years and she died at 98. She kept losing teeth and hearing aids and the money was just not there. After a couple of tries, considering age, overall condition, etc. I had no choice but to accept the fact that YOU CANNOT KEEP REPLACING THINGS BECAUSE THEY WILL DISAPPEAR OVER AND OVER AGAIN......No one should be replacing items in this case. There comes a point in one's life where you want to do so much but you realize nothing you do will work. This is such a situation. I am 80% deaf and 60% deaf in the other ear. I will be 88 and while I am still extremely independent, when my hearing aid is lost or does not work, I have no choice but to accept my fate. I neither have the money to replace it or am stupid enough to do so.

Imho, I've been a one aid wearer since the young age of 56 and I am now 74 years of age. I have a custom maid hearing aid for my needs as I had a tympanomastoidectomy in the ear. I cherish my digital aid as one would a prosthetic limb.

I have been deaf since I was 40. I have worn hearing aids and I got some for my mom. For mom I got behind the ear BTE aids. They are easy to put in, very light and you can get them very strong. They are the cheapest, but good. About $2500 per aid which is what she needs, is going to get you a good aid. Get insurance. My mom dropped hers in the water. A dog ate one of mine. I have in the ear aids, or I did before the dog got in house. They are easy to get in and out and comfortable. I spent $3000 each. Now I guess they are maybe $4000 each. Forget the in the canal. You will have a hard time getting them in and out. There are many good companies. Mine happen to be siemens. Umm widex? I tried fly by night ones that said you could change stuff and 1 size fits all and mom and i were not happy. Songbird, nightingale don't bother. The point is to have them fitted to your ear and programmed just for you. No things to turn up or down for mom to fiddle with. Go back every few months and reprogram them. Shouldn't cost extra. Good luck. Oh, and be sure and check her aids every single day! They get dirty and have to be cleaned. Also check if they are wet. Some people sweat in their ears. Get a dehumidifier if that's a problem. Get some yourself. They are wonderful. But I admit. The cost of aids is ridiculous. I never replaced the one eaten. I like quiet. Be prepared to feel a little ripped off

I don't have insight on the hearing aid issue, but I have read that some people with "long Covid" can see their symptoms diminish or disappear after getting the mrna Covid vaccine. Maybe your doctor has an opinion about this for you??