Hearing Aids

[Porkchop]

Can anyone compare buying hearing aids at Costco with buying them at Sam’s Club? I am going deaf and it is annoying both to me and to others so I’m shopping for hearing aids. I am 50 to 75 miles from both of those stores. I’m 88 and have COPD but lead quite an active life, though I do everything at half speed… so I’m hoping for advice from you all! 

[Bastet]

@StatisticalOutlier is our resident expert on hearing aids, but I don't know if she'll have any experience with either of those two retailers' hearing centers.  Tagging her in case she can indeed weigh in on that aspect.  In the interim, you can search the Chit Chat thread here in Health & Wellness for her posts on hearing aids.

My mom got hers via Costco.  She seems reasonably happy with them (and chose them over Kaiser; she had the exams at Kaiser, and experimented with different styles among what Kaiser had and what Costco had and the one she liked most Costco had but Kaiser didn't), but I don't know much more than that.  (There's no Sam's Club nearby, so I don't know anything about them.)

[StatisticalOutlier]

People almost never talk about getting hearing aids at Sam's Club for some reason.  I assume it's the same setup as Costco, and Costco is the one everybody talks about and generally recommends.  The main selling point is that they're almost always a lot cheaper than other hearing aid dispensers.

Here's a search for "hearing" in the health and wellness chit chat thread.  That should bring up most of my posts on the subject.

https://forums.primetimer.com/search/?&q=hearing&type=forums_topic&page=1&quick=1&item=138201&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy

Costco (and as far as I know Sam's Club) is a low-to-no risk situation.  The hearing test is free, and they have an extended return period.  (Most states mandate a 30-day trial period, but Costco's is longer--maybe six months?) 

As far as I know Costco doesn't impose a fitting fee (unless you're getting ear molds, which you shouldn't--the open fit domes are far more comfortable if your hearing loss is compatible with open fit domes).  So you can try them out for free.

The only issue I can think of is your distance to Costco or Sam's Club.  If it's too much of a hassle to return to get them adjusted, you're less likely to use them.  However, they now have apps you can use to adjust them, which might obviate having to drag your ass back to Costco to have the audiologist do it.  But I have no experience with that because I don't have a smart phone.  I guess I'm old school--I like hearing aids that simply work when I put them in.

All that said, not every Costco audiologist is great (I discussed that in my previous posts).  But even if you get a not-great one, at least you'll be out only time and gas money if it doesn't work out AND you'll have plenty of time to make a decision.  For run of the mill old-person hearing loss, Costco can be an excellent choice.