Dixie initially consulted me in our Gardner Audiology Pasadena office to request a repair on her 5 year old hearing aids that she rarely wore. Dixie is a 35 year old computer software analyst who has had a significant hearing loss and attempted to wear aids since she was a young girl. She never like her hearing aids and only wore them when absolutely necessary, and this was never the case at home.
I offered to repair her old aids but also recommended that she participate in our research study of the Starkey Series 3 receiver in the canal hearing aids. She abruptly told me that she had no confidence in the value of new aids based on her past experience. She begrudgingly agreed to participate because was curious and having problems communicating.
In exchange for her opinion on pre and post fitting questionnaires, I loaned her a middle level performance i70 model and the premium performance i110 model for comparison. Both models have natural sound in quiet environments but the more expensive i110 excels at managing background noise. I was curious to hear her opinion of value.
Her verdict was that both hearing aids were a breath of fresh hearing compared to her previous aids. However, she felt like wearing the i110 during all her waking hours because it sounded so natural with minimal noise and distraction. This was the first time in her life she wants to wear her aids all day and every day. She purchased the more expensive i110 aids because they were a better value for her.
