I started with a Freedom LOF behind-the-ear model, which gave me fine speech perception but, because of my substantial hearing loss, some less than ideal performance on music, especially when playing the acoustic piano. I was most impressed by the way Henry Smith took an active role in tweaking the performance of the instrument, discussing issues with me, and finally advising me to switch to an in-the-canal model. Taking impressions of my ear canals turned out to be an easy affair, and the physical fit was very good -- and made perfect after a slight adjustment at your facility. I am also very happy with the option of an on-board volume control, which gives me just the extra flexibility I need for extreme situations, such as teaching in noisy environments. And again, your President stayed with the process all the way to the finish.

Nothing ever seemed too much for your staff to accommodate my many needs and questions. I heartily recommend America Hears for anybody who has special hearing needs and wants a quality product and cheerful, efficient service, with prompt shipping and quick turn-around.

I also highly recommend the option of a programmer to adjust the hearing aids at your own leisure through the computer. No audiologist could possibly have the time and patience to go through the endless adjustments I tried to get all of my four hearing-aid programs to work just as I like.

In sum, a fantastic product and service that takes full advantage of technology and the Internet, saving me many trips to the audiologist -- not to mention about 50% of the cost of audiologist-dispensed hearing aids.

Again, thanks to everybody at America Hears!

Peter from NY
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Henry C. Smith
America Hears
Bristol, PA

November 4, 2008

Dear Henry,

It gives me great pleasure to write this letter. Simply put, I love my new America Hears SIE hearing aids. You fit me a month ago, and I can honestly say that my life has improved dramatically.

As you know, I’ve worn hearing aids since 1974. In 34 years, I’ve had them all: Behind the ear, CIC, micro canal, Zenith, Dahlberg, Danovox, Miracle-Ear, Phonak, and Sonic Innovations and even Zounds.

Your Freedom SIEs with ADRO® is what I’ve always needed. As a longtime linear user, I prefer to “hear” and quiet sounds have always been troublesome. Not anymore. I’ve enjoyed loud music, crowds, and even church sounds like never before.

Eliminating compression is a stroke of genius. Your do-it-yourself fitting system is easy to use, and adjusting them has been a real pleasure. I heartily recommend all users to listen to your Freedom SIE and find out what stress-free hearing really is.

Your pricing can’t be beat. I appreciate knowing that my hearing aids were made in the USA, and isn’t a cookie cutter Chinese product.
Henry, Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Christopher from PA
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But what about Officer Bell's own hearing? "For years, the biggest impediment to my routine was communicating with my students when I couldn't hear their questions without removing my hearing protection," he says. "It's a point of pride that I answer every question from every trainee. But removing my earplugs or earphones every time I needed to hear disrupted the flow of the class," says Officer Bell. "It also presented a safety issue, because if someone had a problem and called out when I wasn't looking, I wouldn't know. I decided there had to be a better way,"

Officer Bell contacted America Hears to see if the manufacturer of premium digital hearing aids could provide a custom solution to his problem. "I wasn't suffering from hearing loss, but I knew a custom hearing aid with the sound turned off would provide protection, but that it could also let me hear when I turned it on. I reasoned that a clever hearing-aid maker should be able to make the hearing aid dampen the loud sounds automatically but then provide me with normal hearing when no one was firing their weapons."

He was right. America Hears provided Officer Bell with exactly the solution he envisioned. It fitted him with a pair of custom digital personal listening devices with automatic noise suppression technology. They were designed to shut down and block out loud gunshot noises but automatically turn back on when the firing ceases. America Hears programmed the amplification to match his normal hearing levels, so he could hear questions and other activity on the line even when he wasn't looking.
"Now when I am teaching, the sound I hear is completely natural, but the fit of my personal listening devices is so secure that they function even better than regular ear plugs when the amplification is shut down," says Officer Bell. "The digital noise-suppression technology is amazing. It knows when the noise levels are dangerous and protects me completely."

An avid hunter, Officer Bell also finds his America Hears personal listening devices protect his hearing off the job as well. "Now I can hear a dear cracking a twig in the woods but don't have to worry about a shotgun blast ruining my hearing."
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Subject :  Sharing My Experience
posted by edameyer on Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:02 am
About one year ago I began looking into HA's. I went to a local audi and got a hearing test and a $3000 recommendation. I didn't know anything about HA's but this seemed like an awful lot of money.

I then went on the internet and began searching for more info and found this site. I read many hours worth of postings here and it was very helpful so, I though I would post my experience for others that are where I was as a newbie.

First, I found there was a lot to learn about hearing and HA's. For my own comfort I wanted to understand as much as I could so that I could make good decisions. Again, this site was very helpful in my learning. During this time I also went a couple times to Costco and a very friendly audi fitted me with a couple aids that I tried in the store. This was all free and I found that my hearing was different but I was not convinced it was better.

Finally, last spring I ordered a pair of LOF HA's from America Hears. They came with the programmer which was a big attraction for me.
I have now been wearing them for several months. I wear them most of the time however, they don't tolerate moisture well when doing something physical that makes me sweaty so I take them off then.

For me, I don't think I would have ever found them acceptable if I had to go to an audi office for every adjustment. Initially, I adjusted them a lot. Part of this was learning what the adjustments sound like and I am sure a professional would have been able to set them closer to my preferences with fewer adjustments. A big part of this was for me to learn how I PREFER to hear with them. At first I tried to simply adjust for my high frequency hearing loss to make my hearing response as flat as practical over all the frequencies. I used the piano keyboard here: http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/pitch/pitch.html for this. Over the first couple of months I found myself adjusting less and less. I finally also found that the flat response I was initially seeking was not how I prefer to hear with them. I ended up turning up the higher frequencies that I can hear well just a bit, about 1500K which helps my speech recognition. I immediately was happier with this.

Now I have not adjusted in them several months and I never use the multiple programs that are available with them. For the first couple of months I was also not sure they were making enough improvement to warrant the expense but I did keep them. Now I find that when I don't have them on I definitely miss them.

As far as getting used to wearing the HA's I found that it was much like getting used to wearing glasses. At first they are very noticeable and uncomfortable but with time I started forgetting they were there. They came with several tips and I settled on the smallest size as my preference.

I am sure that not everyone would be comfortable with doing their own adjusting but for me it worked out well. I know there are many people on this site that recommend against going the America Hears route but I am something of a techie so I liked the learning and the challenge. The people there were very helpful when I needed it.

If this sparks additional questions in anyone I will be happy to answer as best I can. Close »

10-16-2008, 01:58 PM
BillW
America Hears Update

If anyone is considering buying America Hears, you should know that their prices are going up November 1; from $995 per HA to $1,099, and the adjusting kit will no longer be gratis, it will be $149.

I had posted previously and obtained great information. Thanks again to everyone who responded. Jayman2 asked that I post once I made my decision, so I guess I should follow up on that.

Basically, I'm new to HAs. I have a mild "ski slope" type hearing loss. My primary motivation for getting aids wasn't so much having to ask my children (and others) to repeat and/or speak louder all the time. It was the (limited) info that seemed to indicate that if you don't correct hearing loss, the affected nerves for those frequencies would atrophy from inactivity. In other words, it looks like it degenerates quicker if you don't catch it.

In short, I went to two different audis, the last one through my Kaiser plan (Hearx). Each told me the same thing and offered aids. The first was ~$2,500each. That caused me to put the whole thing off for a while. Then the HearX place offered Siemens Cielo 2 Life for $1,400 each (6 channels, 1 program without remote).

I looked at an online purchase, primarily at openfit.com, and found I could buy the same HA and save a few hundred, but would have to pay locally to get it adjusted (Hearx is 100 miles away).

But then I ran across americahears. You can read all the same glowing testimonials on this forum that I did. I was sold on the price (they where cheaper than the discount with Kaiser), the fact that I could adjust them myself, and the features were great for that price. Far more channels and 3, with an optional fourth, programs!

The only negative comment I could make is that whoever does their packing seems to be in too big a hurry. I didn't get the "money saving coupon" in my info kit as stated. But they honored the offer anyway when I called them. And when the kit arrived (as seen in the photobucket pictures linked to in another thread here), I was missing the tiny little wax guards and accompanying tool. I called and they shipped them right out.

The positives of the experience were everything else. The customer service is fantastic. It began when I couldn't decide on tube length, so I took some digital photos of my ears with the cardboard measing tool in place and emailed it to them. I talked with Frank by phone and he took all the time I wanted to explain everything, advise me concerning tube length, and even helped me pick out the color (it was supposed to be the lighter gray, but seems to be the darker gray-almost black. But I don't really care). I called a couple of times with questions, and again had great customer service.

As for the HAs, I have nothing to compare them to. I choose the open-fit SIE aid. I was hoping that when I put them in, that I would suddenly have a noticeable improvement in hearing. I didn't know what that would mean, but thought I would discover it. My hearing loss is so mild, that I can't really tell a difference. However, after 6 weeks, I can tell some differences. For instance, instead of just hearing the breeze blow through the leaves, I can actually hear the leaves rustling. And I seem to not have to ask people (my kids in particular) to repeat. I have found that sometimes TVs or radios seem to be too loud, very occasionally. And any air movement (bathroom fans, A/C, etc.), I hear a very slight whistle, almost too low in freq to be a whistle; more like a blowing sound. That's distracting, but not annoying.

The biggest difference is when I take them out; it suddenly sounds like my ears plugged up (as on an airplane). Since the difference is so minimal, I might consider returning them, but don't want to chance any increase in degeneration.

I've adjusted them twice. The first time I used the tutorial including the "Wizard". The second time just to increase the volume a little as I had cranked them a little too low. I'm really a dunce when it comes to hearing differences in sound quality (music, etc.), but I do think there's a slight improvement over the already good adjustment they initially set them at.

By the way, in light of the Vista comments I've read, I used my other system, which has XP.

Oh, and I had asked about maintenance in regard to ear wax; I find that there's almost never any cleaning needed. And if a person ever did have an above average problem with wax build up, there's actually the little wax guard (mentioned previously), that pops right out and can be soaked overnight, rinsed and reinstalled. I've never had to do that.

So that's it. The product, service, and support I consider to be exceptional, within my limited experience, and would absolutely recommend them.

Lastly, I'd appreciate any comments on my first experience with hearing aids. Does it seem like I should have a more noticeable difference, or is this pretty standard with a mild loss? ...that kind of thing.

Thanks again everyone.
__________________
Bill
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