Low-Cost Hearing Aids Prove Superior To Expensive Hearing Aids

After years of using expensive custom hearing aids, Douglas Smith says he found a better solution for his needs with the affordable MDHearingAid, a high quality line of low cost hearing aids which was developed by a doctor.

May 02, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Douglas Smith, 61, says he started to experience hearing loss in his late 40's and early 50's. The now-retired IT Director says that his mother also started to show diminished hearing in her 50's.

"During meetings I was always asking people to repeat what they were saying," says Smith. "It seemed that hearing voices was getting to be especially difficult for me. At home, many times when trying to communicate with my wife, she would get frustrated and just say 'forget it'. I finally went in for a hearing test which showed that I was having difficulty, particularly in hearing the higher sound frequencies."

Smith did what most people do - he was fitted with a pair of in-the-ear custom hearing aids, which cost him about $4,000.00 - like many people, Doug's costs was not covered by his insurance. "But it was great the first time I wore the hearing aids," says Smith. "I went outside and I could hear birds singing for the first time in years."

"After a few years of using the hearing aids, my audiologist said my hearing was getting worse and that I'd need a new pair," says Smith. By that time a friend suggested that a state vocational rehabilitation program might help with the cost, so Smith applied and the agency agreed to pay for his second pair. "Even though the state paid for my hearing aids, they still required $450.00 a year in maintenance," says Smith. After several years, Smith needed to purchase a third pair, and this time he once again had to pay the full cost, as he was now retired and the vocational services agency would no longer cover him.

Smith says that even with the expensive hearing aids, there were problems. "I did not understand what people were saying to me nearly as well as I thought I would, and background noises were interfering."

"I then tried several types of low cost hearing aids in the $300.00 range but I was still disappointed in their performance," says Smith. He says he then noticed articles and advertising for low cost hearing aids on the internet and started to do research on the different types that were available. "I read reviews by users and tried to learn as much as I could. After reading the positive reviews I decided to try the MDHearingAid," says Smith. "I was still very skeptical that low cost hearing aids could work as well as my expensive pair, but I was impressed that the MDHearingAid is designed by a doctor."

"One reason many people don't get the help they need is the high cost of hearing aids," says Dr. Sreekant Cherukuri, a Chicago-based ear, nose and throat doctor and developer of the low cost MDHearingAid.

"It's estimated that 36 million people in the U.S. need hearing aids, but over 77 percent (or about 28 million) are doing without them," says Dr. Cherukuri. "Estimates are that only one in five people who needs a hearing aid actually wears one," he says.

"When I tried the new hearing aids, I realized that these are the best I've ever had, regardless of the cost," says Smith. "It took a bit of trial and error to get the best fit in my ear with the interchangeable ear pieces, but I believe that the MDHearingAids are better because they are simple and they are tuned to receive human speech frequencies so I can actually communicate with people. "It's amazing that an affordable hearing aid can work so well for me," he says.

About MD HearingAid

Sreekant Cherukuri, MD, Board-Certified Ear, Nose, & Throat Physician in Chicago, IL is the inventor of the MDHearingAid line. As an attending physician in otolaryngology, Dr. Cherukuri found that he saw too many patients with hearing loss going home without a solution because they couldn't afford the hearing aid prices-- many hundreds, or thousands, of dollars were usually needed to pay for them. As a physician, he knew the effects of untreated hearing loss: depression, social isolation, anxiety and symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's dementia.

After conducting a hearing aid quality comparison of several hearing aids and sound amplifiers in the under-$200 range, he found that most failed to work well on clearly amplifying the human voice. His passion became developing the best hearing aid at a reasonable price that used typical hearing aid batteries and could help with the most common types of hearing loss. He was looking for a "one-size-fits-most" hearing aid similar to reading glasses that can easily be purchased at the drug store. Adding to that mission was to provide clear, expert consumer information on hearing aids to anyone with a hearing issue.

He then created the MDHearingAid line of hearing aids to exact technical specifications so that the range of sounds associated with the human voice would be amplified without overly amplifying background sounds. Hearing aid ratings on the flagship MDHearingAid PRO by leaders in the hearing loss field (ENT Physicians and Audiologists) show unanimous agreement that the sound quality and output is surprisingly accurate given its low cost.

"The PRO is the best cheap hearing aid I've come across," he said. "I prefer to use the term inexpensive hearing aid instead because it is so well made."Low-Cost Hearing Aids Prove Superior To Expensive Hearing Aids