After an illness in 2021, I found myself increasingly needing hearing assistance. I got very tired of asking whom I was with to repeat what they just said, and I am sure they got tired of me asking. I had purchased my father some fairly small behind-the-ear hearing aids with receiver wires in the last couple of years of his life. I was fairly familiar with how light and comfortable hearing aids had become, but I was not ready to go there yet. When the FDA began to regulate OTC (over-the-counter) hearing amplifiers, I started my hearing loss journey with a pair of Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAP). The FDA regulates hearing aids, but they classified PSAPs as consumer electronics and not medical devices. I soon discovered a lot of variables in the PSAP devices and the differences between them and actual hearing aids. Upon using my initial pair, I found a lot of technological interference with the ones I started using. I soon put them back in the box and into the drawer, abandoning them forever because the screeching sound was much worse than the hearing loss.
After a few months, a more advanced pair of PSAPs came on the market. With this pair, I had no major interference from appliances and devices sending signals through the electromagnetic fields or deafening screeching sounds. Instead, I had a different issue with using them that I found annoying. Even though that pair had earpiece modifications of diverse sizes, they still irritated my ear canal and did not want to stay in it very well, often dislodging and falling out. They also irritated my inner ears, and I wanted to remove them to deal with the skin irritation they caused. That pair had Bluetooth and worked with my iPhone, which was a technological advancement for me, but the irritation also caused that pair to be forgotten.
After a year of trial and error, I have finally found a hearing aid that feels like a 'winner' to me. The Jabra Enhanced Select 500, a product similar in style to the pair I had purchased for my father, has become my go-to solution. The design of the Select 500 Hearing Aids has been perfected to mitigate or alleviate the issues that earlier OTC hearing devices had, and the company has designed some wonderful features for and into this product. It is a relief to have found a solution that works for me.
The Jabra Enhanced Select 500 has many excellent features, but the features that make this product so appealing include 1. the quality of the product’s design, materials, and sound, 2. the ability to recharge the hearing aids in their own case up to three (3) times, 3. the light fit, ease of changing the receiver lines, and numerous opportunities to find the exact fit to result in function and comfort for each of my two ear canals, 4. numerous online videos for just about any question that I have had, and 5. having a care team with a licensed audiologist to help me stay on track in becoming accustomed to and using the hearing aids.
These are real hearing aids, and the difference is that they are designed specifically to work with hearing impairments and amplify various frequencies as they are individually needed for every person wearing and using the Select 500 Hearing Aids. Jabra has made excellent music and audio earbuds for the past few years, and the company has perfected the technology of reducing unwanted background noise, enhancing speech, and tailoring their results to enhance different environments--from restaurants to outside areas to lecture halls. The Bluetooth is identical to other retail hearing aids, if not more enhanced by their proven success with their continuously developed earbuds. These are also not analog hearing aids but digital hearing aids, and they are designed to connect through Bluetooth with smartphones to allow the flexibility to make individual adjustments in real time using the phone (iPhone or Android).
For example, if I am in a noisy, crowded restaurant, I can use the Jabra Enhance Select app and instantly change my setting to the restaurant option and reduce all background noise so I can just hear the conversation at the table. I can also do this by the button on the hearing aid itself. There are other preselects for outdoors, all-around, and music, but even better, and to get to this point of perfection, I have already used telehealth with Jabra’s licensed audiologist and support staff to tailor the hearing aids specifically to my ears and degree of hearing loss.
Each hearing aid has a microphone, a processor, an amplifier, and a receiver/speaker. There are online audiology tests, and Jabra’s audiologist and support staff can adjust settings remotely by sending customized settings individually to patients through the app, which can be uploaded as needed individually by patients/clients. If you have an audiology hearing test report, that report can be uploaded and used in each person’s individual file to help with any tweaking of perfecting and individualization of sound for each patient customer. Obtaining an audiologist test is often a free assessment at many hearing clinics. Still, many health and Medicare plans will pay for an audiologist exam yearly to ensure no inner ear damage is present. However, if this does not interest the patient/client, the hearing aids can be totally individualized based on the online hearing test and assessment by a care team licensed audiologist. For complete professional service with the Jabra Enhanced Select 500, I suggest all visits with the Jabra care team's licensed audiologist and an audiologist exam because it can help form the basis for total professionalization and individualization of the hearing aids.
The hearing aid's components work together to analyze and amplify specific sounds for perfect hearing. The microphone receives the incoming sound, which is then digitized and converted into electronic signals. The signals are shaped, amplified, and delivered to the ear through the receiver/speaker wire. Telehealth communication visits became popular beginning in 2020 and are now fully recognized as medical visits covering many medical issues. The telehealth visit I have had with Jabra works similarly through Zoom which provides a one-on-one interaction with the audiologist.
Jabra offers the option to just purchase the hearing aids or to purchase the hearing aids with a Premium Package which is well worth the cost of around $200 dollars. The Premium Package provides all the hearing online tests, telehealth visits with a licensed audiologist, and support care for three (3) years, three (3) years of Loss & Damage Protection for the hearing aids, and a three (3) year Warranty. To get started, my care team audiologist sent extra receiver lines individualized to my specific needs, and they arrived in three (3) days. Within the retail box, I received the charging case with charger and cable, a set of two (2) hearing aids, a user guide, extra domes for the ear canal end of the receiving lines, a cleaning cloth and brush, a wax filter kit, an ear measuring tool that determined the size of receiver lines I needed, a small tool to assist with changing the receiver lines, a kit of cards to assist with start-up, and a set of sport lock wires to help hold the aids in place when being active.
Changing the receiver wires was easy and quick, and I just used my fingernail to make the adjustment. Everything about using these hearing aids has been smooth and easy, except for downloading the adjustments my care team audiologist sent through the app. She did so very timely and in a matter of minutes after our online telehealth first session. It took me a week to consistently access and download the settings to my hearing aids. I cannot help but think it was definitely a technological mishap that is not normal procedure because too much about every aspect of these hearing aids is top quality. Once the individualized settings were downloaded to my hearing aids, it was a smooth, quick process that enhanced my sound quality.
I have a second telehealth visit with my care team audiologist this week. Since my audiologist report is almost four (4) years old and because I like these so well and realize their quality and design, I have scheduled a new audiologist test so that I can forward the results to my care team audiologist to be sure that I am getting the maximum potential of the design and sound quality of the Jabra Enhanced Select 500. Jabra has also designed and is marketing 300 and 200 models that all have the same foundational design as the Select 500 but come at a lower retail price. I am sure because of the quality of the Jabra Enhanced Select 500, they are also worth consideration. If you have arrived at that point where hearing is starting to be a noticeable issue, I hope you will consider the Jabra Enhanced Select 500 Hearing Aids. You will have one hundred (100) days to try them; if they are not for you, they can be returned. For me, I already feel confident that they are going to work fine and help me in social settings tremendously.