As a hearing aid wearer for a few decades, I have seen improvements and advances in technology over the span of my usage. Certainly the introduction of Over the Counter hearing aids is a major force in today’s market.
For the people with mild to moderate hearing loss, the cost of these devices are about half the price for the “medical grade” hearing aids. Since you are no longer required by laws to have a licensed audiologist or hearing aid dispenser to handle the transaction, the costs are much more affordable.
The audiogram process is a service that medical insurance and Medicare pays for. So if you have coverage, that is probably the best place to start on your hearing improvement journey.
With the data of an audiogram, you will have a good idea if an OTC hearing aid will have the "horsepower" you need. With the data of the study, you can have Jabra adjust the OTC hearing aids to precisely match where in the audible spectrum your acuity is weak. There is also a cheaper option to do an at home, computer based hearing test, with a link at the Jabra web page to test your hearing and set up the hearing aids accordingly. They suggest using a set of headphones and in a quiet place; even a closet is good. Use of the Jabra phone app allows you to further adjust as you familiarize yourself with the amplification and your personal perceived needs.
The Jabra device incorporates many of the incremental advances that have improved hearing assistance over the past decades. This is a "receiver in the ear" product, where the battery unit fits over the ear as the power source, but the actual speaker resides in the ear canal, and a thin wire connects to the battery unit. This leads to a small, light weight unobtrusive instrument.
A wide selection of alternative rubber fittings is provided to customize to your anatomy and secure the amplifier in your ear canal. Having a secure fit allows optimum delivery of the sound to the eardrum, as even small leaks will let a significant proportion of the sound to escape from the canal. There are three different styles in a range of sizes to fit the majority of people. I switched the perforated dome that was factory installed to a solid, and larger sized dome which was easily accomplished, with definite improvement in the delivery of the sound.
the instruction manual and online linkage made starting up of the Jabras understandable, especially important to new users of hearing aids.
Built into the separate Jabra app for your iPhone/Android had multiple video links each step along the way.
Once I had registered my hearing aids online, which was simple to do, I received emails, and even a phone call from a human, offering guided support in getting started. You had the options of either phone support or web addresses for a variety of educational modules dealing with all aspects of customizing the device and daily usage.
Notable advances of hearing aid technology that I have witnessed over the years are well incorporated in the Jabra devices:
Digital amplification. Digitization allows for speech to be prioritized for amplification by the processor, and dampen the background noises. Digitized sound can be transmitted electronically by Bluetooth over distances of around 10 meters, so you can leave your phone on the table and move about the room. Additional benefits accrue: the squealing of audio feedback, a bane of analog hearing aids, can be recognized and suppressed by digital processing.
Rechargeable batteries with a run time of all day. You recharge at night, similar to the ritual of charging your mobile phone overnight. The hassle and expense of changing batteries weekly or for smaller devices, with smaller batteries, even more often, perhaps every 3 or 4 days, is gone.
Wireless recharging of the batteries with a USB powered table top charger. No need to plug anything in; just drop the device into the cradle, the light on the hearing aid turns on, and you know it’s charging.
Shrinkage of size and weight with advances in microelectronics and chip technologies. See the comparison picture of my regular hearing aids to the Jabra Enhance devices.
Water resistance. However, these are not to be worn swimming or in the shower, of course. But they will not be destroyed by being caught in the rain.
Receiver in the ear speakers for optimum esthetics and smaller form factor. My photo shows the difference of a “behind the ear” device, where all the electronics are in the white lozenge and the clear plastic tube carries the amplified sound down from the hearing aid to the molded plastic ear piece that is custom fit to the ear configuration.
“Made for iPhone” (and Android equivalent) linkage to mobile phones offering binaural hearing when using your phone, and additionally the ability to mute out all the background noise while on a phone conversation.
Ability to use the hearing aids as an equivalent device as earbud headphones for optimized music, podcast, and “live listen” linkage using your mobile phone as your private microphone.
The only difficulty that I encountered:
The initial linkage of the Jabras to my phone via the app instructed me to “turn off Bluetooth and WiFi”. The app then did a search for the Jabras and stated they were discovered, but the next step when I clicked on the “done” button took me back to the screen that said “hearing aids not connected”, with a button stating “connect hearing aids”. This became a merry-go-round over and over with no obvious remedy.
This circular path occurred because via the separate linkage in my iPhone to a “Made for iPhone” device was already occupied by my pre-existing hearing aids. The hearing aids did not exit from that linkage, until you specifically go to that area of Settings and ask the phone to remove that device. So turning off Bluetooth in the General settings, will not disconnect them. So the loop of instructions was written for a phone that had not been previously linked to a Made for iPhone hearing aid.
Once I recalled the Made for iPhone aspect, I was able to proceed and get the Jabra instruments to connect. Since I have my current hearing aids for three years, I had completely forgotten about that pathway, hidden in Settings. You can fast track to that setting with an iPhone with a triple press of the right sided button on the iPhone. That will automatically open the Accessibility Shortcuts. From there you have access to 3 choices: hearing devices, magnifier, and zoom. You open the hearing devices menu, then tell the phone to “forget” your current hearing aids that you are upgrading from, if they are of the Made for iPhone category. Then magically, the option to choose Jabra Enhance is present. It is smooth sailing from there.
In conclusion, I found the Jabra an excellent choice for those wishing to improve their hearing ability. Various reasons to pursue an OTC solution: perhaps you live too remote from an audiologist, are not that marked in your hearing impairment but recognize there is room for improvement to a more vibrant hearing experience that you recall from earlier in your life, or finances are such that you need to try to limit your expenditures.
Compared to another pair of OTC hearing aids that I trialed, the Jabra were far superior in all aspects, most notably in the robust support and graded options for more involvement. A robust warranty with a long period of coverage (3 years) and ongoing support for those three years.
I live on the border of moderate to more severe hearing loss, and even at highest volume the Jabra devices reach some limitations. In critical listening environments, attending a lecture in a large auditorium for example, I will depend on my prior hearing aids. But the Jabra set will go with me on all travels, for less critical listening and a worthy backup pair should there be issues with my former hearing aids, or if they need to be sent back to the factory for repairs.