Embrace Hearing

I’ve known a lot of people who purchased hearing aids in the last two years. And as far as I know, every one of them, within six months, decided not to use them any more for a variety of reasons like dealing with feedback and echoes. So, I was highly skeptical, and in fact was considering not buying a hearing aid. I finally decided. I do a lot of public speaking and a lot of leading of groups and so forth, and I need to be able to hear. I did some investigating on the web, and I contacted three different companies, and the man I talked to at Embrace was incredible. He answered all my questions, he had smart answers, and I know that I was leaning towards trying to buy a device from someone in Baltimore where I live, so that they could physically look at it and adjust it, and show me how to do things to it.

And this fellow had really good answers for why things would work better with Embrace because they have videotapes, and they have people on call, and they don't have to wait three or four weeks for an appointment to watch those videotapes. So, it was that man’s pleasant intelligence and conscientiousness that led me to make the decision. I was also very interested in the thing that they call a TV connector, and I definitely wanted one of those. In fact, I just ordered a second one. I like it because I don't have to turn on the subtitle or the closed captions anymore. I can understand what people are saying. And I don't like everything they're saying on the news these days, but I understand it. My hearing is bad enough that I had to use closed captions. And then, I discovered, when I read the literature that came with that device a little more, that it can also work with my computer.

About three hours ago, I did a webinar online for a bunch of people. I had had difficulty doing that lately, since I lost all this hearing. And so, I just plugged that TV connector into my computer, and it went straight in Bluetooth right into my ear. It was fabulous. And so, I ordered a second one. I don't wanna have to keep moving back and forth between my computer and my TV. It is better because I can listen to that television as loud as I wanna listen to it, and nobody else hears it in the house. And that’s a feature I didn't have when I was listening with my real ear.

I was skeptical about hearing aids, and I put mine in right after it arrived. We had a little trouble, and this nice guy talked me through. I called him, and he talked me through it. A little bit of wax had gotten on the thing that’s underneath the wax guard, and he showed me how to take that off. He talked me through cleaning it. And after that, I stuck it in my ear, and I just fell in love with it right away. I’ve had none of the problems that my friends reported having. It’s not perfect. I have lots of trouble in noisy rooms, still. And also, I drive a cute little convertible, and I have lots of trouble with the wind in my ear. But those aren’t their fault. I’m a skeptic who has become a zealot for my hearing aid.

About three weeks after I had fallen in love with my hearing aid, I had to fly to a conference where I was giving a paper in Texas, and on the way there, I fell asleep on the plane. And then, we landed, and I woke up and went to the rental agency, and got a car, and drove to my hotel room, only to discover that I didn't any longer have my hearing aid. It apparently fell off in the plane. I had put on those noise cancelling earphones over the hearing aid. And I think somehow, when I took those off, maybe I pulled the hearing aid out and it fell on the floor and I didn't even notice it. So, I came home and immediately bought a second one. And that’s the one I’m not in love with. I was in love with the first one too. I’m capable.

In fact, I actually like this one better. It comes with a little wire thing that you’re supposed to curl up in your ear, and you use that to pull it out of your ear. It’s different from the thing that’s connected to the hearing aid itself. And with my first one, that little wire thing wouldn’t stay in my ear. The only thing is I don't like the picture of the woman that comes up while the app is coming up on the phone. It’s sexist. I don't know why you have to put a beautiful woman on there. When you open the little app on your phone, it takes a while for the thing to load, and while it’s waiting to load, they have a blonde woman in a red dress leaning up against the side of the wall and that bugs me every time it comes up. My professional life was becoming more and more difficult before I got this hearing aid. And also, my wife doesn't get mad at me because I can hear her. It perhaps saved my marriage.

I got the medium hearing aid from Embrace but I don't use it all the time. I took too hard the fact that a hearing aid doesn't give you perfect hearing, but it helps. When I wore it to a restaurant, it gave me some difficulty because the background noise was loud, and it tended to override the voices of the people at the table. That may be because I have a simpler model that doesn't really allow all the fancy accommodations. And I also hadn't bought anything with the view to be comfortable in large groups. I wanted something to be comfortable in small groups.

It took me a while also to become adept at putting them in. It was a little difficult, and my ears would hurt or itch or feel very uncomfortable. But after a while, that settled in. And now, I'm pretty good at putting them in. When I wear them, the hearing is quite more agreeable. I find a significant difference, and I hear considerably better with them on than off. I'm quite pleased with them. I have recommended the hearing aid to a number of people.

The sales reps were well informed. However, I sent an email and it was slightly incorrect. So, I was scolded by Bran who returned it. He said I shouldn't have sent it there and not to send it there again. They were kind enough to forward it to him but I felt that he was a little rude. At that same time, it said in the instructions that you could ask the right size for the ear portion and I wrote in that same written conversation that the conch lock was not fitting right in my left ear. The gentleman said he would forward me more of those and he would forward me the medium-sized ear portion that goes inside your ear, and that was probably five weeks ago.

We were traveling, so three days ago, I wrote back and said that it has been about at least a month. I didn't know if I should expect those to arrive or if it was lost somewhere in the system. They were attentive when still waiting for me to send my money and then after that, it's kinda like, "Oh, too bad." I wasn’t pleased with that. I've been a little bit disappointed with the service since the purchase but I would recommend Embrace.

I decided to go ahead and I was impressed with the material that I was reading about Embrace on the internet. One of the things that frustrated me though was that it was very hard to find good comparative information on hearing aids. Most people have only had one or two brands of hearing aids in their experience so they either like what they have or they don't but they don't have comparisons. On the other hand, when I called Embrace, I felt like I was getting sound information as opposed to a sales pitch. So that impressed me. They were also considerably less expensive than others and that appealed to me. Embrace operates largely online and their argument is that you pay the $150 to go, have the audiologist check out your hearing and let them know what the audiologist found then they would reprogram the product for you as you need it.

They also said that what often happens is that there's a relatively small amount of money that actually goes into the hearing aid then the prices increase to cover the handling. They also said that you would often find that others would boost that price up. They would tell you you're getting a top-of-the-line hearing aid and therefore it's more expensive. To some extent, that's certainly true. But then the folks are likely to charge you even more and tell you that by paying more, you're getting free service.

There are some people who might greatly benefit by sitting down with a hearing aid technician to walk them through things. But Embrace has online videos showing how to change the batteries and the wax guards, and I'm able to follow the directions. So in my experience, it has all worked the way they have suggested that it should work. So I'm pleased. I paid less than a thousand dollars for my hearing aids and as far as I can tell from talking with other people, they will do just about whatever other people are getting out of theirs.

One of the reasons I was also willing to try Embrace was all of the reviews they had online. They were not all positive but everybody said that the company has been very quick to respond to their questions, and that has been my experience as well. Over the phone, they were certainly helpful in terms of telling me what I might expect. When I called to discuss things, they did a very good job as well. The technical person answered my questions and provided information. I sort of anticipated that at the end of that time, he was gonna turn me back to the sales force or try to push me to order right then but he didn't. He simply told me to get back with them if I had any other questions. So I've been very positively pleased with the relationship.

I've also had emails from them telling me things I might try. I got an email suggesting that because of the way the batteries are designed, if when you first put them in, you take the little tab that covers the battery off and expose it to the air for a few minutes, that will increase the life span of the battery by 25%. And that's certainly in the range of what my experience has been. So that is one example of their follow-up and taking care of me.

In terms of the hearing aids, I think the audiologist was correct. I'm not always sure whether I am benefitting from them or not. But there have been a couple of times that I've seen evidence that they're doing me some good. On Saturday mornings, I ride my bike while my friends are jogging and sometimes, that means that I am behind them rather than with them. Previously, I had found that it was increasingly difficult to keep up with the conversations. But since starting wearing the hearing aids, I've noticed that I'm much more engaged in the conversations. I am probably also more comfortable with the small children when I'm telling stories.

The aids I've got are programmed for hearing in large conference rooms where I want to hear the speaker in front of me and mute the sounds behind me, and I think I can detect the difference. I am more comfortable in those situations when I change the program for that setting. There's also a setting that is supposed to mute road noises and when I tried that on one occasion, I found it easier to listen to the radio. The road noise was significantly less and that was even in a pickup truck with larger than usual tires where the road noise is greater than it would be in a passenger car. The hearing aids are helping me some and in situations that I value having better hearing. I've also been very impressed with how comfortable they are and I've told other people if they start looking for hearing aids, they ought to look at Embrace.

I tried another brand that I ordered online, and I like Embrace Hearing much better. The Embrace Hearing has less of a tinny sound than that and has a better quality. It has multiple features. I think there are about three or four programs and it's supposed to adjust to the programs automatically. If I'm in a crowd, there's a program for that. I bought an extra handheld rectangular object that controls the sound as well. I really like the hand control feature, but carrying it around all day is bulky. If I'm upstairs and I need to change it, I have to come downstairs to get my hand control.

This is the first time that I've been able to hear for quite a while, especially in a crowded room. I can communicate better with the people if I can hear what they're saying. I'm still not hearing as well as I would like to hear though. There are still times when I miss things when I talk to people, especially if they have a really soft voice, but it is an improvement. Plus, every time we called, their crew has been very polite and helpful. The Embrace Hearing was a lot less expensive than the one that I had for five years but higher than some of the other internet purchases. For the money, Embrace's hearing aids are a good investment.

Before I got my Embrace hearing aids, I was having trouble with hearing high-pitched noises in crowds and there was a setting on the particular set that they gave me that they programmed for noisy conditions, and that seems to be working well. Also, they auto-adjust. So, if I'm working in a loud environment and I change environments, they auto-adjust for me. It’s a pretty nice feature. The price was very fair, too. All in all, I would totally encourage others to try Embrace. They’re very consumer-oriented and they care about the products that they’re putting up. And the follow-up service is fantastic. They wanna make sure that every customer here is good and for an online company to do that, it’s outstanding.

The customer service reps are very knowledgeable. They answered all of my questions in the upfront research part, and I was very pleased with the whole process. I wouldn’t be able to function now without my hearing aids because I still do a lot of speaking to large groups. So, both in intimate settings of small conversation counseling with people, the ability to hear in that context, and also, the ability with the features to be able to pick out voices in a room, I would not have that without hearing assistance.

Embrace was quick to respond and always helpful. They would give me suggestions over the phone and even offered to reprogram and see if that would help. But that takes sending the hearing aids back in and waiting for them to come back. My problem was not having someone I could actually go to and talk to person to person to see if I was doing things right. Being a first time user, I felt that it's more complicated and I needed a little bit more hands-on. So, I returned the hearing aids shy the 45 days that I was granted, and they made the process very simple. Their paperwork indicated that it could take a couple of weeks before the refund comes back to me. Everybody that I worked with was very good, and if anything that I try after this isn't any better, then I would definitely come back and get another pair from them.