Starkey Hearing Aids

I have some tinnitus and the audiologist chose the newest model of Starkey hearing aids for me. I got the ones with the full ear mold and so far, there are some good and bad things about them. I'm not sure that I like the full ear mold, so next time I go in, I'm going to talk to them about it. My head feels full all the time and sometimes, I get a feedback with my hearing aids. They go all the way in the ear but I pull them out a little bit so I don't feel like my ears are all occluded. My husband has the same thing and he likes it. I put the hearing aids in at 8 o'clock in the morning and I don't take them out until 11 o'clock at night when I go to bed. I charge the batteries every night and their charge lasts for a long time, so I'm very pleased with that.

I came across Starkey Hearing Aids from my insurance. I have the Federal Employees Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, and they do not pay for hearing aids. But they said that they had an outside contractor, Starkey, that would reimburse me up to $2,500. The hearing aids that I bought were the brand-new, top-of-the-line ones that were 6,000. But because of my insurance, I was considered a member which means a reduced price. The hearing aids were 3,000 which I had to pay up front. And the lady that I worked with helped me fill out all the paperwork that needed to be submitted. I'm just waiting for a check to see. It was a good deal.

The rep from Starkey was very nice. I really like her, and I prefer her over any of the others that I've come in contact with. She's very professional. She seems to know how and what these hearing aids do. She knows the product really well. My hearing aids go behind my ear, and the bud goes into the ear. They made things much better because now, I can fully participate in conversations, which I could not do before. My husband has a pitch in his voice that I was able to always hear. So, I could always understand what he was saying. I would just look at him and say, "Am I supposed to be answering something here or what?" He would nudge me and say, "Oh, yeah." I'd answer. I don't have to do that anymore. As a matter of fact, when he talks, I have to turn my hearing aids down.

I've been with Starkey ever since I've had hearing problems. I went into a place here in Marble Falls that was Starkey, and I talked to the guy there and told him I had bad hearing problems. I said my dad did too. My dad bought hearing aids that stayed in the dresser drawer, and I told the guy, "I don't want to wear mine in the dresser drawer. I want to wear them." He said, "Well, I can fix you up." I have all the respect in the world for him. He got me started on Starkey, and then as I got to hearing better and technology improved, I got newer ones and newer ones. The reps are great. They call to check on me and to remind me of stuff. They're not like telemarketers. They're like normal people and they talk to me like normal people.

I hadn't been able to hear out of my right ear since 1980 and my left ear was getting worse and worse over the years. Now, I can hear well out of both ears with my Starkey hearing aids in. It's hard to tell what direction sound comes from, but I can hear it. I like the hearing aids. I was having a lot of problems with them to start with, but lately, they're doing good. I've had to send them back to the shop four times in the past two years. The battery that wouldn't last very long. Another time, the one on the right quit working. I sent them off, and they repaired them every time. The warranty took care of everything. It hadn't cost me anything.

We decided to get hearing aids so I could hear. I’ve had hearing aids from the VA. I've had hearing aids privately, and I have hearing aids from Hearing Lab. I'm not excited about the Hearing Lab, but I like to wear them to hear. A lady from Hearing Lab told me what to take, and I got Starkey hearing aids. I'm not excited about them, and I paid a hell of a lot for them. If I need something to hear, I wear it. I don't care if the hearing aids sit in my ear. I've also had two malignant melanomas very close to the ear, and I have different size crowns for my hearing aids, and I have custom-made things for my hearing aids. I go back regularly to my hearing aid audiologist. She adjusts my hearing aids, and she tries very hard to take care of me.

I have the restaurant, personal and other features on my Starkey hearing aids and it also has the Bluetooth option. The design is good but on my left thumb, I have a problem putting my hearing aid on my left ear sometimes. But the fit is good. It's fairly small and could be smaller yet so they don't see it in the back of your ear. You can’t tell you’re wearing it. I enjoy it and the only problem I have is the wax buildup. I have to deal with that once in a while. The microphone gets clogged. It’s small but the little bit of wax affects it. Cleaning is easy or I replace the piece. There's a little thing you pop off and you put a new one on.

I got rechargeable hearing aids. It feels like there are earplugs in my ear when I wear them. The battery lasts about 30 hours and I put them on a charger every night. They're supposed to be able to be paired to my phone so I can answer phone calls. But they keep telling me that I have a cellphone carrier issue which is why I'm not able to pair them with my phone and have conversations through my hearing aid. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. That's the biggest complaint. Other than that, these are easier because the battery life is longer. Plus, the casings are self-enclosed, so the hearing aids are not exposed to moisture. They allow me to hear especially in loud environments where I've had trouble hearing in the past.

The hearing aids I have now are the AI 16. For the most part, I'll switch it to something like the streaming setting and then I sometimes use the meeting setting. I put them on in the morning and take them off at night and put them on the charger. Sometimes they do run out in the afternoon, so that would be after 8 or 10 hours. But during normal usage, I don't run out of charge.

Starkey was the third set of hearing aids that I had. I saw it at the hearing department of Walgreens in Chicago. I put the hearing aids on and they worked very well. The nicest thing about it is I go to the audiologist who sold me the hearing aids on a regular basis and they check my hearing to make sure I have the right setting. The left aid I had before was bad and Starkey sent a replacement. That was simple.