Hearing aid - invisible

[frumpyfifty]

Please can someone recommend the cheapest invisible hearing aid possible. I need it to be invisible. I know people will be well intentioned and tell me it doesn't matter if people can see it - but it does to me.

Thank you very much.

Me too. Started wearing them in my 20s. Sometimes, I almost wish that they were more visible so that people would more automatically accommodate.

Adding that wear behind the ear and find them even harder to see than in the in ear.

I’ve been wearing mine for a couple of years now, behind the ear. No one has ever mentioned them, if they have noticed. I’ve never thought of getting different ones, I just took the nhs ones and that was it ((was 44) moderate loss, but it’s worth checking out different options that suit you, I might too once I’ve more money but right now it’s not a priority.

I would have got purple ones but they said they only gave them to children!

NHS hearing aids these days are Bluetooth and for many years have had the option to have programmes such as front facing ‘directional’ microphone settings for hearing speech in noisy places etc.

I would have loved bright ones!

I know you get what you pay for but has anyone ever tried any from Amazon or AliExpress? Some have really good reviews - but yes I know not always trustworthy!

I wouldn't buy off the peg. For the best results you need an aid that is programmed for your hearing loss profile.

Picking up on something a PP said, the Widex Moment do have Bluetooth and various features like settings for noisy rooms or sports halls etc, directional focus but I don't think these add anything. I just stick with the basic setting. The volume control is also managed from the app. I'd like to have that on the aid itself. Actually I'd like the audiologist just to crank up the volume to maximum.

They don't add anything because they are limited due to the microphone position in the ear canal. Use the same features in the behind the ear version and I bet you would notice more of a difference 🙂

These will be hearing amplifiers, and not prescribed to your hearing loss. And also not moulded to your ear canal so will likely be clunky and visible despite what the advertising shows. You can't buy a true invisible in the ear hearing aid without professional and careful fitting from an Audiologist, please don't waste your money.

Specsavers warned me that if I went privately, even with them, they wouldn't be able to treat me as an NHS patient afterwards. I use the regular NHS ones that sit behind your ear with the little thin wire going into my ear but my hair covers it and nobody ever seems to notice it unless I tell them about it and then they just say they can't see it.

What sort of hairstyle do you have?

Accepted.
But still not outweighing the downsides of visible hearing aids.

I have regular (free!) NHS hearing aids, the bogstandard ones that sit behind the er, with a tube going into the ear. I have very short hair. After wearing them for more than two years, I decided to tell my family. They were astonished, hadn’t seen them, no way had I been wearing them for so long etc etc. The same happened with my friends - they had not a clue.

So try not to fixate on needing ‘invisible’ devices - you may find, like me, that even the most ordinary hearing aids really aren’t noticed by other people!

And to be frank, wearing them has much such a difference to my life, I no longer worry if people can see them or not.

What downsides?

Genuine question. I wore mine for a year without anyone at work knowing/noticing. They're really discreet.

OP, I got hearing aids a year ago.

I tried the in-the-ear aids first, as, like you, I wanted them completely hidden. The audiologist had said behind the ear would be far better in terms of quality of sound, but I wouldn't be persuaded and so she ordered me the in-the-ear aids.

I hated them. Because the microphone is nearer your jaw, when I was eating I couldn't hear anything except the sound of me eating. At our work Christmas dinner I actually had to take them out because I couldn't hear a word of what anyone was saying.

And even when I wasn't eating, I just really didn't get on with them. I didn't like the feeling of my ear being completely blocked by them; every little tiny sound was so amplified that it drove me mad; I wasn't convinced they helped me hear speech any better; and thought I was going to have to give up wearing aids completely.

After a month I changed them for the behind-the-ear aids. They were revelationary. So light and comfortable, snd great sound quality, and even now, a year later, people at work have not noticed that I am wearing them. When I met up with friends for coffee etc, they didn't notice until I told them.

I would echo what PPs have said - go to Specsavers/Boots and have a free checkup and see what the audiologist recommends. They may have a behind the ear aid that you can try, so you can see for yourself that actually, if you have aids with a dome rather than a mould, they are really hardly visible at all.

How mean, I could have any colour I wanted!! The audiologist suggested I might want glittery ones so they looked good on nights out but I declined as I didn’t think they would say professional when I was at work 🤣

😂 love it!

BTE less comfortable where it sits on the top of the ear.
Skin irritations where mould sits - for some reason this doesn't happen with CIC.
Less secure when playing sport.
Get a lot more wind noise.
Visible. Even my CICs have been noticed by a very small number of people.

Accepted that there is more eating noise when wearing CIC but it doesn't impede hearing people talk.