Ask your audiologist....

When I try to find information on hearing aids over the internet I have a hard time finding local offices and end up with a bunch of confusing sites I have to weed through is there a simpler way that I don't know about?

The easiest way to find information about your local office is to look up hearing aids in the yellow pages of your phone book and see if the office you are interested in has a website listed in their ad. If not call the office and ask if they have a website it may not be listed in the phone book ad or they may have developed one after the phone book was published. If you have the correct website address (such as ours is www.affordablehearinginc.com) you type it in the search bar or enter it in yahoo or google search and you will go directly to our offices site. If you only typed in "Affordable Hearing Aids" or "Hearing aids" you would end up with a huge list of offices or internet sales sights all over the nation. Our office owns the name Affordable Hearing Aids Inc. in Idaho. Some other office can own the same name in other states. I had a patient one day come in with a coupon from an internet site for Affordable Hearing Aids but that office was in Florida and he could not understand why I could not give him $50 off of a hearing aid I didn't even carry. I tried to explain that my office is not a franchise it is locally owned by me. He thought Affordable Hearing in Florida was me but it wasn't it was a completely different owner in a different state with their own website.

If you just type in "hearing aids" into a search engine you will be directed to the sites that have paid the most to come up first. Some of these are national franchises which have a lot of money to throw around or you may wind up on a site that offers discounts if you give them a bunch of your personal information and then they have telephone sales people call you and send you tons of information trying to get you to purchase hearing aids through them. Just a word of wisdom: If you purchase locally you will receive better care than if you go through a third party over the internet and most likely the local prices will be less than the discount the third party is offering anyway (think about it they have to have their cut of the profit too). This same thing happens when you give your personal information to an ad in the paper for free consumers guides to hearing aids. On our website you can download a free guide and you will not be added to a mailing list so you will not be bothered or telemarketed. If you do not want to receive bothersome phone calls and mailers I suggest that you only give your e-mail address to receive information.

The most important part of consulting about hearing aids is the expertise of the audiologist or hearing aid specialist that helps you. You need to be comfortable with them and confident with their ability to program your hearing aids because the hearing aid process develops into a relationship. When someone purchases a hearing aid in my office I expect to be helping that person for the life of that aid. I generally get to know my patients very well after years of cleaning and reprogramming their hearing aids.

Sometimes patients find out so much information from the internet they are overwhelmed and come into the office full of questions and confusion. It is always best to let the provider help you decide and what size, style and level of technology is right for you, your budget and your lifestyle. Most websites and brochures make the hearing aid technology sound better than it really is and can cause unreasonable expectations.

The internet is a great source of information but hearing aids are a very personal device and the help of a provider that you like and respect is the most important part.

Dr. Tia Flynn is a certified audiologist and has been in business for over 10 years. Every Tuesday morning from 9:00 a.m. to noon, Dr. Flynn provides free hearing screenings at 1601 3rd St. in Coeur d'Alene. (208) 664-2767. Visit www.affordablehearinginc.com for a free copy of the consumers guide to hearing aids and watch helpful videos.