Where do I buy my hearing aids?

Audiologists are the only qualified person to perform hearing diagnosis and prescribe hearing aids. You should always get your hearing aids from an Audiologist. In India, Audiologist holds Bachelor's degree (4 Years) and Master's degree (2 Years) in Audiology to treat your hearing problems.

You need to understand some of the facts below before purchasing a hearing aid

Fact 1: 80% of the centres even in cities like Chennai or Trichy are NOT served by Audiologists. Even hearing aids sold in many ENT Clinics are not served by Audiologists. Many centres employ nurse/ earmold technician/non-medical persons for fitting hearing aids even though they are not qualified to do so.

Fact 2: If your hearing aid is not selected according to the prescription by an Audiologist or if it is not programmed properly, your ears might be damaged permanently.

Fact 3: The cost of the hearing aids includes the services of a qualified Audiologist. That means you are not paying just for the device. Many centres try to save cost by not employing Audiologist and provide unsuitable hearing aids and poor service.

Fact 4: A typical hearing diagnosis, hearing aid fitting/testing/fine tuning for an Adult will take around 2 hours. Some of the users (with complex conditions) may need to visit Audiologist few times to get the hearing aid configured to their needs. Many centres try to fit hearing aids quickly so they can serve many on a day.

Fact 5: A typical hearing diagnosis, hearing aid fitting/testing/fine tuning for a Child will take multiple visits to Audiologist to ensure the child is hearing properly. If it is not done by a specialist, the child will not speak properly leading to developmental delays. In developed countries like US, pedeatric cases must be attended only by Audiologists with Master's Degree or Phd.

Fact 6: There are many online brokers who introduce themselves as "Hearing Care Professionals" are not Audiologists. They just connect online customers with physical hearing aid stores for sales commission.

Fact 7: There are many sellers who sell refurbished hearing aids as new hearing aid with huge discount. This includes hearing aids where the warranty is not covered by the original manufacturer but covered by dealers.

Fact 8: There are many sellers who visit home to fit hearing aids. But when you reach them for fine tuning or other services, they will ask you visit any other nearby store as they don't own any store!

How can you eliminate the risk of getting unsuitable hearing aid or poor service?

1. Always get your hearing diagnosed, hearing aid prescribed/ fitted by an Audiologist. Don't be shy in asking for ID Card or Registration number of the person who is serving you. You can verify their details in this government website. If the person is not an audiologist, politely refuse the service and look for other hearing centres.

2. If the hearing aid is for a child, prefer an highly experienced Audiologists or Audiologist with minimum of Master's degree and who take ownership in the overall development (i.e hearing & speech) of the child. Always fit hearing aid in a centre within a distance comfortable for you to travel as you need multiple visits to fine tune the hearing aid based on speech development and also for speech therapy.

3. Don't get lured by huge discounts. This means they are selling poor/refurbished product and poor service.

4. Avoid buying hearing aids in a camp. Many hearing camps are conducted only with commercial interests with huge discounts and are run with a target to fit hundreds of hearing aids in few days. To get better product and service, stand out from the crowd and approach a qualified audiologist near to you.

5. Avoid buying online. There are customers who received unsuitable or poorly programmed hearing aids. Sometimes, they neither receive the product nor the money.

6. If any ENT Doctor ask you to buy a specific Brand/ Model, politely refuse and approach an Audiologist. ENTs are not qualified to prescribe hearing aids as Audiologists are not qualified to prescribe medications.