Never get a hearing aid from a franchise like Beltone, Miracle Ear & Audibel. As an independent audiologist, I have accounts with every significant manufacturer and a couple of insignificant manufacturers. I can (and do) pick and choose anytime from different manufacturers depending on variables such as specific features, durability, technology improvements, pricing, technology support, quality control, warranties, etc.... No single manufacturer makes the "best" hearing aids for everyone. In fact, ALL manufacturers have both high and low quality models/circuits at any given time, and pricing is rarely the determining factor. Even the best manufacturers (Siemens, Starkey, and Phonak) produce both good and poor models/circuits, and quality control and technology with all manufacturers is constantly changing... sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. We (audiologists) must have the training, experience, clinical tools, desire, and time to evaluate each manufacturer, each model, and each individual hearing aid on an ongoing basis. One, of many, problems with a franchise place like Audibel is that they will only give their programming software to their own chain/franchise stores. I can open an account and get software, supplies and hearing aids from any major or minor company except Beltone, Miracle Ear, and Audibel. If you get a franchise hearing aid, you are forced to continue to go back to that franchise for all future service. If the franchise guy turns out to be a punk or the place goes out of business, you're screwed. Only another Audibel office can adjust or repair your hearing aid. If you get a "real" name brand hearing aid, you can take it anywhere that has an account with that brand for adjustments, repairs, loss & damage replacements, etc.... I've been fitting hearing aids everyday for 15-years, and I've never even heard of a Flip brand hearing aid. Audibel is a franchise. It looks like you're getting set up to be screwed either way. Start over and;
1. Make sure they're really audiologists (look for M.S., or AuD, and CCC-A certification credentials. Only a desperate audiologist would work for Audibel or fit a Flip (i.e., generic) brand hearing aid.
2. Never, ever get your hearing aids from a franchise
3. Study "real ear" or "probe microphone verification," and make sure they use this technology to actually measure average American speech sound pressure levels at your eardrum. If they don't measure what sound waves are stimulating your auditory system with the hearing aid IN YOUR EAR, they are working blind and ignorant.
4. Try to get a Siemens, Starkey, or Phonak brand hearing aid.
5. (really #1) Pray
PS Hearing aids will neither reduce nor eliminate hearing loss or tinnitus. Hearing aids can amplify sounds to an audible level so you can hear them again, and the amplified sound from a hearing aid usually helps mask or cover up your ringing as long as you're wearing the aid. Once the aid is removed, your hearing loss and ringing will be the same. A poorly trained dispenser can easily over-amplify the ear and actually cause additional hearing loss and exacerbate tinnitus/ringing. This is just one of many reasons why poorly trained hearing aid salesmen should not be permitted to fit hearing aids.
