At Affordable Prices
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Wireless Connectivity
With
Technology
FAQs - Your guide to buying Hearing Aids
- Where are you?
- Is it safe to buy from a Website?
- Explain the money back guarantee?
- Why are hearing aids so expensive?
- How are your prices so much lower?
- Why not Get a free hearing aid from the NHS?
Where are you?
Crystal Hearing H.O is Marlow, Buckinghamshire. But we are a network of dispensers covering the whole of the UK. Please call us to see if we can help you. Top
Is it safe to buy from a Website?
YES. You are not actually buying the hearing aids 'online'.
We are a network of qualified hearing aid audiologists and we will carry out a full hearing test evaluation and then fit the hearing aids in person. We then give ongoing aftercare for the life of the hearing aids.
All dispensers are state registered professionals - registered with the HPC. Top
Explain the money back guarantee?
The manufacturer's give us a FULL refund on most hearing aids if they are returned within a period of about 2-3 months. We can therefore give you a full refund. Our time is thus given free in the hope we can help you.
Note: Some parts of hearing aids are NON-refundable, such as ear-moulds and speaker wires (for RIC's) and this will be made clear upon your purchase. Top
Why are hearing aids so expensive?
Such a small device for so much money? We hear this question all the time!
Firstly consider the huge cost of ongoing digital development and marketing needs for the world's leading hearing aid manufacturers to compete and stay ahead.
Then consider that hearing aids are not sold en masse, as per domestic items like televisions or cars, where numbers of units sold brings down the cost of the product.
Often hearing aids are custom made to suit each person.
Hearing aids can only be sold by professionally qualified consultants.
These consultants have to spend time testing your hearing, fitting the hearing aids, rehab appointments (which can take several months), and then offer aftercare for the life of the hearing aids. And hearing aids are expected to last for 5-7 years (with good care). You are paying upfront for your aftercare which makes hearing aids look more expensive as an initial outlay (who pays for their car servicing upfront?). Extra discounts may be considered for clients who consider they may not need the same level of aftercare.
5-7 years at 14 hrs/day equates to 25,000 - 35,000 hours of real-time usage!
The average sale is £2000, therefore average cost of wearing hearing aids is 78p - £1.10 per day, for a life changing piece of equipment.
We sell hearing aids below what is considered the appropriate amount, simply because we do not advertise, we do not have management structures, and we do not have branch costs. However, we believe that the 'nationals' are overcharging for the latest premium products and we urge you to consider your options. You should seek a second opinion if you are not happy with the price quoted and always compare like-for-like hearing aids.
As a basic rule, the more a hearing aid costs the more refined is its ability to enhance speech in the presence of background noise. Top
How are your prices so much lower?
It is more a case of why are so many other national retailers still charging so much? We still often see quotes for top-range hearing aids at £5000-7000. The internet has allowed smaller businesses to compete better against the larger national chains by grouping together giving national coverage. We do not have the overheads that large companies have to operate their human resources, office overheads, management structures etc. Our margins are set to what is required to run a smaller business, and we focus on having a good internet presence giving us free advertising. Top
Why not get a 'free' hearing aid from the NHS? - PLEASE READ THIS
The NHS offer a good option for the hard of hearing and they fit about 1 million units every year and many many are successful. The first problem therefore is that there is a waiting list for NHS hearing aids, whereas we can fit hearing aids within days.
We can come to see you at home - saving you travel costs and time.
NHS hearing aids are what we describe as lower mid-range in terms of technology. We have two levels of technology above NHS hearing aids giving better noise reduction and surround sound - see below.
The NHS only supply behind-ear hearing aids, whereas we can supply custom made in-ear hearing aids which are barely visible. IIC hearing aids are so deep in the ear that they ARE invisible.
We can offer a whole selection of 'wireless' accessories to enhance the performance of your hearing aids connecting you to your TV or telephone.
The NHS may only fit you with one hearing aid - read here the benefits of 2 hearing aids.
Your local NHS consultant can only choose from the one supplier to them - we can supply from the best hearing aid manufacturers in the world including Phonak, Siemens, Widex, Unitron, Oticon, Bernafon, Starkey and GN Resound. What suits one person deosnt necessarily suit another!
List of benefits and features we offer that the NHS cannot:
- Cosmetics
- Custom made in-ear products, some invisible to the eye - Image
- Smaller more discreet BTE's - Image
- Alternative solutions - remote microphone & IIC invisible in-ear hearing aids
- Wider choice of BTE colours and designs - Image
- Wireless CROS and BiCROS for single sided deafness - Image
- Technology
- Up to 20 frequency bands - better for noise reduction
- Surround Sound - more info here: Auto zoom.
- Rechargeable hearing aids - in-ear and behind-ear - Image
- Impulse sound smoothing
- Stronger whistle control
- Echo block
- Extras
- Colour screen remote controls and iPhone remote access
- Bluetooth Connectivity & FM solutions - better on the phone, for the TV and in crowded environments.
