Can I Wear Someone Else’s Hearing Aids?

Posted by Alex on October 7, 2010 under Hearing Aids, Product Reviews | Be the First to Comment

You might be surprised how many patients ask this question.  My greater concern is the number of people who want to ask, and yet are afraid to broach the subject.  Why?  Doesn’t it seem like a reasonable question?

Here’s the truth:  Yes and no.  Let’s look at this a little more closely.

Physically, it is now a lot easier to wear someone else’s hearing aids.   Many styles of hearing aids (Behind-The-Ear, Open Ear, Receiver in the Canal) are now separate from the custom-molded piece placed in a patient’s ear canal.  Since these styles are the vast majority of all digital hearing aids fit today, it is now plausible to wear someone else’s hearing aids as easily as putting on someone else’s glasses.  However, just like wearing someone else’s glasses it does not mean that the prescription is accurate and we are not surprised when the vision is not quite clear.  My father wore my mother’s old glasses for years, until finally his employer asked him not to return to work until he had his own pair.  This doesn’t even take into account the fact that he did indeed look a little funny.  To which my mother’s response was bewilderment because of course, the glasses were Gucci’s.  Knowing this, I am not sure why we would expect to put on someone else’s hearing aids and hear clearly, but people do.

We are fortunate in that technological advancements in digital processing has enabled us to make specific changes within a hearing aid to alter a prescription.  Thus, I had a long-time patient whose personal friend passed away, and inherited a pair of almost new top of the line Behind the Ear hearing aids.  I was able to change the programming in the hearing aids to that of my own patient’s hearing test results, and he could utilize them just like they had been purchased for his own hearing loss.  Ask your optometrist if they can do that!

It is not always quite that cut and dry.  There are a few other important considerations.  Even a Behind-the-ear hearing aid has technological specifications and is designed to fit a certain range of hearing loss.  For example, I once had a fellow come to see me with a request to fit his mother with a hearing aid he had purchased on Ebay.  I had tested his mother and sure enough she had a moderate hearing loss in both ears.  However, the hearing aid the son had purchased was only appropriate for someone with a severe to profound hearing loss.  In essence, fitting this particular hearing aid on this particular individual could actually result in further damaging the hearing she had left.

By comparison, custom fit hearing aids (such as In-the-ear, In-the-canal, and Completely-in-the-canal styles) offer quite a different picture.  I have seen more people than I would like to admit who had in some way managed to force hearing aids originally molded for someone else’s else into their own ear canals, and despite the odd setting reported that they “fit.”  In fact, this is hardly ever the case.  Even one’s own ears are asymmetrical.  There is very little similarity to the size and shape of one person’s ears to another—regardless of heredity.  I can best describe this by something one of my professor’s in graduate school said:  “I am a size 8 pant.  I would love to be a size 2 pant, but I have never been a size 2 pant.  Now, can I squeeze into a size 2 if my life depended on it?  Yes, probably under grave threat.  But I promise you, it would be neither comfortable nor pretty.”

One consideration which is foremost on the minds of hearing care professionals rather than a patient’s is the matter of cost.  As hearing care professionals, we are always looking for what will be most cost-effective, provide long-term reliability, and satisfaction to our patients.  Most hearing aid purchases are bundled (meaning the cost of the device plus the follow-up care, testing, and fitting are included in the initial purchase).  Unfortunately, I have heard of professionals who outright refuse to entertain a plausible solution when fitting a patient with perfectly appropriate hearing aids due to fear of charging appropriate service fees.  This type of mentality, in my opinion, is outright shameful.  Your hearing treatment is as much about the service and quality of care as it is about the total price.  If the hearing care professional is providing an appropriate fitting, I believe both patients and healthcare professionals will find the fees are reasonable and fair.

Many professionals can find it difficult to explain what exactly the fees consist of.  So, if you are fortunate enough to find yourself with a pair of appropriate Behind-the-ear hearings, which can indeed be fit to your hearing loss, know that the following charges might apply:

• Initial Dispensing fee (per ear) – includes fitting, programming, and verification that the hearing instruments are functioning to the level of your hearing loss
• Hearing Aid Evaluation—Not just a hearing test, but includes specific information that is important for determining speech understanding, and your success with amplification
• Follow-up Services—This may include subsequent service fees for programming, office visits, and future service that might be necessary
• Earmold(s)—In the case of Behind-The-Ear instruments, these devices often require a custom molded piece which is attached to the hearing aid itself for fitting.

The best advice I can provide to someone who might be wondering “Can I wear someone else’s hearing aids?” is to feel comfortable asking a certified hearing healthcare professional, and to listen to the response.  A qualified hearing care professional will provide a reasonable explanation specific to your situation.  That individual will consider the type, degree and requirements of your specific hearing loss with the capabilities of the hearing aids in question.  They will also take into account the needs based on your lifestyle, and compare the warranty vs. upfront costs to that of something which might be new.

Any hearing care professional who truly has the best interests of your hearing and quality of life will find the appropriate balance between what is available and what is necessary.  The small and short of it – Can you wear someone else’s hearing aids?  It’s not always a yes, but not always a no.