gofar99 Messages: 1939 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I have seen some now for as little as $100. If I see the link again I will forward it. I think it was one of the adds in the Microsoft sales site (the ones on MSN on the web). They were the micro in ear type. However, I suspect that many more will be available in the future as they are now legal to sell without going to the ear doctor. I have asked the same question...the answer I kept getting was that the real ones were "fitted" and "adjusted" to each customer and it needed a doctor to make it right or else you might harm your ears. If your ears were perfect you would not need them! Sure....a genuine money grab if I have ever seen (heard) one. I agree that the musical / phone ear buds are similar. The low end ones not so much. The higher end ones probably have nearly as much in the way of features and complexity as the hearing aids do. New versions of each are now user programmable with a smart phone. The "tailored" response adjustments on the hearing aids are IMO just another form of graphic equalizer. Many ear buds have them as well, plus noise cancellation. Now to be fair, I read in one of the tech pubs I get about some really neat stuff going on in hearing aids that will assist in difficult situations where there are lots of people talking or noise. The first ones of this type are really, really expensive now. But like all other things will probably come down in price eventually.