I've been wearing hearing aids for several years. First of all, it's imperative that you go to a qualified, board certified audiologist and not one of those hearing centers that only have technicians who are nothing more than sales people. Your audiologist will run a specialized hearing test on you to determine the kind of loss you have. From there you have a choice of the style of aid to choose. Get the absolute best aid(s) available for your particular loss that you can manage within your budget. You don't need to overbuy, but be sure not to under buy. Unfortunately, hearing aids aren't something that will last forever. Technololgy changes and the do need to be replaced from time to time.
You can get aids that are completely in the ear and unable to be detected by anyone or the over-the-ear style that has the works sitting on top, behind the ear with the speaker end that's on a little tube that sits in the ear. I've worn both. My first pair was the totally in the canal type. I thought that's what I should have because my sister had that style. They caused me so much aggravation that I had them out more than I had them in. It seemed that I could "seat" them just fine when I first put them in, but I was forever adjusting them all throughout the day because they would slip out of place when I'd talk, swallow, yawn, chew. They were also a hard plastic which wasn't terribly comfortable - got a little surface irritation in my ear and the rubbing on a bone in the canal made it feel bruised. The fit of the aids was fine, but my audiologist explained that my ear canal does a weird turn inside which probably interfered with the aids staying put....something that can't really be detected in advance. After struggling with them for 2-3 yrs. and pretty much giving up on wearing them, I decided to get the behind-the-ear style. I'm currently wearing a Widex Dream 330 in each ear and I LOVE them! I got them this past spring, the cost was about $5,000 for the pair. They work beautifully, remove background noise, have better amplification without sounding tinny or echo-y. Something in the technology helps them to detect the hearing situation and make automatic adjustments whether it's in person conversation, talking on the phone, watching TV at home, or watching a movie at the theater. They also help with my tinnitus and can be adjusted as my hearing changes.
Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try to answer.
E.T.A. - A couple of things I forgot to mention....
When you first start wearing the aids, your ears will likely feel more itchy than usual. That's normal. To help with this, you always want to keep your aids clean and make sure your ears are dry before you put the aids in. You can get a product called Eargene that you can carefully swab in the ear...just make it part of your morning routine, like brushing your teeth.
Also, to protect your investment, it's very important for you to use something called a "drying box". I like the one called "Dry and Store" from Global II - I think it's much better than the plastic container with the silica gel thing that gets put in the oven every so often (your doctor can explain or I will, if you want me to). When you remove your aids at night, take out the batteries and put the aids in the drying box. The drying box has a dessicant block, which gets replaced every three months, that will draw out the moisture overnight. You want the circuitry dry to keep it working properly. You can probably get a drying box through your audiologist, but you might find it cheaper through Amazon. It's about $100. Replacement blocks are not terribly expensive.
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