Q: What’s the difference between entry-level, mid-level, and top-of-the-line hearing aids?
A: Much like the cell phone industry, hearing aid manufacturers must constantly innovate and release better and better hearing aids in order to stay relevant in the market.  When a manufacturer releases a new line of hearing aids, their top-of-the-line product is what the engineers spent $70-80 million dollars developing during the past year.  The mid-level and entry-level products are stripped down versions of the top-of-the-line hearing aid.  Some features are sacrificed in an effort to accommodate different budgets.  Lower-end hearing aids may not handle background noise as well or they might not accommodate certain types of hearing loss as well.  But a well-programmed entry-level hearing aid of today can outperform most high-end hearing aids from just a few years ago.  While the best is the best, you definitely don’t need to pay for the best to hear better.  What’s most important is that the hearing aid is precisely programmed and adjusted to be the best for you.