Q:What’s the most important feature to look for in a hearing aid?

A: The most important “feature” of a hearing aid is who is doing the actual programming of that hearing aid.  It’s not the type of noise reduction, microphones, wireless technology, or processing – it’s the clinician and office you’re working with.  A basic hearing aid programmed very well will outperform a more expensive, poorly programmed, top-of-the-line hearing aid every day of the week.  Unfortunately, the industry standard of care for programming hearing aids is quite low, and it seems to be getting worse.  Many places that sell hearing aids ignore key components to a successful hearing aid experience, resulting in a lot of people being unhappy with their hearing aids. We’ve recently added information to our website about the controversial gap between the science of hearing aid programming and what clinicians are actually doing.  It’s a real problem.  If you’re interested at all, you can check it out at harmonyhearing.com.