Recently I met a ninety-some year old woman, whose family took her to a Costco store in Spokane for hearing aids, even though she lives in Sandpoint, Idaho.  She had never worn hearing aids before. She was fitted with large behind-the-ear (BTE) types using old style conventional tubing fitted into a full shell earmold. She avoids wearing them because they cause pain after a few hours use and progressive arthritis in her hands makes it difficult for her to insert them (old style aids like these require two hands for insertion). She never did have a follow-up appointment. 

  The dispenser failed to inform her that those particular types of hearing aids have tubing that must be changed at least once per year. Otherwise, the tubing permanently bonds to the earmold and the plastic earhook. Hers was badly in need of changing. But, had I attempted to change the tubing,  the earhook would have broken, for which I had no spare parts.

   Clearly, she had been fitted with the wrong hearing aids.

   I solved several of her problems by fitting her with the all-in-the-ear types. See Hearing Aid Types. Now she has several benefits:

• She avoids the annual tubing change
• She now uses a one-handed insertion technique
• They not interfere with her eyeglasses like those big BTE’s did
• She now enjoys better hearing each day because she wears them