I’ve been wearing analog hearing aids for my left ear all my life. The thing with an analog hearing aid is that it picks up the loudest sound available which can be both a good or bad thing. It’s bad because if someone is talking to you and there’s people behind that person, the chances are your analog hearing aid is going to pick up the background noise because it’s louder.

On the other hand, with a digital hearing aid, it dramatically reduces the background noise and focuses on the person talking to you. Being hard of hearing, I can actually hear the big difference in sounds around me when using my new digital hearing aid. However, because it balances sound and I listen to music through sorround speakers, and play my guitar through a cab with 4 speakers, the hearing aid goes crazy and dramatically changes volume every other second. It makes it sound like my speakers have serious problems. I can’t enjoy music now that I wear a digital hearing aid.

Anyone out there have a similar experience with their digital hearing aid(s)?

A guy named James Mock of Phoenix sent his hearing aid to a repair company he found online. Buyer’s Haven in St. Paul, to be exact. Time goes by and still no hearing aid. He tried contacting the repair company but they never responded to him. He then tried contacting the Better Business Bureu, the police and the attorney general’s offices in Minnesota and Arizona, but that didn’t do much for him.

He then went online again and this time did a company search on the Internet. That’s when he discovered that there were many hearing impaired people across the nation who claimed that Buyer’s Haven, too, deceived them. Eventually, the Better Business Bureau and Minnesota attorney general’s office took the complaints seriously and sent scolding letters to Buyer’s Haven. It wasn’t long before the company went out of business.

What have we learned from this story? Obviously, in order to save yourself from being scammed, it takes a little research on your part. Better safe than sorry, right?

If you find a hearing aid company online that interests you, e-mail them and ask many questions. Remember, no question is a stupid one. Check the company with the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org or call them up (find the number at http://lookup.bbb.org). On their website you can find complaints about a company, if any.

Do an Internet search on the hearing aid company and see if there are any consumer complaints. You can do this by going to a search engine site, such as Google.com, and type in the hearing aid company’s name or website URL. You may be in for a surprise.

Use a credit card for payment, don’t use a debit card of personal check, that way you can do a chargeback later if necessary. Once you have paid with plastic, print a copy of your purchase and confirmation number for your own records.

Follow the suggested steps mentioned above, not only would you be searching online for hearing aid or hearing aid repair companies, but you’d be searching online with care.

Thanks to Siemens, their Acuris hearing aids features all of the state-of-the-art digital functions and technology. Acuris hearing aids use wireless technology which sense, analyzes and adjusts automatically making it convenient for the user. They also include a small remote control so that the hearing aid user can make adjustments without touching the hearing aid(s).

Deaf Janet Lynch said using analog and digital hearing aids in the past produced mixed result. But with her new Acuris hearing aids she can hear sorround sounds. “It’s like a new world opening up. I can hear my husband calling me from the next room. I feel confident and poised, instead of vulnerable and exposed”, she said.

Finally there are hearing aids that work together. For more information on Siemens Acuris visit www.siemens-hearing.com