Open Hours: Tues, Fri - 9 am to 5 pm Wed, Thurs - 12 pm to 8 pm Sat - 9 am to 4 pm 5544 Calgary Trail, Edmonton T6H 4K1
HOW TO CHOOSE A CLINIC?
Criteria of quality
Making a choice can be challenging when you decide which clinic is best suited to your needs.
All major hearing aid brands are of equivalently high quality (Phonak, Oticon, ReSound, Starkey, Widex, Signia). Each manufacturer invests millions in research and development to create the best hearing aids. The most important thing for clients is to choose a practitioner who will learn the details of their hearing loss, collaborate with them to find the right solution to match clients hearing loss, lifestyle and listening needs. Who will support clients for the long term because clients will be partnering with a practitioner for at least the next 4-5 years to monitor hearing and make adjustments, clean and service the hearing aids, and provide any other aftercare or support may be needed.
A practitioner must develop a best educated guess based on client diagnostic data and create a theory of client’s hearing loss like “theory of the crime” in forensic crime. Next step is to estimate what the client can and can not do with the hearing aids, select hearing aids with appropriate sound processing technologies that make best use of auditory capability, and start a treatment.
Find a clinic where you feel comfortable talking about your problems, and you know they will be taken seriously. You want to be sure that the clinic staff is really listening to you and speaking in a language you can understand throughout your appointment.
Choose a clinic which suits your busy life schedule. Is it important that the clinic is open during convenient hours? Is it important for you to call or email the clinic a question and get a quick reply?
Choose a clinic that is located somewhere convenient to you. You don’t want to travel very far when you’re not feeling good or when the weather is too disruptive.
Choose a clinic with a philosophy of care that lines up with your own. Ask why the practitioner or the audiologist decided to go into health care.
Make a quality check on the service the clinic provides.
A good performance clinic:
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- Taking a client’s case histories, including medical, otological, pharmacological, previous amplification history, and client’s attitudes and expectations.
- Complete client’s self-assessments
- Take video Otoscopy for identifying possible red flag conditions that may indicate the need for medical referral.
- Take Pure-tone and speech tests in silence.
- Test client’s preference to Loudness
- Test client’s ability to hear in noise
- Determine candidacy for hearing aids, assistive devices, or other clinical/rehabilitative/medical intervention.
- Select, appropriate hearing aids and assistive devices,
- Program the hearing aids with evidence-base prescriptive algorithms (NAL-NL2 or DSL)
- Perform verification of proper fitting with probe-microphone measurements math to targets
- Perform test in noise with hearing aids in client’s ears to demonstrate the benefit of amplification
- Provide rehabilitative advice and counseling in the use and care of hearing instruments, assistive devices, and in effectively utilizing communication coping strategies and other approaches to foster optimal client’s rehabilitation
- Follow up appointments for adaptation to hearing aids.
- Counsel family members or optimal client’s outcomes.
- Provide long-term client’s care, including periodic testing updates and recommendations for modifying rehabilitation programs to help meet client’s’ changing needs over time.
- Providing self-help literature
- Referring to self-help group
A poor performance clinic
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- Case history is limited by a few medical questions.
- Perform Pure-tone and speech test in quiet only.
- Selecting hearing aids based on the client’s financial situation, not needs.
- Programming hearing aids as a mouse click on manufactures proprietary fitting algorithm icon.
- Make verification on performance of hearing aids based on a single question to a client: “How does my voice sound?”
- Follow up appointments made for protocols.
After you have made your list, go back over it, and decide which qualities are most important and which are good, but not essential.
WHO is WHO?
90% of hearing aids sold around the world are produced by BIG FIVE GROUPs:
Swiss Sonova Holding AG, two Danish Companies: William Demant Holding A/S and GN Store Nord A/S , the US manufacturer Starkey Hearing Technologies and new WS AUDIOLOGY company with Singapore-based Sivantos Group, and Denmark-based Widex A/S.
Hearing Aid Manufacturers sell hearing aids only to providers who conduct in-person fitting.
They also have retail outlet stores, groups of distributors, and they own a lot of small ex-private clinics (which keep the original name but operate as a corporate retail store) They boost their sales through these channels.
CORPORATIVE MANUFACTURER RETAIL OUTLETS
Demand group
Hearing aid’ brands: Oticon, Sonic and Bernafon.
Retail Haring Aids outlets: “Hearing Life”
Starkey
Hearing aid’ brand : Starkey.
Retail Haring Aids outlets: “Living sound”
GN STORE Nord A/S
Hearing aids: Resound, Beltone
Retail Hearing Aids outlets: Beltone (franchisee)
Sonova group
Hearing aids: Phonak, Unitron.
Retail Haring Aids outlets: “Connect Hearing”
WS audiology
Hearing aids brands: Signia, Widex
Retail Hearing Aids outlets: purchased various small ex private clinics using their own name
Manufacturer’s retail stores are often interested in the number of units sold each month, not in the benefit of the clients. The clinics are not flexible because they have absolutely no power to make any decisions without the head-office’s approval. However, you might find a practitioner/audiologist who breaks some of those stubborn rules and prioritizes their clients instead.
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
Amplifon (not a manufacturer corporation, but a distributor)
Hearing aids brands: Signia, Phonak
HearCanada
Hearing aids brands: Signia,
Retail Haring Aids outlets: “Living sound”
BIG BOX STORE
Costco and Walmart are the major American Big Box competitors. While Walmart doesn’t have hearing centres in Alberta, and only sells inexpensive sound amplifiers, Costco has a large number of hearing centres with hearing care providers.
Need to know
Hearing aids are the second biggest money-maker for Costco. They achieve it by buying in bulk and selling it for almost half price.
However, most health care insurance; both provincial and federal programs will cover all or a large portion of the costs of the hearing aids anyway. No matter if you get your hearing aids from Costco, manufacturers’ outlets, or independent clinics, the difference is negligible.
Cheap means no promises in improving the quality of the service. Dr. Cliff Olson said that study shows that only 20-25% of Costco first-time users come back for a second pair due to a poor experience and poor fitting.
Since most of the insurance pays only once in 5 years, you might deal with poor service for a long time
Manufacturers modified the Costco hearing aids by removing some of the comprehensive features. Since all hearing aids look the same it’s very easy to be confused. Some of the issues with clarity of sounds cannot be adjusted at all.
Manufacturers name Costco Hearing Aid models differently and lock them. No clinic can adjust them except Costco.
Just like you can change a family doctor and move to any other clinic of your choice, you can change hearing clinics and be served by a provider you trust the best. However, Costco hearing aids as well as BELTONE hearing aids can be served by their clinics only. It’s important for people who are planning to move.
Costco Hearing Aids Brands: Rexton (manufacturer – Sonova), Phonak (Sonova), Kirkland (Sonova), Resound (GN Store Nord A/s) and Philips (Demand group)
Costco is a good solution for people who don’t have insurance, don’t fully accept their own hearing loss and are not ready yet to make an investment in quality treatment. Costco hearing aids will also please your family members for your first step in improving communication.
INDEPENDENT OF MANUFACTURERS CLINIC
Always ask if the clinic is independent from manufacturers or runs under a corporation.
Independent manufacturers clinics make their own choice of which manufacturers’ products are bought for their clients. It’s based on their knowledge of the products, price, and service provided by the manufacturers. They are offering high quality service at a reasonable but higher price than retail stores or Costco. Independent clinics are working hard to facilitate the benefit of the product. They have the ability to experiment with new products, provide a wide range of services, build strong client relationships, and offer brands which better suit your needs.
What is the difference between an audiologist & a hearing aid practitioner (AKA a hearing instrument specialist in other provinces)?
Please follow the link
We would like to add that both audiologists and hearing aid practitioners have the same basic level of knowledge in hearing aids after they graduated from the schools. All comprehensive deep-detailed knowledge of hearing aids comes from experience, training provided by each manufacturer, seminars, webinars, and continuing education courses.
We are both the most knowledgeable of all professions regarding the effect of hearing loss on communication and how to improve the quality of life for individuals and families who are dealing with hearing loss.
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