It may sound insane, but actually, it is possible to buy your next invisible custom hearing aid online. In this article, I'll elaborate on how a patient could purchase a pair of invisible custom hearing aids online.
Custom hearing aids are still in demand and believe it or not quite popular for vanity and practicality reasons. Almost none of the National Healthy Services in the UK provide free NHS hearing aids in custom-made style. So patients who wish to upgrade from their NHS hearing aids to custom-made ones have limited options, until now.
I was amazed when a patient from South Africa contacted me and insisted on placing an order for a pair of custom-made Starkey Genesis Ai 24 CIC. This product is wireless enabled so it gives the patient and me as the audiologist some peace of mind that if needed I could reprogram the hearing aids and make adjustments remotely. But, what about the impressions? How am I going to make a fresh set of impressions of the ears of the patient in South Africa?
The patient insisted on purchasing Starkey Genesis CIC from HearingNow simply because the technology was still not available in South Africa. He was happy to make a pair of impressions and send them over to our ear clinic in London. When I noticed the patient's enthusiasm to go to such a length, I accepted.
We received the ear impressions in our ear clinic in Crystal Palace, we forwarded them to Starkey for a pair of Genesis Ai 24 Bluetooth-enabled CIC. We received the aids from Starkey, we programmed them in London and we shipped them to South Africa, voila!
The patient liked the sound of the custom-made hearing aids and had access to a local audiologist in case he needed further adjustment.
This is a happy ending story, but things could hit a bumpy road in different stages. What if the ear impressions we received were damaged, or the custom hearing aids based on them wouldn't feel comfortable? Just this past month in Jan I had to send two pairs of custom hearing aids back to the lab because the aids did not feel comfortable in the patient's ears.
So, in my experience, you can order a pair of custom-made hearing aids remotely but it has its risks that you need to be aware of.
My lost invisible hearing aids were made outside the UK? how can I order a new pair in the UK?
As per the above experience, the answer is yes. If you are keen to make a pair of custom hearing aids in the UK but you live overseas make sure you consider the following points:
You need to have a fresh hearing test and send it to us for a preliminary free suitability assessment,
Unfortunately, most of the manufacturers do not pass impression images between their centres in different countries. For that reason, you need to make a pair of ear impressions for the type of hearing aids (IIC/CIC or ITC/ITE) at a local audiologist, pack it shockproof, and forward it to our ear clinic in London,
We will forward the impressions to your choice of manufacturer to make a new pair of custom hearing aids,
We will receive them, we will program them for your hearing loss profile, and we will ship them back to your country.
Please notice that most of the custom hearing aids do not have Bluetooth connectivity hence you need to make sure that you'll have access to a local audiologist to fine and tune them for you when and if needed.
I lost one of my custom invisible hearing aids, can I purchase the lost one online?
In my experience, this scenario can have a quick and relatively safe fix. If you purchased a pair of custom-made hearing aids in the past 5-7 years in the UK, the manufacturer likely has the file of your ear profile in their archive. That means if you lost one of your custom or invisible IIC or CIC or even ITE and ITC hearing aids you can order the lost one online. All you need is to contact us and provide your details and the model and brand of the hearing aid you lost. having the serial number of one of the aids would greatly help. We will contact the manufacturer and after the confirmation that they have an image of the impression file we will place the order for a new custom-made hearing aid for you. When your new hearing aid arrives in our clinic, we will program it for you and we will ship it to your home address.
Click on the below link and brown our range of custom-made hearing aids.
What invisible hearing aids can I purchase online?
If you are looking for invisible hearing aids, you have two options:
Custom-made invisible hearing aids - IIC and CIC
Easy fit invisible hearing aids - CIC
I discussed how to order a lost or a new set of custom-made hearing aids so far in this article. The second option is becoming more and more popular.
If the size of your ear canal is medium to large most of the easy-fit CIC hearing aids might fit nicely and almost invisible in your ear. Until recently the easy-fit CIC hearing aids were only battery loaded, yes size 10 as you could guess. but Signia and Rexton have developed a rechargeable version of easy-fit CIC invisible hearing aids that is rechargeable. They come in CROS and BiCROS versions but are yet to handle Bluetooth.
Let's take a closer look at the options:
Battery-powered click CIC invisible hearing aids
Rechargeable easy-click CIC invisible hearing aids
Please feel free to contact us for a free consultation on our WhatsApp (00447598857638) or email us if you are interested in custom-made hearing aids or easy-click CIC invisible hearing aids.
Update
Rexton released its rechargeable invisible Rexton Reach inoX CIC in April 2024. The hearing aid is the smallest rechargeable CIC and takes advantage of the same IX platform as Signia SILK IX CIC. Rexton Reach inoX CIC comes with a portable portable charger and when fully charged can run 24 to 29 hours without the need for a recharge. It can connect to the Rexton App for adjusting the volume, setting programs and receiving remote telecare updates. Rexton Reach inoX CIC comes in 3 technology levels, 80, 60 and 40. The product is the choice of hearing aid for people with mild to moderate hearing loss who want a pair of rechargeable and discrete hearing aids. Rexton Reach inoX CIC has received a lot of interest from those who are in search of an affordable replacement for their NHS hearing aids.
