As I started to dry my ears I realised that both my hearing aids were still in.
Mind you it would have been more distressing if only one was.
So, with a thick red marker pen I wrote in large, red letters on a used envelope:
HEARING PLUGS !!
and stuck it by the back door.
A nearly ā¬ 4,000 moment narrowly avoided. i would never have found them again amongst all the detritus at the bottom of the pond which, btw, is thriving down there. After a couple of scoops at one end where it doesnāt normally collect I found 6 adult newts, 1 giant tadpole, 2 tiny taddies and a dragonfly lava. All safely returned.
Yikes that was a close shave David! Glad they survived the dip.
I donāt think a newt in each ear would work quite as well.
Hearing aids are insanely pricey.
My mother (who will be 99 in August) has had a variety of them over the years, all costing in the Ā£3000+ range. Sheās now on a set of Turbo Phonak ones, but at the limit of what the technology can do for her unfortunately.
Not in France. If you have a mutuelle then the cost is entirely covered by that and CPAM. Admittedly for a limited range but mine are minute and brilliant, andyou have to look hard to see them when installed.
Renewable every 4 years with cost fully covered.
I see adverts on UK TV for hearing aids at crazy prices and think, not in France, thankyou Mr Macron.
You can get basic hearing aids for free on the NHS but my understanding is that the more sophisticated and ātuneableā ones needed by people with profound deafness are only available privately.
I donāt know what kind you can get from the French state health system but I would imagine they are not the Ā£3000 kind.
The basic NHS ones are tunable by the staff of who they outsource to at the moment, Specsavers possibly. They are digital and can link to bluetooth in a lot of cases. They still take batteries but those are on the NHS.
Well I have a mutuelle and it paid ā¬ 320 into my account, the CPAM paid directly to the providor. Canāt remember what the total was but I paid ā¬ 3449 from which I got the reimbursement of ā¬ 320 from the mutuelle, so ā¬ 3129.
I could have paid less but after testing me several times and consulting the ordonnance from the specialist, that was what I needed, they said.
Canāt say I always feel the benefit but I do notice that if I have them in the tv/radio volume is set to 20. Without them I have to put it up to 35 or even 40, depending on how clear the speech is. And in programmes which donāt have simultaneous subtitles where there is a lot of cross talk, like āHave I Got News For Youā for instance, they are essential.
Bit late now but would love to know how you got yours for free @JohnBoy
He you are, 480 paid by CPAM and 1420 paid by mutuelle. Both amounts were paid directly to Ecoutervoir.
I can now listen and hear multiple conversations at the sane time. I have a ācontrolā every 6 months which checks and deterioration and adjusts accordingly all done by computer which is all covered by my carte Vitale.
I am a current hearing service customer of both Costco Australia and Costco France(https://www.costco.fr/centre-auditif). Iām on my third pair of hearing aids in 12 years. I have never paid more than 1000Euros for Phonak, Resound or Rexton. The customer service and support is unbelievable and you can access as many adjustments as you need at no cost. I also lost one of my first pair after 9 months and they replaced it for approx 90 Euros. I highly recommend them .
Admins, this is my first post, so if Iāve erred please edit or delete. Cheers
Although it is great that your hearing aids survived their swim, I just had the thought that perhaps at times, like Churchill, you might like not to hear.
Unfortunately, in some circumstances anyway, I am not deaf, just need the aids for clarity really.
@JohnBoy That looks great and I am envious, I think it might have been you who recommended Ecouter Voir to me but when I went into the branch locally, the Ecouter bit was shut (perhaps permanently), and the lady in the Voir bit denied all knowledge of hearing aids or where their nearest shop was.
I should have a word with my mutuelle people though, I thought I was in a better deal than that.
Welcome @climateworrier, no need to worry about that post i should think, and I am pleased you found a good solution for yourself.
I use Audilab as do two of our neighbours. I paid extra for mine although I could have had the free offer but with tinnitus and a badly damaged eardrum (diving on holiday in my twenties) I elected for a personilsed version and paid another one thousand euros plus with the mutuelle and state covering the first couple of thousand or so.
Both out neighbours are magnanimous in their praise for their basic free aids. Both claim high sound quality and they are certainly unobtrusive. I am sure their quality is as good as the ridiculously expensive UK options.
I get 6 monthly checks, the totally inclusive 4 year guarantee and always excellent service.
Yes. You just have to ask for the āappareils auditifs Ć 1 euroā at your local hearing aid shop (I go to Vivason) and you get the same top quality aids that cost you ā¬1700 a piece a few years ago. Also known as āMacronā aids. The same offer is available for glasses too ā¦ albeit with a more limited range of frames.
I bought hearing aids twice in the years before I got these, both were chucked away as useless. One of them boasted double micros so that in a noisy restaurant you could switch off the one facing backwards, couldnāt tell the difference and still couldnā t hear what was said at my own table.
You could be right, but they should not give the impression that you can. I know I shouldnāt ask but, how does a smartphone have any bearing on a pair of hearing aids?
Some work with an app. My wifes NHS hearing aids are bluetooth etc and with the app she can select the sound field and take calls without touching her phone.
