Post #3656906

2026-07-07 19:47 UTC

Hearing aids seem to be something of a scam. The same hardware that my audiologist wanted to sell me for $3000 is available from Costco for $1600 under a different brand name. And those aids may not be much better than OTC equipment which costs $600. And covered by private medical insurance? Hah, you wish.

Replies (3)

@paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange 2026-07-07 20:10

@hal_pomeranz@infosec.exchange any medical "gear" does seem to suffer from this kind of price gouging. we recently went through this w my mom and costco was definitely the sweet spot of price vs quality of service. much of the difference seems to be software tweaking and quality of fitting too, rather than distinctly better hardware.

Open ##3656905
@ciphermonger@infosec.exchange 2026-07-07 19:52

@hal_pomeranz@infosec.exchange Surprisingly this seems to be one of the few areas where the V.A. has their act together. My dad got a pair of high quality hearing aids at almost no personal cost.

Open ##3656998
@dfirnotes@infosec.exchange 2026-07-07 20:54

@hal_pomeranz@infosec.exchange didn't Apple ( a thousand curses upon their house ,*ptah* ) just add the software equivalent to their earbuds line recently, or did that get pulled? I don't have earbuds or hearing aids 🤷🏽‍♀️, but thought I read about it... https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/hearing-health/ ?

Open ##3657960