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Choosing the Best Hearing Aid Brands
Want to learn more about the best hearing aid brands? Then you already know how precious hearing is, and that without it, your entire life can seem totally muted.
We’ve put together this list of our top 10 picks for the best hearing aid brands on the market. Each one brings something a little different from the next, but you’ll discover a mix of companies that offer a range of affordable, tech-driven, and user-friendly options that deliver clear, high-quality sound.
But First, What Are Some Signs That You Should Look Into Hearing Aids?
“If you find that you are saying what? more frequently, that the TV is louder, that you can’t follow conversations in groups, that phone conversations are more difficult, or any other listening situation that has become challenging, you need to get your hearing tested,” said Dr. Amy Myers.
“A hearing test should be a yearly evaluation just as going to the dentist, eye doctor, and primary care evaluations are. If you don’t know your baseline, you don’t have information to educate yourself on if you actually have a hearing loss and how your hearing is progressing.”
Meet the Expert: Dr. Amy Myers, AuD
Dr. Amy Myers graduated from Radford University with a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorder, from James Madison University with a M.Ed in Audiology, and from A.T. Still University with a clinical doctorate in Audiology.
Dr. Myers specializes in diagnostic audiology, hearing aid fitting, dispensing and consultation as well as cochlear and middle ear implants. She is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association as well as the American Academy of Audiology.
“If the evaluation suggests a hearing loss is present, hearing aids are always part of the recommendation. It is always the patients decision if they are ready to pursue hearing aids regardless of the amount of hearing loss.”
Now, onto the best hearing aid brands according to experts.
The 10 Best Hearing Aid Brands
Without further ado, let’s dial things up and get into it.
#1: HueHearing
HueHearing doesn’t divulge a whole lot about the people behind the brand, and we think that’s because the focus is on the customers. Plus, the effectiveness of the company’s single style of hearing aids speaks for itself.
It’s not uncommon to find hearing aid companies claiming they have “discreet” devices, but more often than not, they arrive and turn out to be clunky. Honestly, HueHearing aids are some of the most discreet ever made. They fit inside your ear and don’t stick out.
Promising premium quality hearing and a risk-free 90-day guarantee, the hearing aids can help with noise reduction you don’t want, boost noise you do want, and reduce tinnitus.
There’s a ton of great feedback for this brand online, and the general comment is an appreciation for HueHearing and the freedom it’s brought back into people’s lives. Normally offering its hearing aids for $167, you can get a pair today for just $68.
Highlights
- No hearing test required
- Small, discreet, and adjustable
- Comes with three sizes of ear domes
- High-end hearing without the cost
- Offers one type of hearing aid
- 90-day risk-free guarantee
- Purchase online
#2: Starkey
Starkey is one of the more technologically-advanced names on this list of best hearing aid brands. Founded in 1967 by Bill Austin, the company offers six different styles of hearing aids, ranging from styles that sit behind your ear to ones that are completely invisible inside your ear.
Concerned with “delivering the best hearing experience possible — through the innovation of our products and the passion of our people,” Starkey offers a customized hearing experience through its styles.
Some of the company’s devices even offer two-way audio that can pick up your own voice and channel it through your iPhone or iPad. Talk with friends and family without having to pick up the phone.
There are several color options for each hearing aid. If you aren’t sure which style is best for you, take the quiz to find out which pair the brand recommends.
Starkey hearing aids are sold through authorized providers across the US. Prices range from $1,277–$4,370.
Highlights
- Six different styles
- Available through many retailers across the US
- Offers rechargeable and battery options
- Some options offer two-way hearing
- Online hearing test
- Range of prices for many budgets
#3: Eargo
The folks at Eargo believe that hearing should be simple. That’s why they designed their signature hearing aid to be rechargeable, invisible, and something you don’t have to constantly think about.
Eargo was founded in 2010 by Florent Michel and Raphael Michel Daniel Shen and takes inspiration from nature. The brand’s patented petal design ensures a snug and comfortable fit inside your ear, and that’s where they stay securely for as long as you want them in.
Blending seamlessly with your life, the charging dock is incredibly sleek. In fact, everything about this brand is sleek.
Known for its customer support, Eargo aims to treat those with hearing loss like people, not patients. Combining advanced tech, hearing experts, and apps that amp up personalization, this brand puts sound back into your hands by way of its discreet and truly effective hearing aids.
Once you go to the online hearing screening and decide Eargo is right for you, you can get a pair of its modern hearing aids online for $2,650 (normally $2,950).
Highlights
- Award-winning brand
- Invisible
- Fit snugly in your ear and won’t budge
- Rechargeable
- $300 discount available
- Available for purchase online
#4: Phonak
Phonak is another name on this list of best hearing aids that takes inspiration from nature. With a mission to help you hear the rejuvenating sounds of the world around you, its range of hearing aids deliver clear sound, help to protect your ears from damaging levels of noise, and can be customized to your unique needs.
Launched back in 1947 as Elektroakustik but acquired 20 years later by Ernst Rihs, Phonak creates “hearing solutions that change people’s lives to thrive socially and emotionally.”
With nine different options for hearing aids, its collection includes invisible, rechargeable, and water-proof designs for adults and kids. Its devices blend in with the things you love to do while delivering the joy of natural sound.
You can get a single Phonak hearing aid for $1,000–$2,000.
Highlights
- Nine different hearing aids
- Invisible and tech-driven options
- Options for children and teens
- Delivers natural, clear sound
- Available in over 100 countries
- Purchase through partner retailers
- Range of prices for all budgets
#5: Audicus
Founded by Patrick Freuler in 2011, Audicus “believes everyone should be able to live a life without limits from their hearing.” The brand’s mission is to provide its customers with seamless access to sound, and it approaches hearing loss from a human level.
Audicus is loved for its helpful customer support team and prices that make sense. It makes hearing accessible to all. Offering five styles of hearing aids for both BTE and ITE, its BTE models are just as sleek and discreet as its invisible options, using a thin, clear connector instead of a bulky piece.
After you take the online hearing test, you’ll pick from Audicus’ selection of five hearing aids, then receive them in the mail. Prices range from $500-$1,400 per ear.
Highlights
- Partnered with leading manufacturers
- Science-backed online hearing test
- Invisible options available
- Five different styles
- Affordable
- Available for purchase online
#6: Signia
Signia asks, “what does it take for you to perform at your best?” Whether it’s for sports, music, or everyday life, this brand specializes in custom hearing aids.
The brand’s six designs use contactless charging and integrate Bluetooth. Making sure you get a hearing aid that fits your needs, Signia offers styles that range from discrete to modern to gym-friendly that are all compatible with an app. Use the app to connect with a virtual assistant to further dial into your perfect level of sound.
Using Augmented Xperience, these devices enhance speech clarity but let you feel connected to the world around you. You can get a single Signia hearing aid for between $1,000-$3,500.
Highlights
- Custom hearing aid
- Contactless charging
- Bluetooth compatible
- App with virtual assistant
- Range of prices
- Discreet, modern, and sporty styles
#7: ReSound
As part of the GN Group, the beginnings of ReSound can be traced back to 1943. The brand was the first ever to release 2.4GHz tech in its hearing aids as part of its mission to create breakthrough technology that delivers hearing across the world.
Helping people “rediscover hearing so they can live rich, active and fulfilling lives,” ReSound is known for its innovative hearing aids which include the direct stereo sound streaming Made for Apple® model. Today, you’ll find the brand in over 80 countries, but its HQ is in Denmark.
ReSound promises greater hearing in any environment with a focus on the speech that’s in front of you. Using your unique ear shape to deliver natural sound, its selection of hearing aids includes IIE (invisible in ear), RIE (receiver in ear), BTE (behind the ear), rechargeable, and custom styles.
Get a pair through a partner specialist for $2,000-$6,000.
Highlights
- Customer-centric brand
- Available in over 80 countries
- Award-winning for innovation and business
- Advanced technology
- Range of styles
- Innovative tech-forward styles
#8: Oticon
Oticon uses something called BrainHearing™ in all of its hearing aids to support your brain’s natural process when figuring out sounds. Giving you access to all sound around you, its devices are all about the natural sound experience.
Founded all the way back in 1904, founder Hans Demant began with the mission to help his hearing-impaired wife by creating one of the world’s first-ever electronic hearing aids. Today, the brand has a collection of 10 different hearing aids, with both BTE and invisible styles.
One thing we noticed was its fun colors, which not many other names on this list of best hearing aid brands offer. Constantly developing its product, Oticon works with 13k hearing aid users and professionals who have contributed to this company’s success.
It’s won multiple awards over the years, including the CES Innovation Award for 2022. Purchased through a partnered specialist, a single Oticon hearing aid ranges from $800-$3,900.
Highlights
- Pioneer in hearing aid solutions
- Award-winning brand
- 10 hearing aid options
- Fun colors
- Invisible & BTE styles
- Range of prices
- Available through partner specialist
#9: Widex
Widex is known and trusted for its natural-sound hearing aids that use PURESOUND™ to deliver clean and clear sound. Knowing that the tiniest difference in your level of hearing can greatly affect your life, its mission is to give you a hearing aid that you won’t think about after you put it on.
Widex has been around since 1956. Each of its models delivers clear speech and natural background noise, along with AI-powered personalization to give you the best possible sound experience. You’ll find just two hearing aids in its collection, one for in the ear and the other for behind the ear.
To start your journey with Widex, take the hearing loss test online. If it turns out that you do need a hearing aid, book an appointment with a specialist and ask for this brand. Its hearing aids range from $1,000-$3,000.
Highlights
- Two different styles
- Uses PURESOUND™ for natural sound
- Discreet, in-ear option
- AI-powered personalization
- Online hearing loss test
10. MDHearingAid
MDHearingAid is one of the names on this best hearing aid brands list that sells its devices online. With the mission “to improve patient access to affordable hearing solutions,” you’ll find very affordable options in its collection, along with big discounts.
MDHearingAid is able to offer such low prices for its quality devices because it removed the middleman. Choose from three behind-the-ear hearing aids, each one a little more advanced than the one before it.
The collection includes a basic device with noise reduction, four environment settings, and feedback cancellation, along with a higher-tiered model that’s water-resistant and rechargeable, and a final model that’s Bluetooth compatible and offers personalized hearing options.
Always prioritizing its customers, MDHearingAids was founded in 2008 by Dr. Sreekant Cherukuri and has served over 500k Americans. Its hearing aids are FDA-registered and tested by in-house audiologists.
Right now, a pair is $400-$800—it’s normally double that amount.
Highlights
- FDA-registered hearing aids
- Tested by in-house audiologists
- Can purchase online
- Ongoing customer support
- 45-day risk-free trial
- Affordable prices
How Do Hearing Aids Work?
“The most important point to make is that hearing aids are programmed for a hearing prescription just like glasses are fine tuned for a visual prescription. Amplifiers are not prescriptive based,” Dr. Myers said.
“A patient and their audiologist work together to determine which hearing aid manufacturer, computer circuitry (premium, advanced, basic, value), and what style is appropriate for the patient.
Several factors are considered when making these decisions which include the amount of hearing loss (how well do the ears hear sounds), how well the brain processes and understands the information being sent/received, manual dexterity of the patient to manipulate the devices, visual acuity to perform daily maintenance and cleaning, and lifestyle of the patient.
Once selected, the hearing aids are programmed based on the hearing prescription the patient has and the algorithms of the manufacturer they are being fit with. This will determine how the hearing aids will process speech and filter noise.
Programming a hearing aid is like utilizing a soundboard in a music studio. The frequencies/pitches of sounds are manipulated for a better sound quality while taking into account the hearing prescription as well as the personal preferences of the patient.”
According to Myers, it can take several appointments to fine tune hearing aids, as the brain has to get used to and trained to hear again.
Why Are Hearing Aids So Expensive?
“There is a misconception that hearing aid costs are just for the physical hearing aids themselves,” said Dr. Myers.
“The cost includes the hearing aid(s), an office warranty (typically FREE visits with your audiologists for 90 days), a manufacturer’s warranty to cover repairs, loss and damage of the devices (anywhere from 1-3 years of coverage), and the professional services received by a doctoral level trained audiologist.”
Dr. Myers said that patients should ask their audiologist questions in order to understand this information. As your hearing prescription changes, your hearing aids can be reprogrammed to a new prescription.
On average, hearing aids last 5-7 years.
How to Shop for the Best Hearing Aid Brands
At the end of the day, you just want to hear, but there may be additional qualities you’re searching for among the best hearing aid brands. To help you identify exactly what you want and need, we’ve put together a list of features to look out for before making your final decision.
Brand
How many times have you chosen a product just because you recognize the name? We’ve included a few renowned companies on this list of best hearing aid brands, but also a few newcomers that bring something modern to the realm of hearing.
Aside from the brand image itself, there are a few things you may want to consider about what makes a company tick. For example, how long it’s been around, who its products are aimed at (aside from the obvious), and if it offers online purchases.
Certain brands offer additional services with their hearing aids, such as risk-free trials, promotions, and warranties. It pays off to read the fine print before you settle on one.
Payment Plans
Some of the best hearing aids are incredibly affordable while others cost a little more. If you’re in love with one that does cost more, don’t settle for something else. Before promptly leaving the website and saying goodbye to a pair you think is perfect for you, check out if the brand offers payment plans.
Many of the names on this list are more than accommodating, offering 0% interest payment plans that take your first payment down into the double digits. It’s a win-win.
Technological Features
Today’s hearing aids are different than they were 20 years ago. With more options, you’ll surely have noticed that some are more technologically advanced than others. Some can even be controlled by way of a remote or smartphone.
Many of the names on this list of best hearing aid brands offer Bluetooth-compatible styles along with apps to give you a more personalized service. Some also offer rechargeable devices you can juice up at home.
Additional Services
Almost every single brand on this list offers free online hearing tests. It’s the first step you can take to figure out if you truly need hearing aids or not. Based on your answers, you’ll know what next steps to take, so this part of your journey is important.
Depending on the company, it may offer extra services like hearing aid repairs. Since some companies require you to purchase through a hearing specialist, the specialist will be the one doing your fitting or adjustment. Brands that allow you to purchase directly online do not offer these services.
If additional services are important to you, be sure to choose a company that meets your needs.
What is the most comfortable hearing aid?
It depends on who you ask, but because of their non-invasive style, BTE (behind the ear) hearing aids tend to be the most comfortable. Instead of sitting inside of your ear canal, the body of the device hooks over your ear and they stay put, unlike some ITE (inside the ear) devices.
Which is the most popular style of hearing purchased?
The most popular style of hearing aid is the invisible kind or IIE (invisible in ear). Since there’s a bit of a stigma around wearing a hearing aid, in general, people prefer to keep it out of sight. With BTE devices, this usually isn’t possible.
With invisible inner ear hearing aids, the device is so tiny that it fits completely inside your ear canal. Many of the best hearing aid brands offer an invisible style, so you’ll have tons to choose from.
What is the most natural-sounding hearing aid?
You’ll notice that some of the names on this list of best hearing aids mention “natural” sound. If you’ve ever worn a hearing aid before, then you know that not all are built the same, and while some dial up the volume for speech, other noises get lost. This isn’t considered natural.
Natural sound is when there’s a perfect balance of speech and background noise so that you can hear close to how you used to. Brands like Phonak, ReSound, Oticon, and Widex all prioritize producing natural sound, while names like Signia use Augmented Xperience to help you connect with the world around you.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking for a hearing aid that’s quick and affordable or high-tech and sleek, you’ll have found both here, along with many others. The best hearing aid brands landed on this list for different reasons, but we hope you’ve found something in the mix that meets your needs.
Looking for other top brands? Check out these curated lists below:
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