MD hearing aids--good or junk?

My mother (age 68), niece (age 8) and I (age 44) have hearing aids. My niece got hers from the dr, however, her father is military and so they didn't have to pay for them (they cost about $6k). I got mine from a company recommended by my health insurance company & they were covered by insurance, if I had paid for them they would have been about $2k. My mom, who had to pay for her hearing aid (she only needed 1) went to Costco, cost was under $1k including the hearing exam and adjusting it to her needs. She shopped around for who offered the best deal - and could have spent over $2k to get it from her ENT dr. I would recommend going to somewhere like Costco, as you need to have them adjusted for the person using the hearing aid. I definitely wouldn't buy something like hearing aids thru the mail, would you buy eyeglasses without an exam and having them fit to you. Hearing loss isn't just solved by turning up the volume just as sight loss can't be solved by using a magnifying glass.

Here's an excellent article on buying hearing aids from Consumer Reports, an independent group that takes no advertising. Hopefully you'll find it helpful: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/hearing-aids/buying-guide.htm

My dad had $4k hearing aids that he hardly wore. They helped him, but he still didn't like them. When I'd go visit, I wouldn't talk to him until he put them in. So they only work if/when you wear them. My mom got a set of hearing aids and never wore them either. Sigh.

Well, you should always beware glowing online reviews that are mostly ghost-written by the company selling them. That said though, these specific aids (mdhearingaid/shop/mdhearingaid-air/) might actually have worked reasonably for me, and they are billed as "one-size-fits-most" so if and only if you have typical high frequency not-too-severe hearing loss, they could work. Read that user manual - there is a lot of honesty there. The less expensive "pro" model would not have worked for me, and would not have known that without a lot of experience and fully understanding my own audiogram.

Actually, I am having a good experience with MD Airs. A little background. I have been wearing expensive prescribed hearing aids for well over 20 years now. My hearing loss is moderate to severe, and touching on profound in one ear. The place I work for has changed insurance and hearing aides are no longer covered. Not many can cough up $4,000 to $6,000, me included. I decided to take a chance on MD Airs after my husband bought a pair. For size I tried his aides for a few days and was very happy with the sound quality and performance, once I was able to insert the buds correctly. I'm use to the having custom molds. I'll honestly say, the MD aides were as good if not better than any of my prescribed aides. Also in researching why MD Air pulled out of Amazon, it reportedly was not due to MD's products or lack of CS. The amazon reviews are still up on MD's website and why MD left. If you talk to most speech therapists, audiologists, and/or some doctors you are going to hear buying online is not a good option. Its because they are in the business, and hearing aides are the one technology that increases in price on a yearly basis. Why is that I wonder? and why is it insurances won't cover readily. Research and learn. MD Airs work well for me and better than any aide I have worn in 20 plus years.

I paid $200 for the PRO model. At first I was somewhat satisfied, although it only worked well in very quiet environments. In a restaurant or other noisy situation it was not good. Worst of all, it failed about 6 months after I bought it, and the company sent me a form letter saying there was only a 3 month warranty. Obviously they know about how long their product will last. Avoid this company.

hearing aids seem to be a hit or miss proposition. no experience here, but they either love them or leave them. if they love them, money well spent, if they don't, money down a black hole

This is a reply to pamstegma comment. This appears to have been written by the seller ("OUR customers"). I have returned a few items from Amazon. Returns were absolutely no cost to me - not even return shipping. They did not have to be unopened. NO restocking fee was charged. Why would someone mis-state Amazon's return policy?

Char77--- I am not the seller. Read what I wrote, the seller was dropped because they DO charge restocking fees and many Amazon customers did not like that.

I purchased a set of MDHearing Aids, and they did help, but they were not near the quality of a pair of more expensive hearing aids I later purchased from America Hears. The MDHearing Aids came with a whole package of spare tubes, but when I tired to use one, I found they were not designed to fit the hearing aid that they came with. I would not purchase again.

Bought the MD Airs after trying the $6000 pr Oticons for 120 days. While not as fancy, the MD hearing aids had better sound quality than the expensive ones. The plastic casing has started to crack where tubing is attached, (they are now 2and a half years old). I phoned their support number and was ready to order a replacement at full price. The lady said I could return them ( one at a time suggested) and pay $69. to get a brand new replacement. These people are life savers !!! I had a Dr. of Audiology re-test my hearing lately and he was curious about the MDs and asked if he could test them. He said they were so close to perfect for my hearing loss that it was really not possible to get much better. He sells the high end stuff and said he would consider buying these for some clients who simply cannot afford the expensive ones.