Archive for 2009

We’re proud to offer the Dot by ReSound, a behind-the-ear hearing aid. On their website, ReSound describes this unit as “the smallest, most discreet behind-the-ear hearing aid available.” A well-known and highly regarded name in the industry, ReSound manufactures innovative hearing aids. For those with hearing loss or tinnitus, these units are worth considering.

Features of the Dot by ReSound

Fully automatic, the Dot by ReSound doesn’t need to be adjusted manually. And with 100 hours of battery life, these hearing aids last a while before needing new batteries. Its appearance is appealing to many, as it’s very discreet. The Dot by ReSound is for people with mild to profound hearing loss.

Dot by ReSound: Variants

There are actually three different variants of the Dot by ReSound for different hearing situations. The ReSound dot10 is for quiet listening environments. The ReSound dot20 is for moderate listening environments, and the ReSound dot30 is for demanding listening environments. All offer the innovation and quality that comes along with ReSound hearing aids, and they are all behind-the-ear hearing aids.

More ReSound Hearing Aids

At Hearing Aid Express, you’ll find many more ReSound hearing aids if the Dot turns out to not be the right one for you. Visit one of our locations in Austin, Houston or Dallas to find out more and get your questions answered by our great staff. Also, feel free to contact us online. Hearing Aid Express is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service, and our inventory is expansive.

If you’re looking for hearing aid repairs, we can take care of that for you at one of our locations. What’s more is that we offer several FREE services: free hearing tests, free digital demonstations, free cleanings and adjustments, and free personalized programming on purchases from our store. We provide these services for free on a daily basis.

It’s not uncommon for people to make New Year’s resolutions, and the resolutions typically are about improving a person’s life and well-being. If you suffer from hearing loss, make it your resolution to do something about it: Get hearing aids to start hearing sounds more loudly and clearly.

Here are some things that hearing aids do:

• Enable you to participate more fully in activities and conversations
• Help you hear certain pitches, like high-pitched consonant sounds (s, t, f and sh), better
• Make sound louder
• Make speech easier to understand in most situations

By contrast, hearing aids do not restore normal hearing, transform distorted sound into clear sound, let you hear only what you’d like to hear or deliver the ability to hear speech perfectly when competing sounds are present.

Two hearing aids are better than just one. Think of it this way: If you closed one eye, your depth perception would be distorted. It’s important to see with both eyes just as it’s important to hear with both ears. Understanding can be affected if you’re only hearing with one ear, as hearing occurs in your brain, not your ears. Hearing sound from both ears helps the brain understand sounds.

Hearing Aids

At Hearing Aid Express, we have an impressive selection of hearing aids from ReSound, Unitron, Starkey and Sonic Innovations. Stop by one of our many convenient locations in Austin, Dallas or Houston, where our friendly staff will be happy to answer questions you have about hearing aids and hearing loss. Our stores also offer free hearing evaluations.

If you’re trying to decide whether hearing technology is right for you, we encourage you to first have your hearing tested before you make a decision. New hearing aids for the new year may help improve your life — contact us to find out more.

This holiday season, give the gift of hearing. Hearing aids can drastically improve a person’s quality of life by allowing them to hear sounds more clearly and loudly. The holidays are all about spending time with your family and loved ones, and not being able to participate in conversations or hear what’s going on can really result in you missing out on some wonderful moments.

If you’re unsure whether you are experiencing some degree of hearing loss, we offer a brief questionnaire that will help you decide. Answer yes or no to the following questions:

1. Does it seem like people mumble or speak more softly than they used to?
2. Do you find it hard to hear at movie theaters, concert halls, your house of worship or other public gathering places?
3. Are you able to hear people talk, but have trouble understanding the words they’re saying?
4. Do you frequently ask people to repeat things?
5. Have you had any significant noise exposure at work, recreation or in military service?
6. Do you experience a ringing in your hears or other head noises (crickets, buzzing, hissing, etc.)?

Most people will be able to answer “yes” to at least one of those questions, but if you answered “yes” to two or more of them, we strongly recommend you get a more thorough hearing investigation. It may be a good idea to keep track of your hearing experiences for a few days, or even a week, by writing down each time you experience trouble hearing. (For example, when you have to ask someone to repeat themselves, or when you don’t understand a conversation.)

Because families spend time together during the holidays, it’s a great opportunity to address a loved one’s hearing loss and try to get them help. We sincerely hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and are able to spend time with your loved ones — and even better, be able to hear them well. Please visit one of our stores or contact us for more information about hearing aids.

We just can’t believe that it’s already the end of the year, but that means huge year-end savings on hearing aids. Our holiday special is here: Save  $600 on a set of Dot 30 hearing aids when you print out our coupon and bring it to any Hearing Aid Express location. The offer is valid until December 31, 2009. It is not valid with any other offer and is not eligible for financing.

The holidays are a time when families spend time together. Make sure your hearing loss does not keep you from getting the most out of this very special time. Hearing aids, besides improving your hearing, can improve the quality of your life.

ReSound Dot 30 Hearing Aids

Almost invisible, ReSound Dot 30 hearing aids deliver outstanding sound performance. “Less is more,” they say on the ReSound website to describe the Dot, which is suitable for 97% of all people who suffer from hearing impairment. Just as phones and music players are getting smaller and more powerful, so are hearing aids, and the Dot is no exception. With our special holiday coupon, you can save $600 on a set of ReSound Dot 30 hearing aids.

Save Big on Hearing Aids

With our holiday coupon, you can save big on Dot 30 hearing aids. What’s more is that the savings don’t stop there — Hearing Aid Express offers many free hearing aid services, and even hearing aid tests. On a daily basis, we provide hearing tests, digital demonstrations, cleanings and adjustments, and personalized programming on purchases from our store — all free! Coupled with our friendly customer service, Hearing Aid Express just can’t be beat.

Visit one of our locations today to find out more about hearing aids and hearing loss from our knowledgeable staff. We have several locations in Austin, Dallas and Houston. Feel free to also contact us online.

Out of thousands of entrants, Popular Science magazine named the Lyric hearing aid “Best of What’s New” 2009. This recognition is quite impressive, as the magazine’s editors choose just the top 100 tech innovations of the year — and those that make the cut are breakthrough products and technologies that represent a significant leap in their categories.

Winners, including the Lyric hearing aid, will be featured in the December issue of Popular Science, the most read issue of the year for over 20 years. Some other “Best of What’s New” categories include: Recreation, Security, Home Entertainment, Green Technology and Automotive. The magazine notes that this award is the top honor, and winners represent the highest level of achievement in their fields.

The Lyric hearing aid is truly innovative. It is often called “invisible” since it is placed, for up to four months, deep in the hearing canal. This hearing aid needs no battery changes and can even be worn while showering.

Insound Medical is responsible for the creation of the Lyric hearing aid, and they say it is the world’s first extended wear hearing aid. Its deep placement in the hearing canal makes it very appealing to people who may feel embarrassed or self-conscious about hearing aids — there is really no way for anyone to be able to tell a person is wearing it.

More About Hearing Aids

If you’re curious about hearing aids or would like more information about hearing loss, feel free to contact us at Hearing Aid Express. We have several convenient locations in Austin, Houston and Dallas and are always happy to help you.

Tinnitus is often described as ringing in the ears — the sound is also sometimes compared to crickets chirping, locusts, roaring, ticking or beeping — and it affects about 50 million people in the United States. The cause can be hearing loss, allergies, ear wax or ear infections, but whatever the cause, one thing is for sure: tinnitus is debilitating for those who experience it. The good news is that hearing aids may help.

A recent Your Health feature in USA Today answers a question from a reader who suffers from tinnitus. “Is there a hearing aid that can filter out this miserable ringing/buzzing in my ears?” writes the reader. Columnist Kim Painter includes advice from Duke University Medical Center otolaryngologist Debara Tucci, who says that “everyone with tinnitus should be checked by a doctor.” The reason for this is so that a doctor can determine the cause.

She also says that hearing aids can help with tinnitus for some people, since it can be a side effect of hearing loss. According to Tucci, the brain may compensate for a lack of sound input by making its own sound effects. Treating hearing loss with hearing aids, then, can be helpful.

Tinnitus Treatment

Are you or a loved one suffering from tinnitus? Hearing Aid Express offers a new tinnitus treatment, and it’s available only at our stores in Dallas, Houston and Austin. This clinically proven treatment, called Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), features an intelligent sound generator that produces individually customized sounds tailored to your unique needs. It also automatically adapts to different listening situations.

If you’d like to get this treatment, the cause of your tinnitus does not have to be hearing loss. We invite you to stop by one of our Houston, Austin or Dallas stores to find out more about this, or you can contact us online or call one of our hearing aid stores. We are glad to answer your questions about hearing loss, hearing aids and tinnitus.

Last week, an Edmonton, Canada child’s hearing aids were stolen during a robbery at her home — the burglar also stole the family’s Xbox and game accessories while they were out to dinner. The hearing aids, worth $22,000, were in the child’s backpack, which the burglar used to carry off the Xbox and games.

The support the family has seen from friends is truly wonderful. The Canoe.ca News reported that the mother’s co-worker brought to work on Friday an Xbox and games for her son, and a friend of the family’s held a fundraiser.

Thankfully, though, one of the hearing aids has turned up. Someone anonymously returned one to a drop-off location at a local shopping center. Both hearing aids were worth about $22,000, and the family has been understandably devastated by the loss. Eleven-year-old Haley, the child, used one of the hearing aids full time and the other was a spare.

Along with the stolen device, the person also returned the Xbox and the backpack. The police are looking into whether there are fingerprints on the Xbox or backpack they can use to track down the thief. Police have said that it’s possible the other hearing aid could have fallen out of the backpack.

Learn More About Hearing Aids

Hearing Aid Express is proud to announce our new Sugar Land hearing aids store! Located at 1865 State Hwy 6, Suite #120, our new location is yet another convenient option for Houston-area shoppers. Our knowledgeable and helpful staff is ready to answer any questions you might have about hearing aids and hearing loss.

We offer quite an impressive selection of hearing aids at our new store. Starkey, Unitron and ReSound are all well-known brands you’ll find. There are Open Fit Technology hearing aids like the ReSound Azure, Starkey Destiny and  ReSound Bug, along with top-, mid- and basic-tier hearing aids. Prices range from $495-$3,600 each.

Sugar Land Hearing Evaluation

Get a free hearing evaluation at our new Sugar Land store! We offer this service at all of our locations, and there’s never an obligation to buy anything. Additionally, we offer these other free services on a daily basis:

• Free cleanings and adjustments
• Free personalized programming on purchases from Hearing Aid Express
• Free digital demonstrations

Sugar Land Hearing Aids: Coupons

If you’re planning on coming by the new Sugar Land store, don’t forget to print out our coupon. We’re happy to offer hearing aid coupons to make it more affordable to get help with hearing loss. In addition to coupons, we also offer hearing aid batteries for just 50 cents each. That’s the same price they were back in 1989 when we first started. Any size or brand, even Rayovac and Lightning, are still just 50 cents. We can even mail them to you for a small postage fee.

Contact our new Sugar Land hearing aids store by calling (281)-494-4327 or toll free at (888)-493-4327. You can also contact us online.

Hearing Aid Express
(Hwy 59 @ Hwy 6)
1865 State Hwy 6,
Suite #120
Sugar Land, TX 77478

View a map to our Sugar Land hearing aids store.

New from Starkey: hearing aids that feature Sweep Technology! We were excited to learn about this innovative new feature that will be found on the new Starkey S Series behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids. With Sweep Technology, instead of all of the traditional buttons found on hearing aids, there’s a touch surface that lets users adjust the volume and change settings just by sweeping or touching it with a finger.

Sweep Technology is very different and very innovative for hearing aids. Since there are no openings around the volume control wheel, it is impossible for moisture and dirt to get into the hearing aid. Plus, there is no mechanical movement required for activation — there is just a single seamless control on the sweep surface where users can have full access to changing memory, volume and standby controls. For example, when a user sweeps their finger up, the volume is raised. When they sweep down, the volume is lowered.

Starkey assures that even patients with limited dexterity will be able to easily change settings on hearing aids using Sweep Technology. For many wearers of hearing aids, changing the settings may be very difficult to do. That’s why Starkey spent three years researching and developing a way to incorporate advanced touch surface technology into a hearing aid. The company says their research has paid off — according to the company president, patients in their clinical trials have “overwhelmingly preferred Sweep Technology to traditional controls.”

Starkey Hearing Aids: Dallas, Houston and Austin

These new Starkey hearing aids are definitely an exciting new innovation in hearing technology, and their ease of use will no doubt make wearing and using hearing aids much simpler. Additionally, they deliver comfortable, high-resolution sound. If you have questions about Starkey hearing aids and are in Dallas, Houston or Austin, feel free to contact one of our Hearing Aid Express stores for more information.