Bottom Line Up Front: Hearing aids have vastly improved in the past two decades and Dr. Anne Przybyla at Hearing Science of Arcadia and her staff are superb!
Their ad in the mail, promising a two-week free trial, was intriguing, so I called for an appointment. I was very skeptical, however, because I had been told by my doctor 20 years ago that hearing aids could not help the kind of problem I have. 10 years ago, that prognosis was confirmed by the House Ear Institute. Thinking about that, I canceled my appointment and didn't go in. About a year later, another ad (I didn't realize it was also from them) caught my eye. Since I had been having more and more trouble hearing, I kept my appointment this time. I asked whether anything had changed in the past couple of decades. The answer was an unequivocal "Yes!" In particular, the computers - and the programs that control the computers - are very much better. They are smaller, too. People have actually asked me, "Are you wearing them now?"!
I tried them for free for 2 weeks and was astonished. I was able to track a single conversation out of several at two family gatherings. I could hear everybody at the table at a noisy restaurant. I could understand my now-21-year-old granddaughter who still speaks in a very high range without having to ask her to lower her pitch. The aids are not quite as good as I'd hoped, but far better than I expected, and way beyond what I had feared. They are reasonably comfortable, too. I have now had them for over a month, and expect that I will get as used to them as to my glasses, which I've had for 68 years.
I do not have any experience with other providers, but I've talked to several friends who have. Dr. Annie and her staff has been much more helpful and communicative than those friends reported. Dr. Annie even responds to emails. She has already gone the extra step of contacting the manufacturer of my hearing aids with questions that she couldn't answer. (When was the last time you met someone who knew most of the answers, but admitted when they didn't know - then went the extra step to try to find the answer?)
One more thing: Hearing aids are expensive. Coincidentally, I had just been to a seminar given by our local police department about scams targeting seniors. So I checked them out at the Arcadia Police Department and at the Better Business Bureau. Unfortunately, neither of those groups can tell you whether a company is good - but they could tell me there have been no complaints against them, and they've been around for 25 years! Also, I looked on YELP. There was only one review. Well, now there are two, both with five stars. read more
