Hearing Aid - Simplicity Hi-Fi 270 EP Pair, Beige - Mild-to-Moderate High Frequency Hearing Loss

This device is aimed squarely at producing the best sound quality for musicians and audiophiles. I'm only an amateur musician, but I've been an audiophile practically from birth. I compared this hearing aid pair head-to-head with a pair that costs six-times the price, and it easily sounded better on music and vocals. The reason is this: there is no digitization of the signal; the mic connects directly to an amplifier, which connects directly to the "speakers." Ah, you ask, haven't I always been told that digital sound is vastly superior to analog? Yes, you probably have, but it depends on the digital and analog sources. Vinyl, played on a so-so rig sounds better than CD on even an above-average CD player. But, as they say, there's more: CD sound is converted from analog to digital by sampling the analog signal 44.1 thousand times a second (44.1 kHz). Even expensive hearing aids only sample at 20 kHz. That means that audible frequencies start falling apart well below 10 kHz, regardless of what the advertising brochures may claim, while CDs can go more than twice as high. Aha, you say, but I can't hear above about 8 kHz, so it won't matter to me. You'd be surprised. Higher sample rates really do matter. Today you can buy digital files of recordings sampled at around 200 kHz or more, and they sound better.If you're knowledgable about such things, you might point out that CDs only use 16 bits per sample, while high-end hearing aids sample at 24 bits. The problem is that many of those bits are thrown away by turning the volume down digitally.Bottom line: A high-quality, all-analog hearing aid has a very significant advantage in sound quality over today's 20 kHz high-end digital-processing hearing aids.The company claims that they use zero or low negative feedback. Negative feedback, especially when used heavily to reduce distortion, can cause overshoots on transients. The result can be an unnatural, etched or hard sound. In the worst case, the overshoots can cause clipping, which produces the piercing sibilants that plague much of "modern" electronics. Based on my listening tests, these devices do avoid those kinds of artifacts. High-quality solid-state components don't need heavy use of feedback to reduce distortion, particularly at these low current levels. This may be another reason why these hearing aids sound so good.Does that mean that the hearing aids evaluated in this review are a better choice than a much more expensive hearing aid that uses digital processing? Not necessarily. Digital processing allows all sorts of flexibility in matching the hearing aid's frequency response to the needs of each of your ears -- not one-size-fits-all. It also allows for all sorts of other digital trickery such as the virtual elimination of sonic feedback (the whistle you may hear when you cup your hand over your ear with some hearing aids), suppression of non-vocal sounds, separation of sound sources, multiple on-demand frequency response curves ("programs") and so on. High end digital hearing aids can be remotely controlled through various mechanisms, including cell phones, via bluetooth. Such models offer all sorts of other bells and whistles, some even incorporating FM receivers internal to the hearing aid. For a good example, go to the Oticon website. Expect to pay a lot more than you will for this choice.Here's my summary: This hearing aid delivers sound that is probably about as good as you can get in hearing aids today. Even so, it may not be for you. After all, most people today are perfectly happy with mp3 sound, which is generally worse than a high-end digital hearing aid. Some of the digital hearing aid features are truly valuable. I urge anyone to try before you buy. As for me, I won't be returning this pair, but I'll probably buy a digital pair too, and I'll use this pair when I care most about sound quality.Update: I did buy a high-end digital pair. I now keep these in my backpack for backup and, as stated in the summary, when I care about sound quality. This product has a fixed equalization curve that lifts high frequency response. As it turns out, the curve is nearly identical to the one my audiologist assigned to my digital model. I believe typical aged hearing has a pretty consistent roll-off of highs that this model matches very well. When, for one reason or another, I've turned to this pair to get me through a meeting in a conference room in which people talk to the room as though everyone were five feet away, this pair has come through with flying colors. I highly recommend them.

These hearing aids were for my Mom. She has 50% hearing loss in both ears, and debilitating Tinnitus. She was shocked and overjoyed to find that these eliminated about 75-85% of the Tinnitus ringing in her ears. The result is she became 10 years younger, with abundance of energy! She got use to adjusting the volume (which she was able to learn how to do while wearing), she was able to hear me from another room. She could watch a movie on T.V. without closed captions! Walking outside was more of a challenge since she was visiting me in NYC. She learned to turn them way down while walking down the street, because of sirens and loud trucks going by. But even still, they provided much relief from the Tinnitus therefore less stress from the street noise! Although difficult at first, she learned how to open the battery compartment, so that every night she can save on using the battery up. I don't know yet how much this prolongs the life of the battery, but it was suggested in the instructions. The ear piece was comfortable and she could not even feel the aid resting on her ear, nor the tube/inside ear piece that was in the ear, at all. And it was not even visible, as well! Definitely recommend!