What’s the Difference Between Premium and Standard Hearing Aids?
Congratulations! You’ve decided to get hearing aids. Now your audiologist presents you with a difficult choice - what technology level are you interested in? Your decision may have a substantial impact on the price, but it could also affect how well you do with your hearing aids day to day - so what do you choose? Entry, standard, advanced, or premium hearing aids? And what does that even mean? If you look at the feature charts it may feel even more confusing - how do features such as more decibels of noise reduction and more frequency channels actually affect how well you will do with hearing aids in every day life?
Let’s take a look at four different studies looking into this very question.
Study #1
The first study we’re looking at compared hearing aid users with basic vs. premium hearing aids in daily life. It included 45 adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Everyone wore two pairs of hearing aids from the same manufacturer—one basic and one premium—each for about 5 weeks. After testing out each option, participants completed a questionnaire.
Results:
The results were underwhelming. Most participants reported similar benefit and satisfaction from both devices.
Does that mean there’s no significant difference between technology levels? Or was this study unable to ask the right questions to tap into the differences?
Study #2
In 2022, another study compared basic and premium hearing aids for first time hearing aid users. They looked at speech understanding by comparing acceptable noise level - how much noise someone could tolerate with their hearing aids on. They also looked into satisfaction for listening to speech in different environments.
Results:
No significant difference was found in speech understanding between premium and basic aids.
However, acceptable noise level was significantly improved for the premium devices. This means that users were comfortable in noisier environments with premium hearing aids.
Participants reported more satisfaction for speech in a large group with premium devices.
There was an overall preference for using premium technology.
Study #3
Here, researchers used an app-based survey tool to gather real-time feedback from 14 experienced hearing aid users in social situations. Participants reported on what they were doing, who they were with, and which technology level they preferred in that moment.
Results:
Mid- to high-level technology was preferred more often, especially in noisy or busy environments.
Preference was influenced by both the location of the listener, as well as the type of background noise present, with a preference for mid-level and premium technologies, compared to basic technology, across most socially involved listening situations.
Study #4
This study involved 24 adults with hearing loss. Researchers wanted to know how technology level and personal factors—like noise tolerance and listening environment—affected hearing outcomes. Each participant tried both basic and premium Unitron hearing aids for two weeks each. Measures used included speech tests, questionnaires, Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) testing, and Unitron’s Log It All feature to track real-world environments.
Results:
On average, group results were similar in many ways for both technology levels.
Noise acceptance significantly improved when using the premium devices.
Satisfaction for speech in a large group were significantly improved when using the premium devices.
What does this all mean? It looks like there is real-world benefit to getting advanced or premium hearing aids vs. entry or standard hearing aids. It also seems like this benefit might be most relevant in social situations with groups of people and/or high levels of background noise.
What’s the best decision for you? That decision needs to take into account your lifestyle and your budget.
Please contact us if you need help making decisions about hearing treatment.
References
Study #1: Cox, R. M., Johnson, J. A., & Xu, J. (2016). Impact of Hearing Aid Technology on Outcomes in Daily Life I. Ear and Hearing, 37(4), e224–e237. https://doi.org/10.1097/aud.0000000000000277
Study #2: Hausladen, J., Plyler, P. N., Clausen, B., Fincher, A., Norris, S., & Russell, T. (2021). Effect of Hearing Aid Technology Level on New Hearing Aid Users. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1673-9989
Study #3: Glista, D., O’Hagan, R., Beh, K., Crukley, J., Scollie, S., & Cornelisse, L. (2024). Real-world assessment of listener preference for hearing aid technology levels in socially involved situations. Frontiers in Audiology and Otology, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/fauot.2024.1430992
Study #4: Plyler, P. N., Hausladen, J., Capps, M., & Cox, M. A. (2021). Effect of Hearing Aid Technology Level and Individual Characteristics on Listener Outcome Measures. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(8), 3317–3329. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00111
