A Better Hearing Aid Experience with Earlux

My brother, Brady, has struggled with hearing loss for nearly his entire life. We first noticed he couldn’t hear in elementary school (over 25 years ago). He’s had a few different surgeries, but nothing has helped to improve his hearing.

Our grandparents and our mom have all had hearing aids, so we have had experience with hearing aids in our family. But all of their experiences haven’t been the best. I think watching their experiences has done more to scare us off than to want to get hearing aids. Plus, Brady wasn’t really sure if he was even a good candidate for hearing aids.

Brady can hear well out of his right ear, but really struggles with his hearing in his left ear. So he kind of “limped along” his whole life, hearing well enough to get along, but never really hearing well. He really struggled in noisy, crowded situations. With our large family, we are always in noisy, crowded situations, so you can imagine how much of a struggle that was for him.

I felt bad for Brady, because I noticed that it was hard for him to be involved in family parties. I didn’t like him feeling like he wasn’t part of the conversation, and I especially didn’t like it when he chose to remove himself from the party, because he couldn’t hear what was going on. We all hoped that we could find a solution for Brady that would help him be able to hear better, and especially to be more involved when we got together in a big group.

I first heard about Earlux from a few different people on Instagram. We heard about what a great experience they had, and how much Earlux was able to help them. So we thought this would be a great solution for Brady. Spoiler alert: Earlux was an answer to prayers for him.

I want to walk you through the Earlux hearing aid process, so you can see what a simple solution this could be if you or a loved one have hearing loss. And, Earlux was nice enough to give us an special offer. You can get $200 off, or 0% interest, which makes these hearing aids less than $100 per month.

Get my special offer with Earlux

Steps to a Better Hearing Aid Experience

Step One: Take a Hearing Test

The first thing we did was have Brady take an online pretest. This was a quick, simple test that he did right on his phone. We found out that he was a great candidate for hearing aids. So we started the Earlux hearing aid process.

Step Two: Chat with an Earlux Audiologist

The Earlux process is all done remotely. This means that you stay at home, and visit with the audiologist over a video call. We found that this was extremely convenient because it took so much less time, we didn’t have to drive anywhere, and the best part was that we didn’t have to sit in any waiting rooms.

We got in touch with the Doctor Cook, an Earlux audiologist. Brady was able to discuss his concerns and talk about his specific situation. They discussed the different options and talked about how Doctor Cook and Earlux would be able to help Brady. Earlux offers three different types of hearing aids. Brady and Doctor Cook decided on the RIC/ BTE option. Together, Brady and Doctor Cook set up a plan, and Earlux sent out a welcome package for Brady.

Step Three: Complete an Ear Exam

Once Brady received his welcome package, Doctor Cook gave Brady an ear exam, over video chat. The package included an otoscope, which plugged right into Brady’s phone. Through the phone, Doctor Cook was able to see inside of Brady’s ear, just to make sure everything looked normal and healthy.

After he looked inside of his ear, we took a little blind hearing test. I sat across the table, and Brady covered his good ear, and closed his eyes. I read a list of words to Brady, and he repeated those words back to me. He only got about 60% right in his left ear. Which honestly made me feel bad that, in that ear, he had only been able to hear 60% of the things we were saying to him.

Step Four: Connect the Hearing Aids to your Phone with Bluetooth

The welcome package included a pair of state of the art hearing aids and we paired them to Brady’s phone with Bluetooth. Doctor Cook was able to remotely connect to the app on Brady’s phone, which meant that Doctor Cook could adjust the hearing aids wirelessly, from his office, to our home.

Step Five: Fit the Hearing Aids

Brady put the hearing aids in, and Doctor Cook was able to make sure the fit was right, and he demonstrated putting them in and taking them out. He made sure they were comfortable and helped Brady know how to operate them. This was all done through video chat.

Brady was really impressed with how well the hearing aids fit. He said they were comfortable and I thought they looked really good. They are slim and fit right behind his ear. They really aren’t very noticeable unless you are looking for them.

• 

• 

Doctor Cook helped Brady make a few adjustments to the hearing aids to make sure they fit just right. Then we did another hearing test through the hearing aids, just to confirm the initial hearing test Brady took online. I sat across the table from Brady again, and read a new list of words. Brady got almost every word right, but missed three. Doctor Cory was able to tell, from the words that Brady missed, how he could adjust the hearing aids better.

Step Six: Fine Tune the Hearing Aids

After making some adjustments, we tested each ear individually with the hearing aids, by reading a new list of words. This time, Brady got every word right. We marveled that Doctor Cook didn’t just turn the hearing aids up so Brady could hear things LOUDER, but he tweaked and tuned them, so Brady heard things BETTER. I feel like this is something that the Earlux team is amazing at. They want to help you with the quality of your hearing, not just give you something that’s going to amplify every single sound.

In fact, that was one of the worries that we had when we entered this process with Brady. We have seen the hearing aid process with our mom and both of our grandparents. And most of the time, they were given a hearing aid that amplified every single noise in the room. So when they were in noisy situations, the hearing aids actually made their hearing problem worse. I remember my grandma taking her hearing aids out during family parties because everything was just too loud. What a shame for both my grandma and the rest of the family.

We were really pleased that the Earlux team paid attention to details and made sure the fit, adjustment, and sound of everything was perfect.

Step Seven: Follow Up

After the hearing aids are fit and tuned, the Earlux audiologist always follows up. The Earlux audiologist likes to be super hands on. You have short, simple, and frequent follow up visits in the first 2 months as they slowly get your up to your prescription level. Hearing is not something you should or can get all back at once. It takes time to reintroduce sound back to your brain. They treat it like physical therapy for your ears and your brain. This method embodies their proprietary Cortex 5 Fitting Method. This is why they get such better results than any other clinic.

This is another one of our favorite things about Earlux. You don’t have to go into the office and wait in a waiting room. For us, Doctor Cook just gives Brady a call while Brady is sitting at his desk at work, or hanging around the house. He calls Brady on his phone (which he hears through his hearing aids), then Doctor Cook connects to Brady’s hearing aids remotely, and he is able to make adjustments as needed, until everyone is happy. During this whole process, Brady has not had to sit in a waiting room once. That is definitely a win!

Follow ups and adjustments are another pain point we saw with our mom. Often times, she would need to have her hearing aids adjusted. But being a wife, a mom to 7, and a grandmother to 24 kids, she is really busy. So she often put off going in to see the ear doctor. She just lived with her hearing aids how they were, because she couldn’t take a day to go in and get them adjusted.

And even after they were adjusted, sometimes she would notice that the TV sounded funny or she needed something else tweaked a little bit. Then she would have to make another appointment and drive into the audiologist’s office again. It was very frustrating to her that every tiny tweak took half her day.

Conversations with Doctor Cory, from the Earlux team, often just take a few minutes, and the adjustments can be fine tuned in your own home, with all of the noises around you that you usually hear. He can meet with you, virtually, while you are watching TV, and adjust your hearing aids so that your TV sounds better. This, to me, is one of the most amazing things about this whole experience.

Step Eight: Charge in the Case and Adjust Through the App

One of Brady’s favorite things is that his hearing aids can act like a wireless earbud. Just like most wireless earbuds, they are rechargeable! He has a charging case where he keeps his hearing aids when he’s not wearing them, and then he plugs the case in at night.

They also connect seamlessly to his phone. He can listen to music and audiobooks on his hearing aids from his phone, and he can answer the phone through his hearing aids. He also loves that he can make adjustments himself, through the app on his phone.

If he is at dinner with his wife, he can make an adjustment on the app to be able to hear her better. If he’s driving in the car and trying to listen to his kids in the backseat, he can adjust his hearing aids to hear the sounds behind him better. These hearing aids are definitely not your grandpa’s old fashioned, squeaky hearing aids. We couldn’t believe how impressive the technology was. These hearing aids are top of the line.

Get my special offer with Earlux

Earlux has kindly offered a special offer for The Creative Mom readers. Visit my unique link: https://earlux.com/thecreativemom and receive $200 off or 0% financing, free virtual hearing consultation, hearing test, and Cortex-5 Fitting. There is a 30 day money back guarantee, so there’s no reason not to try these hearing aids. You can get both ears fitted for as low as $97 monthly.

Our Takeaway with Earlux

We have been really happy with the hearing aids Brady received with Earlux. These hearing aids have improved my brother’s quality of life. They have helped him to be more present and aware while at family parties, he is able to have better conversations with his kids in the car, and he is enjoying every day interactions with people much more.

And, while the hearing aids are improving Brady’s daily life right now, they will continue to help him throughout his life, as he ages. People with hearing loss are more likely to develop dementia, so we were happy to improve Brady’s hearing now, and lower the risk of dementia later.

This post was sponsored by Earlux. We received hearing aids in exchange for our honest review. But, as always, all opinions are 100% my own. I never share products or services that I don’t use myself. Earlux has improved our quality of life and we are pleased to partner with them.