Hearing Mojo Publishes Hearing Aid Comparison Chart With Data On Leading Global Manufacturers’ Flagship Hearing Aid Brands

Shopping for hearing aids and other assistive listening technologies can be confusing and intimidating. With our focus on products and technologies for hard-of-hearing consumers, Hearing Mojo has gathered a lot of information on the leading brands of hearing aids and other devices and technologies that are available. Now we’ve organized data on the flagship brands from the world’s six largest hearing aid manufacturers and presented it in our first hearing aid comparison chart.

While the hearing aid comparison chart is by no means an exhaustive list, it does give consumers shopping for hearing aids an idea of what high-end features and functions are available from the world’s leading hearing aid brands. It also provides estimated prices for the premium brand hearing aids. Most important, it offers multiple links to other Hearing Mojo articles about the hearing aid products and brands, and the companies behind them, as well as direct links to the manufacturers’ product web sites.

The only way hard-of-hearing consumers can assure themselves they will get products at appropriate prices that will help them the most is to do extensive research. The comparison of six of the best-known premium brands is a good place to start. They include Oticon Agil (William Demant Holding), Starkey Wi Series(Starkey Laboratories), Phonak Ambra (Sonova Holding), ReSound Alera (GN Store Nord), Widex Clear440(Widex), and Siemens Motion (Siemens Hearing Instruments).

Just keep in mind that there are dozens of other manufacturers who offer high-quality hearing aids with comparable price/performance, and each listed company offers numerous other hearing aids at other price/performance levels as well. So look carefully at the information on the chart, visit the multiple links, then look beyond this short list if you are serious about buying hearing aids.

We would love reader feedback on this first hearing-aid comparison chart, as we expect to develop additional comparison charts on other types of hearing aids and assistive listening devices.

Six large multinational manufacturers control the lion’s share of the global hearing aid market. Most of them sell multiple brands of hearing aids, but all promote their highest-performing premium hearing aids under their leading brand names. The following chart lists the flagship hearing aid families sold by the leading brands owned by each of the top manufacturers along with rough price estimates.* They include Oticon Agil (William Demant Holding), Starkey Wi Series (Starkey Laboratories), Phonak Ambra(Sonova Holding), ReSound Alera (GN Store Nord), Widex Clear440 (Widex), and Siemens Motion (Siemens Hearing Instruments). These products all feature new sound processing platforms along with advanced features and technology introduced recently and are worth investigating if you are considering buying a new pair of high-end hearing aids.**

PRODUCTS	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6
	OTICON AGIL	STARKEY WI SERIES	PHONAK AMBRA	RESOUND ALERA	WIDEX CLEAR440	SIEMENS MOTION
Models	miniRITE, RITE, BTE13, BTE Power, ITE/ITC, CIC/MIC, CIC/MIC Power	Receiver in Canal (RIC), RIC AP (Power)	BTE and Custom In-The-Ear: Petite, microM, microP, SP, CIC/MC, ITC/HS	BTE, Remote Microphone Technology, Receiver in the Ear (RIE)	Receiver in the Ear (RITE), Receiver in Canal (RIC), BTE, Micro BTE	Motion BTE, Motion ITE
Read Review
Features
Sound Processing Platform	Spatial Sound 2.0, Speech Guard	Voice IQ with IRIS and Drive Technology	Spice Generation Platform, with SoundRecover, SoundFlow, Real Ear Sound	Warp™ Sound Processing, Surround Sound	Widex C-ISP (Communication-Integrated Signal Processing) platform	Siemens BestSound and SoundBrilliance technology
Channels/Bands	10 Fitting Bands	Up to 16 Channels and Bands	20 Channels	17 Bands	15 Channels and Bands	Up to 16 Channels
Binaural Wireless Sound Balancing
Program Settings	Four	Four	Seven	Three: Quiet, Moderate, Demanding	Six	Five
Feedback Cancellation
Noise Suppression	Spatial Noise Management	Acoustic Scene Analyzer	NoiseBlock, WindBlock, EchoBlock	Environmental Optimizer	FreeFocus	SoundLearning Technology
Directional Microphones
Accessories
Connectivity	ConnectLine Streamer for TV, Phone, Computer and Music	SurfLink Streamer for TV, Stereo, Bluetooth Phones and Remote Control	iCom-TVLink, Click'nTalk phone connector, ML13k FM receiver	Unite™ TV Streamer, Phone Clip and Remote Control	TV-DEX, M-DEX Mobile, RC-DEX Remote Control	Tek™ Bluetooth Wireless Remote for TV and cell phone
Telecoil
Estimated Price
Per Hearing Aid*	$3,200	$2,900	$2,900	$2,800	$3,300	$2,800
More Information
Product Overview
Manufacturer Web Site

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*NOTE: Listed prices are rough estimates only. The leading hearing aid brands all sell through third parties, with most premium-priced products sold by audiologists and other hearing professionals. Audiologists buy their hearing aids at wholesale prices from manufacturers and set their own prices based on what the market will bear. Their markup is justified in most cases with extensive service and support, starting with a hearing test and custom programming of a product best suited to your hearing profile, and following through with multiple adjustments as needed, most often included in the purchase price. However, it’s in your interest to shop around for a supplier who you are not only comfortable with, but whom you trust to give you a competitive, market-rate price.

**NOTE: This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are dozens of other manufacturers who offer high-quality hearing aids with comparable price/performance, and each listed company offers numerous other hearing aids at lower price/performance points. Please click on the live links for more information, and please look beyond this short list if you are serious about buying hearing aids.

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