Hearing aid, where?

[thaibeachlovers]

Any recommends for somewhere to buy a hearing aid? I need one, but I want a decent one, not some cheap junk that will fail as soon as I leave the shop.

I don't need assessing, as I did all that back home. I just need an aid. Back home they cost a small fortune, so I thought I'd look for one in Thailand.

[Dante99]

There was an old thread about this with information and recommendations including to buy on line.  You might try to find it, it was not too old so still useful.  A forum search will get it for you "hearing aid chiang may".  Good luck.

 

[FolkGuitar]

Good timing on your part. I just bought new hearing aids yesterday!

There 'were' two 'good' shops in Chiang Mai... One in Panthip Plaza and the other on Suthep Rd, south side, about 30m west of the entrance to the Wing 41 road.  When Panthip Plaza reorganized, the hearing aid shop in there moved away. I tried to find it, but wasn't able...

I tried another shop that I found along the Canal Road, but was not happy with either the sound quality of the single brand (sounded as if I was listening to Robbie the Robot!) that that carried, nor the 40,000 baht (each) price.

 

...So I last week I went to the shop on Suthep Rd. And I'm VERY glad that I did! 

Google Map: 18.790448, 98.962353

The young fellow in there speaks enough English to get the job done with poor Thai speakers like me.  He carries several different well-known brands, with different models within each brand. What he doesn't have in his stock, he can get from Bangkok in just a few days.

 

I hadn't had a hearing test in about 10 years, and my old hearing aids were malfunctioning, so I decided to get new ones. He started with a hearing test that took about 10 minutes... Usual thing inside the booth, press the button when you hear the beep, both in the ear and bone conduction. Then using the results, brought out 4-5 different models of hearing aids. He proceeded to plug in my fittings and let me listen and speak while wearing them, giving me a wide variety of sound qualities (and prices) to chose from. Of course I liked the most expensive ones, but couldn't afford them. There was a similar model available, with one less feature, but he had to have that sent up from Bangkok. I never felt as if he was 'pushing' one over another, nor did I feel that he was rushing me to make a decision. We went back and forth between models several times with him adjusting the sound fitting to my requests.

 

Yesterday he called me to say that the devices arrived from Bangkok, so I went to the shop to check them out. We spent about two hours connected to the fitting software to get them set up. We set up four distinct programs (General, Noisy Restaurant, Music, Motorcycle - no sound, just ear plug!) that I wanted, but you can create any program that is wanted. Receiver in the ear, Bluetooth enabled, remote control available, TV remote available... It's the full package.

 

Price...  I looked up this brand and model on the Internet. I paid about HALF the US price! That surprised me. I bought two of 'em!  http://www3.hearingplanet.com/hearing-aids/sonic/flip

 

I will recommend this shop without reservation. I was treated as a valued customer, given excellent service, a reliable product, and at a very good price.  

 

[taotoo]

This might be the canal road one not recommended above:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/D1U5FRgbFMC2

[thaibeachlovers]

Thank you all and especially FolkGuitar.

[CMsojourner]

FolkGuitar thanks for sharing the helpful recommendation for the Siam Hearing Center. Discovered in Google they have another branch as well in MaeRim. For anyone interested can search the magnifying lens in the banner of the Chiang Mai Map - CCCC and enter "Hearing Aids" to see both Siam Hearing locations and also the DMED Hearing store (found about a block closer to the moat -- also on Suthep Rd.) that used to be on the first floor Panthip Plaza (before the renovation):  https://goo.gl/maps/7tWqpT7dZKQ2

 

[FolkGuitar]

Thanks for the info, CMsojourner. I actually was looking for that DMED Hearing store, as I had done business with them several times before, and liked the service. When I asked at Panthip, I was told it was on the last block before the Wing 41 Road on Suthep, but never found it, seeing only the Siam Hearing Center so I went in there. I guess I needed to be one more block east to have seen it. Oh well... All's well that ends well. I've been wearing my new devices for the past couple of days now, and am amazed at the sound quality. Also, with the ones I bought, if I change volume or program on one device, it automatically changes the other one at the same time without my having to do it manually. Nice feature I didn't have in my old hearing aids. Next week I'm going to look into get the Bluetooth remote for it, so I can stream music from my phone directly into the hearing aids without wires!  A nice new toy! 

[thaibeachlovers]

Thanks for the replies.

I went to the hearing center place but the only person there didn't speak English, so I ended up in D Med, where they do speak English. It's just a short distance from the other.

 

 

 

[RHI44]

It is Feb 2018 and have been following this thread as I knew I was looking for hearing aids when I came to Chiang Mai for a month. I went to DMED.  After a hearing test and 1 hour trying to get the girls to understand how to tune a new device I was considering buying they sit me in a chair to do a mould. The girl would not do it as she said I had an infection and discharge and must see a ENT first. I told no I didn't but I went straight to the ENT they suggested and he showed me and my husband by his camera that there is nothing wrong with my ear other than I have spectacularly scarred and coloured eardrums which I already knew. Went back to DMED today to get earmoulds only,  as not sure about device we tried last week as they could not get it to sound good and it seemed expensive.

She again told me she could not do it as she was afraid she would cause me pain and the mould would get stuck because I have discharge and my eardrum is yellow, ( no pain, no infection , no discharge). After 1/2 hour of discussion and her shock that the ENT she trusted showed me there is nothing wrong with my ear she still refused to make me ear moulds. Even the older audiologist who spoke quite good english apologised and said she wished she could help me. 

The main issue here I think is her pride not my ear. I now may not have enough time to go elsewhere and get what I need done in the next 3 weeks. Very disappointing. Avoid DMED unless you are a very simple straight forward case, and yes their devices are expensive. I am going to Siam hearing tomorrow and will give a report.

[thaibeachlovers]

I only needed a hearing boost, so very simple- no moulds. I was happy with the service, but didn't need anything complicated.

Hope the other place worked for you.