By: Fabiola Grosshan
Submitted: 2010-09-02 03:16:00 | Word Count: 659
The Story of the ugly cheap hearing aid that really works.
My friend Dave Caputas is stubborn, pig headed, opinionated, vain, and he really needs a hearing aid. Dave doesn’t admit he needs a hearing aid, but everyone who comes in contact with him knows that he does. You know the kind of guy. He says, “What” a lot and he thinks you need to talk louder. He listens to his iPod on high and has the television so loud that the next door neighbor knows when he is watching baseball and when he is watching the news.
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Dave needs a hearing aid.
Or maybe he needs an ear transplant.
He needs something to help his hearing.
Since my own hearing has gone down hill over the last few years, I have been checking out a hearing aid on the internet at places like hearingaid2020.com. The task or trying to learn about a hearing aid and sort our the alternatives is a bit overwhelming – especially if all you want is an some thing cheap and effective. There are digital hearing aid and analog hearing aid. All I know is that a digital hearing aid is more expensive. There’s a hearing aid that goes in the ear and some behind the ear and others over the year and there is even something you can hang around your neck like a monster necklace that captures sounds and transmits it to a tiny ear piece. Of course, the necklace is so big, that you look like some prince or king on a south sea island.
Dave swore he would never even try on a hearing aid, much less buy one.
Never underestimate the power of a good woman.
Once day his wife Patty finally had “had it” and she put her little foot down and told Dave he had to do “something” to help his hearing. First he disagreed .. then he procrastinated ... then he dragged his feet as long as he could, but Patty would have none of it.
Finally, in desperation, he called me.
“Tom, what can I do? I don’t think I really need help but Patty is pretty hot. She said that if I didn’t get something in the next two weeks she would stop cooking, either go out or call out for dinner every night, book a cruise to the Greek Island for her and her sister, and afterwards have her ”forgetful” 93 year old mother in her wheel chair move in with us.
I guess I have to get “something” but I don’t want to look like an idiot and I certainly don’t want to spend a lot of money.
My advice was pretty simple.
Forget how you look.
If teenage boys could have multiple tattoos and diamonds or those big rings in their ears, what do you care is in your ear. Buy a cheap hearing aid. Get one that works. Make Patty happy. Then take your wife out for a “celebration” dinner someplace fancy. I know you can do it all – including the diner and drinks - for something around $100.
“How”, he said, finally a bit interested.
“It’s easy,” I said, “Go to one of the web sites I checked out.” hearingaid2020.com and buy the Whisper hearing aid. It is kinda ugly, but it is cheap and it works. The things sits comfortably on your year and the little ear thing will fit well in your year. It won’t fall out. Best of all, “It works!”
There really is a happy ending to this story.
Dave bought the Whisper hearing aid.
He is a happy guy.
To use his words, “the darn hearing aid really works.”
The celebration dinner was a success ... His mother in law did not move in with them ... but Patty still likes the idea of going on a cruise to the Greek islands with her sister.
