How NOT to choose hearing aids: 10 Mistakes to avoid

I found out I needed hearing aids when I was 16. I live in Brazil, where a pair of hearing aids can come with an outrageous price tag. In 2026, in Rio de Janeiro, a reader of my website told me he had paid BRL 52,000 -more than US$10,000 – for a pair of mid-range hearing aids. He paid that much because he went into to the store uninformed, rushed, afraid, and overwhelmed by shame. The salesperson saw an opportunity to charge him a fortune for something discreet.

I made plenty of mistakes when I bought my first hearing aids:

I didn’t look for an audiologist recommended by another hearing aid user. Instead, I fell into the old trap of going to the store recommended by a doctor who earned commissions on referrals.
I didn’t talk to people who wore hearing aids before buying mine.
I walked into the audiologist’s office showing just how vulnerable I was and how ashamed I felt about needing hearing aids.
I fell for the claim that the “unmissable deal” ended tomorrow. It was a lie—a sales tactic designed to pressure me into buying.
I didn’t have real ear measurement done after the initial fitting.
I tried hearing aids at just one store, with just one audiologist.
I didn’t compare how different brands of hearing aids sounded.
I let seductive marketing stories sway me without fully understanding my hearing loss and the limitations it imposed. That left me with unrealistic expectations about how much hearing aids would help.
I didn’t research warranties or repairs.
My family took out a loan to pay for my hearing aids, simply because we didn’t have the information we needed.

The hearing industry has a few favorite types of patients: the uninformed, the rushed, and the ashamed. When I made my first purchase, I was all three at once.

Maybe that’s why, to this day, I haven’t given up on helping people avoid these ridiculous mistakes. It all starts with denial when we discover our hearing loss. Nobody makes a drama out of needing glasses. Yet here we are in 2026, and people still run out of the ENT’s office to hide in the hearing loss closet. What nobody tells you is that the closet is made of glass. You’re only fooling yourself.

The uninformed patient believes everything any doctor or audiologist says. They don’t do research, talk to other people, or read about the subject. They haven’t even taken the time to understand the details of their own hearing loss.

The rushed patient wants to solve the problem as quickly as possible, forgetting that haste makes waste. Their biggest mistake is buying the first hearing aids they try, at the first store they visit, from the first audiologist they meet. That is going to cause so, so many headaches later…

The ashamed patient will do anything for discretion and invisibility, including buying hearing aids that are useless for their particular hearing loss. That’s why we see so many people with severe or profound hearing loss wearing “invisible” hearing aids that would barely help someone with mild or moderate hearing loss. I have a motto I love repeating: hearing loss is more noticeable than any hearing aids.

First and foremost, you need an ENT doctor who specializes in hearing loss and its treatment. Ask for recommendations from people who have been diagnosed and managing their hearing loss longer than you have. And don’t make another classic mistake: choosing a random doctor from your health insurance provider’s directory. That mistake cost me a decade of my life. I spent those years losing my hearing without knowing it, after being misdiagnosed by a general ENT who didn’t have the decency to refer me to a colleague. If a doctor insists that you buy your hearing aids from a particular place, there is a very high chance they receive a commission on every sale. At least in Brazil, doctors may only recommend trusted places that sell hearing aids IF the patient specifically asks. Ethical doctors recommend professionals whose work and expertise they trust, rather than stores.

Second, you need an audiologist with expertise in selecting and fitting hearing aids who follows international audiology guidelines. A qualified audiologist is very different from someone who simply sells hearing aids. They understand their work in depth and put the patient’s needs and circumstances first.

Third, know that all hearing aid brands do exactly the same thing, in the same way. These days, the only thing that changes from one brand to another is the software. So don’t let yourself be seduced by ads and far-fetched marketing stories, especially those mentioning “studies” involving half a dozen people who were paid to take part. And no, there is no such thing as the “best” hearing aids, let alone the “best” brand. You can check that with an experienced, independent audiologist, okay?

I think one of the smartest things anyone buying hearing aids can do is spend plenty of time talking to other hearing aid users BEFORE deciding what to buy. It can save you a lot of trouble, unnecessary spending, and future headaches.

With love,

Paula Pfeifer

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How NOT to choose hearing aids: 10 Mistakes I wish I’d avoided

I made plenty of mistakes when I bought my first hearing aids:

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