An audiogram is a graph that plots the softest sounds you can hear at each frequency — but the graph alone doesn’t tell the full story of your hearing. Five things matter most when reading one: the symbols and what they represent, the degree of loss at each frequency, the shape of the curve, the gap between air and bone … Read More

Hearing aid consumables — domes, wax guards, tubing, and receivers — each have distinct replacement intervals based on how quickly they degrade, how much earwax you produce, and which hearing aid style you wear. Replacing them on schedule is the single most cost-effective thing you can do to maintain sound quality and prevent avoidable repair bills: studies cited in Audiology … Read More

Every major hearing aid manufacturer provides a baseline warranty covering defects in materials and workmanship — typically one year at the international level — but private audiology practices almost universally extend this to two or three years for repairs, and add separate loss and damage coverage on top. Understanding which warranty you actually have requires reading both the manufacturer’s terms … Read More

Costco is the largest retail hearing aid provider in the United States, accounting for roughly 16% of all units sold — and for straightforward cases, it offers genuine value at significantly lower device prices than most private practices. The meaningful differences between the two models are not primarily about device quality: they are about the consistency of clinical best practices … Read More

Hearing aid feedback — that high-pitched whistle or squeal — happens when amplified sound escapes from your ear canal and gets picked up by the hearing aid microphone, creating a loop that re-amplifies itself. The cause is almost always one of five things: poor fit, earwax buildup, a worn wax guard, an external object near the mic, or a programming … Read More

A standard hearing test (pure-tone audiogram) measures the softest sounds you can detect — it tells your audiologist how loud things need to be for you to hear them. A speech-in-noise test like the QuickSIN measures something entirely different: how well you understand speech when background noise is present — the single most common real-world hearing complaint, and one the … Read More

At California Hearing Center, we’ve been watching Auracast develop for several years — and the pace of real-world adoption is now moving fast enough that it’s become a meaningful part of our fitting conversations. If you’ve never heard the term, you’re not alone. Auracast is the biggest shift in how hearing aids connect to the world since Bluetooth was introduced … Read More

A word recognition score (WRS) measures the percentage of single-syllable words you can correctly repeat when speech is made clearly audible — separate from how loud sounds need to be. A score of 90–100% is considered normal; scores below 50% indicate severe difficulty understanding speech even with amplification. 🔑 Key Takeaway Your WRS is arguably the most important number on … Read More

At California Hearing Center, patients ask us regularly whether their phone will work with their hearing aids — and the honest answer has always been “it depends.” That’s changing. In October 2024, the FCC adopted new rules requiring every smartphone sold in the United States to be hearing aid compatible, ending years of fragmented, manufacturer-specific standards. Here’s what “hearing aid … Read More

At California Hearing Center, we believe every patient should walk into a hearing aid purchase knowing exactly what their rights are — not find out after the fact. California has some of the strongest hearing aid consumer protections in the country, and most people who buy hearing aids never read the fine print that describes them. This guide translates the … Read More