Your Guide to Changing Audiologists Without Starting Over

Making the decision to seek better hearing care can feel daunting, especially when you already own hearing aids. Many people in the Phoenix area wonder if switching audiologists means starting from scratch, losing their investment, or facing complicated compatibility issues. The good news? Changing providers is more straightforward than you might think, and at Applied Hearing Solutions, we've helped hundreds of patients transition to our care while maximizing the value of their existing devices.

Whether your current hearing aids came from a big-box retailer, an online provider, or another audiology clinic, we're here to help you hear your absolute best with the technology you already have—or guide you toward better solutions if needed.

Understanding Your Current Hearing Aid Situation

The first step in any transition is understanding what you're working with. Not all hearing aids are created equal when it comes to serviceability, and knowing what's possible with your specific devices helps set realistic expectations.

At our clinic, we work with a wide range of hearing aid brands, including those we don't dispense ourselves. Using advanced diagnostic equipment like Test Box Measures and Real Ear Measurement verification, we can thoroughly evaluate your current devices to determine their mechanical function and programming accuracy. This comprehensive approach allows us to identify exactly what's working, what isn't, and what improvements are possible.

Many patients are surprised to learn that their dissatisfaction with hearing aids often stems from one of three correctable issues: improper programming, mechanical malfunction, or simply wearing devices that aren't capable of treating their specific hearing loss. Our evaluation process helps identify which of these factors is affecting your performance.

What to Expect When You Bring Your Devices to Us

When you schedule your Applied360 Review with us, we follow a structured process designed to give you complete clarity about your hearing situation. This comprehensive 2-hour evaluation includes a detailed assessment of your hearing difficulties and priorities, a thorough hearing evaluation including speech-in-noise testing, and a complete analysis of your current hearing aid programming and performance capabilities.

We perform diagnostic testing to ensure your devices are meeting manufacturer specifications—something that's critical since between 15% and 25% of new and repaired hearing aids don't meet these standards. We also review your digital feature settings to determine if and how they were previously optimized, and we use Real Ear Measurement to verify whether your hearing aids are programmed correctly to your actual hearing loss prescription.

This verification step is particularly important because research shows that over 70% of hearing aids aren't programmed correctly to match the user's hearing loss prescription. Many hearing aids are set to manufacturer "first-fit" settings, which are initial estimates designed for comfort and simplicity rather than optimal performance. Without proper verification, you may be leaving significant hearing benefit on the table.

Different Brands, Different Possibilities

The level of service we can provide depends largely on which brand of hearing aids you currently own. Some brands offer more flexibility than others when it comes to reprogramming and optimization.

For retail brands like Miracle-Ear, Beltone, and Audibel, we can perform most repairs in-office and provide full verification of your programming using Real Ear Measurement. These brands typically use proprietary software that restricts reprogramming outside their network, but we can still give you valuable information about whether your devices are performing optimally and what options you have for improvement.

Costco brands including Philips, Rexton, Jabra, and Sennheiser offer more flexibility. We can perform most repairs, verify programming accuracy, and in many cases, fully reprogram these devices to optimize their performance for your hearing loss.

Online prescription brands like Jabra present some repair possibilities, and we can verify programming accuracy, though these devices are often locked and can't be reprogrammed outside the original provider's system.

Over-the-counter devices including Sony, Eargo, Lexie, and even Apple AirPods Pro 2 can be evaluated for some repairs and programming verification. Depending on the specific device, we may be able to help optimize their settings within the available parameters.

Three Possible Outcomes After Your Evaluation

After completing your comprehensive evaluation, we'll provide you with one of three recommendations based on what we discover.

The first outcome, though rare, is that your hearing aids are already optimized. This happens when you've been seeing a provider who follows comprehensive Best Practices, which represents less than 5% of all hearing care professionals. If this is your situation, we'll either recommend continuing with your original provider or offer to onboard you as a new patient under our Applied360 Thrive care plan.

The second and most common outcome is that you have appropriate hearing aids capable of successfully treating your hearing loss, but they're either mechanically malfunctioning or not programmed properly to your prescription. In this case, we'll recommend our Applied360 Refit program to optimize the performance of your existing devices through proper verification and programming.

The third outcome occurs when your hearing aids aren't capable of optimally treating your hearing loss due to age, feature limitations, or capability restrictions. When reprogramming won't solve the fundamental issues, we'll discuss new hearing aid technology options along with our Applied360 Fit 45-day best practice fitting sequence.

The Refit Process: Maximizing Your Current Investment

For patients whose hearing aids are capable but simply not optimized, our Applied360 Refit program offers a structured path to better performance. This 3-appointment process over three weeks essentially starts from scratch with your existing devices.

At your initial refitting appointment, we'll select proper hearing aid domes or fit new custom earmolds if needed, verify the ideal physical fit of your devices, and perform Real Ear Measurement to program them to your actual hearing loss prescription rather than relying on manufacturer estimates. We also complete a pre-subjective outcome assessment to establish baseline measurements for comparison.

Your 1-week follow-up allows us to review performance data logs, make additional programming adjustments based on your real-world experiences, progress you closer to your full hearing loss prescription, and consider additional wireless accessories if they would benefit your specific listening situations.

At your 3-week completion appointment, we'll complete your post-outcome assessment to measure the improvement you've achieved, initiate auditory training using the LACE AI Pro app, and graduate you to our Applied360 Thrive follow-up care plan for ongoing support.

When New Technology Makes Sense

Sometimes the evaluation reveals that your current hearing aids simply can't deliver the performance you need. This might be due to outdated technology, insufficient power for your degree of hearing loss, or missing features that are critical for your lifestyle and listening environments.

When this is the case, we take the time to discuss all available options and make recommendations based on your specific hearing loss, communication priorities, and lifestyle needs. We work with all major hearing aid manufacturers including Phonak, Oticon, Starkey, ReSound, Signia, and Widex to ensure we can recommend the absolute best technology for your situation rather than being limited to a single brand or product line.

Our Applied360 Fit program ensures that whatever devices you choose are programmed precisely to your hearing loss prescription through a comprehensive 45-day fitting sequence with Real Ear Measurement verification and multiple optimization appointments.

The Importance of Ongoing Care

Regardless of which outcome applies to your situation, ongoing follow-up care is essential for long-term success with hearing aids. Hearing changes over time, devices require regular maintenance, and programming often needs adjustment as you adapt and as your hearing evolves.

Our Applied360 Thrive program provides proactive follow-up care throughout your first year with us, including scheduled Gold appointments every four months for performance review and maintenance, Platinum appointments for comprehensive hearing evaluations and device optimization, and maintenance visits with our audiology assistants for quick issue resolution.

This proactive approach helps us identify and address small issues before they become major problems, ensuring you maintain optimal hearing performance rather than experiencing gradual decline that goes unnoticed for months or years.

Schedule Your Applied360 Review Today

If you're not satisfied with your current hearing performance or simply want to know whether you're hearing your absolute best with your existing hearing aids, our Applied360 Review will provide the answers you need. This comprehensive evaluation works with devices from virtually any source and gives you complete clarity about your options moving forward.

We understand that changing providers can feel uncertain, but hundreds of Phoenix-area patients have made this transition successfully and discovered significantly better hearing performance as a result. Whether we optimize your current devices or recommend new technology, our commitment remains the same: helping you hear your absolute best through comprehensive Best Practice care.

Contact Applied Hearing Solutions today at (602) 877-0000 to schedule your Applied360 Review consultation. Our experienced Doctors of Audiology are ready to help you achieve the hearing performance you deserve, regardless of where your current hearing aids came from.