Alex, be sure to ask your audiologist about "hearing amplifiers" , these devices are very similar to hearing aids (mine was designed by the same people who designed my pricey hearing aids) but because they are not called hearing aids they do not have to be researched by the FDA thus they are far cheaper. They run in the $300 - $500 range instead of thousands. My amplifier works as well as my hearing aids and actually I prefer it in noisy situations like restaurants. You do not need a prescfription for the amplifiers. Some audiologists get a commission on aids and obviously they push the more expensive products so it may be difficult to get a recommendation for an aplifier.
