Yes, they're expensive. I think I payed $6000 total for 2 hearing aids with a 3 year service contract and expect them to last 5-6 years (possibly longer). You can certainly get cheaper ones though without all the bells and whistles. You're right though, Bose is going to have to come in way below that price ;)
I've been amazed for a long time at the cost of hearing aids. Surely the tech is not that costly nor that specialised? How much do those $6k devices cost to make, I can't imagine it's even a 10th of the sale price?
I mentioned it in another post, but my guess is that it's due to insurance companies footing the bill (and government subsidies in Canada) so they can get away with charging more.
I have a degenerative hearing disease called otosclerosis so my hearing changes pretty frequently. My contract includes yearly adjustments to change the amplification vs frequency curve of the aids to compensate for my personal hearing loss profile, and free batteries for 3 years (zinc-air batteries that last ~5 days).
