Your hearing is a very personal thing, and it is difficult to say that one brand will be better for you than another... difficult but not impossible.
Hearing aids are typically priced on two criteria, channels-bands and software. Bands are how many times a frequency spectrum is split within a given range. For example, say a hearing aid's range in sound is 300hz to 8000hz, if that is split 12 times it is considered 12 bands. Channels are what you can do with the sound... compression, noise cancelling, etc... Software is the bulk of the price of any unit, the more aggressive the noise management software, the more the cost. Please keep in mind that this is a generality.
As far as hearing aids are concerned, there are certain types of losses that benefit from certain styles.
RIC [Receiver In the Canal] This style is best for sloping losses, such as high frequency losses. If your audiogram is nearly normal in the low frequencies, then the openness of the RIC style hearing aid is really best. The reason is because the bud on the receiver (the part that goes in the ear) doesn't typically fill the whole canal, allowing for low frequencies to leak out. You can have this type of aid if you have more severe losses, but it will most likely require an ear mold to control feedback [aka whistling]
ITE-HS-CIC All these aids are in the ear styles. These are great for flat losses. You can have this type of aid if you have sloping losses, but it will require several extra visits to the office to get the programming just right.
Invisible Aids These are for mild to moderate losses. They are typically very expensive, and very fragile. They sit on the bony portion of the ear canal, so they are not as comfortable as other aids. The nice thing is that they are completely invisible, so no one will ever know you are wearing it.
The bottom line is this... Any hearing aid you are willing to wear daily is your perfect aid!
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