The best budget hearing aids of 2025
- Koorosh Nejad
- Apr 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 17
Hearing aids are a big investment for many of my patients, but not everyone needs the top-of-the-range models. If you are fully retired, mostly at home and do not find yourself in noisy and challenging hearing environments such as busy pubs and restaurants, then an entry-level hearing aid might be exactly what you need. This article discusses your options for affordable budget hearing aids.
With the higher cost of living and expected economic volatility, your hearing care budget may be distressed. That is another reason to be looking for an affordable hearing aid that just does the job, especially for seniors with a quiet lifestyle.
Jonathan, a patient of mine living in Kent, came to the clinic last week looking for a pair of basic hearing aids as spare hearing aids for his expensive Oticon Intent. He plans to use the budget hearing aid when doing gardening, watching TV and playing golf and keep the Oticon Intent for socializing, dining out and travelling.
Here are the groups of patients who might benefit from a pair of budget hearing aids:
Users with quiet lifestyles who are not exposed to challenging listening environments such as busy pubs and restaurants.
Housebound patients with little or no exposure to challenging listening environments.
Patients who simply need a spare pair of hearing aids to reduce the chance of loss of their primary expensive hearing aids.
Patients who need a spare pair of budget hearing aids for activities with an increased chance of loss or damage of hearing aids e.g. mountain biking, skiing, boating, water sports, and extreme sports.
Patients with a lot of physical activity, e.g. construction, high exposure to water and humidity e.g. working in a sauna and swimming pool area, which exposes the hearing aids to excessive risk of loss or damage.
Patients with severe tinnitus who need masking and tinnitus management with hearing aids while their hearing loss is only mild.
All hearing aids in our NHS+ hearing aids collection are:
Budget-friendly
Rechargeable (or battery-powered)
Bluetooth ready for music and TV streaming
Remote adjusting and programming
5-years UK warranty and aftercare
In-clinic and home visit test and fitting (in London)
In the rest of this article, I'll elaborate on a few models of our low-cost hearing aids for seniors.
RIC category - Rexton Reach RLi 20
Rexton Reach and Signia Pure Charge and Go IX hearing aids use the same algorithm for multi-speaker focus (Integrated Xperience). The premium model Rexton Reach RLi 80 and Signia Pure Charge and Go 7IX are two of the best hearing aids at the time of publishing this post. The Rexton Reach comes in 5 technology levels, 80, 60, 40, 30 and 20. Entry levels of 20 and 30 are some of the best budget receivers in canal (RIC) hearing aids, which are below £1,200 in the market.
The £1,190 Rexton Reach RLi 20 is Bluetooth enabled, comes with a portable charger (for the Slim model) and has a 5-year UK warranty.
Invisible IIC and CIC category - Starkey Evolv Ai 1200
Our pick for budget invisible IIC and CIC hearing aids is Starkey Evolv Ai 1200. When it comes to custom-made IIC and CIC hearing aids Starkey offers a lot of flexibility. The Starkey custom-made hearing aids can come in rechargeable or battery-powered. Also, good to know that Starkey is the only supplier of CIC hearing aids with Bluetooth (on 312 battery). A pair of Starkey Evolve Ai 1200 comes under £2000 for a pair which includes VAT, the charger unit and a 5-year UK warranty.
ITE/ITC category - Rexton Custom RLi 40
Rexton custom takes advantage of Signia Insio AX (Augmented Xperience) technology. They are rechargeable and slick with a price tag below £1,700.
ITE category - Signia Active X
The Signia Active comes in a standard and a Pro model. It is popular among young users who wish to try a pair of in-the-ear hearing aids which are like music earbuds. It connects to an iPhone and can stream music. The latest model of this popular hearing aid is Signia Active Pro IX and Signia Active IX. Signia Active X is on sale for below £1,000 which includes a pair of hearing aids with the charger, VAT and 2 years warranty.
What about NHS hearing aids?
NHS hearing aids are provided free of charge in the UK. A lot of my patients hold a pair of free NHS hearing aids as a backup. Although they mostly complain about the fit, comfort and the way they sound and amplify everything.
I did attend to many patients with free NHS hearing aids when I was working for Specsavers. Here is my view on NHS hearing aids, so you can see if they can be a viable option to be used as a spare set of hearing aids, or even the primary set:
They sound ok and from a clinical point of view they do amplify the sound as per your prescription, however, they often sound tinny or harsh.
One challenge is that the NHS hearing aid that you receive from an AQP provider depends on your postcode. Some providers offer better NHS models such as Oticon. Some even provide models which are Bluetooth. So the challenge remains that the NHS hearing aids that you receive might be quite different than other users in the UK.
The provision of free hearing aids in the UK does not include rechargeable, in-the-ear or in-the-canal hearing aids. Also, you must be lucky to receive one with Bluetooth. So if you have dexterity issues or wish to have invisible hearing aids then you need to consider private suppliers.
Despite of abundant availability of AQP providers to support NHS hearing aids often, the users need several weeks to be seen by an audiologist. Also for different reasons most of the AQP providers assign younger and less experienced audiologists to run NHS clinics. It is very likely that a user is seen by different consultants or staff members at each visit which doesn't help with the continuity of the management plan. The result is that the NHS hearing aids are not even programmed to their full potential.
Need more consultation?
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