I purchased a pair of BOSSA TX5-MINI PLUS+ Hearing Aids on-line for $136.75 Canadian for my nephew who was just starting to experience hearing and tinnitus problems. He is somewhat happy with his, although he finds the background noise is excessive. I have moderate to severe hearing loss especially for background noise overpowering the conversations at my table in busy venues resulting in it all sounding like one din; and not being able to hear some female voices on tv and general conversations, so I recently purchased a pair of Signia Pure Charge and Go T IX that retailed for $8227.70 including audiologist's dispensing fees, before any discounts and government allowances. I also did a 30 day trial on a comparable pair of Phonak Audeo Life hearing aids. For me, the Signia aids won out marginally. So I figured for $136.75 why not order a pair of BOSSA's for myself, although it took a month for them to arrive by mail from Arizona. Yesterday, I took them out of the box and charged them up and installed the best fitting domes, After placing them in my ears, I sat down to watch tv with the volume set at normal listening level and I adjusted the volume on my BOSSA hearing aids accordingly. To my surprise, I could hear all the voices much more clearly. This morning I went to a euchre tournament in the basement of the local Legion, the room was crowded and as usual the background noise was excessive, but to my surprise I could distinctly and clearly hear the conversations at my table and in the immediate vicinity and female voices were once again understandable. I was totally taken aback in the fact that I could now participate in the conversations and not just sit there pretending to hear what's being said and just nodding my head. I am very happy with my much cheaper hearing aids that are once again allowing me to better hear and communicate with my peers in most situations! So, the only conclusion that I can draw is these large corporations and their associated audiologist's and retailer's are ripping us off. Unfortunately, it's seniors that are affected the most and they are the one's that can afford it the least! There is also the $1000. that the Casnadian government contributes towards the cost of a pair of prescribed hearing aids, I could buy 7 sets of the cheaper aids for that amount.