Poorer but with Richer Hearing

AC is thousands of dollars poorer today after bringing home his latest hearing aids yesterday. They cost quite a bit more than his first car and that is after a Black Friday sale (which is when  I ordered them) plus another discount because of my membership with CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons. Or is it People, and not Persons? Their website doesn't specify. I could carp on over that omission, but I am not that kind of guy. Unfortunately for you, I am the kind of guy who finds it difficult to resist an opportunity to pun.)

These tiny things, pictured on top of the lower centre box ↓↓ came in/with four boxes. (I am sure that my first pair came in one little package.)

Before you ask (or did you already?), let me splain, [Lucy].

One box was for the hearing aids themselves along with a manual and other things such as wax guards. 

A second contained the recharging base and cord. 

The long white one held the Connecting Clip which can connect me the Bluetooth devices such as my phone and computer, although once initialized I can hear future output from my phone without the clip. But the clip allows me both to remotely answer the phone and to speak directly through it. This will be very handy while driving although this introvert receives very few phone calls at any time. While I can and have answered the phone on my watch, it does involve more concertation as well as lifting the wrist, which may or may not be illegal. The watch doesn't always transmit the finest of sound either: sometimes, but not always.

The final package, the soft pouch, contains a medium to help dry the hearing aids if and when needed.

All my previous aids went directly in the ear, but these tiny over-the-ear devices are the preferred format now. I tried this type once before when they were also small but still a little bigger than these but couldn't get them to work without that squealing feedback. But they're even smaller now and insert into the ear differently and better.

Hearing aids have a lifespan of about 5 years, but I am hoping that these will last longer because they don't go into the moist and sometimes waxy ear (although I don't have the wax buildup that some have). They are also more easily repairable, and they are rechargeable. The capacity will diminish over time but I am told that the batteries usually last well for those five years, and they can then be changed although I don't know at what cost.