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Just got back from costco

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@philbob57 said:

I don’t understand the doubling you mention. One type of audio doubling happens with hifi speakers when their bass driver is overdriven. A 40 Hz sound can be stronger and more audible at 80 and 160 Hz. Another type is a timing delay - one speaker/HA makes a sound at one time and the other sound is audible at another. Can you describe what you hear as doubling in more detail?

This is what I think is happening. Person 1 is talking and it is in the freq that I have normal hearing and I can hear them with my ear, (I am making up numbers here) that person’s voice has a bass level of 3. The hearing aid is also picking up the voice and running it thru the hearing aid. Thru the hearing aid person 1 has bass level of 1 and it is delayed 1/10 of a second. It gives the effect of the persons voice being doubled or that there is an echo. The same exact thing happens with my own voice. It happened the worse with the Jabra’s, and it also happened pretty prominently with the Phillips, but the Rextons handled it the best.
hearing aids can boost some frequencies and not others right? like boost frequencies below 1.5K 10% but boost 2k freq 30% and 2K and above 50%? it works like that right?

I wanted the Jabra’s just because they were the smallest. Their sound was very harsh, but I am thinking I can adjust that away?

Thanks for the clarification. I imagine that’s VERY disconcerting and something that would disqualify a candidate if the doubling acn be avoided.

If you get that sort of doubling with Oticon, Philips, and Rexton/Signia but not with Jabra, maybe Jabra/ReSound is best for you of the 4.

Other brands that may be different include Phonak, Widex, and Starkey, but Widex may be Signia, too.

My approach has been to try out Costco’s brands, pick what seems best, and then hope the fitter is a boss. At this point, though, hearing in noise and listening to recorded music are really tough for me, so I may make sure I try Phonak, Oticon, Widex, and Starkey next Spring when insurance kicks in again for me. No Signia or ReSound because Costco models seem to be clones (same specs, same adjustability).

YMMV. There’s benefit in getting HAs as soon as you can if you need them.

Edited

In reply to @2ball

@2ball said:

I wanted the Jabra’s just because they were the smallest. Their sound was very harsh, but I am thinking I can adjust that away?

You may find your brain adjusts that away in couple of months. You are just not used to hearing all these noises.

As @PaulC said you can also talk to your fitter and ask them to back off the prescription a bit at first and then gradually increase increase the prescription over time as you adjust.

Trialing hearing aids is the best way to determine which aid is the best. An audiologist that tells you Oticon Intent is the best more than likely does very few fittings with other technology. It’s also probable that the audiologist you went to see has some type of strategic alliance with Oticon. Trial both and you’ll likely find the Rexton is better than the Intent. Phillips is the exact same chip and processing as the Intent 1 and the Rexton is the same as the Signia IX 7. Sound and performance will tip the scales to the IX, but you will determine if that’s true. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors type stuff in this industry. Trialing is the best way to figure it out. Good luck finding your best solution!

The hardware is exactly the same. You can check by looking at the detail specifications for both devices. The firmware is different, at least to some extent, since each requires different fitting software.

Sorry, I did the research when the 9050 first appeared but since I did not buy either aid I did not retain it. Not going to through the search process again (but you certainly can). Take my information FWIW or ignore at your pleasure. But it wasn’t just a guess.

In reply to @user990

It’s public information. You can Google and find it. Costco requires every manufacturer to give them their premier technology. Used to be they could delay it by 6 months to a year, but not anymore. Manufacturers give a different name to the hearing aids to try and not compete with private practices, hence Rexton, Jabra, Phillips and Sennheiser. Manufacturers will sometimes take out tinnitus features and other features that aren’t used as much to allow audiologists and dispensers the ability to tell patients they aren’t the same as Oticon Intent 1, etc. Audiologists and dispensers know the truth and some choose to bend it, which is unfortunate.

You don’t have the schematics. So you are just guessing!

The Sennheiser hearing aid that Costco is currently selling is not top-of-line hearing that Phonak currently sells.

In reply to @user990

And definitely not a guess. I know this industry better than most. I would say try and find any evidence that they are different, beyond the name. Costco buys 670,000+ hearing aids per year and they only will accept the most recent top of the line aids. Largest purchaser of aids, outside of the , and the manufacturers want that business desperately and are willing to do anything to get it. It’s not the other way around.

So I’m with @raylock1 on this, but I’d be 100% on them being intent if only they would use genie2 software, so we have software and firmware difference, the hardware is the same, just like Bernafon and Sonic, and the funny thing is that the Phillips Hearsuite is the same software as Bernafon and Sonic use, just different names and colour scheme, so they can fool some of us but not all, of course it’s all about protecting the mainstream clinic’s but the customer is the winner regardless of what renaming they use, premium models for around $1600 is very nice, as for Sennheiser it’s obvious Costco didn’t have any say in what Phonak models was going to be offered, and yes there’s no doubt that Costco with be offering the sphere (hopefully soon)

Costco had all the say in what Phonak will offer. The manufacturer has no leverage with them. Phonak wanted to be back in desperately. They need to grow and losing roughly close to $100mil is not a strategy. Costco is being cautious about a product that is having battery issues. If Phonak isn’t in Costco they still sell 670,000+ hearing aids.

Edited

In reply to @tenkan

You don’t know that unless you have the schematics. Right now you are guessing.

At best, all you can say is that you believe they are the same, but you don’t know if they are the same without the schematics.

The internal programming was discussed in detail by another thread. The conclusion was the Oticon operated differently then the Philips. So they are not the same hearing aid.

This is a bunch of off topic nonsense that doesn’t help the OP.

In reply to @user990

Some just think they know more then others, the thing is Demant A/S don’t make exclusive chips for different types, it’s just rebranding with different software and firmware, this WE KNOW, it’s ok if you don’t understand, but for others at least they can get a idea of what’s happening in the industry.

@user990 said:

The conclusion was the Oticon operated differently then the Philips. So they are not the same hearing aid.

That’s because they use different software and firmware, so we know they are not exactly the same, hopefully you can understand this part at least.

@Raudrive said:

This is a bunch of off topic nonsense that doesn’t help the OP.

The OP is long gone, I think it’s relevant because it’s a Costco thing, sometimes things just need to be corrected even if we go “off topic” it happens ; )

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