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New User Goes To Costco

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I finally got my appointment at Costco and was very impressed. The protocol for the fitter was very organized and logical and the equipment was high tech.. He recommended the Jabra straight away after reviewing my test results and that was the only one I tried. Even with my terrible high end I found them a bit pitchy and sharp. He told me that the Jabras would adapt and get better. I also noticed some raspiness in the sound when he spoke. I wonder, Is this normal?? I also noticed my own voice seemed very loud to me and was told that this also was an adaptive thing.

Being able to gear sounds thad been long gone was great.

I’m curious how this compares with other’s experiences and if a truly natural sound is an achievable goal . Thank you all.

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@Curtiss said:

He told me that the Jabras would adapt and get better.

Not sure if this is correct . My understanding is YOU will adapt, not the aids. Were they fit with ? Did he say why he recommended the Jabras? Costco has other great hearing aids.

He said it was because of the differential R&L hearing loss as well as high end that Jabras were the most appropriate. I thought all had separate volume adjustments. I’m not familiar with .

@Curtiss said:

because of the differential R&L hearing loss as well as high end that Jabras were the most appropriate.

Different right and left hearing losses. Would you share your for us to see? It would help us help you.

I am not sure the Jabras are better for higher frequencies than the other aids at Costco. I have heard they are better for worse(severe /profound)hearing losses than the others but that was from a friend who got the Jabras. This might be incorrect.

. Real ear measurement it’s a device that’s used to verify the prescription gains are being met at the ear drum.

That left word understanding is suffering. Do you know why? I suspect it from not having it aided. Have you seen an ?

That left ear will take an effort and time to hopefully get some word understanding back. Be patient. Give the properly ear time to learn the new sounds.

The second test was at Costco where I scored 70% and the tech told me that there must have been a problem with the first test where I only scored 30%. I agree. The first test was with a doctor using a pair of old school , loose fitting, headphones that were like the cheapies they used to hand out on airlines. The Costco tests used spongey ear plug inserts that were much like hearing aids but they also sealed of outside interference. During the Costco test I knew which ones I missed versus the other test where every answer was a guess.

If you haven’t been hearing high frequencies well for some time, and now suddenly they reappear in strength with hearing aids, it’s normal for them to sound shrill and obtrusive at first. The usual process is one of mutual adjustment: You will get used to hearing a lot more high frequencies than you’ve heard in a long time, and - once you’ve had some time to adapt - ideally your hearing aids will be fine-tuned to give you a sound balance that you’re happy and comfortable with.

I was told the same at 2 different Costco’s, that the Jabra’s were better for severe and profound high end loss. Not sure if that true or they just have better success programing them. My current audi feels SmartFit is the best fitting software and so she prefers to trial patients to the Jabra’s first. I demo’d the Jabra’s along with the 9050 and Reach and the Jabra’s were much better for speech comprehension in my case. The others sounded muffled in comparison. I also have unequal loss in the severe to profound range and love the “crispy” soundnfrom the Jabra’s, although I can see others not keen on the sharpness of sounds. But for my loss they are definitely the best choice. And im surprised both providers didnt suggest an exam at minimum, or to make sure your unequal loss isnt related to any medical issue, like a tumor.

But, congrats on the new aids. And yes, it will take a while for your brain to adjust to all of the new sounds. You will get used to your own voice. Are you using power domes or did you opt for molds. If using domes, once you get used to them and the aids you might want to try molds, but I wouldnt suggest that for a new user until you adapt. Also, the audi can set them to automatically increase to full gain over a set time frame, so maybe that’s what they meant when they saidthe aids will adapt to you. Best wishes

@Jinxed said:

I was told the same at 2 different Costco’s, that the Jabra’s were better for severe and profound high end loss.

It’s definitely not true, there’s no “better or best” for high frequency losses, I’d agree that those stores are probably just having better success rates with the ReSound/Jabra.

IDK … I wouldn’t accept raspiness, as I understand the word. Any will sound tinny because they’re going to give you highs that you don’t hear now and probably haven’t heard for a long while. I think your brain will adapt to that.

But the sounds should be clear, I think. I’d try out another brand. If that sounds raspy, I expect the raspiness comes from the new sounds, but if Rextons or Philips don’t sound raspy, you may want to go with them.

In reply to @Jinxed

I don’ have the yet. The Costco tech wants a faxed authorization from my audiologist before he will proceed with the order. I am assuming, hopefully correctly, that the authorization is a liability thing for Costco and that getting it from my general practitioner who reviewed the will be adequate. The Costco tech was also wanting to know the outcome of the upcoming before proceeding. Hopefully the doctor’s authorization will be sufficient.

Edited

In reply to @Curtiss

That’s very reasonable (waiting for the authorization and ) and actually a good sign that you have a (typically) good Costco tech looking out for you.

is Real Ear Measurements. For more detail, click Real-Ear Measurements (REMs): A Critical Hearing Aid Service9

Costco usually doesn’t do REM in the in-store trial, and they may not even do it when you first get your aids; they may want you to get acclimated to your new aids for, say, 2-4 weeks and make any needed adjustments to settings based on what you report back to them. (Commonly new users get aids dialed back a bit in settings from where they think you’ll need to be eventually; that’s because if they gave you the full monty from the get-go, you’d likely find it overwhelming, as in, “Everything including my kitchen water faucet is too loud!.” There’s no point doing REM before you’re at full strength in settings.

But Costco generally does do REM with new aids at some point. It’s a quick process. Most people think it’s helpful. And if it’s not, it’s easy to reverse the change. While many times Costco can adjust their aids remotely through the smartphone app, with you talking to them over the phone, REM adjustment needs to be done in-person, in the store.

Good post, thank you. I will look in to and inquire about .

I am a little concerned that I only tried the Jabras and left without trying the others. Maybe going back to try out others before pulling the trigger, just so I can be sure. It’s tough with no experience to draw on.

re: being concerned that you didn’t try others besides the Jabras. It’s common with the first pair of aids to want to try several different models, and with four brands to choose from in the current Costco lineup, that is an advantage of Costco compared to many private audiologists. But personally, as someone who started with a private audiologist and tried three different makes with two-week at-home trials, I got confused by it. With two pairs, you’ll have a preference. Three or more can be confusing. If there’s one standout pair among three or four you try, then sure, that makes sense. But often you’ll be thinking, gee, in some ways I liked #2 better than #3, and then in other ways it was the other way around, and now I forget what #1 sounded like.

I have a pair of Jabras on order from Costco right now. That was the only one I trialed in the store, and it was the one the tech said thought would be the best fit for my moderate-to-severe loss, and it just felt right to both of us. I’m in a different place though, with 16 years of experience wearing aids. I will say that Costco isn’t known as many others are for favoring one model over another for reasons such as sales commissions, bonuses, or promotions. Generally their advice will be very sound advice. And Costco’s almost unbeatable 6-month return for refund-or-exchange policy is exceptionally generous.

The quality of the fitting and the service you get from the tech can overcome minor differences in first impressions among models. Prescription eyeglasses are generally plug-n-play; after a 5-minute store adjustment, you’re probably good to go for several years. Hearing aids, especially for first-time wearers, benefit from several visits of fine tuning to the settings. They’ll usually sound much better after you go through that process than in the in-store trial.

It doesn’t sound like you ordered the Jabras yet. If you did order the Jabras, I’d advise you to go with what you ordered and see if it works out, as it likely will. If you didn’t order, go with your gut: if you really want to try one or two different models before deciding, it’s not an unreasonable request. Don’t overthink it though; a few patients do and never pull the trigger.

@hamjor1 said:

us. I’m in a different place though, with 16 years of experience wearing aids. I will say that Costco isn’t known as many others are for favoring one model over another for reasons such as sales com

Solid advice with experience. Thank you. I haven’t ordered yet because they wanted medical authorization from the doctor. I suppose it’s a liability thing. Monday will be the day for Costco as I confirmed Friday afternoon that they had the fax from the doctor. If possible, I will try the second choice of the fitter, but plan on going with the first recommend unless the unexpected happens. You nailed it on over thinking it. That’s my nature after 40 years of flying to always be aware of contingencies and potential complexities.

In reply to @Curtiss

To get a feel for any aid you need to wear it daily for at least 3 weeks. So in my mind you need to select one and use it for at least that long before trying another. Your hearing loss is similar to mine and I have Jabra’s Pro 30 from Costco. You would know if was done as first they put a thin tube in your ear then the hearing aid and then you sit infront of a large circular speaker. I have just been back to Costco to get my high frequency boost increased as my audio there had been too conservative. Note my loss is similar to yours…

I have a hearing profile similar to yours, although with not quite as significant a drop in the extreme high-end frequencies. I’ve been wearing hearing aids for roughly 30 years now and am a experienced end user. I also underwent a testing and fitting at Costco recently. I requested and purchased the Jabra after a trial run and doing some research on the model. I have also been an end user of the resound brand, essentially from of the beginning of the Jabra’s will be my fifth hearing appliance.

based on prior experience, I feel the Jabra’s do project a bit of harshness in the higher frequencies overall.. This could also be due to the fitting specialist, preferences and biases as well as experience level in fitting .

My suggestion to you is to go ahead with the purchase of the Jabra’s. It would be beneficial to test drive another brand/model before doing so but, since you’re an inexperienced and user, it’s going to be extremely difficult if not impossible to select an optimum appliance for your specific hearing loss.

Given that this will be your first go round with hearing aids, your adaptation to them sonically as well as cognitively may take a while.

Dealing with concerns over whether you’ve selected the best option for your specific hearing loss as premature in my opinion. give yourself ample time to adjust to life with a hearing appliance first. once things have settled down, and you have a baseline of experience, it will be more meaningful then to evaluate multiple manufacturers and hardware to optimize performance with your specific deficits.

Good luck! i’m glad you’re being proactive and addressing what appears to be a pretty significant hearing loss. You will have the added benefit of stabilizing it with the daily use of your hearing aids.

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