Audiologist at 2x $$$ or Costo?

BTW Leahhiz, your subject heading says the audi is “2x” the price of Costco aids, and in my earlier reply, I said 3x but forgot to explain the difference. Of course there are many variables which can change the calculation, but what I found was that most top aids these days come in multiple, often three, different feature sets, priced from base to top-of-the-line, about $2,000 higher per pair of hearing aids. When comparing the offering between audi and Costco, be sure you’re comparing the same feature sets. Costco aids are often near $1,750 a pair and have top-of-the-line features. Make sure you’re not comparing it to the base model of the aids the audiologist sells, which may be double the price. If you step up to the same feature set Costco is offering, the price at the audiologist may be triple Costco’s.

Actually the aids in different feature sets sold by audis are often the same hardware-wise. The difference is the extra features are enabled or disabled in the software. It’s a sneaky game IMO that Costco wants no part of, so they sell the aids with the top features enabled in software (with the exception of optional tinnitus control features, which Costco may not offer).

I’ll throw my 2¢ into the discussion by saying that, at least in the case of the Philiips 9050 hearing aids vs Oticon Intent, the Costco product doesn’t just have features disabled, it has different operating software that changes how the capabilities of the same hardware set as the Oticon is used. From this wearer’s standpoint, the two hearing aids produce different listening experiences. There are parts of the Philips experience I like better than Oticon’s and vice-versa. The bottom line is that, even though the Costco hardware may be identical to the “name brand” it can operate differently in addition to specific feature sets, like tinnitus controls, being eliminated.

Hi, to clarify, that was the OP’s subject line

So the AuD was told insurance would only cover $1K per ear, leaving me to pay almost $6500, so that’s any easy no for now. Picked up my HAs from Costco today. Was fitted using REM and some basic programming. Walked me through the HAs, the Soundgear app and settings, supplies and setup a 2-week follow up. Definitely going to take some getting used to… but the journey has begun.

I’m about 2 weeks into wearing new Starkey Omega AIs and am seeing the same issues. I am using an iphone 16 with up to date iOS operating system. What do you have the app on?

I talked to the Starkey customer support two on the phone today. He basically told me he had no idea of what the problem was caused by, but if I had been switching between devices (like my MacBook or apple watch) or switching between custom programs, don’t do that. - kind of like an old Marx Brothers routine. I like the HAs but this is a showstopper for me.

@vicikid62 said:

the AMPs have: switched mode without me touching the HA or using the app

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I’ve noticed the sound volume automatically gets reduced in noisy situations.

Perhaps that was the sensation of “mode switching”

Did the App show the mode is no longer in ‘Personal’ mode?

I’ve had either hearing aid lose its connection to the iPhone app. Yet the lone cowboy continues to provide sound to my ear. I’ve not yet determined the reason.

I do have a lot of complexity within the house. The HAs are paired with three iPads and two iPhones and one Avantree Audikast 4 and one Avantree C82 Aura devices‼️

But sometimes the Lone Cowboy syndrome happens while walking the dog, with just an iPhone and the Avantree C82 Aura USB-C dongle.

I dismiss it as “that’s life on the bleeding edge”.

A reboot by removing the disposable battery usually cleans it right up.

Sometimes I have to also turn off the Bluetooth on the offending iPad / iPhone to force a release of the pairing.

To see which Apple device is paired with the HAs:

• Go to Settings app
• then choose Accessibility (just below General)
• scroll down and find Hearing Devices
• At the top of the list it will have the name of your HAs
• Also, it will say which Apple device is connected to your HAs

iPhone 14Pro with current iOS. Was just driving in the car and I heard the program change in my ears (they announce the program name when I change it), but I had touched nothing to initiate the change.

With 2-3 month old Soundgear AMP BTE RIC Custom Molds, I have not ever had programs switching on their own.

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@Lour said:

tied to the latest version of the app (7.0)

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I have an iPhone 15 (non-Pro, non-Max) with iOS 26.5.2 on it. I have not yet updated to the newly released gigantic iOS 26.6

The App Store is reporting the My Soundgear app is at version 6.1.2 and it was released 3 months ago.

That person @vicikid62 has the Soundgear AMP product, thusly uses the My Soundgear app.

Their problem with automatic Program switching is not related to the iPhone app. I wonder if Siri can do Program switching and it accidentally heard a command?

By the way, the App Store is reporting the My Starkey app to be at version 7.0 and was released 6 days ago!

This probably means Costco is going through an approval cycle for the 7.0 update to the My Soundgear app for iPhone.

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I have iOS 26.5.2 on an iPhone 14 Pro, MySoundgear 6.1.2, and firmware 10.3.1 on the HAs. I think there are voice command options, but I haven’t set any up yet. The HAs announced my program in my ears today, without changing the program or from any action on my part. Adding all these anomalies into a running note for my 2-week checkup.

@vicikid62 said:

I think there are voice command options

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I got curious and investigated.

Yes, a voice command can be used to switch Programs on the Starkey / Soundgear AMP hearing aids:

1. Physically tap on the Ear or on the HA
2. Listen for a chime
3. Say out loud “Change to Music”
4. Then the HA will respond by switching the Program to Music and verbalize that switchover.

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In your case, that is a lot of steps to accidentally have done multiple times!

My Costco advisor told me not to use Physical Tap Controls because her customers have been frustrated:

• Physical Taps not recognized
• Delay in response
• Wrong response happened

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On trying the experiment just now for 5 minutes, I too had those same negative experiences.

Google did suggest that an Apple Shortcut can be created to control the My Soundgear / My Starkey app on the iPhone. That’s a remote possibility. I’m fairly sure you don’t have such a Shortcut installed on your iPhone.

Here are several 1-minute videos from Starkey on how to use Physical Tap Controls to:

• Invoke the Smart Assistant (similar to Siri)
• Go into Edge Mode+ (use the AI capabilities to process the sounds)
• Start/Stop audio stream (for music and TV streaming)

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