What's best for me?

Okay, here's another "what's best for me?" post.

My audiogram is several years old, but you can bet my hearing hasn't improved in the time since. I don't think it's gotten much worse; if it's slipped, it's more likely to be in my bad right ear.

Currently wearing Kirkland KS9's with 2P receivers. I don't know if it's a poor fitting or if the 2P just isn't powerful enough anymore, but the right aid doesn't sound as loud as the left. I mostly notice it in the warning chimes and in streaming podcasts-- it's about half the volume of the left. I'm wearing open domes. Before the Kirklands I had Rexton... uh, whatever model Costco was selling five years before the KS9's. They had me try custom molds to eliminate feedback, but I didn't like them. They were vented; the vent was about the size of a round toothpick. I felt quite occluded, I didn't like the sound of my voice, and music lacked bass. (I listen to a lot of music via speakers, either at home or in the car. I don't stream music, just podcasts.)

I was told that the first Phonak Spheres weren't powerful enough for my worst ear, so I waited for the new models came out. I haven't been able to figure out if that advice was true then or is true now. I like the idea of a great speech in noise program, although I'm in those situations only a couple times a month. But I really need to up my word comprehension in all scenarios, so I'd give up the best speech in noise performance if another aid would give me better word recognition all around.

So, what say you? I like Costco prices but I can easily afford private practice prices if it means a noticeable improvement in my hearing. Are ActiveVents an option since I didn't like molds before, or am I just going to have to get used them? (I don't suppose they can fit for a high power receiver and molds on my lesser ear and a lower power receiver and more open dome on the good one.)

Thanks!

@Neville said:

That's a sensorineural loss.

ok good that you know. My loss is primarily conductive.

I wonder if, when evaluating hearing aids, people take into account the difference between these sorts of losses. In other words, is one brand better for conductive and another for sensorineural? Somehow I doubt that.

But it does bring up the question of how aids compensate for hearing loss according to the two types of loss. It might be that conductive loss might be better compensated with hearing aids than sensorineural loss. I don't know!! take that into account. I'm happy to be corrected.

There's some degree of frequency lowering set in the KS9's. When first set up it sounded like all the podcasters-- and my own voice!-- had a lisp, so it was turned down. I miss certain highs, like in recorded music I don't hear cymbals or Duane Allman's highest slide guitar notes in Layla. But I hear even fewer highs when I take out my aids.

I have thought a little about CI, but I'm put off by the reputation that music sounds awful with a CI. I would guess/hope that that's not as true any more. It would be less of consideration if I ever have to give up the house and move to an apartment or other shared space where I can't crank up the stereo.

Oooo, I never considered that they could be so old they might not support them. (Seven years? Old? I wear t-shirts that are 3-4 times that old!) A year ago the wire between the receiver and the aid broke on one, and the replacement receiver wasn't the same as the original. Didn't know that until I went to change the wax guard and the ones I had wouldn't work.