Costco Kirkland Signature 6.0

Ron, aids normally require decent headphones to properly test loss. You were testing both ears at once. Um Bongo was, I think, was discussing using the better situation using a headset. A cheap setup might not even reproduce the tone properly.

Sound has a lot going on. HA speakers can reproduce sounds to maximums that are unique to each frequency cluster. There is a lot of adjustment in the lower frequencies. As they get higher the amount of amplification decreases and often can go to a volume that compensates for one’s loss.

Manufacturers may claim a higher frequency but the aid itself might not provide a damaged ear enough volume to mean anything. Trax42 has a phone program that is above human hearing and works with most phones but that’s with greater battery power.

That’s my amateur take on it; what Um Bongo is a graduate audio engineer. You can bank what he says – especially compared to me. Although any written reply can seem ambiguous to the reader. That goes for all of us.

@ronhowell said:

Sir, you need to read what I wrote!
I said the best I could hear was around 10.2 kHz … WITHOUT headphones! Whether that makes a difference to the rest of your remarks, I know not. But it would seem to me that wearing headphones in addition to hearing aids would certainly change what the brain perceives.
But what do I know, I’m just a retired aero engineer, familiar with Reynolds numbers and boundary layers!

The point was that you had no hearing above 10.2KHz - what level of output did you have to set your speakers at to achieve this result? I’d assumed headphones, but your speakers would have been more than adequate too.

As an engineer the comment on Logarithmic progression, Octaves in the Hz scale should have helped you to see how rapidly the scale gets from 8-16KHz. You’ll also understand that the hearing aid output is based on the harmonic functions of a beam - think diving board. Looking at this diagram1 can you see how claims about bandwidth are misleading in terms of the relative output per octave - it all comes down to where you draw the line across the chart.

@doubledown said:

as an engineer I bet you would appreciate the following information regarding aids sold at costco. do you noticed a big red flag regarding your aids? your audiogram indicates you probably can hear well past 8 kHz:

ks6
frequency range: 7 kHz
channel: 17
dust\water resistance rating: ip57
iphone connectivity, old dual microphone technology

phonak brio
frequency range: 9 kHz
channels: 20
dust\water resistance rating: ip57
forward only binaural beamforming (4 microphone array but only forward facing)

rexton trax 42
frequency range: 10 kHz
channels: 42
dust\water resistance rating: ip67
adaptive binaural beamforming (4 microphone array that can “adapt” to sound situations for better hearing

Well I am an EE with 36 years of experience in Power, RF, and Telecommunications. I understand all three specifications. One clearly stands out as a winner, but has way more channels than needed. For that matter all of them have more channels than needed.

@dereckbc said:

Well I am an EE with 36 years of experience in Power, RF, and Telecommunications. I understand all three specifications. One clearly stands out as a winner, but has way more channels than needed. For that matter all of them have more channels than needed.

Bet you also stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

@dereckbc said:

Well I am an EE with 36 years of experience in Power, RF, and Telecommunications. I understand all three specifications. One clearly stands out as a winner, but has way more channels than needed. For that matter all of them have more channels than needed.

but there is a component that is intentionally misleading

Why do they keep quiet about the various programs. I’ve had my K6’s for about two weeks and they seem much better than my 8 year old Phonak’s. BUT, I want to get the most from them. I live 3 hours from Costco, so frequent testing trips are not practical. MyLHS seemed very proficient at testing my hearing and I do not question his findings. Basically, I’ve got the traditional “senior citizen” curve whereby I am needing help with high frequencies and understanding language. When I asked about some of the other programs, he said, “I don’t know what they are for.” He set my aids with All Around, Restaurant, Traffic and softswitch.

I emailed KS6 user portal for more information about the programs and “what they actually do.” They sent a list of All Around, Restaurant, Traffic, Music, Outdoor and Phone. They commented, "depending on the program, these will have a different amount of background noise suppression, wind suppression and speech directionality. That said, there is not a specific amount automatically applied, but is up to your hearing care professional to program. THAT SOUNDS GREAT…but Isn’t there a “Dummies Guide” to what EACH program does to help me evaluate which program would be best for various facets of my life. If I knew what to listen for, it would help.

DOES SOMEONE HAVE A DUMMIES GUIDE to help. I can’t drive 6 hours every other day to find the best combination, and since my “hearing specialist” doesn’t know “just what” the programs do, how can he know what is best for my needs?
Thanks
Swilson50
Dodge City, Kansas

@Um_bongo said:

The point was that you had no hearing above 10.2KHz - what level of output did you have to set your speakers at to achieve this result? I’d assumed headphones, but your speakers would have been more than adequate too.

As an engineer the comment on Logarithmic progression, Octaves in the Hz scale should have helped you to see how rapidly the scale gets from 8-16KHz. You’ll also understand that the hearing aid output is based on the harmonic functions of a beam - think diving board. Looking at this diagram can you see how claims about bandwidth are misleading in terms of the relative output per octave - it all comes down to where you draw the line across the chart.

What I did was completely unscientific and totally subjective.
I played the variable tone generator, starting from zero up to the the highest frequency indicated by the counter that i could hear. The volume was what was comfortable for me to hear sitting at my iMac driving two 8-inch high Logitech IHX speakers.
What was interesting to me was the apparent halting of the frequency climb to my ears as the generator climbed in frequency count! is that a function of the HAs action?
Also the volume of the tone gradually faded as the frequency counter climbed. Is that typical with or without hearing aids? I re-tried the tone generator without the aids in my ears; the whole sound volume intensity was lower, but the frequency climb still appeared to flatten beyond 4 kHz, gradually diminishing in volume with ascending frequency.
The hearing cutoff point was about the same, around 10 kHz.

Fascinating stuff!

I have had my eyes on Resound for years and finally ready to pull the trigger on these Costco Signature 6. These will be my first HAs. I need a new phone for my Signature 6 HAs and will need to buy the phone first.

Since these smart phones have such a limited life span when it comes to updating OS compared to computers I really don’t want to invest in a smart phone that only has two years left in it when it comes to OS updates after spending $650.00.

I was thinking about an iphone 6 plus but after asking the question about how long support would be for this 6 plus and voicing my concerns my post was rejected. WOW! So I am NOT going to buy an Apple again if they are that thin skinned about consumers concerns. I read here that someone said that the Samsung 5 can use an app the same way an Iphone 5 & 6 can. This is great!!! So I will be looking closely at the Samsung offerings. I know they have great cameras. I am open to any other suggestions from Signature 6 users on smart phone brands that have apps that don’t need the clicker. Do any of them give guarantees on life span support like Microsoft does gives for Win 7 for example? The iphone 4 I have only lasted about 4 yrs when Apple locked it up so no updates so simple apps can’t even be installed. Ridiculous!

I also have a concern about data usage. I don’t use much cell phone data right now. I use Ting for wireless cell phone service and it is GREAT. My Jan bill for two phones was 38 dollars and Feb is 36 dollars. Consumer reports ranks them very high. I was with Tracphone but that was not so great. Ting is so much better on so many levels. The people who made Tucows are behind this new carrier and they are good for folks who do not use a ton of data. I pay 3.00 for 500mb data for two phones. I pay 3.00 for 100 text messages for two phones. I pay 6.00 for each phone. I pay 9.00 for up to 1,000 minutes for two phones and then another 9.00 for another 1,000 minutes if I go over. Their support is excellent too. From the posts here it sounds like if I am at home I can take the phone off of data and just wirelessly stream from a tv to HAs with my wireless router? But if I miss place my HA at home then the gps will not be monitoring the aids. If I am out and about does the gps really eat up much data for these HAs? I love the fact the gps will help you find lost HA. I also read it will track and save settings of your favorite haunts and then automatically adjust the aid when you go there next time? Are there any other brands that also have the better app where you don’t need the clicker?

I would love to hear the pros and cons of these other cell phone brands and models when using these HAs. I have waited 8 yrs to afford this and need to be very careful with how I approach this. I hope to have the phone and HAs for several years. Thanks for any insights you can provide : )

Goosebumps,

post your audiogram.

You definitely want an iPhone with the KS6 to get the most out of them. The steaming is really nice. I wouldn’t worry about your iPhone only being good for a couple years. My grandkids are still using my 5 year old iPhones. If the app is good on the phone now, it will be good as long as the phone lasts. I think you will be very pleased with the KS-6 for the price. I tried them for a several weeks; but switched over to the Trax 42. Try them and see if you like them. You have nothing to lose if you don’t like them with the 6 month return period.

@doubledown said:

Goosebumps,

post your audiogram. I suggest you not focus on phones. the samsung compatibility does not include streaming, just controls.

hearing loss causes dementia and cause the brain to shrink. the brands that connect directly to iphone tend to have some of the worst specifications in the business, so you will be sacrificing a lot.

I had no idea the Samsung app would not stream. Thanks for that info. I will post my audio gram once I figure out how to put it in here.

@MVPinFLA said:

You definitely want an iPhone with the KS6 to get the most out of them. The steaming is really nice. I wouldn’t worry about your iPhone only being good for a couple years. My grandkids are still using my 5 year old iPhones. If the app is good on the phone now, it will be good as long as the phone lasts. I think you will be very pleased with the KS-6 for the price. I tried them for a several weeks; but switched over to the Trax 42. Try them and see if you like them. You have nothing to lose if you don’t like them with the 6 month return period.

Well right now I am worried about updates since my phone can’t even install a simple new keyboard app. Shocking. Even an apple employee said my iphone 4 should be able to handle io9 but I am locked into io7. It is so arbitrary it has nothing to do with capacity but will allow google maps to update. I just wonder if there will be updates to the KS6 in two years adding more adjustment features and my phone won’t accept it. I read where the audiologist will upload ranges to your phone too. What if he wants to upload more in two years. It all depends on how Apple feels about a company and if they will allow it since google maps gets to update and nothing else gets to install. I really don’t like Apple right now and don’t want to support their marketing approach. It also seems wasteful to me. I was hoping the Samsung app was on par with the Apple app but apparently it isn’t. I need to figure out how to post my audiogram here. My hearing is not that bad so I have been able to get by but need to do something before it gets worse. So basically they don’tupdate the KS6 apps is what you are saying and it is pretty simple and straight forward. Thanks.

@doubledown said:

Goosebumps,

post your audiogram. I suggest you not focus on phones. the samsung compatibility does not include streaming, just controls.

hearing loss causes dementia and cause the brain to shrink. the brands that connect directly to iphone tend to have some of the worst specifications in the business, so you will be sacrificing a lot.

I added this audiogram to my signature not sure what else is critical info with all this. This test is a year old. It has gotten a bit worse since 2009 so I am not that bad yet. More borderline, but it is getting harder for me to make out the beginning of words sometimes and my iphone 4 is just awful if I try to use the speakers. Of course I got the generation that has the worst speakers! I need a better phone for many reasons. My big beef with KS6 is that they have married themselves to Apple and smartphones who are notorious for short life span. The whole industry plays like this too. Is there another hand held device that I can buy extra that will do the same things as the app in the iphone? Maybe I can plug it into my computer and update the software to it? I just think this was a bad strategy knowing how cell phone companies play games with these phones. Some just won’t do adequate updates too which is another problem. Maybe the KS6 is not the way to go?

I use THX speakers on my tv which helps a lot but even that is not as great as it once was. As far as my brain is shrinking well I would say I am doing better than I used to ; ) When I first mentioned a problem to docs I said I thought my brain wasn’t working as well and that is when they checked my ears and it wasn’t that my brain wasn’t working as well, it was about my ears. I have autoimmune conditions along with Fibromyalgia and have brain fog anyways. I have improved a lot with that tho. I just wonder if my hearing loss is related to inflammation from leaky gut thus autoimmunity but like so much with autoimmunity there isn’t much research done on this enough yet since it hits women 2/3 to 1/3 men. Inflammation is just now getting more credit for playing a big role with so many health issues. What I eat helps with this and lessens immune response and inflammation. But I get sick of eating that way. Let me know what else I should be posting on audiogram. I have looked at others here and haven’t made the connnection with some of the acronyms. Thanks.

@doubledown said:

hearing loss causes dementia and cause the brain to shrink.

This is pure drivel.