Going to visit Costco (Canada)

@Freddy said:

Every year many tons of rubber are worn off tires. That rubber ends up on and near our roads. You could make millions by gathering up that used rubber and selling it to recyclers. All you have to do is figure out how to collect it.

And yes, I want the HA that sounds better to me. That is an idea that is worth millions. All I need to know now is how to do that.

Problem is that your hearing perception gamut is subjective. Your hearing conditioning is subjective. Whether you like Jazz or Heavy Metal is subjective. Your loudness perception is subjective. Your tonal bias is subjective.

The concept that brand X in somebody else’s opinion is the best, is moot in your case. Hence trial periods.

If you look at some of the most profligate wearer postings on here, you’ll see that their own opinion of their hearing/hearing aids changes through the habituation process. So, look at all the points above in the context if it being a dynamic issue. Can you understand why ‘recommendations’ are going to be loose at best?

@Um_bongo said:

Problem is that your hearing perception gamut is subjective. Your hearing conditioning is subjective. Whether you like Jazz or Heavy Metal is subjective. Your loudness perception is subjective. Your tonal bias is subjective.

The concept that brand X in somebody else’s opinion is the best, is moot in your case. Hence trial periods.

Well, yes. Except that you’d need a trial period for every hearing aid on the planet, leading to one very pissed-off audiology clinic or a lot of somewhat disgruntled ones. By the time you got through them all there’d be a whole lot of new models to evaluate. Actually thinking about it…

@d_Wooluf said:

Well, yes. Except that you’d need a trial period for every hearing aid on the planet, leading to one very pissed-off audiology clinic or a lot of somewhat disgruntled ones. By the time you got through them all there’d be a whole lot of new models to evaluate. Actually thinking about it…

Not really, you’d just take the balance of opinion vs. your actual budget and maybe try a couple/three if you weren’t convinced by the efficacy of the first one.

Um bongo is one of the 3-4 excellent fitters that offer advice here. Costco has at least 3 excellent aids that should give satisfaction. Until you try an aid for 30 or so days, you can’t determine anything. At about $800 more, are two very currant and well thought of brands that make good alternatives.

You can’t compare aids at this point! Electronic and cars were items you were already familiar with. Now you need to develop that with aids. Give it a chance to work. Don’t join those here at obsess over this or that aid. Their post are right for their experience but we all need to develop our own experience.

@Freddy said:

So how many aids does the average customer actually try? Is trialing two or three aids an accepted and useful process?

I’m just beginning this venture, but from what I am hearing and from other experiences, I think finding the ideal aid by trialing will be very difficult. I am keen to hear your dissenting opinion, but I’m thinking the first one I try will sound weird, but after 30 days will sound pretty good, and after that the die has been cast and that first one will be the reference. Then all other aids will either sound about the same or worse.

That’s what I’m expecting. But I also know from experience that reality can be a big surprise and quite different from what one imagined. All will be revealed soon.

I think maybe the approach to find the “ideal” aid is not the best approach when it comes to HAs because it’s already obvious to you that trialing is going to be a long and extensive process. I think a better approach is to find an aid that fits your budget and feature list, then try it out, and if it works for you (helps you hear better in all the desired hearing environments you’re usually in), then you just stop there and don’t wonder if there are better aids out there or not. If the aid doesn’t work for you in certain critical listening environment that you consider important to you, then you build from that experience to pick out the next aid and give that a try.

The bottom line is that if you find an aid that works for you, why bother looking further for the “ideal” aid?

I heartily agree with this approach. Although hearing professionals accept that some people want to try a bunch of hearing aids, I don’t think they particularly like it. They are doing the best to get a hearing aid to work for you and to know that you’re going to want to go through the whole process a few more times can be annoying/discouraging. I also think it’s a good idea to figure out what problems you are trying to solve. Many find this question annoying and answer that they want to hear better. But as Volusiano alludes, hear better in what situations. For me it was understanding my soft spoken daughter and speech in noisy situations. The first was solved admirably–the second is still a challenge, but doable.

@Volusiano said:

I think maybe the approach to find the “ideal” aid is not the best approach when it comes to HAs because it’s already obvious to you that trialing is going to be a long and extensive process. I think a better approach is to find an aid that fits your budget and feature list, then try it out, and if it works for you (helps you hear better in all the desired hearing environments you’re usually in), then you just stop there and don’t wonder if there are better aids out there or not. If the aid doesn’t work for you in certain critical listening environment that you consider important to you, then you build from that experience to pick out the next aid and give that a try.

The bottom line is that if you find an aid that works for you, why bother looking further for the “ideal” aid?

@Volusiano said:

I think maybe the approach to find the “ideal” aid is not the best approach when it comes to HAs because it’s already obvious to you that trialing is going to be a long and extensive process. I think a better approach is to find an aid that fits your budget and feature list, then try it out, and if it works for you (helps you hear better in all the desired hearing environments you’re usually in), then you just stop there and don’t wonder if there are better aids out there or not. If the aid doesn’t work for you in certain critical listening environment that you consider important to you, then you build from that experience to pick out the next aid and give that a try.

The bottom line is that if you find an aid that works for you, why bother looking further for the “ideal” aid?

Yes, I’m expecting it will go like you are describing.

BTW, they recover all that rubber when they grind off the old blacktop and roll it out the other end as new blacktop. I think the county, state or feds would own it.

If you go private (not Costco) be sure you understand their trials usually 30-45 days. Whether or not there is a restocking fee. Be clear what they would expect if you lost or damaged the aids. Don’t buy 2 hours away to save a few $$$ then come on here and bitch about how far you have to drive for adjustments or repairs.

@Freddy said:

So how many aids does the average customer actually try? Is trialing two or three aids an accepted and useful process?

I’m just beginning this venture, but from what I am hearing and from other experiences, I think finding the ideal aid by trialing will be very difficult. I am keen to hear your dissenting opinion, but I’m thinking the first one I try will sound weird, but after 30 days will sound pretty good, and after that the die has been cast and that first one will be the reference. Then all other aids will either sound about the same or worse.

That’s what I’m expecting. But I also know from experience that reality can be a big surprise and quite different from what one imagined. All will be revealed soon.

Usually 1-2, 3 would be the exception rather the rule. My personal point of view is that you can make most hearing aids sound pretty much as you need to through programming. The real reason to chop and change would be to move up to a feature set or particular niche need. Sometimes sheer physical fit is better with different receivers etc.

And if anyone wants to offer me sensible money for a pair of stock Opn 1 I have sitting around, let me know.

@Um_bongo said:

… My personal point of view is that you can make most hearing aids sound pretty much as you need to through programming…

That’s also what I would have guessed.

I mean, there has to be some logic to it. What are the variables? (talking sound quality only for now)… frequency profile, loudness, fidelity maybe, and the shape of the ear. Is there more that affects sound quality? The shape of the ear innards is probably the most obscure, but surely there is something known about volume and canal length and how that affects hearing and aids.

@MDB said:

We certainly have a variety of opinions of the forums–some expressed more strongly than others. I guess I could be considered a KS7 fanboy, but it’s measured. I suggest them because they are an exceptional value-- at leat $800 USD less than other similar Costco hearing aids. However, if iPhone streaming were important to a user, I would suggest the Resound Linx2 and if somebody had a striking high frequency loss, the Phonak Brio 2s might be worth considering because their Sound Recover program seems to be well thought of. If music is important, all bets are off. The Bernafons have a good reputation, but music appreciation is so individualized that I think finding a hearing aid that makes a music afficianado happy might require a lot of trial and error, or they might be decide a good set of headphones is better than hearing aids for listening to music.

MDB, Interesting that you mention the Brio 2 Sound Recover program. Even with my severe HF loss my Costco specialist turned that feature off because she said too often it makes things worse. I believe that is the program that moves HF to lower frequency. I am now 3 months into my HA’s and I find that I don’t wear them as much as I did in the beginning. I am retired and home most of the time so I don’t need them. I use wireless headphones to watch TV. I am going to try out the KS7’s in a month or so. My Costo HIS is 100% the Brio 2’s are the best for me because they switch programs automatically, actually I wouldn’t mind having the ability to manually change programs. Wonder what brands/models Costco will release this fall?

@MDB said:

We certainly have a variety of opinions of the forums–some expressed more strongly than others. I guess I could be considered a KS7 fanboy, but it’s measured. I suggest them because they are an exceptional value-- at leat $800 USD less than other similar Costco hearing aids. However, if iPhone streaming were important to a user, I would suggest the Resound Linx2 and if somebody had a striking high frequency loss, the Phonak Brio 2s might be worth considering because their Sound Recover program seems to be well thought of. If music is important, all bets are off. The Bernafons have a good reputation, but music appreciation is so individualized that I think finding a hearing aid that makes a music afficianado happy might require a lot of trial and error, or they might be decide a good set of headphones is better than hearing aids for listening to music.

MDB, Interesting that you mention the Brio 2 Sound Recover program. Even with my severe HF loss my Costco specialist turned that feature off because she said too often it makes things worse. I believe that is the program that moves HF to lower frequency. I am now 3 months into my HA’s and I find that I don’t wear them as much as I did in the beginning. I am retired and home most of the time so I don’t need them. I use wireless headphones to watch TV. I am going to try out the KS7’s in a month or so. My Costo HIS is 100% the Brio 2’s are the best for me because they switch programs automatically, actually I wouldn’t mind having the ability to manually change programs. Wonder what brands/models Costco will release this fall?

As far as I know, the KS7s switch programs just as automatically as the Brio 2s. Interesting though, my Mom’s audiologist stressed how automatic the Phonaks were. Are they any more automatic than any other "destination based’ hearing aid? I’m pretty sure the Signia Primax, Rexton RICs are “destination based” from how I understand the term. My take is that you would not be a good candidate for the Sound Recover program because your high frequency loss isn’t really much worse than your mid frequency loss. You really don’t have any place to shift the highs to. I think Sound Recover and other Frequency Shifting/Compression/Transposition programs work best with people with profound high frequency losses coupled with mild losses in the mid frequencies. I think my audiogram makes me a near ideal candidate in that my 6k and 8k loss are essentially unaidable with the open fit that is appropriate for my near normal hearing up to 2k.

@jtl said:

MDB, Interesting that you mention the Brio 2 Sound Recover program. Even with my severe HF loss my Costco specialist turned that feature off because she said too often it makes things worse. I believe that is the program that moves HF to lower frequency. I am now 3 months into my HA’s and I find that I don’t wear them as much as I did in the beginning. I am retired and home most of the time so I don’t need them. I use wireless headphones to watch TV. I am going to try out the KS7’s in a month or so. My Costo HIS is 100% the Brio 2’s are the best for me because they switch programs automatically, actually I wouldn’t mind having the ability to manually change programs. Wonder what brands/models Costco will release this fall?

Brio 2’s are the best for me because they switch programs automatically,

Oh my, you need to find an AuD with their out of their butt!