Costco Phonak Brio 3 RC - Not Impressed

My hearing aid is limited to KS7s. The app is fairly limited, but I was initially quite impressed and used it quite a bit. Now I never bother. I’m glad you like your Resound app. I’ve been impressed when I’ve looked at it, but wondered how long I’d continuing use it after the newness wore off. Could the feature you mention be accessed via the buttons on the hearing aid instead?

Getting exactly what you want is going to be tough. With normal low frequency hearing, you’ll likely need at least a partially vented fit. Such a fit makes controlling feedback more challenging. It also makes providing enough gain in the high frequencies pretty challenging. Some sort of frequency lowering program (the Phonak’s have a great one) can help, but likely make music not sound good.

I just added my audio test results to my profile.

I bought the Phonak Brio 3 with custom molds and use the 675 battery. I have had them about 6 weeks and been back twice for adjustments. The Costco HIS was very good. I had a list of things that needed to be adjusted and he went thru them one at a time and so far my Brio 's have been great. I have been wearing hearing aids for 28 years and these are the first ones I have not had any back feed on.
First time I have bought from Costco and wondered how there their Audi or HIS would be and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. I guess I was lucky.

You may well be right, by he sounds like the sort of person who needs the locus of control in his pocket rather than in the hands of someone else.

Aside from the actual way the aids sound, his needs don’t seem to have been met/matched at all.

As my old trainer used to say ‘Fit the person, not just the loss…’

Thanks for the input, it’s all helpful.

I’m revisiting my research on Bernafon Zerena 9, and also looking hard at the Resound Forte. I like that the Resound has more control from the app and offers the Multi Mic accessory which includes a mini-jack so I can connect to my PC. My only concern about Resound is that google search turns up unhappy campers due to some type of failure after a few weeks.

Are Resound any more/less durable/dependable than Bernafon? Does either product represent a “better quality” product? Or are we talking luck of the draw?

I haven’t heard of reliability issues on either one. My 2013 Resounds are going strong and are my backup pair. For the RIC style, where the speaker (receiver) is in the ear, those receivers sometimes go out or get weak. They are about $50 each at Costco, after warranty expires . That is an advantage of the RIC, RIE style. The speaker can be replaced cheaply, and is separate from the body of the aids.

I guess what I was wondering is if you tend to have default speech clarity settings you use and if so, it could be accessed via button by setting it up as a separate program. All the issues you mention regarding making the app friendly to use make sense.

Fit the person makes a lot of sense. I know so little about this situation, but I find it conceivable conversation went something like this. “What kind of phone do you use? Android. We should try the Phonak.”

A few suggestions/ideas: You are a rock musician? Are you still performing regularly? Or attending live rock performances regularly? If so I would look at a different brand than Phonak.
Phonaks do not have the input headroom to handle live music. They are like playing electric guitar through a stereo speaker. (To be fair this may have changed in the past few years).
Check out Widex HAs. Or Oticon Opn. They are better for music. When you have a fitting session ask the audi to create a separate music program with all the speech comprehension features turned off or at least minimized. Feedback suppression is the worst for live music. You probably can’t turn it off entirely in your music program or you will experience feedback, but have it set at a minimum level.
I advise you to find an independent audiologist rather than continue to go to Costco. Yes it’s much more expensive but Costco will quickly get burned out by what they will perceive as your unreasonable demands and repeated requests for fitting appointments.
Save yourself a lot of frustration by biting the bullet and paying the big bucks for a state-of-the-art high-input-headroom HA from an independent audi. Call some local Audi practices and ask what brands they feature and if they have audis on staff who have lots of experience with Widex or Oticon. Ask if they have experience working with rock musicians. Pick your audi accordingly. Good luck.

I can save a custom program in the app with Speech Clarity set, but in the hearing aids it shows up in the program slot of the original program (All-Around in this case). So you couldn’t use program change via long-press button to switch between Speech Clarity on and off. The audiologist could probably add such a program by tweaking the gain settings, taking up one of the four program slots. They could probably do it on any brand HA.

What happens to HA’s that are returned…factory refurbished or resold as new? I’m just wondering since I’m returning the Phonaks for Resound, is it possible that I could receive returned merchandise when I buy new??

Just curious if that’s a thing in this industry.

No, write-off. Unless you were wearing a demo set.

@MDB said:

Fit the person makes a lot of sense. I know so little about this situation, but I find it conceivable conversation went something like this. “What kind of phone do you use? Android. We should try the Phonak.”

I don’t recall you being in the room when I had my first consultation with my audiologist, but that’s exactly what happened. I was as vocally anti-Apple as some recent posts here, so I don’t blame her for suggesting Phonak Audeo B Direct. But I would have saved time and trouble if she could have talked sense into me. Well, I got something out of the experience: A Phonak hearing aid case which fits in my pants pocket better than the ReSound case.