Costco Phonak Brio 3 RC - Not Impressed

Funny! Didn’t see my hidden microphone in the room? :>) Finding the “perfect” (there isn’t one) hearing aid for a new user has to involve some trial and error as they probably have some pretty strong beliefs of what they want, but until one has tried them, it’s really hard to know how important they’ll be. For me I would have said that I definitely wanted a phone app. Now I rarely use it. For others it’s being able to use an Android phone without a streamer. Perhaps one could design a questionnaire to guide somebody new to hearing aid (actually the forum has a pretty comprehensive one), but it can’t possibly know how imprortant the features will be after the person has tried them. Keep us posted on your journey!

Ditto to much of these points.
My experience is that I wanted all the gizmos that I read about and believed were essential. Very quickly I got most features turned off to stop killing off the normal sounds.

I haven’t used the bluetooth in years. That you had a bad experience initially was not a surprise to me. I think the reverse of what I started out with should have been done. Start with zero features, no anti-plate clatter, no sound smoothing, no speech management etc etc, and see what its like. Then move forward having a baseline to compare with.

I wear the Oticon OPN1 miniRITEs and they are my first hearing aids. I used to listen to music a lot through headphones and was excited about the possibility of listening to music directly in my OPNs. When I used the ConnectClip, it worked fine except the music fidelity was terrible. My headphones are the around the ear type (vs. on the ear) and when I put them on with my OPNs in place, they sounded great. I thought for sure I would get feedback, but I didn’t. Others have had different experiences apparently. There are just so many variables at play.

Did you hearing aid dispenser use a real-ear test to varify the fit. It is the only way to tell is the program is set to meet your hearing perscription.
Real ear measures are taken at the end of the fitting–a microphone is attached to the end of the hearing aid that goes into your ear–it is connected to your dispensers computer and shows exactly how the hearing aid is performing in your ear. It is an essential part of best-practices. My understanding is that not all Costco outlets follow these best practices–some do. Dr Chris Olson has a video about Real Ear Measures on youtube–also many other issues.

I used to do a lot of voice-overs. I wore Kirkland HAs and had success with the Sony MDR-7506. It has a large enough closed ear cup that completely covered the HA and my ear. The Sony’s are a pro model and have great frequency range. You could always try a pair from Amazon and return them if they don’t work out.

To me I don’t want to have to buy extras to be able to hear things! I want my hearing aids to do this,am I asking to much?

@szcas3 said:

To me I don’t want to have to buy extras to be able to hear things! I want my hearing aids to do this,am I asking to much?

It all depends on what you are trying to do. Because of battery/power limit that are part of hearing aids. Bluetooth is too power hungry to work directly with aids. BTLe will overcome that but that is in the future for Android etc. The BTLe is part of BT 5. That has to happen in other devices with the proper hardware in them.

The ReSound Android app doesn’t work when Bluetooth is turned off. Also it uses 2-way communication with the aids, which I thought ultrasound can’t do.

Trialing Phoak Brio 3 R C having swapped from Kirkland 8’s. So far, very happy with them. Only have three stock programs installed, how many programs can they accommodate ?

@dannystroup said:

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??

I’ve wondered about this too. Apart from custom molds, the unit manufacturing costs of today’s hearing aids, I suspect, are actually quite low. It might cost more money to recondition returned aids than it would to replace them with new, unsold stock.

I have the version 2 and I love them.best that I have ever had. I am sure that your version is better. They should have given you a music program for more realistic sound since they have a system that changes frequencies that you cannot hear into ones that you can (which normally distorts music)They also have a option that shares the sounds from the other ears I use this with my zoom program. I can lift my cell phone to be close to one of the mics and then can hear the phone in both ears. Try a different audie and ask for one that specializes in the brio.

Just discovered this forum today and wanted to respond. I am 40 years old and have worn hearing aids since the age of about 1 or 2.

I purchased/received Costco Phonak Brio 3 hearing aids at the beginning of August and have so far not been impressed. I have had 2 adjustments since receiving the hearing aids. I saw someone post the following and am glad because I thought I was going crazy…“AutoSense programs on the Brio 3 and they are always changing and can’t make there mind up on which one to stick too.”

I got my last adjustment yesterday and the hearing aids ware better but I can still detect a change every so slightly today.

I am trying to role with these new hearing aids because by purchasing them at Costco I saved $3,000.
Am I being crazy? Are a lot of other people experiencing the fact that the AutoSense works on it’s own?

@pasackow said:

I purchased/received Costco Phonak Brio 3 hearing aids at the beginning of August and have so far not been impressed.

Which model Brio 3? The Phoak Brio 3 R C has advanced Phonak technology using the new SWORD chip. The regular Brio3 is older technology which is the same technology as the Brio 2 except for cosmetic changes and software changes for SoundRecover 2 (which you may or may not use). See this thread;
Brio 3 Processor (member archive).

I had the new Brio3 RC and traded them in for the Resound Forte. The difference for me was night and day. The Resound’s are more natural sounding and the phone app is fantastic.