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Philips Hearlink first Impressions

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In reply to @DeDe15

@DeDe15 said:

They had it set to about 80% of what the program is asking for and that still seems too loud, everything seems overdone, overly loud but that can be adjusted. (The tech I’m working with asked me if I generally have sensitivity to sound, that I’m always asking to reduce the program and make it lower – I’m trying to get things to sound natural and not in my face all the time! The crinkly produce bags and sounds of the cart sound so artificial!)

That’s a common perception but your brain will get used to it in a month or two. When you turn them down from the target you are also turning down things you do want to hear.

In reply to @DeDe15

I will second Don’s comment about loud. This seems to be very normal for all of us when first fitted with aids or even going in for an adjustment some time later or moving to new aids.

For what it’s worth, the KS9 aids are more Marvel than not. They are very nice aids. I believe the Phillips aids are also good ones, we just haven’t heard a lot about them yet.

Thanks for the comments. I’m kind of “starting over”, having not had since June when I lost one, so my brain needs time to re-program!

I have tried twice with the Philips HearLinks, having purchased them. The same results, both times - first with the 105dB receivers and once with the 85s after a more extensive time trying to fit them. A very strong peak at around 2.5kHz. We tried tuning and playing with smoothing out the curve, etc. But after an hour, I decided to return the HearLinks and stay with the KS9s. I have a good music program for them (actually tweaked that today to make it a little better). So, that’s what I am staying with. Anyone’s mileage may vary. Aside from not being able to get them to sound right for me, they seem exceptionally well made and equipped.

For the last 7 years I have been reasonably satisfied with a pair of Oticon Agil Pros. They were premium level and state-of-the-art in 2012, and the pair cost nearly $7k with accessories, followup fittings, etc. But recently they’ve been acting up, so I decided to look for new hearing aids. My first hearing aids were fitted by audiologists at the Mayo Clinic; and although I have the usual well-known concerns about COSTCO, because of the significant cost difference, I decided to give them a try anyway.

When I had my hearing test, I first tried a pair of the Kirkland Signature 9.0 (KS9) and then the Philips HearLink (PHL). Both brands were set up with their default automatic programs, and no adaptation mitigation - i.e., set to 100% of their target. Of course, you can’t really evaluate the suitability of hearing aids while just walking around COSTCO for a few minutes; but, for what its worth, this is what I noticed.

Speech in the cubicle with the door open, and while walking around the store, sounded good with both brands.

I also walked around a little bit outside in the parking lot, where there was a slight breeze blowing - one which I would never have heard with my old Oticons. I could hear the breeze about the same with both brands; it sounded somewhat like a gentle wind blowing over the end of a tube. With the KS9s, the initial “wind” sound went away in a second or two; but then every few seconds it would return for a second or two and then go away again. The PHLs, on the other hand, seemed to suppress the initial “wind” sound a bit more quickly; then it came back in a couple of seconds and went away again quickly. This happened once or twice and then it went away completely with the PHLs.

The BIG DIFFERENCE between the two brands was in hearing background noises. The KS9s sounded about the same as my old Oticon Agil Pros; that is, I couldn’t hear much background noise at all with the KS9s. The PHLs, on the other hand, REALLY enabled me to hear EVERYTHING going on around me in the store: the air conditioning, the clanging of shopping carts, the sound of people dropping things in their carts, the sounds echoing off of the high ceiling, people talking in the areas around me, etc.

My first reaction with the PHLs was one of annoyance at the volume and the “mental intrusion” of all of these sounds. But I decided it may mean that the PHLs enabled me to hear all sorts of things that I probably SHOULD be hearing. And knowing that that my brain has to adapt to the new aids, and that much fine tuning is possible if needed, I decided to get the PHLs.

I am scheduled for my initial fitting on Friday. I’ll report more on my experience with the Philips down the road.

Did they do Real Ear Measurement adjusting on both pairs of hearing aids, and to the same prescription formula? If not, what you most likely are hearing when you compare the aids is the difference in the actual gain to the ears. Here is a graph comparing the computer first fit gains delivered by 5 different hearing aid manufacturers when they are all programmed to the same formula. If they were each prescribed to the manufacturer’s formula, the differences would likely be even larger.

image

My experience with Costco has been that they don’t do for the trial walk around, but do it when your own aids come in and are fitted.

Descriptions here in the forum made the Philips aids sound interesting to me until I realized they are made to work with an iPhone well, but not Android. Still, I’m kind of nostalgically curious to hear how people like them and there don’t seem to be many reports here on them.

@tribalrose said:

My experience with Costco has been that they don’t do REM for the trial walk around, but do it when your own aids come in and are fitted.

That makes it virtually impossible to compare how the hearing aids will sound. If you look at the graph I posted the red HA5 aid is pretty close within normal error to being right on the prescription. The light gray HA4 is way off the prescribed curve and will sound very different. With adjustment they both could be brought right to the prescription curve. Then you are comparing apples to apples.

When I was having issues with my left KS8 aid, the fitter programmed some ReSound demo aids she had in the story for me to try. She did REM to bring them both to the same prescription curve. The ReSound sounded virtually the same as the KS8.

@Sierra said:

That makes it virtually impossible to compare how the hearing aids will sound.

Maybe so, but that’s been my experience, and my experience with private audiologists makes me believe Costco is a lot more generous in time invested before seeing any money than most.

I don’t think the store walk arounds are all that helpful anyway. The hearing environments that are important to me aren’t large stores, but when I got my first aids, I tried both the KS whatever number was current at the time and the Rexton Trax 42s (which became a KS something or other the following year - and cheaper to my chagrin).

I ended up buying both sets of aids with the intent to keep one and return the other after a longer trial in environments I care about, which I did. I would have to say my first in-store impressions were the same as my long-term ones, but with the current KS9s, my attitude was kind of go through the motions with the store walk around, but unless there’s something really negative, order the things and really see.

I’ve now had these Philips aids for several months and have grown accustomed to them. I realized just yesterday morning that I understood every word said at the previous night’s leadership meeting without giving my aids a single thought. That’s what it’s all about!

So I’m very pleased with them, although they aren’t perfect. Due to my severe hearing loss, these 85db models are turned way up by default. That means I often get feedback when I’m next to a hard surface unless I turn them down a notch.

I had the same thought, but my audi didn’t think molds would be needed for me when I was fitted. I’ll ask her about it again at my next check-up, but it’s easy to turn them down one click and that’s all it takes.

Definitely a judgement call. There’s something to be said for leaving well enough alone. I think molds might work better, but then again some hate them. Definitely your call.

In reply to @Sierra

I don’t know if the fitter did for the “walk around the store” trial. And, since I don’t live in a COSTCO store, I realize that both the validity and the reliability of my brief “trial” are questionable. I’ll find out over the next few weeks how they actually work for me in real life.

In reply to @tribalrose

I don’t have an iPhone and I have no real need to pair them with my Android phone, so phone connectivity is of no particular value to me.

I’m much more interested in how well the Philips TV Adapter will work. Since my wife and I used to watch a lot of NetFlix and now watch a lot of BritBox on Prime Video, the TV Adapter that I’ve been using for several years has been one of the greatest benefits to me of my Oticon hearing aids. Externally the Philips TV Adapter appears identical to the Oticon version, but I don’t know if they are in fact the same device.

Also, the Oticon Streamer (worn around the neck) looks like the Philips AudioClip; but I wonder if my current Oticon Streamer 1.3 will pair up with the Philips hearing aids? I’d guess probably not; but it would be useful to me if it did, because my Oticon Streamer has a headphone-type input jack, which is handy for use with my computer, whereas the Philips AudioClip lacks that input option.

My guess is that the Philips TV Adapter and Bluetooth Streamer is the same as the Oticon OPN TV Adapter and ConnectClip, although whether those accessories are compatible with both the Philips and the OPN HA is unclear. But my hunch says that your old TV Adapater and Streamer from your older Oticon HA will not work with the Philips HA.

Volusiano was right. The Philips Hearsuite fitting software could not “see” my Oticon 1.4 Streamer.

In reply to @emsgran

Emsgran,

Do you happen to know which fitting rationale your hearing aids were set up with?

My fitter used . When I asked why she choose that one, she said she “used NL2 because that is the COSTCO standard.”

When I ran the Hearsuite program myself and created a “New Client” using my date of birth and my , it defaulted instead to the “Fit4Speech” rationale, which Philips defines as:

“A proprietary non-linear rationale, based on NAL-NL1. It is designed to take into account the latest prescription research, as well as the unique capabilities of the selected hearing instrument. Fit4Speech also takes the selected language type into account.”

I noticed right away when I walked out of COSTCO with my new aids, that I couldn’t hear the store’s background sounds nearly as well as I did with the Philips trial aids 2 weeks before. I’m wondering if my new fitter used a different rationale than a different fitter used with the trial aids? I have another appointment tomorrow, and I’ll ask about that.

So far, I haven’t noticed the rising and falling of background noise (when someone talks) that others have described. Also, the 3 manually selectable programs I have, “General Settings”, “Speech in Noise” and “Automobile” all sound about the same to me in any given environment.

In general, I have been understanding speech pretty well in a variety of settings.

@Jack_F said:

Do you happen to know which fitting rationale your hearing aids were set up with?

My fitter used NAL-NL2

Sorry, Jack, I don’t. If you weren’t hearing background noises as clearly perhaps they weren’t adjusted all the way up to your prescription. I asked my audi to set them at 100% of my prescription, even though I expected they would seem “too loud” until my brain adapted.

In reply to @Jack_F

One of the reasons your fitter may have used is that their equipment may not accept the proprietary Phillips Fit4Speech prescription formula. The Aurical REM equipment used at my Costco does not accept the proprietary Rexton formula, so the fitter uses NAL-NL2 and manually adjusts it to the proprietary one. It is probably easier for them to just skip the proprietary formula.

If REM was not used on your trial aids, that might explain why they sounded different.

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