Started Trial of Philips 9030 yesterday at Costco

@Angel said:

The biggest problem I have with my 9040 is the bluetooth connection. Sometimes the app wont connect. Sometimes bluetooth disconnects during phone calls. Really annoying. Three times the left one has powered down and then powers up by itself. Sometimes I am listening to music thru them and the left will cut out and come back after a few minutes and then the right cuts out and in and I just sitting. I am going to tell them I want a new left one. Just received the Starkey domes but cant figure out to replace them. I will try again tomorrow.

I don’t really know if it’s related or not, but Oticon More and Real users have also been experiencing unreliable use with the ConnectClip (the equivalent of the Philips AudioClip). The older OPN and OPN S don’t seem to have that issue. Some More users have had to send their aids back to the factory to have them rolled back to an older firmware version that works more reliably.

So you may want to ask your Costco HCP to see if other Philips users are having the same problem with the AudioClip or not, and whether Philips has a fix for it yet. Considering that Philips is using the same BT connection device like Oticon, there’s a good chance this issue is related to the Oticon issue.

@fbacher1 said:

I’ve tried to keep changes small to not get things too screwed up

Yes, small steps using the Noahlink Wireless
is a good way forward, some people are just diving in and making things worse.

@fbacher1 said:

I did try to see what lowering the feedback control would do and of course I got feedback, lol

Number one reason is the sound is leaking out, maybe your still using domes? very good results can be achieved with custom made moulds with the right size vents, so a bit more gain can be done in the lower for bass ( if needed) plus no or very low feedback, you cannot use music program with noise reduction and feedback controls on, because as you’ve noticed they introduce artefacts into the sound, with your loss you could get by with 1 or 1.2mm vents, this would be something to talk about with your audiologist, i wonder what power level your receivers are.

@fbacher1 said:

but I assume it should sound more steady and less wavering?

Definitely, that is what you should be able to hear, something isn’t right with your settings, I’d try a different set up, like changing the formula being used, custom molds etc. Even just for the music program.
See here for some helpful information if you haven’t already.

https://grandpianopassion.com/category/hearing-music/8

https://musicandhearingaids.org/3

@fbacher1 said:

I’m hearing with the guitar but I assume it should sound more steady and less wavering?

Check the directionality setting of your mic. Some settings cause it to waver. I use the music setting on mine and don’t have that problem.

Wow, some great links, thanks. Will look thru those before I do much more. After doing some investigation on my own looking at the gains of the different programs (some surprises there) I decided I can make a “guitar” program from either the noise program (low gains) by removing the noise reductions one at a time, or start with the music program (higher gains especially at 55 dB) and add some noise reduction or just reduce gains in some freq ranges.

And maybe directionality is another thing to look at, fixed, Pinna (omni directional and Pinna), adaptive and dynamic…all with unknown effects on this. I’m sort of lost on how each of this might affect things and doing rapid A to B comparisons is not that easy. If these things were in an app that would be more possible to do and could instantly flip back and forth and compare. Like any A to B test hard to remember what A sounded like when you are doing B even a minute or two later, lol.

As for getting my fitter to help with this, the A to B comparisons become much slower and even one can take a week or more. And my fitter gets frustrated when I tell her that speech sound distorted from some voices, especially higher pitched female ones. She admonishes me when I say distorted but as a guitarist, that’s what it sounds like to me, lol. I’ve made minor changes that have helped a lot in this regard so focusing on music for now and I won’t mess with the P1 programming for the time being. Thanks.

In this thread I posted a link to the “hidden” instructional videos at audiology online.

SBOHearingUS Instructional videos for Philips HearSuite - Hearing Aid Self-Fitting and Adjusting [DIY] - Hearing Aid Forum - Active Hearing Loss Community (hearingtracker.com)

Original poster here.

Phillips 9040s are doing well after almost 2 weeks of use. Only notable problem is that one time the top space on iphone where program options are at was blank. This happened once during trial at a different place. I could not switch programs. We were attending an anniversary celebration. There were about 80 people there and it was noisy. Whatever program I had, I increased volume to +4 and was able to hear most everything. I would have heard virtually nothing with my old hearing aids.

The sound is good and I have had no charging issues like I had with the Jabra Pro.

The HCP at Costco did REM and tests to make sure it was working ok. I am not sure how thorough that was because I was not there but about 30 to 40 minutes. Does that sound right?

My CC guy did REM, he said with an experienced audiologist it doesn’t help that much, but CC requires it. He said my ear canal was so short that REM didn’t make any difference for me.
It took about 10 min or less to do REM.

This 2nd time around for purchasing at Costco I felt rushed for all appointments and I even felt like I was prepared because I had gone through it before.

If I had to cover the basics as a new user I would have needed a lot more time.

I think it speaks to the volume of business Costco is doing

Yup, the Costcos that I go to tend to have brick-walled schedules and do not want to run over my scheduled time. However, I realize that there are no perfections in life, only tradeoffs, and I prefer the price I paid at Costco to the 4X+ that I would pay for what might be a more concierge experience.

I agree. The tremendous savings more than offsets the time spent by the HCP. Plus, I can go back as much as I need to without any added cost.

@user891 said:

With regards to the costs, I have insurance from work (Blueshield PPO), and it covers 80 percent of the hearing aid costs, adding 500 max deductible, a 5k hearing aids comes off around the same amount as Costco

Well then, you have a lot of options. Is there a HA provider near you that offers different brands than Costco; or that is easier and quicker and closer to you than your local Costco? I’m able to get in to and see my provider/audi far faster than I could with my near by Costco; but this varies with individuals. I don’t think folks choose Costco over private audiologists for their expertise. Folks tend to choose Costco for the savings. If that isn’t an issue, it may be worthwhile for you to look for an independent provider nearby and compare with what Costco offers.

I always thought the Costco required you to buy the hearing aid, but gave you a very long time to get a refund if it didn’t work out.

If you have had your evaluation and it’s printed out, then my experience is that it wasn’t necessary for Costco to do another one if the evaluation is current. In Washington state it’s 6 months.

You have excellent insurance, so you can go pretty much where ever you want. Yes, folks go to Costco for the price since they either don’t have insurance or it’s not as generous.

I would want to go with an audiologist for an evaluation just to rule out any medical reasons outside of old age hearing loss.

As far as fitting a hearing aid, I would think it’s toss up as to hearing aid fitter or audiologist. A lot depends on how well you communicate and the experience of the fitter or audiologist for your type of hearing loss. Some folks like musicians have special expectations and a fitter or audiologist that has a lot of experience with these folks may get better results.

I think the biggest advantages of Costco are price and the long trial period. Price isn’t an issue for you, but the trial period may be an issue. Here in Washington state, you have a 30 day trial period in the law. You might want to see if California has a law stating how long the trial period should be.

“ I don’t think my insurance coverage is anything special…”

Your coverage is very special, in relationship to most retirees in the USA who are Medicare-eligible, which I assume comprises a large percent of those who deal with Costco on hearing aids. For retirees who choose original Medicare with a Medigap policy there is typically no coverage for hearing aids. For those who opt out of original Medicare and are on a Medicare Advantage plan there may be hearing aid coverage but typically it isn’t in the spirit of insurance. Rather it’s a subsidy that has a max payout that doesn’t begin to cover the cost of hearing aids. From the perspective of Medicare-eligible retirees, count your coverage “special”.

If the price is close I would check out a place that will let you trial the aids for awhile( longer than 1-2 weeks) so you can go back and get an adjustment done before making a decision. A lot of times it takes a few appointments to get them where you want. This is compounded by the fact you are a new user and it takes awhile for the brain to adjust. I know I have it good with the place I go too. I have trialed 3 top of the line aids now and do so from 4 to 6 weeks and am waiting for another line to be released.