First Time Visit to Costco

The reason for my feedback issues with these was the Marie receivers. As soon as I got rid of those the feedback vanished. But neither version has helped much with speech in background noise.

Here’s hoping that Costco comes to Guilderkand in short order, @bluckie1. The delays on this project have been unconscionable. There’s something wrong with our legal system when delays are allowed to go on for years and years based on frivolous claims by litigants who clearly have a not-so-hidden agenda rather than their claims in the lawsuit.

Probably sounds picky, but the issue is trying to use too much gain with too open a fitting, but granted the MRIE have tighter requirements.

Just curious. Does anyone know if Costco does REMOTE PROGRAMMING for People like bluckie1who have a long distance to travel to get adjustments after initial fitting

Phonak offers Remote Programming for my Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s
My audi refused to do remote programming. He could have.
Phonak also has an APP. It’s on my cell phone and I can change programs, or make changes to individual programs and save them.

@MDB said:

To me a red flag is the hearing specialist saying they had lots of problems with the Jabra with feedback. Although some hearing aids are better at suppressing it, ultimately it’s a fitting issue. Get an appropriate fitting dome/mold for the ears and run the feedback management and it should work. Granted if one wants an open fitting and wants lots of gain, it’s not going to work but they should be able to tell you that

I have heard numerous complaints about the Jabra 20’s having major issues with feedback (compared to previous generations), unless you use a very occluding dome. Feedback Issues that didn’t exist with previous models set for the same exact loss with the same programming.

“To me a red flag is the hearing specialist saying they had lots of problems with the Jabra with feedback. Although some hearing aids are better at suppressing it, ultimately it’s a fitting issue.”

I agree.

A two hour drive and a three month wait for an appt. are real issues. Typically a patient needs to in for adjustments after purchase, or may need custom molds, or even a cleaning (wax build up is common). I paid more up front for my aids from a private provider who’s very close by. For me, the convenience of a 5 minute drive and the ability to get an appt. within days or a week is worth it. Also, I can just walk in for a cleaning and other simple repairs. I’ve had several fittings to dial in my aids as well. HAs aren’t like eyeglasses in terms of not needing adjustments after your prescription is found.

When you talk about paying more can you give an estimate of how much more? If it was only a few hundred dollars then a would agree but not if it was something like a thousand.

Ohh, more than a thousand more than I would have spent at Costco, except my aids weren’t available then at Costco. They were soon after. costco is significantly cheaper than all independent providers. I’m not wealthy!! by a long shot. But I know my providers and vice versa.
A lot of insurance programs have begun to cover hearing aids. I’ll probably go with my Kaiser plan next time. Kaiser is close by me and has a good selection of HAs. And they do great hearing tests. The price will be a bit less than at Costco.

I went to Costco yesterday for my first ever hearing aid encounter. It was a two hour drive to get there. The HA specialist spent 2 1/2 hours testing and fitting me. They had the Jabra EP20 in stock in champagne color, which is what I got.

The specialist preferred the Philips 9040 because he said that they give a better phone performance. I tried both and found them to be about equal. I’ve had bad experiences with Philips products in the past, so I went with the Jabra. He said that if it weren’t for the phone performance he would recommend the EP20 to everyone.

I asked him if he was using the MRIE receivers. He looked again at my audiogram and said, “yes, I think I will”. I didn’t ask for them, just asked if he was using them. At first, he put in the medium solid domes. They felt really comfortable, but had lot’s of feedback. So, he replaced them with the large.

I wore them home. I was amazed at all the sounds I could hear. They became uncomfortable after a while and gave me a headache, so I took them off for the evening. Today, I have worn them for 6 1/2 hours already. I’ve learned that I have to turn the volume down from the preset level of about 7 closer to a 3. At that level, I can still hear normal sounds very well, but don’t have all the background noises. I’m sure that will be adjusted in my two week follow-up.

My left hear was hurting pretty bad after a couple of hours of wearing them. By pulling them out of the ear a little, it eased up and has been better since. Is this just a matter of getting adjusted to having them in my ear? Is there a magic depth to insert them for maximum comfort and performance?

I have been on a couple of phone calls today. Both times I could hear them very well and they could hear me well, although they said I sounded a little like I was in a well. Is this normal?

I’ve been using the “all-around” program mostly, can’t tell much difference in the others.

I might add that I paid $1599 for these, no tax. My friend bought locally from an audiologist the Resound Nexia recently for $6000. To me, that difference is worth a few four hour round trips, but then again I’m retired and my time isn’t too valuable these days.

The reason I posted is to relate that I had a very positive experience at Costco. They were very busy the whole time I was there, but never at any time made me feel hurried or unwelcome. This was at one of the less busy Houston area Costco’s in an outlying area. I tried to get an appointment at the Galleria Costco but their lag time was closer to three weeks. I got an appt. in the same week I called at this one.

I don’t know which Costco you went to, although you mentioned Connecticut and said it took almost 2 hours to get there. If you are in Upstate NY North of I-90, your closest Costco should actually be the West Springfield, MA store, where I have bought 3 pairs of HAs over the past decade and have always had an excellent experience with the specialists who work there.

My Costco let me take home Rexton and Philips. I also tried Eargo. I am a classical guitarist. The Rexton and Eargo were simply terrible. The Philips seemed OK, with sufficiently wide range of adjustability. They then sold me the Costco brand, which were made by Phonak because they were cheaper, and they told me they were comparable. They sounded great for speech, but failed for music, so I returned them and got the Philips 9030. Pretty good so far. I can authoritatively tell if my wife is mumbling! However, I attend a classical guitar studio every week in an organ hall, and speech is completely unintelligible due to echo in the hall. I don’t know if there is any way to compensate for that.

Did you fit for a dedicated music program? I have the Signia AX brand (rexton and their pre iinstalled dedicated music program had to be tweaked before it woiuld work. After that it’s been very good! unusable otherwise. I’m also a classical guitarist.