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Problems with philips 9050 - terrible sound

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Hello. I have been wearing hearing aids for 15 years and have severe to profound bilateral hearing loss. In October I bought Philips 9050 hearing aids.The sound is horrible. All sounds are metallic. Human voices don’t sound right, like in a bad speaker, ambient noises are absurd (like when I put a glass on the table, the sound is too loud for anything) and I very often change the adjustments in the application.I’ve had my devices adjusted 3 times since then and the changes are so minimal it’s ridiculous. I have to take my off at the end of the day because I get discomfort, dizziness and headaches. I’ve never had discomfort before with my Sonic, and before Oticon. Certain sounds no longer reach my brain, and I feel like I’m in a glass bubble because the ambient sound is so attenuated that I can’t hear anything more than 6 feet away.I tried wearing the HA for several weeks to acclimatize my brain and I gave up, it’s too difficult and I feel really handicapped…Have any of you also had negative experiences with this type of device? I only read about positive experiences and I’m desperate. I bought the hearing aids from a Costco that’s 7 hours away from my home, because in my province, hearing aids are only sold by audioprosthesists. I need to understand better before going back to Costco again and being told I have to adapt…I’m thinking of switching to a different kind of technology. Do you think that would help?

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Edited

I seems like the fitting rational has set the gain too high for you or your hearing test is not accurate.

Anyhow, I see several issues.

  1. You bought these hearing aids from a Costco that’s 7 hours away from your home. I think that’s too far away.
    These hearing aids can be adjusted remotely. However, I don’t know if that’s something that this Costco and you can make work.

  2. If the hearing aid settings that the Philips software is telling your hearing fitter to use don’t work for you, Costco can’t really take the time to adjust the hearing aid much more than what their fitting program is telling them do.

  3. You don’t appear to be a hearing aid fitter.

If you are still within the return period, then take hearing aids back and get a refund.

You could call some local audiologists to see if they would adjust the programming in a Jabra or Rexton hearing aid bought at Costco for a fee. If one of them will do that, then exchanging the Philips for one of those other brands my be an option too.

If you are past the return period, then I would have Costco try different hearing aid fitting rationals to see if that fixes your issues.

I would also try to see if you can get remote fittings working between you and Costco, since you are seven hours away from the Costco. I think that would be big help, since the distance to this Costco is so far.

I hate to recommend DIY to someone who is not asking about it. But that may be another option if you or someone that can help you is willing to take that on. You can go to the DIY section here on this web site and they can tell you what you need.

Thank you for your reply. It’s really the Costco with an audiology department that’s closest to where I live. I opted for this solution because the price difference is enormous. I’m looking at the section right now. I’m still within the Philips return period, fortunately. I can see their potential, but my hearing is terrible and I don’t know if it’s a problem of adjustment or sound type.

I second the motion of having Costco do different setups on your ’s. When I first got my new KS9’s, they were absolutely horrible, and I got the “It’s the recommended program for your .” I told them that if they couldn’t get to the more natural hearing that I experienced with my old HA’s, they were going back. Adjustments helped a great deal. But it wasn’t until Costco got a new senior fitter that I finally got excellent results out of the KS9’s. Given the generally positive responses to the 9050’s, I’d say that reprogramming is a well worthwhile endeavor.

In reply to @user990

Wow! Not sure where to begin. I feel for you, and as I see it, right now, it is most important that you
a] Return the unit BEFORE it is too late! you can always buy it again!
b] You must get the aids programmed differently so as not to damage either your hearing or your brain!

I don’t know if Philips can be fitted by non Costco fitters.
They are not locked, meaning that I myself can make all the changes I want. With the HearSuite software. Perhaps you can call some smaller hearing places very local to you, and find a skilled practitioner who will for a fee do the programming.

Around my area - places charge about $200 for a fitting session.
HOWEVER, if you sign up for a year of service - you get TWELVE sessions for $1200. So that is very reasonable. You must develop some rapport with the fitter. You must be seen as a person. Too many practitioners, just look at you like a chair - NEXT!

I saw some YouTube videos about programming Philips.
BUT my caution is that the one video I actually watched, did not impress me with true knowledge and understanding of either the science or the software. should be considered, if you want to spend the time to understand both hearing/sound theory, as well as the particular idiosyncrasies of the hearing aids - their processing modes and the programming software’s various screens and controls for those modes.

You said something that struck me - and this idea just came to me, I hope others with particular relevant knowledge will correct me, or have better suggestion - but:

Currently your hearing aids are more noise stress, than sensible sound - so they are not helping your brain maintain its strength.
While trying to get your hearing aids working, you need to still be exposed to meaningful sounds I think. Much of what you will find to listen to on air or online, I categorize as noise! Either it is slurred speech buried in noise - or it is noise claiming to be music (sorry but I was brought up on classical music and opera!)

HOWEVER, perhaps it could be therapeutic (and I hope experts could clarify) to listen to Shakespearean actors, or great English actors like Burton, Gielgud, Olivier reading poetry etc. Their elocution might allow you ( possibly via a parametric equalizer - a more detailed equalizer ), to hear words clearly, intelligibly while still at a volume that is not harmful to your remaining hearing. You may also want to give Gilbert and Sullivan operettas a listen. William Shwenk Gilbert was a stickler for speech clarity - even in the chorus - he insisted that every word was understood. Problem though is finding recordings that are old enough to have been made under the strict standards of 50s - 80s and the recording fidelity not to be undermined by vinyl hiss clicks and pops!
Another idea is to watch good renditions of some classic movies like Becket, The Lion in Winter, or movies with James Mason for example.

The Philips hearing aids are not locked. However, they seem to be exclusive to Costco in North America. So I doubt any independent is going to have the programing software since it works with Philips only. Nor do I think and independent is going to want to deal with it.

I believe the Jabra and Rexton hearing aids can be programed with their parent company’s programing software. So it may be possible to get an independent to program those hearing aid brands.

@user990 said:

they seem to be exclusive to Costco in North America

No they are are worldwide at Costco, not many countries not getting them.

@user990 said:

So I doubt any independent is going to have the programing software since it works with Philips only.

A bit of a grey area, some do and have done, the Hearsuite is available free of charge to any clinic that requires it, but as you say it’s not easy to find a clinic, a lot of shopping around.

@user990 said:

I believe the Jabra and Rexton hearing aids can be programed with their parent company’s programing software

Yes for Jabra which uses ReSound SmartFit software, for Rexton it’s the Rexton flavoured version of Connexx software, still all freely available for any clinic that wants it, but it’s this very problem the caused to just take off these last few years, so if the clinic won’t do it then DIY is always an option.

No I meant only at Costco worldwide, the independent clinic has Oticon/Bernafon or Sonic, which are rebranded as Phillips.

I thought there were other channels internationally (outside the US) as they provide three tech levels (or so?) and Costco only has the highest one.

WH

My isn’t any better than yours (I haven’t uploaded the most recent one yet) and I have the Philips. I’m not experiencing what you are although I did somewhat with the previous Jabras I had (returned to Costco). Just to let you know that there’s nothing wrong with the Philips per se. The fitting is another thing of course. They’re not working for you, so they have to change something to make them work for you or you return them.

Remind them politely that you are an experienced hearing aid user. There’s not a lot of adjusting left for your brain to do. Also, you were an Oticon user. Same manufacturer, probably similar sound.

Are you wearing domes or molds? I went back to power domes with the fitter’s blessing and I’m much more comfortable with them. I don’t think I’ve sacrificed much speech comprehension. Whether or not that works for you probably depends on the shape of your ear canal. My fitter is very client-focused and I’m not sure they all are, but you could always ask.

Self-programming. You’re risking a bit of money and a bit of time, but if you’re careful about taking things slow and saving your changes that’s about it. If you go down that road make sure you save your first session before making any changes. Change one setting at a time and test.

All the best. I hope you get those problems sorted.

Why you say is a risk if money? And time sure won’t be the long travel !
In addition to saving a session also save the original as different customer.

I would not CREEP up on a correction in the gain settings. At the start make a bit larger. Then go back a bit.

You can hear in real time if playing via speakers- right in front of you of sound sources.

In reply to @IGZO

@IGZO said:

Why you say DIY is a risk if money?

The device isn’t free. Money well spent though if it helps them understand the issues. The first thing I’d do would be to look at the settings in Feature Selection: Transient Noise Reduction, Comfort Control, Noise Reduction Mode.

Those are legacy models though.

The 50 is the same case as the current Bernafon Encanta.
The 40 is the same case as the Alpha XT - Similar to Real
The 30 is the same case as the Alpha - Roughly More/Own level.

In reply to @Um_bongo

I guess I’m not the only one that think there are multiple tech levels. Near the bottom of this page4:

In the United States, Costco exclusively offers only the HearLink 9050 model, the “90” series being the highest-tech option in the Philips 50 series. Internationally, however, you may have access to lower-tier models like the 7050 and 5050.

I dunno. My google-fu has let me down.

WH

When i got my aids at Costco i tried both the Phillips and the Jabra, and chose the Jabra for that reason. The sound was more natural.

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