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Best programs to use with Kirkland Signature 7

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I wanted to make this thread about selecting the most useful programs, but I realized that I cannot even find the list of available ones. When I got my aids, I selected ‘Television’ program, but it is not even listed the KS7 manual.

Here is the list of available programs (according to the user guide):
Automatic

[INDENT=2]Adjusts to all environments for maximum speech clarity
[/INDENT]

Reverb Reducer

[INDENT=2]Reduces echo in reverberant environments
[/INDENT]

Noise Party

[INDENT=2]For crowded places with lots of background noise
[/INDENT]

iFocus 360

[INDENT=2]Lets you hear people talking beside or behind you without
turning your head[/INDENT]

Television

Music Enhancer - Listening with speakers

Music enhancer - Listening at a live value

Music Enhancer - Playing an instrument

Outdoor / Traffic

[INDENT=2]Hear sounds from all around and reduces wind noise

[/INDENT]
Phone - Telephone (acoustic)

Phone - XPhone

[INDENT=2]Phone calls are automatically heard in both ears when a
phone is held up to one ear
[/INDENT]

Phone - (T)

“T” is telecoil alone

Phone - Telecoil (mT)

[INDENT=2]“mT” is telecoil, with microphones still on but at reduced level
[/INDENT]

Phone - Telecoil (MT)

[INDENT=2]“MT” is telecoil, with microphones at full level.
[/INDENT]

My audi recommended Automatic and Noise Party, and I added Music and Television

Automatic so far proved most useful, I change it to Noise Party if I am in noisy environment.

Corona mentioned that Reverb Reducer is helpful, so I will add it the next time I go to Costco

I am asking other users to share their experience with other programs, and help in getting the list of all available programs

10 people in this conversation8 min readJump to latest

My said the Reverb Reducer program is particularly useful if you have hardwood floors and high ceilings. I don’t so I didn’t choose that. I’ve had one opportunity to check out the program, but I found that I had to change seats with someone to find a spot in the auditorium where it worked.

Which music program did you add? There are 3: listening to live music, listening to recorded music and listening to music while performing. (These aren’t quotes, but paraphrases.

Edited

In reply to @MDB

I tried all of the music programs and they seemed to behave the way they’re claimed to. So I’d just go with the titles. (For example, the live music program uses a directional mic pattern – you’re looking at the stage – while the recorded music one is omni – so you can move around in your (quiet, distraction-free) living room and have it sound okay.)

As for the programs, I made a picture. See below. And note that there isn’t a separate program, at least not as they show up in Connexx. There are three possible telecoil variants of the Phone program, though. “T” is telecoil alone; “mT” is telecoil, with microphones still on but at reduced level; “MT” is telecoil, with microphones at full level. So I assume if you wanted to take advantage of loops in theatres, or your living room, you’d use one of those.

Oh, and you can have the same program in two slots. So you could have, say, slot 2 with the Telephone program set up for the telephone, and slot 3 with the Telephone program set up for using a loop in theatres or whatever. You can change the names, too, so as not to get confused.

I do find the Reverb Reducer program helpful, but… I found it hard to set up, and as I did finally set it, it’s pretty radical. That is, it doesn’t sound very nice. But I can hear people on the other side of acoustically crappy spaces and that’s what I wanted. I only use it when the Automatic program doesn’t work.


Wow - 3 different music enhancement settings - one even for a musician. I wonder if they work, and I wonder if they could be approximated on Trax 42s. Music has always been important to me, and I haven’t been able to find a setting that isn’t annoying.

These are the music programs (and I don’t know if they are the same in the Trax 42):

Live: directional miking (since you’re in the audience looking at the stage), extended frequency response
Musician: omni miking (since you’re amongst the other artistes), extended frequency response
Recorded: omni miking (since you’re at home, it’s quiet, and you want to be able to move around), more linear frequency response

BTW I got this information from a 10-minute talk on audiologyonline.com25 – a super-valuable resource.

Well this is of course in the realm of hearing-aid-magic, but here’s what’s in the information balloons the Connexx pops up for these features. And I don’t know if you were told this or not, but at Costco they said to me that the iFocus 360 program is mainly for use in cars.

-One automatically-selected microphone setting in the Automatic program is called “Auto iFocus 360,” and there’s a little picture of a car attached to it.

The tooltip says…

“Side selection (left or right) is automatically handled by the QuadCore system. Unl ike systems which copy the signal to the contralateral ear side, ifocus 360 uses true side directionality for superior localization. The microphone focus automatically tracks to the side, behind, or to the front of the wearer, depending on the direction of the loudest speech siqnal.”

The “iFocus 360” program gives only one microphone setting, and that’s “iFocus 360” (nothing about autos, and no picture of a car)

The tooltip says…

“This mode uses QuadCore Audio Exchange to achieve a true directional response to the side of the wearer. Side selection (left or right) is automatically handled by the QuadCore system. Unlike systems which copy the signal to the contralateral ear side, iFocus 360 uses true side directionality for superior localization. The microphone focus automatically tracks to the side, behind, or to the front of the wearer, depending on the direction of the loudest speech signal.”

Are these two statements identical? Just asking…

I initially tried the iFocus 360 program – actually, the Costco audi had set it up – but didn’t find it a lot of use, mainly because I’m never in a car, basically.

I couldn’t find any other documentation. Maybe somebody else knows more.

Many thanks for that information. Since the KS7s only have 6 programs, I’ll pass on the iFocus 360. There are several other good ones to try.

I got my KS7s last night (replacing my Rexton Quintras), so I have a lot of experimenting to do. I had them install:

1 Automatic (obviously)
2 Noise / Party
3 TV
4 Outdoor / Wind
5 X-Phone
6 … tbd

The interesting thing is that the Costco Audi didn’t know about several of these programs. I had learned about them in this forum, and told him what I wanted. He had to scratch around to find them :smiley:

My Costco Audi never mentioned any thing about “programs”. How do I change from one to another. I got my KS 7.0 several weeks ago and have a follow up next week. This is one of many questions I have for him. Do I need smart connect to change programs? What do they charge for smart connect? Do these programs work with a single ?

Your Costco Audi needs to add the programs. Before I’d be eager to add programs, are there situations where you’re not happy with the hearing aids? If you have a smart phone, you can download an app that allows you to change programs. If you go the Smart Connect route, I think you still need a smart phone.
However, you can still change programs if the audi programs the ability to change programs into the buttons. I’m guessing you can just change volume with the buttons now. You should still be able to change programs with one hearing aid, but you’re not getting any of the advanced features that rely on 2 sets of microphones. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just buy one of the Rexton Trax 42s, Phonak Brio2 or Resound Cala8?

Just got my first set of tonight, and got the KS7. I went with the following:

  1. Automatic
  2. Reverb Reducer (which he didn’t know they had)
  3. Music - speakers
  4. Outdoor/traffic
  5. Television
  6. Noise/party

In reply to @MDB

Oh my… This so wrong

@MDB said:

Your Costco Audi needs to add the programs. Before I’d be eager to add programs, are there situations where you’re not happy with the hearing aids? If you have a smart phone, you can download an app that allows you to change programs. If you go the Smart Connect route, I think you still need a smart phone.
However, you can still change programs if the audi programs the ability to change programs into the buttons. I’m guessing you can just change volume with the buttons now. You should still be able to change programs with one hearing aid, but you’re not getting any of the advanced features that rely on 2 sets of microphones. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just buy one of the Rexton Trax 42s, Phonak Brio2 or Resound Cala8?

Doc Jake, I admit my statement was kind of convoluted, but I’m pretty sure it’s accurate. The way Costco initially sets up the aids is with just the auto program. Costco can add programs and those programs can be accessed via the push button controls. The can also be accessed through a smartphone app. I’m not familiar with the Smart Connect, but there is a smart phone app for it and they recommend not having both the remote app and smart connect app as they will conflict. I’m not sure how it would work with just one hearing aid. Would love clarification where I’m inaccurate.

In reply to @MDB

@MDB said:

Your Costco Audi needs to add the programs. Before I’d be eager to add programs, are there situations where you’re not happy with the hearing aids? If you have a smart phone, you can download an app that allows you to change programs. If you go the Smart Connect route, I think you still need a smart phone.
However, you can still change programs if the audi programs the ability to change programs into the buttons. I’m guessing you can just change volume with the buttons now. You should still be able to change programs with one hearing aid, but you’re not getting any of the advanced features that rely on 2 sets of microphones. Would her it be cheaper to just buy one of the Rexton Trax 42s, Phonak Brio2 or Resound Cala8?

​help me with this…

Yeah, typo makes that pretty unintelligible. :>) Poster asks if programs work with a single and from his he has a 110db loss across the board in the left ear. KS 7.0s are only sold in pairs (I think as that’s how they’re advertised–but I guess there’s a possibility they would sell a single. ) If he’s only using one of them, I was thinking it could be cheaper to buy a single hearing aid of one of the ones mentioned, as I’m pretty sure Costco will sell them individually. If he’s only using one hearing aid, he’s not getting the features that require two hearing aids. However, if Costco will sell an individual KS 7.0, than that would likely be cheaper than one of the others. Sorry for the confusion.

[quote=Doc Jake;148247][/B]​help me with this…[/QUOTE

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