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Costco 2024 - Jabra Enhance Pro 20 vs Philips 9040

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In my quest to obtain new updated hearing aids, I am focused on Costco offerings. They offer a few different models, including the Jabra Enhance Pro 20 and Philips 9040. I was focused on the Jabra simply because it was only recently introduced, and (per marketing literature) had tons of new features. I started a thread a month ago regarding the Jabra Pro 20 and Android phones, and issues encountered. And yes, there are issues.
I have recently received a new Android Galaxy S24U phone, and then made an appointment at Costco for an updated hearing test. Surprising to me was the tech’s recommendation of the Philips 9040. Am going to be reading about the 9040 to see if that is on par with the Jabra, OR if it actually encounters fewer operating issues. I think the 9040 has been around awhile (not recently introduced), no nothing yet about features. I believe the tech recommended the 9040 due to “better” fitting domes (???) in the ear canal, as he said the 9040 and the Jabra Pro 20 do the same thing, just having “different approaches”.
The hearing tech said they would recommend adding only one custom configuration, for bike riding using the Philips. The other noisy situations (restaurants, noisy environments, hiking, conference calls) are essentially covered by the modern without needing special configurations. Don’t know if that is what they would do with the Jabra Pro 20 as well.
So…am going to read up on the Philips 9040 and any comparisons of features/capabilities/issues with Android etc. Your experiences with either would be highly appreciated. Thx

24 people in this conversation37 min readJump to latest

9040 came out approximately April/May 2023.

I got the Jabra pro 10 in March 2023.

Had I known they were not going to give me the microphone in ear on the Jabra I may have pushed for the 9030 at the time and saved $100. I was told that the mic in ear would cause feedback at the time of pickup. Felt duped.

Apologies if I used the wrong term for the in ear feature.

I’m having issues with my Jabra pair right now where i am not hearing things through the microphones so it’s like I’m wearing ear plugs. The streaming still works.

I’m also an iPhone user so can’t address anything android related.

Edited

There has just been an announcement about the Philips 9050 to be released at Costco soon. So maybe you should wait until it comes out, instead of going for the 9040.

The 9040 has 2 new main features added over the 9030, the sudden sound stabilizer and the improved wind & handling management. That’s probably the Costco recommends the bike riding program. But honestly, I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to enable these 2 new features in almost all the programs, except maybe the music program.

The 9050 will have a new feature called the SoundGuide, which is an accelerometer to detect head movements and use it to decide how to treat noise reduction in speech more appropriately. They also claim that their Noise Reduction feature (I consider that their core technology) to have been improved with up to 12 noise attenuation.

In your learning up about the Philips 9040 some more, you will probably come across some suggestion that the Philips 9040 is just a rebranded Oticon Real, because Philips licensed its technologies from William Demant, who also owns Oticon (and Bernafon and Sonic). I agree that they indeed share many peripheral technologies as well as accessories, which gives the impression that they’re the same. But I personally think that their core technologies are different. Both are based on AI, but the Oticon is a Deep Neural Network version, and the Philips is an AI Noise Reduction version. So don’t walk away thinking that you’ve bought an equivalent of the Oticon Real in the Philips 9040, that is, if you decide to go with the Philips aids.

I bought Pro 10s last February because I thought they were better than 9030s; the 9040s weren’t available yet. I tried out the 9040s when they came out, and I thought sound was more natural than the Pro 10s, but I was hooked on the ReSound Multi Mic, and Philips had nothing like it, so I kept the Pro 10s.

I rode my bike for a little over 1,000 miles last year using the Jabra/ReSound standard and outdoor programs. The do wind noise suppression fine. I was very grateful to be able to hear cars come up behind me.

Will your Costco program both the Jabra and the Philips for you so you can walk around the store for 20-30 minutes and make a quick comparison and choice?

@japple: I got my Pro 10s with regular receivers, but the audi (sic) was happy to order M&’s for me, even though her experience was that only a small percentage of her customers like them. I didn’t like them, perhaps because I need powerful receivers. Perhaps telling your Costco that you want to try the M&RIEs will get a a factual explanation of why they won’t order for you. ReSound recommends not using M&RIE is a lot of situations, one or more of which might apply to you,

My tip would be to RUN from the Costco h.i.s…
What he said makes zero sense. He is either new or incompetent or uneducated or all 3

Edited

In reply to @Volusiano

Volusiano, interesting post about the 9050. Can you share where you heard about this? So far I cannot find an internet reference to it. If “soon”, I could wait a bit, still need to evaluate between the Philips and the Jabra for working with the Android phone. Thx

EDIT: a 12 db reduction in wind noise is HUGE. As in HUGE. Definitely going to be asking Costco about the 9050, and doing a comparison between the Philips and Jabra .

9050 announcement:

Philips HearLink 9050 to hit Costco soon? With similar tech to Oticon Intent?
By coincidence, I had an appointment with my hearing aid specialist at Costco today, and based on her previous recommendation and my own research was planning to order the Philips 9040. Yesterday I read about Philips’ announcement of the 9050, so when I saw the HAS (or should that be HIS?) this afternoon I asked her if she knew when the 9050 was likely to be available at Costco. She was completely unaware of the 9050, but said this was typical, they normally only hear about new products a few da…

In reply to @smcc

@smcc said:

EDIT: a 12 db reduction in wind noise is HUGE. As in HUGE. Definitely going to be asking Costco about the 9050, and doing a comparison between the Philips and Jabra HAs.

Looks like @brec beat me in sharing the thread link on this forum about the 9050 introduction. There’s a link in there to the 9050 whitepaper that can give more information as well.

I want to clarify that 12 noise attenuation is for the Noise Reduction feature that can attenuate up to 12 dB of noise from speech. It’s not 12 dB of wind noise attenuation. BUT, I hear from many Oticon Real users that the wind noise feature in the Real is significantly better than its previous model, the More. So the Philips 9040 wind noise feature is the same as the Real wind noise feature, and many bikers have attested to how much it’s better compared to the More wind noise handling. I think you will like that feature in the 9040 and 9050 if you’re a biker yourself.

Hi @billgem , it’s in post # 8 above that @brec shared. It’s just a link to the thread created by Abram about the 9050 announcement. There’s a link in the first post for the whitepaper as well.

But I think you’re looking for an official announcement that has a concrete release date for the Philips. That I haven’t seen anywhere. So in this sense, your question brings up a good point that the 9050 may not be coming as soon as we hope. Maybe not worth waiting for by our OP on this thread.

smcc, I have the 9040. I previously had the KS10/Phonak. Here is my experience with wind noise.

I have an electric scooter that I use for golf. It goes a bit over 30 mph on the street to/from the courses.

With the KS10 the wind noise was so strong that I would have to turn them down when going on a street. I am normally able to block out wind noise, but with the KS10 at 20+ mph it was just too much, could not block out the annoyance, also I felt I was safer with the aids turned down.

Not considering wind noise reduction to be a priority when I bought new hearing aids, I didn’t pay much attention to the wind noise reduction claims for the 9040. Plus I am experienced enough with hearing aids that I probably would have ignored any claim, anyway - in my experience claims on the part of of reduced wind noise are hollow.

I was stunned at the improvement in wind noise reduction, first time I drove the scooter with the new HA. It was almost like I remember, back in the day when I could hear normally - some wind buffeting but nothing bothersome. Amazing improvement over the KS10.

I picked up a pair of Jabra Enhance Pro 20s a week ago, largely because I wanted to have the M$ receivers. The fitting software has several options for what type of directionality is activated in your Hear In Noise program. I’m not finished getting these Jabras programmed for my needs, but I wanted to share something with other Jabra 20 buyers. There is a Costco fitter who produces YouTube videos and he has discovered something interesting about the Jabra Hear In Noise settings. Here is the link so you can check it out if you like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EARIFJL-L8&t=333s473

Edited

Thank you for the link mxb986. That Costco fitter has a number of videos and am going thru them now. As I am in the midst of deciding between the Jabra EP 20 and the Philips 9040, this is helpful. Plus, on a different video, the fitter made the comment that the Jabra has “hands down the best background noise suppression.” I also like the ability to focus on someone in front of you (as described for the Jabra EP20), also on a different video by the fitter.
Will visit Costco this week and talk to a senior tech there that I know and get his opinion, along with any (?) info on the possible Philips 9050.

I find the “Outdoor” setting very useful on my Jabra EP20s–I love these aids, BTW. Have not trialed the Philips, but have worn my Jabras with complete pleasure for 6 months. I have the “third” mic and find I can hear well in new situations without further gadgetry (ie, my Macbook laptop with no connectors or special settings). I also find the “Hear in Noise” setting very useful.

I watched “The hearing club” on the YouTube videos. He reviewed both the Philips and the Jabra EH pro 20’s. Based on his reviews I purchased the Jabra’s. I’ve used several ’s over the years and these Jabra’s are really good. I love the control I have with their app. The TV streamer + using is great. I also like the fact that the Jabra’s can use Auracast signals…which will probably be the Bluetooth signal used all over in the next few years. The “Hear in Noise” setting on the Jabra works well in noisy restaurant situations. I’m sure the Philips is a great HA, but the Jabra app is from what I’ve heard a better app.

I found the Rexton tulip domes better than any of the ReSound domes for my Pro 10s; I imagine that would be true for Pro 20s. I found well-fitting molds better than the tulip domes. I’ve been using molds that encase the receivers for the last week, and they’re significantly better than the regular molds (moulds). YMMV.

I got unexpected positive results from the Hear in Noise program a few days ago. In a noisy, echo-y environment, with lots of people around, I found myself on a bench talking with a couple. We couldn’t face each other directly, but I could understand what the person next to me was saying, even though she was soft-spoken. I had more trouble with her husband, who was next to her (so farther away from me) and even more soft-spoken, but just hearing her was a surprise.

In reply to @Volusiano

Where is the announcement? I spoke to the hearing aid folks at my Costco yesterday and they didn’t know anything about it. They did assure me that I could swap my newly purchased 9040s if the new model comes out within the 6 month exchange window.

Edited

Would like to hear from others on their experiences with the JEP20.

Today is Day 1.5 (picked them up yesterday) with the Jabra Enhance Pro 20 at Costco. As per “The hearing club” on YouTube, I was also swayed to give these a try. So far, limited experience of course, but several observations as I am trying to learn how to best use these. As background, these are replacing my 5 year old Resounds (also purchased at Costco).

  1. The Costco tech configured the new with a headset that actually measured the sound volumes in my ear, based on both the frequency/pitch of the speaker, and the volume of the speech. I don’t recall this happening before (but it’s been awhile, so I may have just forgot), which could be the reason I had to keep fiddling with the phone app.
  2. Due to the fitting, the Costco tech talked me out of having additional programs on the JEP20 for the next 2 weeks, as he says that most people he fits do not need the program if the HAs are set up correctly. I am skeptical at this point, but he may be right. I may ask for the Hear in Noise program if I do decide it would help.
  3. Listening for the first time was dramatically different than my older Resounds. As in LOUD. The tech said to not lower the sound for a bit as I will adjust to these. Getting home and later watching TV, they didn’t seem overly loud, but I did note that I didn’t have to turn the volume up as much, and I could better understand the dialogue. So, that is a plus for sure.
  4. The fit on these within my ear is more sensitive than my earlier HAs. That is, I could get away with just sticking the old HAs in my ear that seemed to work ok, but these will provide feedback noise if not properly set in the ear. Maybe the old ones also provided similar feedback, but I just couldn’t hear it.
  5. Trying to decide if the existing noise filter software is adequate or not. For one, I am hearing more noisey stuff. On the other hand, I could hear female speech more clearly. Hmmmm…
  6. The Jabra app is actually an update to my older Resound app, so that is pretty familiar on how to use. That’s good.

So, my hearing is greatly improved, which I like. However, I am also hearing more “noise” (regardless of frequency) which I was unaware of before. Per the tech, my brain will adjust to this new environment over the next 2 weeks, and if so, perhaps this is just my brain’s adjustment period.

And, I have yet to use these in a very noisy environment, which will be a make/break test for me.

Any observations would be appreciated. Thx to the members of this board.

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