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Costco and reprogramming

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I have Resound Forte aids from Costco that I purchased in late 2017. All had been well with them until a few months ago when I detected a increase in my hearing loss. I went back in and had a new hearing test done and yes there was a loss but was told it’s pretty close to what it was in 2017. This tech did reprogram them but I’m still struggling with the new settings. Is it me or the programming?? Sounds like my spouses voice are unnatural, and as if in a tube or something. How does one know if it’s your new loss in frequencies or if the aids just need to be tweaked? This will be the 3rd time I’ve gone back for an adjustment. How many times can one try to get it right? My older aids are Widex and they sound more natural than the Resounds now. I bought new ones for Bluetooth technology.

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Have them compare your programming from 2017 to today. One of the “main” target settings may be different. I got new a few months ago and I hated how loud my voice sounded. I finally asked to compare and we had my old ones on “First Time User” and the new one on “Experienced User Linear”. Switched back to “First Time User” and my voice didn’t over-ride other voices. We tried a few other settings and one of them sounded “tinny” ( something). Now, With my new ear molds, I like 'Experienced User- NonLinear".

No not loud just distorted or hollow maybe? It’s hard to describe. My in 2017 and one taken this past month are almost identical…except for the 10 decibel loss pretty much across the board.
I try to adjust the bass or treble on my iPhone but it doesn’t seem to do much…no feedback now.
Thanks

It is not unusual that hearing aids will fail by 4 years. My starkey’s needed repair every 6-9 months. Maybe it is time to test the new $1400 KS10s.

I have Resounds from Costco. Decided to trial a set of Rextons because of advancements and rechargeability.
!) stated he could adjust to get close to my natural hearing. UNREALISTIC!
2) Adjusted so every sound was loud. The HVAC unit outside the office drove me nuts. Could not make out voices over background. He too stated had adjusted using ‘advanced wearer adjustment scale’ Could not get the new distant/remote adjustment feature to work. He said I guess you just do not care for the hearing aids. I returned them and went back to using my Resounds.

Edited

@25Firefighter: What happened to the Ruby2s you said you we’re getting? I’m confused?

How long did you try the ReSounds for before you returned them, and how many times did the Costco fitter try to adjust them to your liking? My concern is that, quite frankly, I can’t keep up with your journey, and I’m wondering whether you’re giving Costco a bad rep because you may be impatient.

Why do I care? Because friends of mine are not as fortunate as I am, and can’t afford a private audiologist. They can and do rely on Costco for affordable, high quality hearing devices. I’d hate for someone with an untreated hearing loss get turned off Costco because of undeserved bad reports. There’s enough negative slant against Costco as it is, IMHO.

Since this topic is about Costco’s ability to service what they sell, I wanted to challenge your narrative, because I’m unsure about whether you gave Costco a fair shake. I wouldn’t want someone who needs their low prices to be turned off for no good reason.

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[EDIT for the OP: I wear Oticon More devices, which are performing really well for new that I’m still getting used to. I have been back to my (great) private audiologist 4x already since March 2, with 2 more sessions scheduled for June 10 and July 10.

The purpose of the additional fitting sessions? It is as @cvkemp (Chuck) keeps saying - our (audi + me) goal is to wring every ounce of hearing performance out of our instruments as is humanly possible. (Humanly, because things change as our brains adapt, and sometimes, adjustment errors need to be corrected…)

So yes - it takes that much time to “get things right”!]

With my OPN1 aids it was monthly appointments making, and a couple of times resetting to default and trying something different. We did the monthly appointments for about a year. But when I was upgraded to OPNS1 aids we were able to transfer my OPN1 settings to the OPNS1 for the majority of the fitting then set the settings that were different in the two aids, and including the change in receivers. I am hope we can do pretty much the same from the OPNS1 to More1 aids.

@tragess, as @SpudGunner and @cvkemp say, the goal is to wring every bit of hearing improvement as possible out of your , no matter how many audi visits it takes. I couldn’t agree more. BUT,at Costco’s price point a HA sale becomes unprofitable pretty quickly if a customer returns many times for adjustments.
When I first started wearing HAs in 2013 I went to Costco first. I bought what they had at the time and was dissatisfied. I returned the first pair and tried another Costco brand. I didn’t like those either. At that point, Costco, shall we say, strongly suggested I see a private audiologist. I did, and I got some HAs I was much happier with.
A few years later there was a lot of buzz about a new Costco HA, so I went to Costco and asked if I could try them. They looked up the previous Costco audi’s notes on me and were hesitant to give me another trial. After I very nicely asked some rather probing questions, they admitted that the audi’s notes recommended that Costco no longer accept me as a HA patient. I talked them into a short trial (I tried the HAs and I didn’t like them).
To be fair, during all this time I had an undiagnosed acoustic neuroma growing on one of my auditory nerves. Neither the Costco audi nor I knew that at the time. They couldn’t have been expected to adjust for that.
But the point here is that Costco shares notes across all their stores. If it is vital to you that you remain eligible for Costco HA services, in my opinion, you should be careful not to request too many adjustment appointments, unless you buy another pair of HAs from them. Also, a 10dB loss across the board DOES sound pretty significant. Maybe a visit to an would be in order. Good luck.

Thanks all. I am seeing my soon but meanwhile back to Costco. He hasn’t worked much on programming…but spent
some time demonstrating in store how the mini mic I bought is used. Hope I don’t get blacklisted! :face_with_raised_eyebrow::slightly_smiling_face:

Edited

@ziploc: If what you’re saying is correct, it makes a strong case for going to a private audiologist if any kind of unusual underlying condition is present.

But I guess that begs the question: “How would one know about such a condition given that most Costco fitters -unlike audiologists - are not trained in making [EDIT to reflect @MDB’ s info, below] differential diagnoses of subtler medical conditions?”

The only analogy I can think of is orthotic insoles for shoes. I paid $400+ Cdn for custom orthotics a couple of years ago. I went the custom route because I was born with a club foot. It got straightened out, but my feet are different sizes and shapes.

They are different enough that my parents had to buy me 2 different sized pairs of shoes when I was a child.

With my medical history, I doubt that I could have gotten by with off-the-rack insoles from Marks, so I saw a podiatrist. Had I had normally-shaped feet, I’d have spent $40 on a pair of mass-produced orthotics, and saved a bundle.

I’m taking in all these comments - not because I will ever be a Costco hearing aid customer - but because I have friends who need hearing aids, but couldn’t afford $6,000 Cdn for a private audiologist like the excellent one that :canada: Veterans Affairs Canada :canada: sends me to.

They can, however, manage the $1,800 or so that KS10s cost in Canada, so I’ve been telling them to try Costco because I feel that the Costco option is better than leaving a hearing loss untreated.

I suppose it’s always true that “ya gets what ya pays for” … but I’m still inclined to send my friends to Costco - with caveats. This information about unspoken limits on fitting adjustments is valuable, and I will be passing it on when discussing Costco as an alternative source of hearing devices.

Costco does have certain “red flags” that they will refer you back to a doctor or . However some medical issues can present in subtle fashion and in this case it sounds like Costco and another audiologist missed them.

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