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Costco Kirkland Signature 6.0

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In reply to @LarryJ

I have pretty severe tinnitus that sounds like 10,000 crickets off in the distance. Using the Costco KS6 aids diminishes the tinnitus while wearing and for a few hours after. Perfect for me. The KS6’s do NOT have any tinnitus masker included.

Quick question on the KS6’s from Costco. My came with these 3 programs: All Around, Restaurant, and Music. Is there any documentation that explains the available programs and how they are programmed? Someone mentioned “Party”? I plan to have to have my Audie add a “Car” program that I am hoping maximizes noise suppression when working with equipment outside. I live on a farm and don’t always wear muffs like I should. Also, what is the best program for watching TV? I have high freq loss and have a hard time with voices on the TV. I am brand new to HA’s so try to be kind in your responses. Thanks!

I don’t need a car program but seldom have people in the back seat. The restaurant program is for moderate noise. If that doesn’t seem adequate, you could switch it to the party program which limits noise more but may not resolve speech quite as much. I really use the all-around 90% of the time or more. You may want to add a music program. But, I really don’t use all 4 programs a lot.

If you have the phone clip, you can mute the aids when you are in a noisy situation without your hearing protection. Depending on the domes, that will be some help.

I will be getting fitted this Thursday for The KS6. My question has to do with the phone clip+. I am coming from Phonak aids using the myPilot, an ICOM for streaming. I love the idea of getting rid of devices and being able to stream right from the iPhone to the aids, most of the time. I’m considering buying the phone clip+ For a few common issues I have while I’m at work. One is the hands-free phone use. The other is what I have a question about. The situation is, I need to pause the streaming podcast that I’m listening to quickly without pulling my phone out. Will any of the buttons on the phone clip pause the streaming like the single button push on the icom? Thanks

Edited

The Phone Clip + works great as a Bluetooth adapter to a device that does not support direct Bluetooth, such as a Bluetooth adapter for a desk phone. And it is a rather basic remote for the aids, controlling volume and program selection. But that is it, it will not support pausing streaming. It only costs $110 compared to the $500 that audi’s charge for the iCom. So sorry, but the answer is NO. You can find the User Manual online to corroborate that in case anyone disputes it.

I recently completed two additional hearing tests to confirm and/or compare with the hearing test I took at Costco in Estero(FL) April 29. One was at Hearing Connection on May 2 and then another one on May 3 with Costco in Fort Myers. The tests from May 2 & 3 were nearly similar but both were significantly different from the one on April 29.

4/29/16
F 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k
L 70 65 80 90 90 90
R 70 70 80 90 90 95
110-120
@90dB L44 R52

5/03/16
F 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k
L 55 65 70 80 80 85
R 55 60 70 80 85 85
UCL 110-120
WRS@95dB L76 R72

The Senior Hearing Aid Specialist from Costco of Fort Myers the most detailed and took more time with the test. In previous tests (except the last two) during the tone audiometry, the first tone would always trigger phantom tones in my head making it difficult to discriminate the tones at lower levels. Changing to a warble type tone was more helpful towards recognizing it.

In a previous post, it was kindly recommended that I consider like Widex with Audibility Extender. There is an medical practice nearby that can fit Widex. I have an appointment with them, however, I anticipate that their pricing may be more that I can afford at this time. But I am going to have a look at everything. Also, perhaps there may be some benefit to digital HAs with linear sound processing as I always did like the analog hearing aid sound the best.

I have KS6 hearing aids. I connect to an iPhone 5s and ipad mini2. Both apple devices running ios 9.3.1.

Occasionally the hearing aids will beep and I find that the volume has changed. The volume change is visable when viewing in the Kirkland signature choice application. I then change volume back to the default level that I normally use.

The volume change happens when the iPhone and ipad are locked.

Any ideas?

Edited

No I have not set any favorites. Also volume change is not always the same amount. Also sometimes the volume will show both l and r volume sliders. I normally leave the volume with just the single slider.

It is not a big deal but would be a real pain of I did not have an iPhone.

You might remove and then reinstall the iPhone app. When things are a bit wonkey, that’s always something to try. You could turn off the iPhone to see if it still switches around the same.

I will try uninstalling the Kirkland signature choice app and reinstalling. I probably will not try turning off the iPhone. The issue does not happen daily. I may try turning Bluetooth off on Apple devices and see what happens.

Well, my loss is as bad or worse than FDT’s. He’s gone to Costco and is comfortable with the dispenser. Why do you persist in quoting all the PR release you read? The providers you listed all give only temporary help and not lifetime support. Let the man seek his own satisfaction level with the longer term trial that actually last longer than the support offered by the three companies you tout. So, you want him to have more expensive aids and go online to buy wax protectors, and domes and pay whatever asked to get future adjustments. All this in the name of some idea you have from reading specs. Please consider further what you are doing. You are trying to be helpful but think more about long term satisfaction in a situation where every dispenser regularly posting here disagrees with what you propose.

In reply to @doubledown

@doubledown said:

I hope you are not one of those I only respond only when I am 1000% sure there was a sound. that’s not how hearing tests are done. you respond whenever you think you heard something. for the word recognition test you respond at all times. you make a guess at what is being said. you do not look at the speaker you guess what is being said. these tests are designed just like eye tests, they doubly check things to make sure you are not just guessing at things. not responding properly typically sets your audiogram worse than it should be and so the hearing aids are programmed to amplify sounds too loud. this can hurt your hearing.

also you’ve made the mistake of not getting a price quote over the phone. can you please call your audi and get a price quote for widex unique fusion 440 and widex unique fusion 330? ball park price. if they try hard not to provide it then ask for a general idea of how much they costs, nothing that you will hold them to.
also ask about the length of the trial period. around 30 days
ask about the penalty for not buying. around $300

it better not be more than $3k per aid. if it is then contact the following sites. get a price quote. get the trial period info. get the penalty info. there should be no penalty but confirm.
hearingrevolution.com
truehearing.com
ziphearing.com

the above are a third party that buys huge batches of aids that they sell via local audiologists who are willing to abide by their rules. the person you have an appointment with may be part of one of these groups. may be part of more than one of these groups. but I believe they have a rule that if you contact them first then you can’t get the prices on these sites. They are selling the widex aids for around $3200 for 2 aids at the 330 level. once you’ve gotten an appointment cancel the original appointment.

I post on this forum because I want insight and feedback, so thanks to everyone in that way. I do not have the knowledge and experience that many of the senior members of this forum have. DD I appreciate your comments, which are constructive and have helped me to become more informed. But please be careful with assumptions on what I did or did not do.

I started testing with retailers to get some benchmarks and information before my appointment. The first hearing test I did at the Estero Costco, may have been an off day for me. However, the specialist, while a very nice and warm person, is retiring next month. I always give people the benefit of the doubt, but in his case, he came across more as Resound specific technician and I have yet to receive a follow-up phone call from him regarding his promised consultation with a Resound audiologist, or something like that.

For most of my life, I tested and purchased HAs with an audiologist depending on where I lived. But I did go to Costco in the '90s because they provided the best value for analog hearing aids, and my audiologist recommended a certain model there. Later I got my first digital HA from an audiologist in Singapore when I was living abroad.

As someone who has tested in a sound booth more times than I will ever remember, I have always been a tone guesser and a word imitator. Some of my memories include headaches as kid and teenager from very long test sessions with multiple repeats of those tests.

My appointment with the ENT audiologist is this Friday, and they appear to carry almost all the HA brands. So I will be considering as many options as possible. Also, I will be paying for the hearing evaluation as a separate service, in part for reasons of my insurance co-pay and to keep my HA purchase independent of the test. When I dropped off my completed forms at the ENT, I inquired about ballpark prices and was told they try to be competitive with Zip pricing levels or Costco as best able. I like the idea of audiology within an ENT practice, which I have not seen before.

In reply to @KenP

@KenP said:

Well, my loss is as bad or worse than FDT’s. He’s gone to Costco and is comfortable with the dispenser. Why do you persist in quoting all the PR release you read? The providers you listed all give only temporary help and not lifetime support. Let the man seek his own satisfaction level with the longer term trial that actually last longer than the support offered by the three companies you tout. So, you want him to have more expensive aids and go online to buy wax protectors, and domes and pay whatever asked to get future adjustments. All this in the name of some idea you have from reading specs. Please consider further what you are doing. You are trying to be helpful but think more about long term satisfaction in a situation where every dispenser regularly posting here disagrees with what you propose.

It’s OK, that is the nature of online forums for members to post their opinion. I accept that but in the same way, the decision(s) that any member posts about should be respected as well.

To this day, I still have an aversion to phone calls although in most cases there is no problem. So I researched online to make notes about prices and specs. I like to work with an HA provider locally who truly understands my hearing loss issues and the newest hearing aid technology. This will be my first to buy HAs in Fort Myers.

I understand the KS6 is not compatible with the Apple Watch. What I’m trying to do is be able to control streaming music without pulling out my phone, for puase and play features. My question is, does anyone know if the Apple Watch could be used to control these features and possibly make phone calls. I am not trying to control the hearing aids. I am just trying to control the phone which is linked to the hearing aids. Thanks

Doubledown, I think you are a sincere person but lacking the qualifications to dictate what someone you barely know must do. As to my trashing you, I’ve tried very hard not to do that. Audiologist here are much stronger in their criticism of you. You aren’t a shill. You are just someone who believes all the tech hype out there. You then paint a black and white picture of product lines that aren’t close to that. People come here to get real user information not the technobabble you offer.

You keep reposting the same paragraphs. You must have them stored on a computer. The rest of us answer people as best we can on an individual basis. Maybe we aren’t always right but that gets cleared away in the thread. I have been wrong or incomplete at times – this is a casual forum. Being that anything that isn’t clear or right will get corrected. It is the nature of the beast and the reason so many here have been correcting you and these are the people who deserve our respect because they are in the field and yet are here helping without cost.

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