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Costco KS-9 and Partner Mic

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I have been wearing Costco KS-9 aids for about 3 years and am happy with them except when I am driving, and my wife is the passenger. My right ear has the worst hearing loss so with my wife on my right and road noise I struggle to understand her. If she is driving and I am the passenger I can understand her better. So, about a year ago I was told by the Costco tech that my KS-9 aids support the Partner Mic and I decided to try it even at $370. One problem that arose during my test period was my voice sounded very strange (hollow, echoy etc) and the tech could not seem to fix the problem. So, when I bought a new vehicle at this time which was must quieter, I decided to not keep the Mic and returned it. Now, a year later the driving problem with poor understanding conversations with the passenger has become more of a problem for me and I am starting to think about another test of the Partner mic and need some experiences from users of this mic and other less expensive options. Thanks for any advice.

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@vtuser said:

Now, a year later the driving problem with poor understanding conversations with the passenger has become more of a problem for me

If I’m in the same position, I use the Phonak Speech in 360 program. It works very well for driving.

I’m not 100% sure if your KS9 have it but as it’s meant to be a Phonak Marvel, they could have that program.

Me too. Note that Target allows a setup where when activated by the left aid button it focuses left and vice versa. Useful when you just have the one passenger/are the passenger or when out walking in noise.

@vtuser

Just found out that the program you need for your KS9 is called Speech Direct but it does the same thing as Speech in 360.

It’s very good for the car. If you get DirectTouch activated, then if you press the left button on your Aid, then it’ll zoom to the left and vice versus.

It’ll also zoom to the back if you have rear passengers.

@vtuser said:

So, about a year ago I was told by the Costco tech that my KS-9 aids support the Partner Mic and I decided to try it even at $370

I bought mine as a refurb from eBay for about $90 - works good as new with my KS9s.

Phonak Charger Case RIC Audeo B, Audeo B-R Case ONLY NO Power Supply Or Cable ...18

Each Case Is Scrutinized For Functionality & Tested Including Sanitization. Phonak Naida B90-R [050-0437-xx]. Phonak Audéo B90-R [050-0237-xx]. Phonak Audéo B90-10 [050-0349-xx]. Phonak Audéo B90-312 [050-0353-xx].

Zebras - Thanks for your reply. I have an Android phone but when I searched the Play Store for the app “Speech Direct” I did not find an app with that name. There were other apps with variations of that name.

@vtuser

It’s not an App, it’s a program that needs to be added to your Aids.

You’ll have to revisit Costco to get the program added.

Ask for Auto to be activated as well as DirectTouch.

Zebras - Finally got the Speech in 360 installed on my KS-9 and I fully agree with you that it is great! My Costco tech set it up so when I am the driver and my wife is in the passenger seat and I activate the app (not while I am driving of course) her speech goes into my right and then goes over to my left HA - great improvement! He set this as the default for the App so there is no button press to change the direction of the speech stream. Of course, I only use it in this driving situation which I want. One question - when I switch to the Speech in 360 app before driving the left HA “seems to shut-off” and all noise (including road noise) seems to be just gone in the left ear. Is this proper operation? Seems like it should be. When the app is activated can it also cut all road noise coming into the right HA and just send speech over to the left? I still seem to hear road noise which I assume is still coming into the right HA. Thanks again for the suggestion and now I have to come up with improvement with my over-the-air speech. Hope I have explaind this correctly.

@vtuser

I might of not fully understood you but if the sound is coming through from the right to the left, then the left hearing aids Mics are turned off and you get sound from the right into your left, it streams from right to left.

That’s how it’s meant to work.

Also what do you mean ‘over the air Speech’, maybe I could help?

Thanks again for clarifying for me how when I turn the App on the left becomes so quiet - the mic is turned off. It is working correctly. Then my wife’s voice is streamed right to left and it is working correctly. My other question; worded poorly; is I still hear road noise. I assume that noise is still coming via my right HA - right? It is a much better experience driving the car with a passenger. Thanks again and I hope I was clearer.

@vtuser said:

is I still hear road noise. I assume that noise is still coming via my right HA - right?

Yes that’s right.

You can have some fine tuning / adjustments to lower road noise more to help within that program.

In reply to @Zebras

@Zebras said:

Just found out that the program you need for your KS9 is called Speech Direct but it does the same thing as Speech in 360.

It’s very good for the car. If you get DirectTouch activated, then if you press the left button on your Aid, then it’ll zoom to the left and vice versus.

It’ll also zoom to the back if you have rear passengers.

Can this be added remotely by Costco?
Would it work with the Partner Mike at home?
Would it eliminate the screech I am now getting whenever she turns on the Partner Mike?

@NateS said:

Would it work with the Partner Mike at home?

Partner Mic works on a different program. Maybe you need to have the Partner Mic program adjusted?

Uses micro USB connector so any standard charger and micro USB cable should work.

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