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Hearing tests Costco versus private fitter

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I started wearing/testing for hearing aids when they were simply amplifiers. Years ago my wife found Costco hearing aid centers and I started testing with them. Now I am on Medicare and my plan has a hearing aid plan provided thru Nations Hearing. My first set of Resounds from them were basic rechargeable that replaced my old battery Resounds I got from Costco. I had to use one of their approved independent provider, who is an audiologist. Next set I paid extra and got Resound Ones.
This provider uses very old sound booth with simple sound masking technology. Compared to Costco’s intense real ear/bone conductivity testing.
Recently I returned to my fitter at Costco and had my free hearing test. He highly recommended Phillips hearing aids and stated Resound no longer produced hearing aids. I demoed a set and to me, they were too intense.
My simple question, is real ear/advanced testing compared to the old style of testing needed? Am I cutting myself short by settling for this old tried and true type of testing?
Thank you for your input.

9 people in this conversation5 min readJump to latest

That’s right. The Jabra Enhance Pro 10 is the Resound Omnia. Previously Costco sold their Bernafon brand aids.

Edited

Professionally fit hearing aids use your paper (or a digital version) to enter your hearing loss into the fitting software, and then use an additional measuring system to achieve REM/Real Ear Measurement. Theoretically, should be more precise than only using your audiogram. But not all audiologists perform REM (so there’s that).

Current Costco hearing aids (this will become obsolete);

I’m shocked to hear that a Costco employee said Resound is no longer producing aids.
I’m OK with a provider preferring one brand over another. I’m not OK with giving false info about other brands. I think I’d talk with the person who gave you this wrong info. At best, you didn’t hear correctly; at worst, well, there’s no good reason for lying, and you might want to lodge a complaint with store management.

I just picked up a pair of Jabra Pro 10s from my local Costco yesterday, and their documentation is marked ‘GN Hearing’ for the US, ‘GN Hearing A/S’ for the EU, and ‘ReSound Canada’ for Canada. I’ve checked a number of pages in the manuals I have, and the content is identical.

If you’re looking for new aids, remember that the Omnias are just one generation newer than your Ones. What do they do that your Ones won’t do? And could the Ones be made to do the same thing with adjustments? Or do you just want new aids (which is a good reason to get them, IMO)?

My current aids came from Costco. These are the third set of aids I have acquired through the years. My last set was Resound aids. These Costco (Sonova?) aids are the best by far I have ever worn. The fitting and adjustment was expert and spot on. The small amount of assistance I’ve needed was quick and easy. These Costco aids are by far the lease expensive ever. The bluetooth streaming, telephone link and other features are superb. The only “con” is these are rechargeable (as were my last resounds) and I prefer replaceable battery aids. That’s the only way one can ALWAYS have operational aids.

@25Firefighter said:

My simple question, is real ear/advanced testing compared to the old style of testing needed?

Some will say yes, but others say no, I’m in that camp, a lot of us folks don’t bother with it at all,but whatever you choose to do, remember that Costco only sell premium models, if you have the One’s (as I do) I don’t see a reason for going for the Omnia (Jabra Enhance Pro 10 at Costco) as it’s unlikely you’ll notice a big difference between them, Phillips hearlink are quite a bit different as you’ve already noted, there’s also the Rexton BiCore, maybe try a trial between them, Costco have a pretty good trial period (180 days) plenty of time make a decision.

@tenkan said:

Costco have a pretty good trial period (180 days)

They actually handle it differently. You purchase the aids but can return them within 180 days for a full refund. This distinction can be important who are extremely cash strapped.

You are correct it’s not a true trial period but considered by most as a return period. That said however, I was fed up with my specialist and requested a refund for my Philips HearLink 9030 I purchased 6 weeks prior. I was told it would be easier to select a different brand than to do an actual refund. Because the brand wasn’t the problem I chose the refund. But in this situation I would have to say it was being presented as a trial period for the Phillips brand.

Yes I think I’ll have to make a note about this, both you and @prodigyplace have raised points that need to be considered, it’s a bit harder to get a refund over just swapping over to another brand within 180 days, and you must pay upfront in full.

I’ve just kind of skimmed this thread, but it seems like the basic thing about Costco that you don’t like is that your hearing aids were too loud. Ask them to turn them down. Keep in mind though that for the aids to really help with speech understanding they may need to be a little louder than you might prefer.

It might also be they do not like the sound of the Philips aids. Personally I have been wearing Rexton KS8 for the past 4 years and have never been too impressed with their sound. That is one reason among others why I am getting Oticon aids on Monday.

In reply to @MDB

In my case the person I was dealing with flat out refused to reduce the volume and only activated the “on hearing aid volume controls” 2 days before I returned them. Beside that was not the only problem I was having.

I am scheduled at Costco later this morning to start over at a different location. I plan on trying ether the Jabra or Rexton this time.

@bob.sevcik said:

I am scheduled at Costco later this morning to start over at a different location.

That is a good decision. Years ago I had such issues at one location that I went back to my previous location to get their old settings restored to my hearing aids.

In reply to @bob.sevcik

There’s always going to be people one runs into who are difficult to work with. Could be they’re just having a bad day or inherent in their personality. Glad you’re going to try a different Costco. Second opinions are often a good idea in all aspects of health care.

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