Just got my HA ... but harder to hear phone?!

whatdidyousay! said:
I would never go to Costco's to get a HA. I think the OP should return their HA and go to an audiologist that cn get them the right kind of HA .
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See, you're making an assumption that the person they dealt with ws NOT an audiologist. Maybe they weren't, maybe they were just a tech, but maybe they were an audiologist, they are employed by Costco. All their hearing aids and name brands, just rebranded.
 
Lau2046 said:
Costco does provide a wonderful service for customers with their hearing aids and they stand behind their product. Unfortunately, it's more suited for people with moderate hearing loss. Most people in the severe to profound range really need the kind of power that's only available through experienced dispensers and audiology clinics. That doesn’t mean Costco is a sham business, it’s just not for everyone. Given what hearing aids cost and how little insurance companies help with the purchase, I can’t fault anyone for trying to find the best affordable hearing aids for their budget.

Laura
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Thank you Laura! Great explanation, that is exactly why I went to Costco. My hearing loss is 60 db at the worst, which puts me in the moderate hearing loss category. I talked to two different audiologists, neither of whom seemed very interested in helping me with hearing aids even after I explained the difficulty of hearing coworkers (and moving forklifts!) in a noisy factory environment. Since Costco offered hearing aids that covered the "moderate" category at a cost of $1299 rather than the $2500-3000 the audiologists quoted ... plus a 90-day rather than 30-day return policy ... plus they offered a free exam and actually seemed interested in helping me, I thought it was crazy to not at least TRY them. We don't all have an extra $1200-$1700 just sitting around!

As far as I can tell, there are four possibilities. I was just hoping to pick the brains of the experienced HA users here to figure it out!
(1) The HA is programmed wrong.
(2) It is the wrong type of HA, and Costco doesn't offer any that would work.
(3) It is the wrong type of HA, but Costco DOES offer one that would work.
(4) There aren't any HAs that can help me.
As far as I can tell, the only reason that I should give up on Costco and go to a 3rd audiologist is (2). I'm not sure that's what I'm dealing with though, and it's worth $1200-1700 to me to try to figure it out without just giving up! :)
 
Sarfarigirl2011 said:
yeah seriously. a real audiologist would be someone who really cares and listens to your complaints then takes it seriously by doing the right thing.
like my audi, she takes my complaints seriously, really cares and knows what I want when my earmolds are being made *I suffer from an allergy*
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I've actually been to two "real" audiologists already, at two different ENTs. They were not particularly interested in helping me. They just ran their tests, charged me all the fees, and then sent me home without offering a single suggestion. I finally got tired of the fees racking up without anybody doing anything at all to help me. At least if Costco doesn't work, I can return the HA at no cost. That is quite unlike the audiologists where I would have racked up a minimum of $500 even if I ended up returning the HA! (I'm not saying I'm unwilling to spend money on my health, I'm just annoyed with all the practitioners taking lots of $$$ for what feels like nothing in return.) :(
 
ambrosia said:
See, you're making an assumption that the person they dealt with ws NOT an audiologist. Maybe they weren't, maybe they were just a tech, but maybe they were an audiologist, they are employed by Costco. All their hearing aids and name brands, just rebranded.
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Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I think I picked up SOMEWHERE that Costco carries rebranded Siemens?
 
KimInGA said:
As far as I can tell, there are four possibilities. I was just hoping to pick the brains of the experienced HA users here to figure it out!
(1) The HA is programmed wrong.
(2) It is the wrong type of HA, and Costco doesn't offer any that would work.
(3) It is the wrong type of HA, but Costco DOES offer one that would work.
(4) There aren't any HAs that can help me.
As far as I can tell, the only reason that I should give up on Costco and go to a 3rd audiologist is (2). I'm not sure that's what I'm dealing with though, and it's worth $1200-1700 to me to try to figure it out without just giving up! :)
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Unfortunately all deaf people go through hoops to find the right HA and the right programming.

Keep in mind that it is HEARING people that are doing all the work, and they really don't know what deaf people hear...they go through the 'process of elimination' to come up with a solution.

You are the one that has to figure out what works best for you, and say 'no' to the stuff that doesn't work, and demand to try other options until you find the right one.

Everyone's hearing loss is different too.

Go to Costco, give them a try. If they don't work, try different programs. No luck? Give them back and go somewhere else.
 
ambrosia said:
See, you're making an assumption that the person they dealt with ws NOT an audiologist. Maybe they weren't, maybe they were just a tech, but maybe they were an audiologist, they are employed by Costco. All their hearing aids and name brands, just rebranded.
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I just checked out Costo web site for HA and I stand by what I said. Their ear molds would be totaly useless to me or someone with profound hearing loss.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I just checked out Costo web site for HA and I stand by what I said. Their ear molds would be totaly useless to me or someone with profound hearing loss.
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Yeah you, but the OP doesn't have profound loss ;)
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I just checked out Costo web site for HA and I stand by what I said. Their ear molds would be totaly useless to me or someone with profound hearing loss.
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Yeah you, but the OP doesn't have profound loss ;)
They do have Rexton BTE's with regular full shell molds. I got molds there like 6 years ago and I didn't even get my hearing aids there, I think they're $25 each, and actually were the best fitting molds I ever had, didn't need them shaved down and they had different plugs for the vents.

But that was then this is now, those Rextons, which are really Siemens aren't powerful enough for me, and I can't have vents anymore either so I can't order molds from them.
 
ambrosia said:
See, you're making an assumption that the person they dealt with ws NOT an audiologist. Maybe they weren't, maybe they were just a tech, but maybe they were an audiologist, they are employed by Costco. All their hearing aids and name brands, just rebranded.
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ambrosia said:
Yes their Rextons are rebranded Siemens
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Wow. I had not known that. (Of either in the bolded.)

I have a Rexton. (Still wear it, in fact.) But I didn't get it through Costco. I got it through my-then audi. (I moved to a new house that was too far away so new audi now.)
 
AlleyCat said:
Wow. I had not known that. (Of either in the bolded.)

I have a Rexton. (Still wear it, in fact.) But I didn't get it through Costco. I got it through my-then audi. (I moved to a new house that was too far away so new audi now.)
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I remember seeing on hearingaid forum that resound is rebranded oticons, but I won't swear to that because I googled them and I couldn't verify it, but I could verify that Siemens owns Rextons. My mom had a rexton Bridge, but after she got a stapedectomy she sent it to me. I could just put my own mold on it and have it refitted for me, but it wasn't powerful enough for me anyway. I still have hers!! lol
 
ambrosia said:
Yeah you, but the OP doesn't have profound loss ;)
They do have Rexton BTE's with regular full shell molds. I got molds there like 6 years ago and I didn't even get my hearing aids there, I think they're $25 each, and actually were the best fitting molds I ever had, didn't need them shaved down and they had different plugs for the vents.

But that was then this is now, those Rextons, which are really Siemens aren't powerful enough for me, and I can't have vents anymore either so I can't order molds from them.
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Very interesting! I didn't realize they were rebranded Siemens. I am not surprised though, because I know from doing a lot of shopping there that they have a lot of very good brands of things rebranded for sale exclusively there. They're not poor quality versions of things, so I wouldn't expect to find that the store's policy magically changed when it comes to hearing aids.

I still can't figure out what Costco did that left me unable to hear a dialtone at all when wearing the HA, since I can at least hear it (albeit a quiet/distorted version) when I'm not wearing it. I looked up the frequency and it's about 400hz. My loss is: 250hz-60db ... 500hz-60db ... 1000hz-55db ... 2000hz-50db...4000hz-10db...8000hz-5db So based on that, surely they would have amplified the 400hz range, not blocked it?! Anyway, I have a followup appointment next Wed. I was hoping to get in sooner but it seems that isn't possible. Oh well, at least there is a 90-day return so I can afford the time to go back and forth a few times without coming close to the end of that window.

On the note of returning it though, I'm still trying to understand why a RIC is a bad idea? I've read statements about them only being good for high-frequency loss, but I can't find the data about why this is so. I actually think I really only want to boost the 1000-2000hz range and leave 500hz and below alone, even though my worst loss is at the lowest frequencies. The reason is that it is so distorted down low that I'm afraid increasing the volume will just be overwhelming and the distortion will make speech discrimination more difficult. Or is it possible that the right HA could help to reduce the distortion? I did try asking both audiologists I saw about this, but they really didn't answer me and I got the feeling that my "weird" hearing loss was outside of what they commonly dealt with and they just didn't know.
 
KimInGA said:
Very interesting! I still can't figure out what Costco did that left me unable to hear a dialtone at all when wearing the HA, since I can at least hear it (albeit a quiet/distorted version) when I'm not wearing it.
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I haven't been able to hear a dial tone in years...unless it's on speaker phone. Fortunately my Widex allows for Bluetooth so I don't have to worry about it with my cell...at least...I personally think phones aren't compatible with digital HA in general the way they were as analogs....

Laura
 
KimInGA said:
Very interesting! I didn't realize they were rebranded Siemens. I am not surprised though, because I know from doing a lot of shopping there that they have a lot of very good brands of things rebranded for sale exclusively there. They're not poor quality versions of things, so I wouldn't expect to find that the store's policy magically changed when it comes to hearing aids.

I still can't figure out what Costco did that left me unable to hear a dialtone at all when wearing the HA, since I can at least hear it (albeit a quiet/distorted version) when I'm not wearing it. I looked up the frequency and it's about 400hz. My loss is: 250hz-60db ... 500hz-60db ... 1000hz-55db ... 2000hz-50db...4000hz-10db...8000hz-5db So based on that, surely they would have amplified the 400hz range, not blocked it?! Anyway, I have a followup appointment next Wed. I was hoping to get in sooner but it seems that isn't possible. Oh well, at least there is a 90-day return so I can afford the time to go back and forth a few times without coming close to the end of that window.

On the note of returning it though, I'm still trying to understand why a RIC is a bad idea? I've read statements about them only being good for high-frequency loss, but I can't find the data about why this is so. I actually think I really only want to boost the 1000-2000hz range and leave 500hz and below alone, even though my worst loss is at the lowest frequencies. The reason is that it is so distorted down low that I'm afraid increasing the volume will just be overwhelming and the distortion will make speech discrimination more difficult. Or is it possible that the right HA could help to reduce the distortion? I did try asking both audiologists I saw about this, but they really didn't answer me and I got the feeling that my "weird" hearing loss was outside of what they commonly dealt with and they just didn't know.
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I was just checking around on Phonak's site they have a few different aids available in RIC and they all say mild to severe hearing losses, although the Naida CRT can go all the way down to profound...wondering if I could have used those, prob not. But anyway I'm sure the the range is probably about the same for your resound so I don't know why it would only be good for High frequency losses, have you made a thread over at Hearing Aid Forums | Hearing Loss | Hearing Aids - Powered by vBulletin you'll get better answers over there I'm sure of it. Most of us are pretty much deaf, over there you have a lot more people with milder losses AND a lot of audiologists
 
ambrosia said:
I was just checking around on Phonak's site they have a few different aids available in RIC and they all say mild to severe hearing losses
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My Widex are RICs and I have severe to profound so I wouldn't go by the site. Ask an audilogist or HA dispenser.....
 
Lau2046 said:
My Widex are RICs and I have severe to profound so I wouldn't go by the site. Ask an audilogist or HA dispenser.....
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Well I also pointed out that Naida went all the way down to profound....but the point was that it covered a lot of range, didn't slope one way or another so I don't see why an RIC wouldn't work for larger loss in the low frequencies.

But for personally I'm profound in one ear and profound to no response in the other, I'm thinking the tubes and mold would be more of a problem than the power for my loss, I could be wrong, but I don't see me buying new aids anytime soon anyway. My next step is a CI if I can get one once I have insurance.
 
ambrosia said:
My next step is a CI if I can get one once I have insurance.
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Good luck with that....I couldn't get my insurance to cover jaw surgery...thank God I haven't had anything life threatening or anything of a critical need like CI. We should really have a thread listing insurances that cover HA and CI....at least people would have a starting point of information.
 
Lau2046 said:
Good luck with that....I couldn't get my insurance to cover jaw surgery...thank God I haven't had anything life threatening or anything of a critical need like CI. We should really have a thread listing insurances that cover HA and CI....at least people would have a starting point of information.
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oh that's a big IF, for one thing I don't know if I can physically get one....but considering pre existing conditions are supposedly not going to disqualify you anymore I got a little more hope ;)
 
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