Are Costco hearing aids actually better than mid level ones from bigger names like the Widex 220?

Hearing Aids
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#87

Domes are critical and newbie HA wearers don’t know that they may benefit from a different dome. I have had my KS10’s since May 2021. Before the KS10’s came out I had purchased a set of Phillips 9030, and KS9’s in March 2021 to see which I liked better, then purchased the KS10’s, so trialing 3 different HA’s would have been impossible if I hadn’t switched to Costco.

I didn’t like the closed domes on the KS10’s so I tried my open domes and had Costco adjust the programs, they became my favorite of the 3 and I returned the Phillips and KS9’s. I couldn’t get my previous private HA fitter to listen to when I asked for program changes, Costco has always been open and wonderful about changes I ask for.

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#88

I have had fitters like that including one audiologist that was hired to run the hearing center at my closest Costco. During our first conversation he decided to reset myvauds and start programming from scratch without asking or telling me first. His work was so bad I went back to my former Costco and had them restore my settings from before that time.

The care and skill of the professional is crucial. I hope I have found a good one. She was extremely careful with the hearing test last month, testing all the frequencies between the standard ones. Hopefully she can improve the settings on my aids next week.

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#89

Thanks for the response. And yeah, it’s good to know Costco is always there as a backup plan if necessary. Nobody wants to have to spend an extra $1600 like that on a fixed income, but he doesn’t spend much and could afford that if necessary. I could probably sell the Widex to cover some of the cost too if it came to that.

But I don’t think it will. We found a cheaper audiologist (still sprung a $600 “fitting fee” on us at the last minute, but it’s still $1500 less than the first place we went to), she seems very knowledgeable, he got to try out both Oticon and Widex and preferred the sound of the Widex 220, so that’s what he’s going with. I’m pretty sure everything will turn out fine, both audiologists and Costco seem to get plenty of positive reviews, there aren’t a whole lot of people hating their experience getting a hearing aid so I think it generally goes well wherever you buy.

Like you said, it might have been smarter to go with Costco first and then go to the higher priced option only if necessary. He probably would have done that if our family (including me) wasn’t initially hesitant about buying a medical device in the same place you buy baked chickens and tires, for a price that seemed almost too good to be trusted.

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#90

Remember they key to success with hearing aids primarily rests with the skills and care of the professional.

#91

I’ve been wearing
Hearing aids for over 20 years. I loved my audiologist, took my mom and sister to him. Then he retired And I lost my phonak hearing aids last year. Plus needed.nEw ones anyway. I went to another audiologist and wanted to buy the new top of the line phonaks but could not understand their price categories. I was really bothered that she could not explain to me why they were more expensive than getting the same hearing aids in the lesser price category. Found out they were indeed the same devices but their service for the features would be limited in the lesser category. That didn’t make sense to me… Figured it was my own lack of understanding and so I paid for a hearing test and paid for fitting molded occluding domes, and bought the higher cost category anyway. My hearing aids arrived without instructions and my audiologist wasn’t available for a week so I went online to find out how to adjust them and discovered the Costco offers. Suddenly everything made sense. I went to Costco with my new hearing aids. The technician there got me instructions. So I had them also test my hearing. Got exactly the same results. I ended up returning the new hearing aids and buying the same from Costco. As a retired federal employee I was able to recover my health benefit. Which now completely covered the cost instead of just half. I could afford either but felt like it was a predatory practice to rip off mostly senior citizens. I would suggest you take your dad to both and then decide.

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#92

The hearing aid is only one pice of the equation.
To get a hearing aid to work its best for the wearer, a really good audiologist is needed -sometimes over multiple appointments— to tweak the settings.

If you think a Costco audiologist will give you personalized service, that’s your decision. Personally, I think Costco is great for discount food and maybe travel. But my hearing deserves the VERY best and I get that from my audiologist.

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#93

Some of struggle to find a good local audiologist. Costco lets you try different locations. I am moving away from them after 10 years because I hope I have found a skilled audiologist 2 hours away.

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#94

I understand and know I am lucky. I wish you all the best with your new audiologist.

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#95

During the test last month she tested all frequencies halfway between the normal frequencies. She appeared to be very skilled and careful.

#96

@prodigyplace: I thought sound frequencies were laid out along a step-less continuum . What are "normal frequencies? Are there such things as “abnormal frequencies”?

What are the practical implications for your hearing?

#97

The typical audiogram has discrete measurement points, for instance 509 Hz and 1000 Hz. I was also tested between them at 750 Hz. The extra measurements are uncommon.I was measured between the normally marked measurements.

#98

@prodigyplace: Yes, I understand. But these are simply arbitrary points. Of what significance are they to your audition?

#99

I thought it indicated more than the usual attention to detail.

#100

My initial opinion is that it sounds gimmicky. Unless there’s a reason to do it. Does it provide some concrete means to improve your fitting?

WH

#101

@prodigyplace: Yes, but unless that detail has some practical merit, it’s just window dressing, isn’t it?

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#102

It could have been needed by the otologist, I guess. It would also depend whether the audiogram input for the programming software accepts and uses the additional data.

#103

@prodigyplace: Far be it from me to comment on the medical uses to which the additional data points might be put.

I was prompted to post because you are using this minor action of questionable aetiology as a selection criterion for audiologists: my point is simple - I wouldn’t read to much into it.

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#104

Well, “750 and 1500 Hz should be tested if there is more than a 20 dB difference in thresholds between the adjacent octave frequencies”, per Kramer. So the Duke(?) clinician may well know exactly what they’re doing, surprise, even if they extended this to other frequencies, and used other criteria to trigger additional testing. Don’t know why non-professionals would think they know better.

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#105

@x475aws: No statement was made that such testing should not be performed. Rather, a question was asked as to the significance/value of such a test to actual hearing.

This question remains unanswered by the flippant comeback.

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#106

Perhaps it is being overly optimistic. After 20 years of hearing aids and exhausting the reasonably local audiology choices, I am grasping for a ray of hope. I currently see a large personal and business impact from my current situation.

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