Can Costco do this testing? I’m planning on a new of aids with Bluetooth, and use Costco as my Audiologist.Two of the brands they carry that I’m considering are the ReSound Preza or ReSound Vida. To any of you with tinnitus that use one of these, which one in your opinion is better? I know of the Resound Relief app and the Starkey Relax app and will try both.
I think tinnitus is a conundrum because the harder you try to fix it, the worse it gets. I don’t think Costco is going to help you at all with tinnitus, although any stand alone apps like you mentioned might help. I largely ignore my tinnitus, but I was struck that the Oticon OPN aids tried greatly lessened my tinnitus. If tinnitus were a big issue for me, I’d try Phillips aids if I were going to Costco or Oticons if I was going private.
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Tinnitus is something you only hear. There is no know way to measure it. As my dad would say it is all in your head
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There are ways we can get fairly close to determining the frequency and loudness of tinnitus. It’s not very scientific, though, and really only works on tonal-type tinnitus. Those who hear “whooshing” or “crickets” have more of a variable sound that is not easily duplicated. We used to have to do this kind of unscientific hit-or-miss method if we were going to use what is called “notch therapy.” I hated it. I never could never get it to work for a patient. Typically, we found that amplification through hearing aids had the highest success rate and tinnitus therapy signals coming in at a distant second. I wish there was more I could tell you. I really do.
I have plain old white noise.
I also have the “plain old white noise” in my right ear only. I generally hear it when I’m in a quiet room. When it becomes annoying I just Bluetooth some music from my iPhone. Jimmy Buffet makes it go away 
My audiologist matched the test tone sounds to my Tinnitus noise. Mine is 500 Hz left ear and 1000 Hz right ear.
To perform pitch and loudness matching for tinnitus, the only equipment you need is an audiometer. So, Costco may be capable of performing said test, because they technically have the equipment to do so. But it will likely depend on the comfort level of the tester as to whether or not if they will. My understanding (and this may be corrected by someone who works there) is that Costco prefers to have standardization in what services and treatments are available at each location. In theory, you should be able to walk into any Costco and receive the same level of care across the board. Because some states have ruled that Tinnitus Management is outside of the scope of practice for Hearing Instrument Specialists/Hearing Aid Dealers, and because Costco employees both Audiologists and HISs around the country, Costco has chosen to not offer Tinnitus Treatment as part of their package.
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