has anyone used costco BTE ha’s with custom molds and can share their experience?
hello all! i have posted a few times on this forum about my hearing loss journey so far. for a little background, i was told by costco i have cookie-bite, moderate hearing loss and went to an ent who confirmed (only for my mom to believe it). now we are in the process of finding me hearing aids.
i called my insurance (my mom’s insurance) last friday after i had my ent appointment and they told me if they approve the referral from the ent, they will cover the hearing aids. so i started looking at places nearby. i called today again, by my grandma’s recommendation, in hopes they could give us a list of providers near us who take our insurance, and the guy told me they don’t cover ha’s!! its one of the only exclusions from our plan apparently…
i called my grandma to let her know and she suggested we make an appointment with costco to test ha’s there since its cheaper. my mom did email the person in charge of the insurance plans at her work, since she works at our city hospital and gets pretty good coverage, but they didn’t get to respond today. hopefully we will hear back!
i had originally been looking into Phonaks but now that i’m looking at costco, i’ve been looking at the Jabra Enhance Pro 20s with custom molds. i’ve looked at people’s reviews on here and reddit, and they seem to be pretty good!
i want to achieve or have if possible (alongside improving hearing). i am a 19 year old pre nursing student and i play sax as well
i struggle with one on one conversation and conversation in a group. i rely on reading lips. i want to be able to talk to my boyfriend and family up close but also my lab partners, classmates etc from a little distance. its important for me to hear things at school (its important regardless but especially in labs, etc.)
i want to have minimal to no occlusion
i have sensitive ears. i get itchy easy (why i’ve considered molds along w the no occlusion)
i have anxiety at school due to ptsd and want to drown out noise to help with my anxiety
i want to be able to bluetooth to my iphone or laptop
i want good settings and acoustics for when i play my instruments in jazz band/symphonic band
Given your loss, anxiety, age, requirements and social situation: is there any reason why you wouldn’t wear AirPods 2?
They seem to meet most of your needs and are tunable to meet your loss. Traditional RIC fittings are less suited due to the acoustic requirements of your loss shape - as most don’t have much output below 1KHz at all.
i have airpods but i can’t wear them all the time. wearing my airpods all the time is rather inconvenient and the battery doesn’t last long at all.
but i’m not really looking for RIC hearing aids as they are more expensive at least at our costco and i don’t thing domes would be good as my ears get itchy fast. i’m really only looking at BTE with custom molds. i’ve read molds are more comfortable, help with acoustics, can minimize occlusion when vented right, and they don’t itch or give u canal fatigue. i like my airpods… but only for music. i can’t hear at all with them in even when on transparency mode.
ent and audio agreed hearing aids would be best. most likely won’t wear them for jazz band as i have ear plugs that work really well and i like them when i want a complete break from hearing. they help me hear myself more while protecting my ears. i need hearing aids for school though as i miss a lot of conversation. like 50% of conversation at most i miss
OK, given you have what amounts to a reverse slope loss (in fitting terms), you’d potentially do well with canal moulds. BTE wouldn’t usually be suggested (over RIC) unless there’s a secondary issue with infection risk.
I’m not sure why Costco prices BTE less than the equivalent RIC model. There’s no reason at the wholesale price for this to happen.
As to domes vs molds, if you browse the discussions, you find a large variety of experiences that relate to ear canal differences and responses to different materials - silicone, acrylic, titanium. I had been wearing closed silicone domes (Phonak “power domes”) with no problems with occlusion. I had costco make full shell molds for my Jabra Enhance Pro 10s, which I found to be a nuisance to insert and uncomfortable over time, so they made half shells, which were better, but still kind of a pain. I came back to the power domes, but dropped down a size from large to medium. These are wonderfully easy to wear.
You might try starting with some kind of dome to see how they work before you move on to a mold. Everyone is different, and it’s hard to figure out what will work for you without some experimentation.
It is possible to fit RIC hearing aids also with custom molds / c-shells ( acrylic, silicone, titanium).
So custom molds are also available for RIC type hearing aids.
