Costco Hearing Aids

I just got my 1st HA through an audiologist at an otolaryngology practice 2 weeks ago. I am trying out a Phonak Audeo S Smart V, 60 day trial. I am told I have a sensoneural hearing loss with high sounds and I also have tinnitus. So far not sure if it does all that but will be going for adjustment on Tuesday. It cost me $4200, no insurance. I would like to know if anyone knows how the Resound Future at Costco would be in comparison or any of their other hearing aids. I know the price tag there is only $2600, a big savings and a great 90 day trial period although the store is about 30 miles from my house. Also was wondering how the hearing aid technicians are trained since they are not audiologists. Any feed back would be very appreciative! Thanks for your help!

250  500  1K   2K   4K   8K

L 35 40 40 45 35 65
R 40 40 40 45 30 55

I recently bought my Resound Aleras through my audiologist at a total cost of $4500! Then I saw them at Costco for about $2000 and I felt somewhat ‘taken’.

However, after talking to the reps (I don’t know their qualifications) at Costco, I felt I would not have been better served by some barely out-of-teenage-year-olds. My audiologist has been at it for many years and I feel more comfortable working with him and his years of experience. Not saying that the reps at Costco are not competent - just my personal opinon.

I went through this a number of years ago with ListenUp Canada, and after a very brief exam and test by some ‘youngsters’ there, I left with a set of ear amps that I just could not live with… and returned them within the 30-day trial period.

Bottom line: these modern ear amps are totally adjustable, and you should have a competent, trained, and experienced audiologist to fit them and adjust them for you, or you will not be satisfied.

I just bought my last pair at Costco, and felt like the Hearing Instrument Specialist who fit me, who also wears the same aids, knows more about aids and hearing loss than the audiologist with the doctorate that I’ve been using for the last decade.

where do you guys this information? if some barely out of teenager is smart enough to have an AuD and pass the licensing test great for them. Probably working Costco to pay off student loans or don’t want the PITA of starting and running a business.

As I said, it was my own personal opinion. Take it with a grain of salt

There is supposed to be zero correlation between price and quality but I imagine there is a strong positive correlation between experience and how well you are served, other things being equal. This does not apply to car salesmen, whom only 7% of the people trust.

No student loans are getting paid, but working with Sam’s has huge upsides to beginning specialists - you essentially sink or swim based on your own merits. You run your own shop - you have oversight, but it is distant. As a young specialist, I had the option of going to work for another specialist here in town (bad option,) taking out a huge small business loan in a fiercely competitive market (hard to do, also bad option,) or go to work at Sam’s where I deal with no bills, rent, or really anything aside from testing hearing and working with aids.

In my local Costco works an experienced audiologist(ten years in Lebanon) and around 4 fitting hearing aids in Canada. I talked to her on a few occasion and as soon as possible I will go to there, I want to try Resound futures. I wonder if they will be good for my hearing loss. I would not even say what frequencies loss I have. No idea.
I hope our fantastic audios will give me some info. I am clueless. :smiley:

FWIIW I just bought my first hearing aids at COSTCO (a set of bernaform chronos -9 BTE RITE) They work well, and cost a modest amount for a hearing aid (~$2700 for the pair, including the remote)

The audiologist worked extensively with me to get the response correct ( the first aid had a hum) … when I left the second time , no hum

The first try was a single hearing aid, but that did not work at all. I turned it in and got a pair without problem. One reason for the change ( from verite to chronos), is that I wanted the receiver in the ear and the tele-coil and the RITE model of the chronos did not come out until just after I bought the verite.

I’m very satisfied with the Resound Future. Two thumbs up from me. Sound is clear and strong. Feedback prevention on the Resounds is VERY good. Speech in noise is very good on the main program and I have program 2 setup to lower all the noise it can and boost soft speech all it can, for severe situations. Directionality is good and my TV surround sound is pleasant now. I can hear the helicopters on a movie go from front right, to right, over my head to the left, just as the director intended.

I’ve had two pros at Costco, one an AuD audiologist and one a Master’s degree audiologist.

I have Rextons, bought at Costco about 2 yrs ago. I find Costco to be quite good in all respects. They honor the warrenty better than I ever expected. And price is certainly right to extent I feel they offer very good value. :slight_smile: