I live in Ontario, Canada and presently have a pair of Phonak Ambra HA’s and feel that my hearing disability has moved on to a more Severe stage. So I talked with my Audiologist and he informed me that the Ontario government (newly elected) has put a screeching halt on assistance to the hearing impaired, so I am probably out of luck! He thinks that my HA’s are pretty well at their maximum setting, so I had better learn to live with them.
Well I took a look at this interesting thread on the Signature hearing aids at Costco and the very affordable prices that are mentioned. I don’t know if they are even available in Canada, but I’d sure like to find a Costco warehouse that has a hearing centre that sells this particular product but I’d sure like to find one.
I live in a rural area West of Toronto (in Halton region) and I’d sure like to hear from anyone who has been able to get a pair of Signature HA’s from any Costco stores in the area. Thanks.
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately it does not work for me. All I get is an error message to the effect that the page does not exist.
I tried costco.ca and looked everywhere for “audiology” and/or “hearing aids” and all I can find is hearing aid batteries. Nothing about Signature Hearing Aids. My guess is that there is no audiology department at Costco yet in Canada.
tried pairing today with my granddaughter’s iPhone 6. Works exactly the same as my iPhone 5. Only streaming to the left HA. I’ll call KS6userportal and see what they say. Now I really think my right HA has a Bluetooth issue. Wonder if they can check that and debug it or do they merely replace it. The right HA works fine except for streaming.
I am in Alberta, and there are 5 Costco’s in the Edmonton area, all of which have hearing aid centers. Go to the Costco.ca website, and near the top of the page, click on locations, and select your area. There is also an option to show locations with hearing aid centers. I found 5 in the Toronto/Mississauga area with hearing aid centers. Click on details for a particular location, and there will be a phone number for the hearing aid center. Just call and ask. Regarding the Kirkland Signature 6.0 (KS6) they have been available at Canadian locations since early April, and should be available in your area as well. Keep in mind that there is also an older KS5, so make sure you ask for the newer KS6 (based on the ReSound Linx 9). If speech in noise is very important to you, Costco also has the new Rexton Trax 42. See the Rexton Trax 42 thread on this forum for info on that product.
When I inquired with my Costco HIS about WindGuard, I was told that the Costco fitting software for the KS6 has WindGuard turned off by default on all programs. I just assumed it was on until I asked, so if you are interested in this feature, ask and make sure it is on. Having said that, the Costco software only has a “off” or “mild” setting for WindGuard. Having seen the ReSound Aventa software for the Linx 9, there are a total of 4 settings available: off, mild, moderate, and strong. Perhaps this is a software restriction of the KS6 in an attempt to dumb down the KS6 in relation to the actual ReSound Linx 9. I had my Costco HIS copy my program 1 (AllRound - Binaural directionality) to program 4, and enable WindGuard on program 4. The only difference between program 1 and 4 was the WindGuard (off/mild) so I could test the difference between the two programs. I live in a windy mountain town, and was able to stand in various wind conditions (strong/mild wind, facing into/away from the wind, standing with the wind coming from either side). I switched between programs allowing each enough time for the program to adapt to the environment. Sadly, I could find no noticeable difference with WindGuard turned on. The HIS at Costco also commented that WindGuard seems to make very little difference. But I am happy to report that even with WindGuard off, the KS6 works well in the wind, or at least much better than I expected.
Thanks Chiroman, I found one in Guelph (they have a Costco with two audiologists on staff). Strange, but there is absolutely no way to contact them via Internet. I tried every search term I could think of and came up empty. All searches ended with the listing of Signature Hearing Aid batteries only. Thank goodness for the Yellow Pages!
I just purchased a Subaru Outback 2015 which of course has Bluetooth connectivity. I am VERY pleased that the Subaru people have figured out how to “prioritize” the Bluetooth to allow their nice audio system to grab the Bluetooth away from the K6 Bluetooth. Streaming shifts over to the car audio as soon as I fire it up. Not so with our home stereo system (Bose). Every time I enter the room I need to pull the K6 battery doors open or it steals the BT signal.
Not complaining… thankful that the K6 Bluetooth is robust enough to operate in almost all environments. 2 months into the K6… never been happier.
OK, in this post I spoke to soon. QUESTION: Imagine you own a vehicle with Bluetooth Audio Music available. Is there any way to re-prioritize the Bluetooth to leave behind the K6 and default to the car stereo when you sit in your car? I thought I had this under control… but it has to be with the sequence that I was starting the iPod, and the car stereo. Seemed like it worked yesterday, but today I am required to remove the batteries from the K6 to get the car stereo to function properly.
Check the owners manual on your Subaru. If its like my Hyundai, there is a list on your radio screen somwhere of all the bluetooth devices that it has paired with. Do you see your KS6 on the list?
Maybe we should start a new thread on KS6 Blue Tooth problems. This is really going to get confusing as our KS6’s start connecting with our cars, stereo systems and refrigerators
I still stand by my original response. Either don’t pair them or unpair them if they are already paired. No device pairs automatically without your putting in some sort of code that I’m aware of. If they’re paired then you had to have typed something in like 0000 or 1234.
The K6s are not paired with the the Subaru… and that’s not the nature of the “problem”. I have the K6s paired with my iPod, which defaults to playing audio over the K6 before it chooses to play over any other BT device (Subaru).
This is not a complaint, or any pain-in-the-ass-fault. I’m just trying to perfect a sequence of start-ups here whereby the Home Stereo or auto stereo will have priority sometimes.
I think it has something to do with the sequence of how one BT is turned on before another BT. This car is brand new and I’ll learn a pattern soon.
Would not “de-pair” the iPod as I use this connection all day while going for walks and working around the house. GREAT FEATURE. But, mainly for podcast and voice only media.
My misunderstanding then. I’m not sure if there are any options to prioritize one BT device over another. I believe Android has programs to allow certain programs and connections by location. I know my phone (LG G4) does this to an extent natively and I know there are programs that should do this for Android but I don’t believe Apple offers this flexibility. It might be worth checking into though. Is there a way to plug your iPod in to the car stereo? Would that stop the BT connection from starting?
I have found with both the Linx and Linx2 that the car Bluetooth (Honda) connects with the iPhone in preference to the HAs because it is a stronger signal. This is what I prefer so that my phone works hands free in the car with the car Bluetooth and when I turn off the car my HAs are the default connection. Works well. Maybe you need to put the iPod closer to the preferred Bluetooth source so that the signal is the strongest.
What is the difference in the Linx2 and the Linx (or Kirkland 6.0)? I bought the Linx2 3 weeks ago, not knowing anything, just taking my audiologist’s recommendation (my first time to wear hearing aids). I went to Costco today for batteries and talked to the hearing aid specialist for a while and started rethinking it all. I have until the end of this week to return my Linx2’s. I was looking at the Trax 42 but I do like the streaming without the extra device around the neck. How does a person decide??? Thank you!!!
I don’t know of a way to prioritize Bluetooth connection. It is not a standard but some devices work by prioritizing by the order in which the devices were paired. You could try that, unpairing all devices, then pairing in order by preference. It would not matter what the signal strength is unless it is weak enough to disconnect.
