Costco ReSound Preza not what they are advertised to be

My Preza hearing aids have been somewhat of a disappointment. I have severe high frequency loss in both ears and had problems hearing some women’s and children’s voices. With the aids that issue still exists. I also had problems understanding some voices when watching movies on TV. I bought a sound bar and that helped a little.

Hearing aid companies are great to advertise Bluetooth capability, but neglect to tell you all of the limits and additional accessories needed to utilize Bluetooth. For one, Preza is not very Android friendly. I have not been able to connect my ReSound Preza aids to my Windows PC or my Tracfone Samsung. Bluetooth for me has been no help at all. If anyone has any ideas that would help, I would be willing to try.

I suggest you enter the hearing test results in your profile so others with lots of experience can give better advice. I have no direct experience with the Preza aids. From looking at Resound, the Preza is a made for iPhone (MFI) hearing aid so connects directly to an iPhone/iPad/iPod. It will also work directly with a very small subset of Android phones that have Bluetooth 5 and some other requirements according to a web page at Resound.

For streaming connections from other devices like a computer or TV, you will need an intermediary device that converts the output of the device to a format that the hearing aid will accept as MFI hearing aids do not connect to the typical classic Bluetooth in computers and many other devices. Resound makes an ancillary device to stream from a TV directly to Resound hearing aids - I set one up for my retired boss who has Resound aids (not from Costco). That works better for him than a sound bar. Similarly, Resound makes a different device that can connect to the computer and will stream the audio to your aids.

I expect that you could purchase the appropriate Resound devices through Costco - they show a TV Streamer #799863 and a Multi Mic #1089510:

https://www.costco.com/resound.html

The hearing aid person at Costco should be able to recommend appropriate devices if the information on the web page is not correct.

My experience is with Oticon OPN S 1 aids - they are also MFI. I use a TV Adapter and ConnectClip form Oticon to stream from my TV (optical output) and computers. For me, the sound from theTV Adapter is much better than the decent quality Sonos sound bar connected to the TV except for very low frequencies. It is MUCH easier for me to understand soft or accented speech using the Adapter as I hear only the TV output as I can mute the hearing aid microphones to reduce any environmental noise (AC/heater fans, refrigerator, etc).

I would also add, hearing aids are just that an aid. They can only amplify sounds, and sometimes lower background noise. They can not make you understand what you have lost the ability to understand.
But you can help yourself to regain some of that understanding by doing word theropy and speach theropy. But as your hearing worsens it will become more difficult. I have been wearing aids for 16 years and have learned not to blame the hearing aids for what they cannot do. With the lack of sounds to the brain the brain doesn’t know how to interpret the new sounds, but over time and with hard work on your side it can improve.

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Welcome to the forum.

If you have had the Preza aids less than 6 months, return them. The KS9 or Brio 4 aids would possibly be a better choice with your Android phone.

Otherwise, ask for another fitting. Tell the fitter what you have told us.

Good luck.

Depending on how severe your high frequency loss (and where it starts), Resound doesn’t do particularly well. I don’t think any aid can really deal with a steep, profound high frequency loss without frequency lowering and Resound’s frequency lowering is about the least sophisticated. Phonak Brio or KS9 have the strongest frequency lowering available. Phillip’s is decent for less severe losses. Unless you go with Phonak or KS9, bluetooth capabilities are restricted to iPhones, iPads and a very select few Android phones.

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I should have found this forum before my 6 months were up. I am pretty much stuck with them now. All of their accessories are pricey in my thinking. I know now when I heard the term bluetooth I should have ask exactly what that gives me with the devices I have. They should have ask me if I use Apple or Android devices. Live and learn!

How do I get my hearing results from Costco?

Past the 6 months at this point.

When I got the Cochlear implants with the Nucleus 7 or Kanso 2 processors I needed a phone that was Android 10 or higher or an iPhone. My Samsung 9 was Android 9 so I bought a nice used Google Pixel 3 phone that fit the bill nicely.

Maybe you could do the same, buy a used iPhone that works with your Preza aids. I have a good friend who uses Preza aids. He uses an iPhone 6 I believe and is very happy with his aids.

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The iPhone SE2020 is really a nice little smart phone and it is cheap. If you are a veteran you can also apply for a 10% veterans discount from Apple.

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Ask them for a copy. They’ve always given me one whenever they tested me. You can pick up a new iPhone SE (2020) from Consumer Cellular for $250 and their rates are pretty reasonable if you don’t use a lot of data. I forget how long you need to stay with them (C Cellular) to have them unlock the phone,

It’s probably a requirement of state law in most states, too, to provide a copy of the results at no additional charge. I know it’s true of eye exams in Texas. The optometrist can obviously charge for the exam but, if I recall correctly, is required to actually furnish you with your eye prescription as part of the exam at no additional charge. I imagine it’s true of human medical prescriptions, too. I vaguely recall that it’s so for vet prescriptions. I was taking our cat to a vet who ran an in-house vet pharmacy at her clinic. She took umbrage to furnishing me a copy of a prescription that cat needed when I said I wanted to shop around for the best price from online pharmacies vs. her clinic. But if I recall correctly, furnishing a vet prescription free of charge after a diagnosis that medicine is needed is also part of Texas state law. I’m sure as MDB has experienced, Costco is more consumer-minded than my former vet (the cat died of old age after expending all of its 9 lives in torturous ways).

I doubt they beat Tracfone. I never paid more than $ 60 for a phone. Maybe I can work with Tracfone and see what phones will work with the hearing aids. After putting out $2500 for hearing aids I am not ready to shell out even more at this point. If things get worse, I will then have no choice. Thanks for all of the information. A lot of info that I did not know.

You could get Consumer Cellular for $20 a month. I use T-Mobile for $15 a month. I think it would be very challenging to find a phone for $60 that was compatible with the Resound Preza. For sure it would be used.

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I see Tracfone offers an iPhone 6s Plus. Would that be the same as the phone mentioned above?

Will others be able to hear the TV audio with a streamer connected?

Typically yes but it may depend on the particular TV audio output that is connected to the input of the TV adapter (streamer). For example, if you use the TV headphone output (if it has one) to connect to the streamer, that typically mutes the TV speakers.

In many TVs, the optical output has a signal at all times. In others, you may have to turn it on or set it to a particular output setting to correctly work with the optical input of a TV streamer (if it has such an input - not all do). In my case, Oticon recommends that the optical input for the streamer be used if available for a number of reasons so that is what I use as my (now old but flat screen) TV provides that and it is always on.

Depending on the details of the TV, any associated equipment like sound bar and the type of connection, and the streamer, others can probably hear the output of the TV and the streamer would provide you with a version of the TV audio via you hearing aids. One caveat, there is a possible latency in the audio signal as provided by streaming to your hearing aids or the audio system used by the others. If your hearing aid microphones are on when you are also streaming, you may hear two versions of the TV audio that are slightly different in time - that can be heard as an echo if the latency difference is large or just a smearing or change in timbre of the sound if the latency difference is fairly small.

In my case, I typically mute the hearing aid microphones if others are watching TV with me to reduce the effect even though the latency difference in my setup is probably quite small. For me, the streamed version of the TV audio is more easily understood and muting the microphones gives me better speech understanding than having both inputs. That said, most hearing aids combined with streamers have worse low frequency output than good audio systems (TVs with good audio and/or decent sound bars or amplifiers and speakers). I find the better voice understanding to be more valuable than booming bass.

At this point in time, the 6S series is the oldest iPhone that will run the most recent version of iOS (the operating system for an iPhone). The Plus is the version with a larger screen than the normal 6S. I recently ditched my iPhone 6 (not S) Plus as the battery was failing and it would not run the version of iOS required by a recent update of the Oticon ON app for my OPN S 1 aids. The most recent iPhone model is the 12 - some users have had various issues with some of the iPhone 12 models. The 12 mini I got in December 2020 seems to work mostly OK for me.

The following URL from Apple lists their phones:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201296

I believe iPhone 6s Plus is compatible. Best way is to check both Resound’s phone and app compatibility lists. Not sure what phone mentioned above you are referring to. I think I remember iPhone SE (2020) being mentioned. The 6S Plus is notably older and although still supported by Apple with software updates, it probably won’t be for much longer. That’s likely not an issue.

Just to make things clear. Getting the iPhone only benefits things that I do on the phone such as phone calls, web searching and such? Does nothing for TV?