The local fitter will want to be paid to do the a la carte service. You already pay that when buying from Costco. So you end up kinda paying twice. It’s also why an independent is so expensive, because they want to be compensated for your future needs that they include in that up-front cost.
Yes I would suggest getting the “free” ones. Why not? They’re available to you. You’ve paid for them in your taxes over all these years. In Canada, each province does their own deal. Some are a small amount. Some are only for seniors. iirc one will cover it all.
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thanks for your input buddy, I can see your point totally, but just something to consider is the money I would spend on a 3-4 round trip getting to the nearest eligible Costco would probably about the same as using a local independent audiologist, It just gives me another option to think about at the moment, if the NHS ones aren’t that helpful, I should probably give them a try and then decide to be fair, and not be so impatient lol.
Thanks Christian
Oddly enough I have been looking around the site for that very topic, it’s still a lot of money even at the very low price from Cost Co etc, but bang for buck I guess it’s a lot better than what I would get elsewhere. Can’t seem to find a lot of info on the Danalogic Ambio, so comparisons are different etc.
I have a lot of thinking to do, I have asked Costco if they would sell me them without having to drive to Southampton which is pretty far from Plymouth etc, so I shall wait their response and see how I get on.
I have messaged my local independent audiologist just to see what he thinks about the idea hypothetically etc 
@Zebras
Might be an idea to go with the Phillips equivalent in Costco of the new More.
Apparently the More’s are the mutts nutz for music. One of our recent fittings can hear the tonal difference between her two guitars when playing the same piece of music.
Resound stuff is sometimes worth a look for the App/Connectivity too.
Not Phonak or it’s derivatives unless it’s sitting properly in the music program as the basic/auto sense programming uses slight frequency shifting to minimise feedback.
Not sure about Signia/Widex as we don’t sell them.
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Downside of either Phillips or Resound at Costco is that they are locked to Costco. Nice hearing that Bernafon’s rep for music carries on with Phillips (and sounds like it’s exceeded)
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I am also a musician, it is why I first came to this board and music was the subject of all my first posts. You are getting good advice here and I agree with most of it. Someday things may get better but for now I continue to say - Hearing aids for speech and improving your quality of life, for music - headphones and studio monitors.
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Thanks for replying mate, unless I am missing something I believe there is only one option in UK Cost-Co well only one that loaded on their website anyway.
Thanks very much for the advice though, much appreciated
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Thanks buddy, a few others have said the same thing, I have definitely taken it on board.
Thanks for your reply, it’s appreciated
please tell me which manufacturer’s headphones do you use? thanks in advance
I think one of the joys of poetry is the creation of something beautiful within a set of restrictions. If you are writing a sonnet for example, not only are you restricted to a particular format but as you make choices the restrictions become greater because now you have to match your next lines to your first lines. If one is a fan of comics (or graphic novels), there’s also an art in how you draw within the box–the restrictions. All this is to say that while hearing loss restricts one’s experience of music, I believe there is still lots of beautiful, interesting, clever music to be made within those new restrictions. It is also most likely the case that any famous musician who started out in a time when hearing protection was not the norm in the music industry will have been creating their later work through the filter of their hearing loss, so while hearing loss changes things you may also be sharing an experience with the artists you love. I don’t know, I’m not saying grief for a capability that was lost isn’t appropriate. It certainly is. Just. . . art goes on.
On a more practical note, wax build-up will aggravate feedback in hearing aids. If you have small canals and chronic wax problems, you may need to prepare yourself to see your provider for regular wax removal in order to keep your hearing aids functioning optimally.
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A very positive way of looking at it, thank you for taking the time to post this
I’ll never stop making music, I love it too much, as for the mixing side of things, I can carry on having fun and anything that is commercially released, I can get someone else to mix it.
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I have used Sennheiser for years, also Sony pro line. There are a lot of good ones. I do not like the sound of Bose but the noise cancelation is good for noisy flights.
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Few audis are used to dealing with the specialized needs of musicians. Hearing aids and audis are focused on speech comprehension.
If you have not already bought hearing aids or if you are considering buying new ones, ask your audi to contact the manufacturers of the hearing aid models that you are considering in order to find out the “input headroom” (There may be a more technical term for this). The idea here is that if your hearing aid has insufficient ability to accept the loud signal produced by live music your hearing aid will clip (distort) the signal right when it enters the hearing aid. The hearing aid will then send a clipped signal to the signal processing phase of the hearing aid and then out into your ear. Obviously not good.
Widex and Oticon are known for high input headroom. Phonak used to (and maybe still does) have significantly lower input headroom. Input headroom is not something most audis are used to being concerned about. But in my opinion it is absolutely crucial to a musician.
Have your audi set up a separate program for music performance (it will probably work well for music listening, too). For this separate music program, in the programming software have the audi turn off all compression and speech comprehension enhancements.
Also have your audi reduce the feedback suppression settings to as low as possible without the hearing aids producing feedback in a normal situation. Feedback suppression works by the hearing aid detecting a sustained note and then introducing a frequency modulation that interrupts that sustained note. The hearing aid can’t distinguish between feedback and a sustained musical note. So the feedback suppression causes a “trill” or “warble” that is especially disconcerting to a singer. With the feedback suppression minimized you might experience feedback when someone hugs you or gets close to your ear. If you experience feedback too often, ask your audi to increase the feedback suppression settings incrementally until you have the right balance between eliminating the “trill” effect and eliminating occurrences of feedback.
Lastly, do a web search for “Marshall Chasin”. He is an audi in Toronto who specializes in fitting hearing aids for musicians. He has some helpful articles online and in audiological trade magazines. Good luck!
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amazing thank you very much for your informative and detailed reply, that helps a lot.
I have already done a fair bit of research on headroom etc, and good to find out what that warble effect was, I was also getting a chorusing/phasing type effect, which was hard to get used to.
The hearing aids were definitely helping, but when I had the custom moulds fitted and the thicker tubes, all they do is whistle so I haven’t worn them for years, but going back to my local NHS hospital on the 27th of this month, to get a new pair, with lots more knowledge gained from this site particularly and from my own research. I should be able to communicate my needs better.
Thanks again for your time, its very much appreciated
I have seen your custom moulds in your other thread (These are the moulds (molds) I received four years ago, that kept feeding back, advice please)
I can see now, your ear canal is really very small. I suspect, these moulds did not provide enough occlusion. This might be the reason for the feedback / whistle you mentioned.
It is technically much easier for hearing aids to prevent feedback if the canal is as closed as much as possible.
With older aids the main strategy was to reduce gain in the certain freqency where the feedback occures.
In addition, the tube-technique didn’t help as well, since the speaker was closer to the mic. The nowadays used receiver produce the sound right in the ear, so feedback-tendency is reduced.
Im sure, the mould/dome is a very critical part to get you a good fitting. You probably will need to test with different versions.
I hope, the small ear canals do allow to use the receivers. They need a bit more space than a simple tube.
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Great thank you so much, that helps to explain a lot of my problems.
I very much appreciate your time.
Thank you
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Receivers in the canal won’t really change his auditory experience compared to BTEs with standard tubing.
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Can anyone tell me how to upload audigram to profile?
Thank you
I too am a musician who performs, writes, and records in my own studio. My loss in the high end isn’t as severe as yours, but is also a ski-slope curve.
I’ve done a few things that help:
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In my studio, on the master channel (using Logic on a Mac), I set an EQ curve that is the inverse of my loss. I engage the EQ curve when I am actively mixing, and then disable it just before I write or bounce the mix. That way, I am hearing it the way my ears need to hear it while working on the song, but I am not writing it to the final mix. To do all this, I remove my hearing aids.
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I do the same thing as 1 above when I am listening with headphones - to my music or anyone’s music. Since I can’t set a custom EQ curve on an iOS device using Apple’s apps, I’ve found third party players that support custom curves. Doesn’t help with Apple Music app, but helps immensely with non DRM songs, etc. After I write the mix on my computer, I’ll listen to it this way for checks and balances. I’ll note that I am not wearing hearing aids when doing this.
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For hearing aids, I settled on Costco KS-9 as they are the best fit, and the best I’ve tried for my loss and ears. I found that feedback rejection distorts music as it involves an oscillation to mitigate what the hearing aids perceive as feedback (think pure tones, or close to pure tones - think “C” at the 8th fret of the high E string), so, I have a separate MUSIC program I use when performing or listening through speakers in an environment where there are other people listening. And, I tweak them myself, though this gets into having to find someone who will give you a copy of the software needed. And you’ll need an interface that works with your aids. But that lets me get the best sound I can out of the aids for music. For every day use, I need to have the Feedback rejection engaged.
Anyway, those are the things I do and, for the most part, it all works rather well.
Bob
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