Hi - I’m new to this site, new to hearing loss, and new to hearing aids. The doctor described my hearing loss as a ‘cookie bite’ hearing loss (my audiogram is below). I’ve never worn hearing aids, and I’m a little self-conscious about it. I’m 35 years old. I was hoping this site can help me with what types of hearing aids are best for my type of loss. I was surprised when my doctor told me the costs of the hearing aids, and so I’m going to Costco tomorrow for an appointment, so I was hoping someone could also help me with which Costco brands/types are best. Would I be eligible for an in-the-ear hearing aid so it’s not visible? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I’m completely new to this.
.25 R 20 L 15
.50 R 35 L 20
.75 R 40 L 25
1.0 R 50 L 40
2.0 R 50 L 35
3.0 R 40 L 40
4.0 R 30 L 25
6.0 R 10 L 15
8.0 R 05 L 10
There are no bad aids at Costco. Each has its adherents. Canal aids would work but you lose some nicer features. You can do a walk around with any brand but the canal aids need to be fitted by the manufacturer. The RIC aids are small and unnoticeable for the most part. Few will ever figure out you’re wearing them. You can try any of the aid for up to 90 days and then get your money back.
Thank you - what kind of features do you lose with in-canal aids? Do you know if Costco has a stock pair of in-canal aids to try walking around the store? Do you know which of the Costco brands are better than others? Thank you for your help!
They all really have their points. The Trax42 has an evangelist here so a lot have tried them. The KS6 has the most bang for the buck. Bernafon has a different approach that attracts others. Phonak has an aid that serves a number of folks here well.
You can’t get a good fit with the sample canal aids as they are made for each ear from molds. You get a more occluded fit. Directionality will not be as good. They will suggest a RIC aid for a walk around at the store. Hit the john and look in the mirror. You’ll have a hard time even seeing you are wearing them. Stop in the snack area for a bit and order a drink in what should be a noisy area. Stop and ask the demonstrators about the product they are showing to get an idea of different voices.
I would forget about the in the ear HA’s some are more visible than a BTE, can make it feel like you have your fingers in your ears and they have more repair issues due to the fact they are in your ear all the time. I would go for a BTE with a RIC. You might think that it is large and everyone will see it, but very few will notice your HA’s and nobody will care that you have HA’s if they do notice. I would also tell the fitter at Costco you want to try several of the different HA’s they are recommending and see which one sounds the best to you. Good luck!
I have an 18-month-old granddaughter. She doesn’t miss anything. She spots glasses, earrings, and ouchies as she calls them. She has never noticed that I wear RIC hearing aids. I started out self-conscious. I have worked with some people for close to a year and they are surprised when I make a comment about wearing hearing aids. We are more concerned about wearing hearing aids than our acquaintances and fellow employees.
Just an update here - I went to Costco last night and ordered a pair of Bernafon Juna 9 IIC’s to test out. I tried the RIC, but I wasn’t ready to take that plunge…yet. I’ll see how these go and will post back. Thank you all for your help!
So the Juna 9s came in. They fit well and were comfortable in the ear. I heard perfectly all of the sounds happening in the store far away. I heard everything. Everything except the audiologist doing the fitting. I tried making a phone call and couldn’t hear that either. It seemed like they were functioning like ear plugs at the exact levels I needed hearing aids. After trying a few different settings, he still couldn’t get them to work right. He put the hearing aids in his stethoscope and confirmed what I was hearing. So I had to return them. Then I asked if I could try the RIC ones and he told me his record would take a hit if he sold me another pair of hearing aids after I just returned one…even though those were defective and wouldn’t work right! So now I’m back to square one. It wasn’t a great experience at Costco. Should I try a Costco again? I like them because of their prices and policy, but it was not a great experience. Has anyone else had this issue with the Juna 9s? Any help again would be greatly appreciated!
If I were you, I´d consider the following: There are quite a few frequencies where you hear pretty well.
If you want an aid that adds only the frequencies you are missing, you´ll need an open fit. You won´t get that with an ITC aid (even though you can add vents, the feeling is pretty closed).
I hear pretty good in the low frequencies. Sometimes, in loud environments, I wear closed domes to protect myself from the noise. But this never sounds nearly as good as the open fit, because nothing will sound as good as “normal” hearing for the frequencies you still hear well.
So if I were you, I´d try a bte aid, open fit. I can´t tell you if you should stay at costco, we don´t have that here in germany. But if you want to stay at costco, then I´d start with the rexton trax. If you are perfectly happy with them, keep them, if not, return them and try the bernafon juna 9 (they are not necessarily better, but quite a bit different). I don´t know about the ks6, but with your hearing, streaming won´t sound very good anyway, you ´ll be better of with normal headphones and an equalizer that adds some mid-frequencies.
Oh, and I like the Juna much better when fitted with nal-nl2, not the bernafon formula “bernafit”.
If you want to try other Costco aids, I would try another store. What happened to you sounds very strange. My own experience was the audi was happy to have me have both KS6 and Trax aids at the same time knowing I’d return one set. From her attitude, if I had returned both, I don’t believe there would have been so much as a frown. After I decided on the Trax I had custom molds made and she told me I could return those for a refund if I didn’t like them, and I could send them back for remaking for any reason as often as needed in the first 90 days.
I’ve seen several posts right here in this forum that others’ experience has been like mine, and yours is the first where a Costco employee got stuffy over a return. Under the circumstances, I think I’d go so far as to report this experience to Costco.
Thank you for the input. I also thought this was very weird given Costco’s customer focus. I’m going to report it, and maybe try another location. I’ll report back - all of the help on this forum has been invaluable!
We’ve had quite a few threads on this forum recently regarding hearing aids and self-consciousness. I suggest you do a little more reading about it. You’ll find the consensus to be that most people are surprised to find out you’re wearing them, and once they do they are more intrigued and fascinated than they are judgmental and critical. Learn a lot of the technical jargon, and you can impress people with this incredible chunk of technology tucked behind your ear.
You haven’t mentioned anything about health insurance. Have you explored that option at all? I would have gone to Costco myself, but with health insurance a regular HIS cost me around $700.
Thanks for the input and you’re probably right. When I go back to Costco, I’m going to try one of the behind the ears and see how they feel and what the reaction is if anyone notices. In terms of health insurance, I get $0 benefit from it (other than the ability to use my HSA to pay for them), so that’s why Costco is the route for me… Thank you again.
Hi all - I went to another Costco and this one was more helpful. However, they will would only sell me one pair of aids at a time. The Audiologist thought the best ones for me were either the Kirkland KS6 or the Phonak (I forget the number). She would not sell me Bernafon or Rexton because she didn’t feel they were right for me. I ordered the KS6 and they come in early next week. I’ll update once I get them.
