Not this again. Please stop.
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Again? If this is directed at me, I’ve never started a debate about Costco or anything else. In fact, I posted about my positive experience at Costco within the past month.
In my experience, the key ingredient in treating hearing loss is the professional providing the treatment. The hearing aid is simply the vehicle by which that treatment is delivered in the case of hearing loss. The level of training which an HIS receives is far less than what someone who is generally considered a professional receives. I thought it was important to state that for the record. When you buy at Costco, you are buying a service delivery model, not just a device. The actual audiologists in the Costco service delivery model are few and far between in my personal experience.
No the again is not directed at you but the fact that there are many costco v private discussions that tend to devolve and accomplish very little.
This thread had nothing to do with that and you decided to move this topic towards that discussion. I was suggesting we keep it on topic.
On a side note - I realize looking at what I typed it could look like I meant you specifically and that is not the case so I apologize for the confusion…
I got a Jabra Enhance Pro with M&RIE at Costco. The fitter was an experienced audiologist who did all the tests and REM. I was given print outs of my audiogram and REM results. The only issue I had was too many of my questions were answered with: “I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know what’s best.” That didn’t work for me and we battled over the flow of information. I wasn’t told about the M&RIE option at the first session/initial fitting. I went home and read about it. When I went back for a follow up I asked about it. She told me that because I only had hearing in one ear it wouldn’t make a difference. I said that I was interested not in the directionality but in the other advantages provided by the M&RIE. I insisted on trying one. So one was ordered and it got swapped out. I have found a marked improvement in sound clarity and sounding natural. I bought a NoahLink Wireless and downloaded SmartFit so I don’t have to return to Costco unless there are maintenance issues. If I do I’ll go to a different location in another state.
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I agree that “Comparing an HIS with an audiologist is comparing apples & oranges, creating a false equivalence.” In my experience many HIS know more about hearing aids and fitting them than audiologists do. I would prefer an HIS, which is what I have at my Costco. I can also confirm that in New Jersey anyway, HIS have a two year college degree. It is very thorough and involves practicum.
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Well, I guess I have to ask then, what is your experience?
Hi billigem,
A few years ago, I went to a presentation at Robert Wood Johnson which is a major health facility here in New Jersey. The presenter was an audiologist and on staff there and was considered a hearing “expert.” Her knowledge of what hearing aids actually do was very limited. She made a few statements that were incorrect. I’m sorry that I can’t remember what they were - I’m 77 and my memory could be better.
I live at a Continuing Care Retirement Community and we have organized several programs on hearing and invited professionals to come and present. Again the audiologists had a limited knowledge of what hearing aids do other than amplify sound. None spoke about Real Ear Measurements for example, and most didn’t know anything about bluetooth integration.
I have dealt with four HIS technicians, two at Costco and two at other independent hearing aid outlets.They were all knowledgeable about hearing aids and how to fit them.
Additionally, my step-daughter completed a two year course at a local college to become certified as an HIS and her training was very thorough.
I may be prejudiced, since when I was working, I was an electronics technician and I often felt that I knew more about real world electronics that most electronics engineers. My point being that hands on experience is worth more than formal education in many instances.
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Thanks for the narrative. Being a grandparent myself, I completely understand your “bias”. Your priorities are where they should be IMO, having 13 grandkids of my own. Sorry that you’ve had such bad experiences with audiologists. After hearing your story, I see where you’re coming from.
Caution: Costco does not update Target as fast as a DIY user can. I DIY and recently my Target received a Phonak push to the latest version. Also my KS10’s were pushed a firmware upgrade that makes them compatible with the new active receiver.
Soon after I scheduled a Costco appt for a REM test to see how my hearing may have changed since I’ve been wearing my KS10’s for 6 months.
The Costco Target system couldn’t read my KS10’s. The error message basically said the Costco Target needed to be updated. I’ve been going to this store and this fitter for awhile and he is very good. He knows I DIY and often takes time to educate me on Target use. He said Costco’s quality testing usually means there is a few weeks until they update. He said my KS10s were now ahead of his and to just come back in a week or 2.
I can see why this happened, my current Target 7.19 has crashed a couple of times. A reboot and recover was easy and no harm done. I’m guessing we’ll see 7.20 pretty quick.
This is very well written and should be helpful to many!!
What is Target? I have been wearing hearing aids for four years now and have never heard of that.
It’s the name of the fitting software used to fit Phonak aids. ReSound refers to their current fitting software as Smart Fit, as another example.
Thanks, this is new to me, I prefer open domes at this point and do fine in resturants etc. but streamed music does suffer. As long as battery life is not affected very much I think I would try the active receiver.
any idea if the active vent receivers physically fit the KS10’s? I thought Dr. Cliff’s video said they wouldn’t…an extra pin present or something? And the Easy Line app would need to support them as well, correct? Man I hope they get official support.
I really don’t know. All I saw was that the Target update added in Active Vent as a choice. The KS10’s shell is different than the P90 (you can see the Mic slits are situated different). So it is possible that the Active won’t fit the KS10. Don’t really know for sure, maybe Cliff got it right.
Nope, I was getting confused between his Audeo Life video and the one on ActiveVent. Hardware wise, it should work fine provided the app supports it!
The KS10 shell looks mightily like the Nathos Nova, a made for the NHS aid. I was awaiting a replacement HA from the NHS and wondered what I’d get (not this…).
OP Update after 2 weeks, (and after today’s followup visit at Costco)
No change in my earlier stated opinions, the KS10s still seem great for me, as does the Costco service. Some more observations:
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I find I never make manual adjustments or pre-programmed setting groups. The auto setting seems to get it each time.
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That said, I learned today from the HIS that the KS10s have two types of programs: some user selectable programs to choose from (Restaurant, Music, TV), and a lot more “invisible” programs that the KS10 chooses automatically from, and which cannot be manually seen or selected. For example, it’s Car program kicks in automatically and it’s not a user selectable program. I think there are a bunch more. All good with me, but good to know… I was wondering where those programs were in the app.
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The sound is really good. I can hear girlfriend almost perfectly. I do still ask her to repeat occasionally. She say’s I am ten times better than before and that I don’t ignore her anymore. (We’ll see.)
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Only one noisy restaurant test so far, but inconclusive since we sat outside, but all was good.
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These are my first HAs and I expected an adjustment period, based on my online study/readings. But from the start I wore these from the moment I woke up till going to bed, and seemed right the whole time. Easy to wear; forget I have them. But when I take them off it feels like sound proof ear muffs are put on my ears.
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Nice to hear birds, frogs, crickets again.
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I forgot to mention last time: On first fitting I saw the HIS set these to 80% of full level (as others have said they would), but when I asked her when she would change it to 100% she said the KS10s were set to automatically slowly ramp up to 100% over about 4- 6 weeks. Could explain ease with adjusting to these.
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I am finding the iPhone connection via Bluetooth (BT) generally good for calls, music, and audiobooks. A few unexpected refusals to connect, but no more than I had with other BT earbuds, and restarting KS10s fixed it each time. Really cool to always have equivalent of earbuds already in ears when calls come in.
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At first BT with Mac would not stay connected. But then after 2 days it started working fine. No idea why.
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Got a used Phonak TV Connector on eBay, and oh man, is TV dialog clear now, unbelievably clear. Absolutely no need for subtitles. Not so with KS10’s listening to TV speakers across the room–doing that is better but nowhere near as clear as when using TV connector
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Today’s Costco followup was quick and effective. I came in with a few minor KS10 complaints and she adjusted for them: audiobooks when in car max vol was too low; fixed. Updated firmware (supposed to fix slight static during phone calls). Asked her to add some more bass to music program; worked. Different domes to reduce slight slippage of domes; worked. But did not do another REM test, I assume because I told her they were generally working well.
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So all fixes really good. Clearly, the HIS knows this KS10 inside and out, no hesitation or confusion on how to adjust anything.
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I asked about the active receivers; she said she thinks they will be offering them in a month or two.
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Then went shopping in Costco store and bought way too much stuff. Need to add that as main problem with buying HAs at Costco.
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Costco, home of the $100 lunch.
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$1.50 for the hotdog and 98.50 for all the other stuff you buy? :>)
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