Thanks In advance for any advice. I am clearly new to all of this. I have had ringing in my ears that is constant but varies in loudness. About 50% of the time it is very loud bilaterally, I think, So loud it seems to mask other sounds when its at its worst. Not to mention it can drive me crazy. It’s been going on for 6 months to a year. No major changes in my life. I attributed it to 4k-6k hearing loss which has been declining steadily for past 10 years, I used to get hearing tested yearly. My doctor told me to get hearing checked again. I went to a place that was surprised I was never advised to get hearing aids and said I need them. I wasn’t so sure. but the price was $7500 so I went to Costco. The Costco Specialist, Not an Audiologist if that matters, said She didn’t think I needed them and probably would not benefit. She kind of seemed more concerned with the fact that I would want to return them more than anything else. but said it was ultimately up to me. I thought about it for a day and made the decision to get them feeling like I have to try everything I can to help with my Tinnitus. I have had the Phillips 9030’s for 6 days now. the first 4 days I had a bad left speaker which reverberated very badly. The speaker got changed and now they sound very normal. I do have a low constant white noise in both that I wish wasn’t there but isn’t horrible. Sorry for the Long story, but all this is confusing and new and I’m trying to take small steps to get to a place that might help in any way. So anyway, my Tinnitus is not being helped in anyway so far, which I understand it may not be possible. With hearing aids being kind of complicated with all the settings I’m wondering if there is way I can check to make sure they are set up as optimally as possible for my issue. Thanks
That is totally up to you to determine that, it depends on how well you are hearing and understanding speech. How well you are handling the background noise. But understand that you have to grow into the aids, in other words your brain has to adapt to the new sounds, that happens over time. And as your brain adapts you more than likely will want and or need adjustments to the aids.
I will add that your aids should be adaptive and over time be increased to your full prescription according to your audiogram. That is something you have to discuss with your hearing aid audiologist or provider.
Thanks, I am still hopeful they might help as They are not even at 100% yet. I think she said it would take 2 weeks to ramp up from 80% to 100%. I guess Im wondering are there ways to see what settings hearing aids are set to like a prescription or something, or are they all the same. I have heard about the REM and she said was done, but I didn’t get any results if thats even a thing. She set up one program in it, General, and when I asked about others she kind of made it seem like they are not that necessary. I have a follow up in a week and was wondering if there is anything I should ask or verify that might benefit me. I watched a video where an Audiologist was suggesting REM tests at Costco’s are not always done properly and can effect a prescription. If thats the case it seems like something I would like to verify if possible.
It was hard for someone with a technical background like me to accept that I was the measure of how well my aids was set up. But over my 17 years with hearing aids I have learned that it is the only way. To be honest I only reached to full point of having a great fit with hearing aids this year. Your hearing loss is a difficult one with the opposite type of cookie bite than mine. You have to be patient and willing to keep at it with your hearing aids provider to get them right for you.
I guess I can see why so many people seem to program on their own. Seems like there might be a lot of trial and error. I think I’ll ask for other programs so I can decide what works best in certain situations.
I haven’t ever desired to do my own programming for two reasons the first I get my aids from the VA and don’t want to upset them. And second i know me I would never stop making changes and totally screw them up.
Well said. I have no desire!
So I gather that you want hearing aids for your high-frequency loss and are hoping that they may also be beneficial for your tinnitus?
I don’t exactly recall the percentage of people with tinnitus that also have hearing loss, but it is a substantial number. So there is at least the potential that your new HA’s will help, but possibly not until you reach your full prescription target. When you start hearing sounds you have been missing, that can change your perception of the tinnitus. And btw, if you are new to HA’s, going from 80% to 100% may be a steep climb. Costco gives you months to trial, so you can take your time getting there.
You don’t say why you were fitted with the Philips. In any event, if your tinnitus is very troublesome, it would probably pay for you to investigate the tinnitus features available in various hearing aids because they are not at all the same. A couple brands simply provide a masking app which is streamed from your phone; one of those doesn’t even need to be the same brand HA. Other brands have a portfolio of tools (so more than masking, e.g., fractal tones) which are programmed into your HA’s by your provider. Unfortunately, you may not get a lot of help with this from a Costco HIS, and in fact, in the past at least some HA’s brands offered by Costco have that feature disabled. When I asked about this when I bought Costco HA’s ~6 yrs ago, I was told that they do not have the training, nor does their business model support the labor required, for tinnitus treatment. I don’t know what the current Costco policy is.
Good tinnitus features was one of my purchase criteria, which is one reason why I went with the Oticon More provided by an Audiologist who knows what she is doing with tinnitus. The Costco Philips HA’s are also manufactured by Oticon, but they are not the same. I find nothing on the Costco or Philips web sites indicating that tinnitus treatment is included.
Also, the $7500 you were quoted may be much, much more than you need to pay for a set of premium brand HA’s, but just at a lower technology level. At my Audiologist’s clinic, the lower tech levels (e.g., Phonak Paradise 30 Essential or the More 3) are only half the cost of the highest level, so about $2500. All levels include the tinnitus therapy features. Something to consider.
Good luck.
With my More1 aids set up the way they are I find I don’t even need the tinnitus program that I have. Putting my aids on is all I need to quiet down my tinnitus.
Thanks for the thorough reply. I am not sure why they recommended the Philips. It was the first and only thing they mentioned even before my test. I said I had looked into it a bit and was also interested in the kirkland 10’s based on reviews. She didn’t seem to support that, not sure why. I saw two other customers while there and they both also got the Philips, if that means anything. The first one’s I tried were the Oticon More 1 and they seemed perfect during my in office trial. At least I was surprised to hear a computer running in the office that I could not hear without them. But at the end of the day I thought I would try Costco after reading a good amount of good reviews. Costco doesn’t activate the Tinnitus masking features on the hearing aids, but the Philips is made for iphone which i use, which when you triple click the side button on the phone it gives you 6 sounds like rain, ocean, stream, white noise ect. They were not aware it could do that and I stumbled on it messing around. I followed someones advice on here and downloaded an app with similar features just more sounds. I am hopeful the hearing aids themselves help first and the masking features are Just a back up for really difficult days. I actually assumed the Tinnitus features in hearing aids are the masking features which I have access to, although now I’m wondering if they are something more. My Tinnitus is almost always worse in the evening, which last night starting probably around 5 until I went to bed it was as bad as it gets. I tried some masking features, some sounds work better than others but I have to turn the volume up so loud I pretty much cant do anything else. Its might be a small break from the Tinnitus, I cant really tell yet if it helps. I would say it definitely doesn’t seem like a great solution just messing around with it. Either way Im hopeful and sticking with it. As a bonus I can hear a little better now at the very least. I do have a slight constant White noise out of both hearing aids that I hope they can get rid of at my next appointment, Other than that they seem ok.
Good to know, I’m glad it works for you and happy there’s a chance!
You’ve had the tinnitus for only 6-12 months. Some have had it for many years, even since childhood. The majority of tinnitus sufferers are eventually able to acclimate to it, more or less. Sometimes adjustments are called for. Btw, it’s very common for it to be progressive through the day, so a relaxed evening is helpful.
What the Philips is giving you for masking is fairly typical. Some manufacturers (Oticon, Phonak, Widex that I know of) go further and include tinnitus treatment in their fitting software. It’s a bit difficult to describe and there is more than one approach, but essentially the audiologist characterizes your particular tinnitus and then creates a program which provides a particular type of sound therapy (this therapy varies between manufacturers).
I’m like cvkemp. I’d never be happy that I had them programmed properly. But also from my own experience my audiogram is only a starting point as far as programming goes. As I wear the aids and get used to them I’ve learned there are areas where I need further tweaking which deviates from the audiogram. Costco has a 6 month trial full refund policy. Wear the aids and keep track of where you feel adjustments need to be made. Then go back and get them further adjusted. And good luck
According to this HearingTracker article on Philips HearLink HAs, including the 9030, there are “No tinnitus features built into the product- for example no masking tones or other signals available”.