Quick question. Is the Audi the owner or an Audi on staff?
Audi is owner, third generation Audiologist. Has two offices, one 15 miles from me that I went to via Hearing Revolution, open Mo, Tu, Th, Fri till noon. The other main office 50 miles away. open Mo, Tu, We, Th Fri till noon. They do not appear to share staff between offices. If I do not get a call back by Monday afternoon, I’ll call Hearing Revolution and see what they have to say.
This was exactly my experience with my recent Costco fitting. I think there must be a set of standards that the specialists are expected to follow. Hearing test at a nearby audiology office, which was pushing a pair of OPN1s for $7K, consisted only of 1 - the standard pure tone thresholds in each ear.
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And if those who have figured out how to program their Forte 8s share their preset discoveries with us, the rest of us, who aren’t terribly interested in programming our own aids, can go back to our fitters and request the change.
We can’t find anyone who has programmed their ReSound Forte’s because they are locked as for as we know. All ReSound hearing aids from Costco are locked. All of them (except the 2011 Alera).
This thread suggests that the Cala and Forte aren’t locked, but it’s inconclusive, it seems.
I have a pair of the 2011 Costco Future RIC style (Alera). Nice to know I could program them if I had a hi-pro. They were really good hearing aids and worked with the original Phone Clip.
That thread was me. At the time I thought they were unlocked, but since nobody has spoken up that they are programming them, it seems that they are locked.
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The Alera’s are ancient history. Who knows? They might have been locked too! It’s so hard to tell since most ppl don’t try to program their Costco hearing aids.
Really appreciate your clarifying this - thanks!
i just received a call from the fitter for the OPN 1, she stated that she feels the 60db receivers would be adequate since where my hearing loss drops to 65db & 70db is at 3kHz to 6kHz range where there is no speech, so no need for the 85db receiver. She said she would call Hearing Revolution to see if they would add the 85 receivers as well.
I still know that there are sounds, music and nature, classical music strings, bird calls, crickets, etc. that I will want to hear above the 3kHz range. Or am misunderstanding? I want HAs to give me back more to hear than just speech, since I spend to much time outside in open spaces. I also listen to music many hours a day at home on speakers or with ear buds when out walking around town.
What do those with experience think about this? I’m not sure I like that answer, but I’m too new to know if that is a good reason.
I think I mentioned the Costco fitter ordered the ReSound MP receivers and not the LP ones, as shown on the purchase order. When I plugged my audiogram readings into the Genie 2 software and choose the OPN family, it auto selected the 85 receivers.
"> And if those who have figured out how to program their Forte 8s share their preset discoveries with us, the rest of us, who aren’t terribly interested in programming our own aids, can go back to our fitters and request the change.
We can’t find anyone who has programmed their ReSound Forte’s because they are locked as for as we know. All ReSound hearing aids from Costco are locked. All of them (except the 2011 Alera)."
It could be that I am misunderstanding what folks are calling programing the Costco Forte 8s HAs First off, I’m more than happy to instruct the Costco gal, as to what I want in this area, I’ve got my 1st follow up next week. For the triple-tap volume on the iPhone, I’d like a single volume control, not each ear independent. As well, I have quite a few presets already saved, if that is what people are calling “programing”… The GN RESOUND - SMART 3D app for iPhone, allows you to add a favorite setting, and name that favorite… I have one I called “Downtown” ( for heavy traffic and street noise ) … another called “High/Low”… another called “Hikes” , another called “Work”… I just mess with the controls and the noise and wind levels until it works in those environments and then save it. Is that what you folks are getting at ?
This is set on the iPhone. Settings->General->Accessibility->MFi Hearing Devices->[your hearing aids]->Adjust Independently
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I don’t think you’ll notice much difference between the 60 dB receivers and the 85 dB receivers. I’m guessing you’ll be fitted with open domes as your low frequency hearing is near normal. It is really challenging to compensate for losses 70 dB and greater with open domes as the sound tends to “leak out.” Although your loss is somewhat less than 70 dB, it’s pretty close. You could try the 85s and see what you think, but I suspect to hear the higher frequencies you will need a touch of frequency lowering. (There’s a ton of info on this if you search, but briefly higher frequencies are shifted downward into a frequency range you can hear. There are several ways of accomplishing this)
I would say that the 60 dB receivers are BARELY adequate. Yes, it may be true that you may not notice much difference between the 60 and 85 dB receivers FOR NOW, because the 60 is borderline to your hearing loss. BUT, what happens if a year from now your hearing loss deteriorates further? If you already have the 85, you can readily have the programming readjusted, either by the audi, or even better, by yourself if you pick up the DIY route and use in-situ audiometry in Genie 2 to regularly re-check your hearing loss. Sure, if you have the 65 dB receivers now, and you’re under warranty, you can request the 85 later on. But what if your hearing loss gets worse right after you’re out of warranty?
Furthermore, there’s no downside I can see in going with the 85 dB receiver. There’s only upside with it for your hearing loss situation.
One other factor: driving a 65 receiver hard right at the borderline all the times may wear out the receiver and cause it to fail sooner. I’ve experienced this with my 85dB receiver on my right ear failing before my 85 dB receiver on my left ear. And my right ear’s loss is a little more severe than my left ear’s loss in the highs. Sure this may just be a coincidence of failure. But the type of failure was very suspect. The right receiver still operated and delivered sound, but any perceived loud sound was o be distorted quite a bit. Almost as if the receiver was simply driven too hard that it wore out faster.
Another reason, you’re probably going to be fitted with open domes, with big vent. Usually for open domes, the software may over amplify the sounds that need amplification a little bit more than necessary to compensate for the leakage through the large vents. With a borderline receiver, the receiver can only amplify so much up to the borderline, so over amplification for the over compensation of the leakage is not possible because there’s no more room left to over compensate.
In terms of using frequency lowering technology (in this case Speech Rescue for the OPN), you definitely should use it based on your type of loss, as recommended by MDB. The Speech Rescue frequency composition technology gives you an option to preserve the high frequency sounds that are being lowered. If you want this option, having the 85 dB receivers will help make this preservation of the high sounds uncompromised. So don’t fall for the “you don’t need the high amplification if you’re using Speech Rescue anyway”, especially if you intend to preserve the highs in addition to generating the lowered sounds from these highs as well.
As for the fitter’s excuse that speech doesn’t exist beyond 3 KHz, I disagree because all the “s” and “sh” sounds as well as the fricatives from speech do reside within the range beyond 3 KHz. I use the Speech Rescue technology and my source range is between 4-7 KHz and my destination (lowered) range is between 1.6-2.4 KHz, and I hear plenty of speech components more clearly now which exist in the 4-7 KHz range.
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The references to programming aren’t to user adjustments, such as the many made possible by ReSounds’ nifty app, but rather the software fitters use to configure hearing aids. This software provides numerous configuration options that go far beyond noise and wind levels for specific programs. For example, I believe the Forte configuration software enables the fitter to configure microphone directionality (omnidirectional or unidirectional) for each program.
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Just adding clarification: I am not “recommending” frequency lowering, but mentioning it as an option. Many people do not like it.
Curious! What does it sound like? Does a little kid have an adult’s voice?
No, it’s not nearly that dramatic. Some people barely notice it–others find the distortion awful. There’s lots of stuff out there on it. Here’s one of the better articles: 20Q: Frequency Lowering Ten Years Later - New Technology Innovations Joshua M. Alexander 20Q with Gus Mueller Hearing Aids - Adults Hearing Aids - Children VA Selections 18040 but as you can see, there’s a lot to it.
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It sounds normal except I did notice with some music it sounded like the piano was out of tune. The power on jingle does sound different and now I can hear the whole thing, even the last high note
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