Sams Club/Liberty HA's/Info

Hearing Aids
#1

I recently purchased a Liberty Digital 64 channel ITE at Sams Club and was told that they were the only aids that have 32 or 64 channels and all other aids only have 16 but in browsing this forum i have seen other aids discussed that have 32. I feel that the audiologist lied to me. Am i correct?
Another problem i am having is that i was told that i could not get a volume/on-off switch only a infinity volume control and have to open the battery compartment to turn it off.

Thanks for any feedback

#2

Let me start by saying that my experience with Liberty hearing aids is extremely limited. It amounts to a visit to Sam’s Club last year in which their hearing aid center was closed but a colleague and I visually inspected their display models and read through their pamphlets to satisfy our curiosity. He had previously been offered a job there, which he ultimately declined and we were wondering what the “competition” was up to.

The pamphlets encouraged you to compare their hearing aids to those made by other manufacturers and offered a handy checklist to help you do that. As I recall the checklist included number of channels (implying that less than 32 was a bad thing), a suggestion to see if they utilized ADRO (sp?) compression (this is the name Liberty gave their compression system so another company would be unlikely to use the same name unless they wanted to get sued), and a number of other specifications in which they seemed to think their hearing aids were competitive.

Back in the days when hearing aids were 2 or 4 channel instruments additional channels were a big deal adding a few more made a huge difference! Nowadays most of the major manufacturers offer significantly less than 32 channels on their high end instruments because once you get past a certain point additional channels don’t offer a significant benefit to the patient.

I have no first-hand experience with Liberty aids, but got the sense that they were most comparable to a major manufacturer’s entry-level product that had been souped up with extra channels. They were priced at a similar point to what the “budget” model would cost at most clinics and would probably represent a great value to those in the market for such a model. I was a little disappointed that their pamphlet implied that they were superior to a major manufacturer’s high end model, but then I guess that’s marketing!

#3

I hate most of our marketing stuff. They really want us to push the channels. I agree that it is mostly fluff, but the ADRO system makes a slightly clearer sound with more channels with less compression. It is just different from WDRC, like Mac from Windows. I feel like the improvement on our SIE64 aid is not the number of channels but the computer. It functions much better in noise than its predecessor and I am comfortable showing it against anyone’s the top of the line as far as pure hearing aid function goes.

So far I have shown great results with mild to severe losses, and profound is a lot more challenging to fit than with a traditional compression aid. In addition, we do not have Bluetooth or auto t-coil (some models have manual) which I feel is a weakness – especially with the younger crowd. But that is the opinion of one specialist.<O:p</O:p

#4

Would ADRO work for me, or am I too far gone? I appreciate your honest approach.

#5

In your case, I think so. That said, I have not worked with any resound Products in four years or so, therefore I am not sure if they would work better for you than your current devices.

Depending on your comfort levels, I’d try the power RICs for the lows but we may not need them.

I guess I should mention that we do have a power RIC for the SIE64 that works well for profound level hearing losses, but I have not worked a lot with them. The one patient I have with them on is doing well, but feedback continues to be a problem so we may end up going to a custom ear mold.

#6

Anything more than 16 channels does not do anything. Most people not in the industry do not know what channels are or what they do, but assume the more the better. Years ago, I attended a class by a major manurfacturer, and when we looked at the programming, was told on their 20 channel HA, ignore the first 2 because they don’t do anything.

#7

Again, no direct experience with Sams Club hearing aids, but my understanding of how Sams and Costco’s hearing aids work is that:

Costco sources their hearing aids from major manufacturers (like ReSound and SIEMENS) and in some cases rebrands them. The downside to Costco VS an independent clinic is that the technology in the Costco hearing aids are typically a little older than whatever the current model is from a particular manufacturer. This isn’t always the case, but typically is. Older models aren’t “bad,” but often hearing aid manufacturers wait until what they feel to be a significant enhancement comes along before releasing a new model. The older model works, but these new enhancements are often a big enough deal where most patients would prefer to have them if they were aware of them and could experience their benefits.

Sams Club’s BTE and RIC hearing aids look VERY similar to the hearing aids sold by an outfit called America Hears and are pretty comparable in price as well. I suspect (but don’t know for sure – maybe iceman can weigh in on this) that Liberty hearing aids are simply rebranded America Hears hearing aids. Whereas ReSound and SIEMENS are major players in the hearing aid world, America Hears is a much smaller company that probably does less than 1% of the volume of any of the major manufacturers. Now size isn’t everything, but being large allows the major manufacturers to invest a significant amount of money into research and development in how to make their new hearing aids even better! Based on the large difference in financial resources available I’d estimate that America Hears models are probably 5+ years behind the major manufacturers and some pretty neat things have happened in the last 5 years. If Sams Club hearing aids are rebranded America Hears models then the same would apply to them, although the boost in volume due to the Sams contract could allow them to start closing the technological gap in the future.

#8

I’m happy with what I have for now, but, I will eventually (3-5 years) get new ones. I think the Resounds were on top when I got these but I’ll go with whatever is on top in 3-5 years. I could go up to the power receiver with the Resounds when I get my bi-annual hearing test in August. I will definitely check out Sam’s.

#9

Hi.

I own a pair of ADRO aids, probably very similar to what you’re talking about. Compared to my previous aids (GE Resound Air from 6-7 years ago) they are just fantastic. I’ve got the SIE ones. Compared to more expensive current-generation aids? Who knows? An audiologist who has some experience with these and other aids told me that in his opinion I’d have to spend more than twice as much to get anything better.

Personally I don’t see any real reason to turn them off. When they’re not on my ears they’re in the drying unit with the door open anyway.

#10

I got my first pair of hearing aids yesterday afternoon at Sam’s Club. SIE64s.

Last night I cried when I could hear the rain shower outside. I could understand my husband when he was facing the other way. At the restaurant I didn’t have to ask the server to repeat or just nod my head. While at my mom’s today - anyway, I could go on and on how amazing the past day has been.

Can’t wait until tomorrow. Big :slight_smile:

1 Like
#11

Your repitition of the thought that “more channels does nothing” only applies to those major manufacturers using Wide Dynamic Range Compression. It does not apply to the Lucid aids sold today at Sam’s Club. More channels are built into the computer chip to allow a more natural quality of sound. ADRO is a different way of controlling.

#12

You are posting to a thread dormant for 8 years. We may never know how zoo_girl made out. However the point is perennial.

I had not heard of ADRO. The basic papers go back to 1999 and 2005, as examples. To my mind, it is similar to work done at CBS Labs around 1960 for military intercom and broadcast level controls. They were 1 channel and bigger than a breadbox (early ones used vacuum tubes). The sliding window gain decision algorithm (and general build) was SO much better than others that it dominated most of 1960s broadcast level boxes, until even newer companies made still more complex level-pushers for a hot radio broadcast market.

So ADRO is a different way to manage gain in a changing world. In hand-wired logic it is a “window comparator”. In a DSP it is about 3 lines of code.

I, IMHO, don’t see how ADRO differs from so-called WDRC in how it can use multiple “channels”. These are usually understood to be frequency bands. Since speech appears as narrow-band sound at different frequencies, it seems logical we may want to handle narrow frequency bands. Certainly when adjusting sound systems 2 knobs was better than none, and 10 better yet. Octave, 1/3rd Oct, and 1/6th Oct freq-band boxes have been useful. But even in high buck systems the 1/3rd Oct is most popular because of masking. In hearing aids we also have the ratty response of the receiver, and the rattiness of ears like mine, plus now considerable automation of adjustments in-use. 20 or 40 bands makes acoustic sense. Binary digital likes numbers like 16 32 64 and these are loudly touted as something to pay more for.

I had not heard of Lucid, the website is here. Like ALL aid marketers, the topic is too complicated for most customers to comprehend, so they must resort to telling us: “quality that is superior …hear the sounds that are most important…understandable and comfortable…smoother, richer sound…greater sound clarity…focus the most important part of the sound…experience a very positive difference.” Probably all true, and all this verbiage sounds a lot like brand P or W or B’s pages.

#13

I had a 32 channel ADRO aid for years. It was a LOT better than what I had before. I then trialed a 64 channel one and it was a lot better in general than that, but not significantly better when it came to hearing in noise. I returned it (now I have opn-1s and I still can’t hear in noise). Blamey & Saunders now sell 128 channel ADRO aids. I’d like to try it out of curiosity. No Bluetooth is a bit of a killer for me, and they don’t seem to realise that $4000 AUD for a pair of aids is no longer great value.

Anyway, the extra channels made for a significantly better experience a few years ago. I don’t think there were significant changes apart from the extra channels.