I wear my hair short, and I’ve worn aids for more than a decade. I could wear grapefruits behind my ears and nobody would notice. 
I’m not sure what Costco carries, but this link suggests that they carry Resound IIC http://www.costco.com/resound.html
I’m not aware that Costco offers any IIC per se. But for sure it’s a very popular place to get fitted with HAs thanks to its reasonable pricing, great service and great trial period.
Yes, Costco sells all the models. They also sell aids starting at $495. There is a display case that shows that.
Thanks for responding! Thank you for the additional information. I do not have the specific technology of the invisible IIC hearing aid at hand.
I will research all of the choices you mentioned. Btw, I did research HearMore but I could not find any locations near me. With that said, I am noticing that many of the hearing aid centers near me, utilize high-pressure sales strategies which only makes me hold on to my money longer before making a final decision.
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Wow, thanks! That’s very helpful! I could not find information concerning IIC’s on Costco’s page. I must have overlooked it. It’s definitely worth checking out!
Basically I was going by the picture. They seemed to show some pretty small hearing aids. Perhaps they’re only CIC instead of IIC, but they are by the same overall manufacture as the Beltone aids.
LOL!! I can deaf-inately relate to both sides of this! Luckily, being a woman, my hair is long enough to cover my ears, but even with my ITEs, I’ve found that folks don’t focus as much on my EARS as what I say. O’course, I’m 61, and not 31, which makes that tricky call even easier.
Quiteear: My own 2-cents’ worth is based on experience: I am a bit prone to developing itchy-ear if the canal is firmly sealed. In fact, I’ve had two bouts of otitis (due to allergic reaction to hard shell cases) that convinced me: NO IIC (Lyric, et al) is worth even “going there”.
I’m not familiar with Beltone’s invisible aid, but I’d have a YUGE issue with an aid where I couldn’t swap out batteries myself as needed or get the dang thing out every single night to give my ears a chance to breathe and dry out. I also think Volusiano brings up a valid point about “future growth”. If you want the investment to pay off, perhaps have some built-in range in which to increase gain and fine-tune the frequency ranges.
BEST of luck in what you decide! Be sure to keep us posted. Trials are a great way to test out one aid against another. And Costco seems the most reasonable solution for many here. I have opted for REI, behind-the-ear Oticon Opn miniRITEs, which seems to work with my loss profile.
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Here’s a link to a 3 year-old article on IIC but at least it has some pricing information in there for the Signia and Phonak so you can compare against the Beltone pricing. Note again that this is a 3 year old article so maybe the pricing is a little better now compared to 3 years ago? http://www.ziphearing.com/blog/what-are-the-best-invisible-hearing-aids/
I didn’t see a link.
Sorry, thanks for catching this. I added the link in my original post. Also here: http://www.ziphearing.com/blog/what-are-the-best-invisible-hearing-aids/
Thanks for replying!
I didn’t think about moisture issues. My understanding is that most companies offer a protective coating to protect against moisture. Are you saying that even with the moisture protective coating, IIC’s fail at a greater rate than BTE’s? Are certain manufacturer’s protective coating more effective than others?
Btw, I’d rather be kicked, dragged, and have my eyes gouged out than to wear BTE’s :D. However, I agree that my choice should be solely based upon the hearing aid that allows me to hear the best I can. I’m hoping the IIC will give me what I need.
What you choose is obviously your call, but I would encourage trying on and looking at some of the RIC hearing aids. They are remarkably small and discreet. If you don’t like them after looking at them, great, but I wouldn’t rule them out. I never have anybody comment on my hearing aids. Although I’m not bald, I have short hair and the aids are visible if one looks for them, but most people don’t closely examine my ears. :>)
Thank you for the information, I am reviewing it now!
Thank you for sharing your experience as well as giving me advice! There are so many things to consider when buying a hearing aid. It’s further complicated by the vultures at hearing aid centers; high-pressure sales tactics. The nearest Costco did not have any appointments available, so I will have to wait until Monday before I can pay them a visit. Meanwhile, I’m going to continue to do my research so that I can find a hearing aid that fit my needs.
I appreciate your help and the others who have posted! I will keep everyone updated.
It took me 3 months waiting for my Costco reservation. Now it seems well worth the wait.
You can probably look at the dust and water resistant rating of the HA you’re checking out to make sure that it has a high enough rating to deal with the moisture issue.
Most of the stigma regarding wearing BTE’s are from the HA wearers themselves, because they care the most about their image and assume that other people think the same of it. But the reality is that most people don’t really care much about what you wear as long as it’s inconspicuous and doesn’t draw attention. I think CICs and newer BTEs/RITEs are much smaller and sleeker than older BTEs, so the newer ones are very inconspicuous and don’t draw attention. Sure, they’re not invisible but people can only see them from certain angles compared to the IICs. The CICs can only be seen if people are looking at 90 degrees at your ear, and the BTE can only be seen if people are looking at you from behind. But most people probably don’t think twice about it after they’ve seen it. There’s a difference between inconspicuous and invisible. In the beginning you said you want the HAs to be inconspicuous, but based on what you said here, it seems like what you really want is invisible, which is OK, too. After all, YOU have to be happy with your choice.
I think it’s similar to wearing glasses. Many people don’t like wearing glasses and prefer contact lens, which is fine. But nobody really cares if those contact lens wearers wear glasses or contact lens. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you want the IICs because that’s what YOU want, then it’s fine and that’s why there’s a market for IICs. But if you want IICs because you don’t want PEOPLE to know you’re wearing HAs, then I’d say don’t worry too much about what people think because most people don’t care.
I’ve gone through the same concerns you have when I first started wearing HAs when I was still fairly young (well, middle age). But after I’ve overcome those concerns and decided to wear HAs (they didn’t have IICs back then, so I wore CICs), I quickly found out that nobody cared or commented on the fact that I was wearing HAs. I now wear BTE/RITCs because they gave me the most advanced technologies and features for the money. And still nobody cares to say anything about the fact that I wear them. I’m a male and I do have hair, but my hair is short so my BTE/RITCs are visible if people are behind me.
I think in the old days wearing HAs is a sensitive stigma because they were big and ugly and nobody wears it but your old grandmas and grandpas. But nowadays, so many people wear headphones and earbuds and having very noticeable bluetooth devices hanging on their ears walking around, so having a device on your ear is a lot more socially acceptable than before. Even if it’s obvious that it’s an HA and not one of those other devices, the concept of wearables has taken off enough that it’s become the norm instead of the oddball. I actually think that in the future, the wireless conveniences of HAs that allow people to listen to music or watch movies or have phone calls without having to wear more bulky wireless devices that are a lot more conspicuous, plus hopefully the lowering in HA costs, plus the fact that HAs can also be customizable to their hearing loss (even for people with very mild losses who don’t normally need to wear HAs), will make wearing HAs even more common and acceptable to the masses. It’s going to be the direct wireless capabilities and conveniences without even needing a streamer that’s going to open up the door to the popularity of HAs. They’ll probably won’t be called HAs anymore. They’ll probably be called wireless mini universal listening wearable devices. Then it’ll become cool to be wearing them, not a stigma to be wearing them.
Nano-coating will protect from environmental moisture/perspiration for RICs and BTEs. With IICs, while they may be nano-coated, they spend all day in a harsh, wet environment, your ear canals. The only aids I’ve ever had to send off for repairs in my decade plus of wearing aids were in-the-canal aids; my first set of aids, Widex Senso Diva ITCs, and a few years later ReSound Future 8 remote mic ITCs.
I see this statement a lot, but my 25yr run of CIC’s does not support that statement. They never succumbed to any moisture issues, and I have lived in the humid and salty deep south for 40 years.
I think it varies by individuals depending on how humid or dry their own ear canal condition is. Some people have very dry ear canals and others very humid.
I think I have relatively dry ear canals with minimal wax buildups, but out of the 2 sets of CIC HAs I’d worn over the last 10 years, both sets had failed me after a few years and had to be sent in for repair/replacement at least once or twice already. A couple of those repairs were out of warranty repairs where I had to pay out of my own pocket for the repairs.
They never told me the cause of the failures, probably because they don’t know themselves. But I don’t know what else it could be beside the humidity. In most cases, they told me they replaced the receivers.
Thanks, the information is helpful!