Trialing Philips Hearlink 9030

Hearing Aids
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#1

I ordered the Philips Hearlink 9030 from Costco on September 2, 2022. The fitting was a very complete examination. It was the first exam from Costco in 6 years. The changes in my audiogram were less than I had expected.

I received the new HAs on Sept 12th. Today while reading my email, I discovered that Costco has put these HAs on sale for $200 off the usual price. While in the store for new glasses, I asked about getting the price reduction refunded. I always miss getting the refunds by just days. I got lucky today and got the $200 refunded onto my credit card.

The hearing aid fitter had given me a sales pitch on how much time Philips put in on the Music program. My Oticon OPNs both 1 and 2 are superior to my ears. I spent a lot of my youth in school band. I also managed a pizza place that had live entertainment on weekends. I had the privilege of hearing Al Strickland of the Texas Playboys pounding the ivories. A lesser known local performer was Rayburn James who played mandolin. Even though he was an older man, his hand was a blur. In the 70s I spent time in Europe and frequented venues with live entertainment. The point of all this is to say, I spent a lot of my life around live music. I know what it sounds like. The Philips are, in my opinion, lacking in realistic musical sound. I have always described my Oticons as musical hearing aids. The Oticons just sound right.

The Philips, when set on voice in noisy places, have that sound of the ocean sound you get when listening to a sea shell. The fitter blames it on the compression. I have a similar program on my older Oticons but have never noticed this great distraction. I do find speech to be more understandable with the Philips but using them is fatiguing. I have been wearing these daily for a month. Went back to have them tweaked but the batteries were not fully charged because I had worn them continuously during a family emergency. This emergency reinforced my preference for user replaceable batteries. When my hearing aids are dead, my ability to fully function plummets. I might resort to reprogramming my Oticons to compare directly to the Philips.

To be fair, I need to return to Costco and really let the hearing aid fitter address some of my dislikes. I will try to follow up later, as I proceed with these moderately priced hearing aids.

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#2

I wear the previous generation, Philips Hearlink 9010. I’m a musician, and I created my own music program that is linear, with no compression. This may or may not work for you, depending on your hearing loss. I also turned off any automatic feature options, especially the feedback manager, which can create havoc with steady musical tones.

I have the same issue that you have with the “Speech in Noise” program. That program uses the directional microphone, which has a more audible “noise floor” than the omnidirectional microphone, depending on one’s hearing loss. However, I only use this program in loud settings (e.g. restaurants) when I don’t notice the microphone noise floor due to the other noises in the room.

In general, I am satisfied with my Philips 9010. It’s not perfect, but it’s very good. I’ve worn hearing aids for 25 years. My first set were Oticon Digifocus (anyone remember those?) from a private audiology practice. My second set were Bernafon Chronos from Costco, and now I have the Philips 9010 from Costco. Although the 9030 have more advanced features, I’ll probably upgrade when Costco offers the next generation of Philips (9050?), which probably isn’t too far in the future, since the 9030 came out in December 2020. Oticon, Bernafon, and Philips are all owned by the same parent company (Demant), even though each brand has its own proprietary features.

I have a very patient and knowledgeable hearing aid specialist at Costco. In my opinion, that may be even more important than the hearing aid brand itself.

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#3

I agree regarding the fitter. The best hearing aid that is poorly fit is probably not as usable as a less sophisticated model that is rweaked by a good fitter that listens to the client. Thanks for your insight. I really want to like these new aids because of the features and price point.

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#4

I had tried the Philips 9030 with replaceable 312’s from Costco. My problem was that there was a screechiness that couldn’t be programmed out. Loud thumps were accompanied by a screech, and loud female voices–fugget it! In addition, streaming from a laptop had a large delay because it went through the phone. I now have the KS10, which suits me better. Unfortunately, the rechargeable batteries don’t get me through the day; I have to give it a short charge during the day. Streaming is nice, though, and no screechiness.
YMMV