My experience with Costco hearing aids
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Hearing aids at Costco.
One thing she missed is the Kirkland (Phonak) KS10s. Unless you were the one who missed it. They're $1400 a pair. BTE with bluetooth. That's what I'm using.
I don't know whether they have any that aren't BTE or not since I didn't look that hard. I already had my mind set on these, and that's what the audiologist recommended to me without me saying anything about it.
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Hey there, I’m a hearing aid specialist.
The current KS 10 is made by Sonova, the parent company of Phonak. It is a highly rated hearing aid. It is the equivalent of Phonak Audeo Marvel Paradise except without the tinnitus masker. They are rechargeable and cost $1500 for the pair including charger. They have Bluetooth capability for steaming and app adjustments. If he has a smartphone, there is the option to do remote services/adjustments if he has mobility issues or lives a distance from the warehouse.
Some folks prefer the sound quality or features of other aids we sell (Resound, Philips, or Rexton). For example, it is sometimes difficult for people with severe arthritis to get the KS aids out of the charger. We don’t work on commission; we want to fit a product that your grandfather will be most successful with.
At least at my warehouse, your grandfather must be a member. That being said, the $60 membership fee is often worth it verses spending $6000-$8000 for a set outside of Costco. Also consider there is no cost for hearing testing, fitting, follow ups or any subsequent adjustments.
You’ll have to check or have him check if he has coverage for aids. Unfortunately, most people do not, but if he does, we can provide information for him to be reimbursed. We do not work with insurance companies and require payment from him directly.
Let me know if you have more questions!
Edit: corrected my brain fart of the model sold outside of Costco haha
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I had never worn hearing aids before and my mild-moderate hearing loss was getting worse. So, because of reviews and cost, I chose Costco hearing aids. I had tried a couple of OTC amplifiers but they did not help me understand speech and loud sounds were too jarring with them. So, I got the Philips 9040 (Oticon) aids from Costco.
I tried them for a few months but overall the sound was awful because:
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I could not understand people right in front of me when there was a crowd around. So, with many people around, I had to take the aid off to understand my immediate group of people. This happened even on bluetooth phone calls.
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Loud sounds were jarring. I have loud sound sensitivity and the hearing aids made me nauseous whenever I was around loud people. Oh, and loud distant noises were awful too. Like being able to hear the far off clanking of dishware in restaurants when all I wanted to do was to hear the people next to me. Walking near traffic became overwhelming.
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All sounds were different. I did not recognize people's voices from people I had known for years. I had to relearn how different people sounded. I also had to relearn the sound of water, fans, etc. Everything sounded flat and it was only when I took off the HAs did the world sound full.
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Music sounded flat, too. Like listening to sounds recorded with a very low bit rate. My $20 pair of earbuds were so much better sounding. Reading the comments on this subReddit, I guess this is how HAs are meant to be, and I am not the only one.
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There was no effective noise canceling. If I wanted to hear people in a car that had road noise, I had to remove my HAs. Otherwise, the sounds I heard were mainly road noise with unintelligible speech in the background.
So, I went back a couple of times to the HA specialist at Costco with my complaints and got my HAs tweaked a couple of times. Nothing much improved and in some ways became even worse.
On a whim, I went to a different Costco. The difference was amazing. This HA specialist did an update, and gave my Android app the speech in noise setting. Both settings now make my aids sound 100% better and I can wear them comfortably for longer periods of time. I now actually want to wear them when I go out.
I don't know what to make of my experiences. But, I did want to say that maybe if you are having problems, perhaps another fitter might be helpful.