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Cookie Bite Hearing Loss: What is the best hearing aid?
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Oct 16 12:26pm | Replies (39)Comment receiving replies
I thought Costco required at least one audiologist at each location, but I may be wrong. I don't have the dispenser's card, but will find out. This is the guy who told me I should just be glad I can hear voices, and the heck with good quality sound otherwise. I am also troubled by his comments about their app. The app allows for adjustments to be made by the user when listening to music. It does not make any changes, and when asked, he just shrugged and said it didn't work and not to worry, that he could adjust the HA's. However, IF I had him do that, I would lose the clarity of speech.
I have never been told that there is a tradeoff before. I am contemplating returning these and starting all over again, but its pretty frustrating.
Replies to "I thought Costco required at least one audiologist at each location, but I may be wrong...."
I have a 'cookie bite' hearing loss which is described by my audiologist as moderate. I've been wearing hearing aids since 2011, and am on my third pair. Each time I get new hearing aids, the technology gets better, and I am very happy with the Unitron Vivante Moxi V-RT hearing aids I have now. My audiologist is a Doctor of Audiology, and she has told me that it's important to get hearing aids which can be adjusted for your particular hearing loss. If someone told me I should just be glad I could hear voices and be happy with that, I would NEVER go back to that person. When I got my hearing aids adjusted, the audiologist took control via her computer and made a lot of adjustments using the software provided, which gave her a lot of options, using graphics, to make many fine tuned adjustments. If they don't do that at Costco, then I'd wonder at their ability to adjust for a cookie bite hearing loss. I was told that the best brands for our hearing loss are Phonak and Unitron. It seems to me that your hearing aids were not adjusted well for your particular loss, perhaps because the one doing the adjusting didn't have the experience and/or the sensitivity to do it right for you.
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One of the best things about Costco is their 6 month trial period. Most providers allow 30 days, which isn't enough time to really know how well the technology is working for you.
My husband has Costco hearing aids. He is very happy with them. But, he has a basic sensorineural hearing loss typical of aging. Costco has been wonderful about servicing them. We live in different places during the year and all have Costco available so he goes in regularly to have them cleaned, etc. No charge. So there are some huge positives there. None of those Costco stores have audiologists. They are all hearing instrument specialists. I believe they are trained by the few AuD audiologists that Costco employs. Training and internship. Ask your provider where he was trained, and what his degree is.
Telling you that you should be happy with what you're getting sounds a bit strange.
Let us know what you find out. This is a good topic for discussion. while Cookie Bite hearing loss isn't common, it's not unheard of. People need to hear stories like yours.
You might want to look at this YouTube by Dr. Clifford Olson. He is a doctor of audiology who has a lot of good information online. https://www.bing.com/search?q=real+ear+measurement+dr.+cliff&form=ANSPH1&refig=716837933eb5452f8a4b522cf2d6fc72&pc=U531
Phonak is generally a good hearing aid. What model of Phonak hearing instrument do you have? Did they do 'real ear measurement' when testing you?