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Hearing Aids and Android

I've never experienced any discomfort with my hearing aids. Naturally all ears as well as aids are different. As for buying hearing aids, I strongly suggest checking out your local Costco. They are the leading retailer of hearing aids in the USA. You will save far more than the cost of a membership if you aren't already a member. They do a quality test and they are not sales revenue driven to sell hearing aids. Let Google tell you about Costco hearing centers. I think you will like what you find. In any event, if your aunt needs hearing aids, please see that she is fitted with some. Besides the embarrassment of not hearing well and not being able to contribute to conversations, life is filled with soul enriching sounds that the hearing impaired are missing.
 
Yesterday I had my hearing retested. I went to the same audiologist at Costco that did my test two years ago. My hearing had degraded somewhat over the past two years but she assured me it was not an alarming amount. I told her of my problem of understanding speech when accompanied by other sounds or multiple conversations. She spent a great deal of time dialing in my prescription to assist me. So far I see an improvement and can actually understand dialog during
tv commercials that are notorious for having background music. I'm almost sorry she fixed that. :) The best part of my return testing was there was a major firmware update for my aids. The firmware fixed my aids staying on while charging and also fixed the increase in volume while texting. I'm happy I was retested and... at Costco, my hour and a half visit cost nothing.
 
Here has been a spell since I got my new Phonak hearing aids, the paradise ones, sometimes my muscles in my skull tend to slide over and cause some muffled voices, my mother's frequency I cannot adapt with her just speaking with me, so I kind of wonder if she has a sore throat or something, and yet I can hear her perfectly fine from time to time, in the bottom of having them since Oct. About six months now, they are really easy to maintenance, just add a little bit of water and a cloth, they do add in a brush with a green plastic stick to wedge out the wax for the only air hole they have. thus disposing of the wax around the device, but I kind of have to be careful though, and they are still pretty much crystal clarity with about everything else, even a few times at the gym they are suitable with almost everything. :) Almost too well, I can even hear around the building like today as well.. I am glad I have some insurance in them too..
 
Lapits said:
I'm pleased with my Signia hearing aids. I chose them together with an audiologist and they work well on my Samsung Galaxy A32. Fortunately, there is a wide choice of hearing aid supplies, everyone can make a choice according to preferences and finances. Though I haven't tried Costco hearing aids, maybe I'll also like them.
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Yeah depending on what auto frequency you can hear without them, mine varries throughout the day :)
 
Lapits said:
I'm pleased with my Signia hearing aids. I chose them together with an audiologist and they work well on my Samsung Galaxy A32. Fortunately, there is a wide choice of hearing aid supplies, everyone can make a choice according to preferences and finances. Though I haven't tried Costco hearing aids, maybe I'll also like them.
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My experience with the Costco hearing center has been positive. I've never been tested elsewhere so I have nothing to judge them against.

My sister just ordered aids from Costco. She, on the other hand, was tested at two other hearing aid businesses prior to her Costco visit.
She attests that the Costco hearing test was just as or more thorough than her prior tests. She ordered their signature branded aids at over a two grand savings. Perhaps they aren't the latest and greatest aids on the market but a great set to supplement her hearing deficit.

I can speak well for the after sales support that Costco provides. They were quick to address the few problems I've experienced and even provided another test session free of charge to tweak my prescription two years after my original purchase.

Being as Costco is the largest hearing aid provider in the USA, they have great buying power as well as units manufactured just for their patients. That doesn't make them the best provider but it does allow them to be a very attractive value option.
 
I contributed to Moody's thread about factory resetting her phone. I made note of the little things that are starting to go South with my phone. One was the BLE streaming from my S21 to my aids. I have since discovered that is not a fault of my phone but due to the upgrade to Android 12. It is a known problem between Samsung and ReSound hearing aids. It is being addressed but so far there is no fix. A temp work-a-round is to toggle in and out of airplane mode. I was toggling BT off and back on... it accomplishes the same. I stream very little audio to my aids but telephone conversations are streamed. A lengthy conversation will require a couple of resets. I hope they manage correct this soon for it is a big pain.
 
I listened to power tools for 55 years and shot countless round years ago without ear protection. Hearing damage was self inflicted. I remember when I first started being a carpenter how painful the noise level was, particularly with high rpm tools. That pain soon diminished and it never bothered me again. (the damage was done) And as for shooting, there wasn't ear protection or I was unaware of such.

Lesson learned but I feel obligated to pass that information on to others. Wearing hearing aids is not a fix.. it's an aid. A person should protect their hearing or remove themselves from dangerous noise levels. Prevention is far better than a supplement patch.
 
My right hearing aid was dead this morning when I removed it from the charger. Putting it back on charge I found it not charging. I went to Costco and they tested it and found the aid to be faulty. They have to send it in for repair or replacement with a turn-a-round of three weeks likely. Wearing just one aid is just as miserable as being deaf. I'm in for a fun three weeks. The good news is the work or replacement is free. Lucky me that the aid gave it up while still under warranty.
 
Went to my audio doctor, and he did give me a program to make it automatically turn down for extremely loud t.v. programs, as well as movies too.
I will not turn them down with the sleepiest of rock and roll kicks it to high gear.. Or even heavy metal, yeah, there I said it... :) Makes me sleep since I listen it too much. - TBH though, when I wanna really crash, I put on 80s music.
 
My three week wait turned into eleven days. Costco called Friday and scheduled an appointment to fit the replaced hearing aid today. The audiologist had to marry the two aids together as well to my phone. In and out in ten minutes at zero cost. I don't know what went wrong with my failed aid but they replaced it vs repairing it. It sure is great to have both ears working and I'm extremely happy with the service I received.
 
olbriar said:
My three week wait turned into eleven days. Costco called Friday and scheduled an appointment to fit the replaced hearing aid today. The audiologist had to marry the two aids together as well to my phone. In and out in ten minutes at zero cost. I don't know what went wrong with my failed aid but they replaced it vs repairing it. It sure is great to have both ears working and I'm extremely happy with the service I received.
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My Audiologist is the best doing a new program in mine recently. For when movies get too loud and having really hard time to understand the different dialouges from time to time, I just can either do it manually or just have it fixed up just straight up, so after it cleared up a few days ago, well I think yesterday to just connected throughout the area, still it flows through easily.
 
The worst hearing experiences for me is understanding dialog with background music playing, ball game announcers with crowd noise, and conversation with restaurant noise. I can help it with a pre set program or adjust it manually like you say. It helps but doesn't fix it for me.
 
olbriar said:
The worst hearing experiences for me is understanding dialog with background music playing, ball game announcers with crowd noise, and conversation with restaurant noise. I can help it with a pre set program or adjust it manually like you say. It helps but doesn't fix it for me.
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Yeah people do not speak up at anymore in cars..
I wish they would come with subtitles :)
 
@olbriar, Costco pulled the Kirkland Signature 10.0 off the shelves permanently,due to problems with it. The scuttlebutt is that it's being replaced by the KS 11.0. Was yours the KS 10?
 
Steven58 said:
@olbriar, Costco pulled the Kirkland Signature 10.0 off the shelves permanently,due to problems with it. The scuttlebutt is that it's being replaced by the KS 11.0. Was yours the KS 10?
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No. I opted up for a set of ReSounds. I did a great deal of research prior to buying and was convinced they were the best bang for my dollar. I talked a good friend as well as my sister into being Costco consumers. Both went with Kirkland signature aids. They have been very happy and their bottom line was much lower than mine. I have taken note that they no longer sell my model. It fortunately is still fully supported by Costco.

I will have to touch base with my sis and friend to see if they are caught up in the KS 10 debacle. Thanks for the information.
 
Keep this in mind, when they do cranck up somewhat loud, time to charge them, when they do disapear around 18 percent, do a factory reset on the hearing aid, press and hold the little switch I have on my Phonax for around a few minutes, and see if the battery would be charge up right where you have it.
 
I'm still a fan of the Costco hearing center but I've lost my love for my particular choice of hearing aids. They worked flawlessly with my phone until it received the Android 12 upgrade. The communication between aid and phone is randomly dropped without any warning. They can easily be connected again once I'm aware of the lost connection only to be dropped again at some point. It is a known problem by both Android and my ReSound Preza manufacturer but the communication problem has not been addressed by either. I had hoped it would be resolved when I received Android 13 but again no love. The biggest problem with the randomly dropped connection is the phone still considers the connection exists and sends all notifications to my aids. My aids do not receive the notification so they are just missed. I could buy another phone or I could replace the aids seems to be the only fix.
I recently went to Costco and checked if there was an update for my aids. I was on the latest rev so it was so sorry Charlie. However, while I was there, it was recommended to me to send my aids in for new batteries at no charge. I was actually one day beyond my three year warranty but my audiologist said she could make it work... that day and not a day later. Free new rechargeable batteries were not on my mind but I took her up on the offer. It speaks volumes for Costco and their patient care. It's not their fault I have a phone that no longer holds a connection to my brand of aids.
 
I mentioned I did a hard reset yesterday, right, well after that hard reset, I was able to rebuild my cell et all, so I was able not only as it only dropped the music and disconnected that, but when I walked around a bit today, the hearing aids were pretty great, able to hear almost everything in crystal clear.. (Except the wind) :)
 
I wish a hard reset would fix my aids. They are made to sell exclusively by Costco. Resound discontinued the model and Costco no longer sells them. I fear I'm left with an unsupported dropped line aid with zero hopes that the problem it has will be addressed. I must say they were great prior to Android 12 and then 13 upgrade. I'm at the three year mark of ownership of my aids and my audiologist told me the life of the aids was five to six years. Another couple or more years of non functional BT communication will be an extreme bummer but it is what it is. I'm not willing to replace them until they are no longer an aid to my hearing. When I get them back with new batteries I plan to simply forget the BT connection and move on. At least I can hear through my aids that my phone has an audible notification to address.
 
olbriar said:
I wish a hard reset would fix my aids. They are made to sell exclusively by Costco. Resound discontinued the model and Costco no longer sells them. I fear I'm left with an unsupported dropped line aid with zero hopes that the problem it has will be addressed. I must say they were great prior to Android 12 and then 13 upgrade. I'm at the three year mark of ownership of my aids and my audiologist told me the life of the aids was five to six years. Another couple or more years of non functional BT communication will be an extreme bummer but it is what it is. I'm not willing to replace them until they are no longer an aid to my hearing. When I get them back with new batteries I plan to simply forget the BT connection and move on. At least I can hear through my aids that my phone has an audible notification to address.
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Mine are also at the three year mark when they are under Warranty as well, learned that one with my Marvel Phonax ones though, to be honest they where nightmare, and I hate it when people always say "You cannot clean them off with water" meanwhile the manual states "You can clean off the mold with water" the attatch peice that goes to your ear.
 
lexfurther said:
Anyone actually purchased over the counter hearing aids?
Still don't understand how does it work
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I have done zero R & D on over the counter aids. I think they will have some merit if they just increase the volume equally across the frequency spectrum. If they are adjustable to accommodate particular frequency deficits they could be a real tool. Not that I'm an audiologist but it would be interesting to manipulate my own prescription.

If over the counter aids increase the number of people entering the hearing correction world, they have their place. I would have tried an over the counter pair of aids years before I actually got aids with a prescription. It wasn't a matter of being labeled an old deaf guy, it was a fear of spending lots of money that didn't really help that kept me from being a consumer. For one reason or another, consumers shy away from hearing aids. I once saw a stat on the number of people in need compared to the small number of consumers. No different than glasses.. if they increase your quality of life... why be without?
 
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