Hi, new to this forum, it’s fantastic! I am not new to hearing loss and aids. Cookie bite, about 10 years. Going on third ha presently. I purchased Starkey Genesis AI 24 MRIC R and I’m really having a hard time getting them right. Main issue is loud white/ machine like noise comes on in certain places, work, car, if it’s quiet and there’s a sudden noise, Just a tap on a desk can trigger it. It’s still a struggle to hear with them and the competing loud whooshing fan like noise makes it impossible. Also the microphones are at times super sensitive to my hair and movements, all I can hear is rustling noise drowning out conversation. The audiologist keeps trying. I now have custom molds, and have had numerous adjustments. They were just adjusted again yesterday and now are somewhat better with the white noise problem but speech is not as clear and I had to really pump up the volume. The 30 day mark is fast approaching. I’m torn between throwing in the towel returning these and starting all over. Or hoping I’ll eventually get them programmed right. Also not sure if I should try a different audiologist. She does try but I’m not sure if she can fix them. Has anyone else ever had this dilemma? Thanks
How about going to Costco for Phillip or Jabra hearing aids? You get 6 months trial for a small fees.
Yours is a pretty awkward loss. However, that’s really no excuse in terms of programming.
Your Audiologist really needs to REM the aids with live speech to investigate if they are amplifying where you need it and mire importantly not amplifying where you don’t . There’s also the considerable risk of the downward spread of masking, due to the extreme amplification differences over the 500Hz to 1KHz range.
The fix in your case cannot be done blind. Even the effects of venting changes need to be accurately accounted for, rather than estimated by the software.
If you came here, I’d likely fit you with the open Starkey domes, then run the REM, perhaps looking to move to a mould with a large vari-vent if the speech performance needs enhancing.
Jumping to another manufacturer without establishing the actual nature of the issue is likely to be a ‘frying pan to the fire’ scenario.
In 2018 I was fitted with a BICROS rig (no hearing on left side) made by a very well known and well respected brand, and sold/fitted by an Audiologist with excellent credentials. Background is too complicated but short version is I’d had a wired analog BICROS rig in the early 1990s that was great and I wanted something like it again, and was willing to spend the money (Costco does not do BICROS or any oddball aids).
My experience was similar to yours. It amplified background noise and muted speech, exactly the opposite of what was required. Many trips back for adjustment with no significant change… should have bailed but I so wanted the BICROS to work out.
It was my mistake and I own it - wishful thinking and stubbornness on my part cost me a pretty penny and a couple of years of very bad hearing.
Finally broke down and went back to Costco, where the best hearing aid fitter I’ve ever known set me up with a Phillips that works very, very well.
This is just one experience and you need to take it with a grain of salt. Not all Costco hearing aid specialist are the same caliber, just as not all credentialed audiologists are not equally capable.
On the other hand, this is not like surgery or anything irreversible. If you choose wisely, good! But it you make a mistake all is costs is money and time, it does you no permanent harm (unless the aids make the background noise so loud it causes more damage).
Great suggestion, I didn’t realize you could have 6 months. My insurance doesn’t cover Costco, but what I paid out of pocket might be about the same as paying outright at Costco. Thanks!
Thanks for your informative response. I did have REM but not with live speech. The moulds are vented. I had closed domes at one point. I honestly can’t remember if I tried open domes. That’s what I had in the past with different ha manufacturers. I had a loaner pair before these and I think they were getting pretty close to what I needed after numerous adjustments. The audiologist suggested moulds after REM. The program she saved didn’t work with moulds so maybe I’ll try domes again. She has called Starkey for advice also. I’m not expecting a miracle with my hearing loss but I feel like something is missing with the programming. I never encountered the weird white noise before. Thanks so much for your input!!
This is a big red flag to me.
Not happy with the aids and or the fitter with your trial period ending is a losing situation.
Somehow you need to extend the trial or get your money back.
Thank you. I almost feel guilty to try another audiologist. I already put plenty of time in the past few months, and it isn’t from lack of trying on audiologist’s part. But the problem persists. I’m thinking of trying Costco due to this forum. Can’t hurt to try! Thanks
Are you sure it’s not tinnitus? Mine sounds like a white noise.
This sounds very much like my wife when she got her first pair of aids. A local hearing aid shop sold her the latest and greatest Starkey aids that just would not help her hearing. She asked and received an extension trial period so the fitter could try more adjustments. These aids/fitter just didn’t pan out for her. She finally returned them for a refund apologizing to this fitter.
She then went to Costco and was blown away at how well she could hear with the KS9 aids and how well she loved the fitter there.
I believe the aids she had were very good aids. The fitter was the issue in this case. She did save about $4000 by going to Costco.
Again, it really comes down to who’s doing the fitting: lots of hearing aids use prescription averaging over adjacent pitches but you don’t want that : up to 500Hz the aid wants to be fully turned off, at 1KHz you might want 20dB or so of gain, but you don’t want it until 1KHz.
You haven’t got a cookie bite loss btw, it’s basically a reverse slope in terms of fitting - there might even be a dead-spot around 1KHz giving you that precipitous drop and graduated recovery into the upper pitches.
Like I said above, it definitely wants an open, possibly under-fit approach with REM and due consideration for the loss shape. This almost definitely falls outside of the ‘normal’ parameters that the fitting software would normally use to match your hearing loss, hence the issues you’re getting.
You might benefit from stepped power programming too, P1-P4 starting from peak gain at 1KHz of about 14dB then up in 2-3dB increments to work out your preferred loudness level for the normal/dynamic program.
YOU SAID IT. Go with your gut. I suspect that - NO offense - but your audi is not able to figure out the settings correctly to deliver the kind of world YOU want to hear. Move on.
My previous audi got so frustrated trying to fit Starkeys that he now refers ANYONE who asks for them to a different clinic.
It could be that general settings like Maximum Power Output vs GAIN are not correct, but why tear your hair out in countdown mode. 30 days is pathetic for a trial cuz we all know there will be issues, follow-ups, delays getting back in, and before you can say “Jack Robinson!” time’s UP.
Good luck to you!
As you say, it can’t hurt to give it a try - your investment is time, not money, and as long as there is a nearby Costco it is worth a shot.
My first experience with Costco in 2010 was less than stellar - the hearing aid specialist was new to the game and I’d been wearing analog aids since about 1973. But when a new Costco opened near me, the difference was amazing. As has been said in this thread (and many times in many places) - it is the Archer, not the Arrow.
Best of luck and remember, that which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Yeah…no. That which does not kill us usually leaves us with a bad limp or rheumatism in the shoulder or partial deafness. Or something. Better, and smarter, to try to avoid the bad thing in the first place.
Thank you again for your input. I wish I understood the jargon. I have a lot to learn! Hopefully I’ll find a better fitter soon. Thanks
Thank you all for your help with making this decision. I needed some reassurance because the audiologist did put time and effort in, so I do feel bad about that. But the aids are way too expensive to be this useless to me.
@Eileen I have had good experience with Costco but somethings to know. They sell high quality hearing aids at very reasonable prices. Even for those with fairly run of the mill audiogram and loss, success is depoendent a lot on the experience and patience of fitter, and the ability of user to observe themself and describe accurately what is and is not wokring.
Like an aaudi office, Costco fitters are more and less skilled and motivated. Very few of them are audis so have far less training. @Um_bongo is well respected on forum and has described in somewhat technical terms what any audi as well as fitter should understand and implement as a strategy for fitting you, but will they?
I’b up front with fittr at Costco, wanting to collaborate with them, sharing your lack of success elsewhere. If yuo find one who will listen and not just apply the standard Costco strategy for fitting OR rely too heavily on what the software suggests, you could have success. As Um_bongo shared the software for any heading aid mfg will not make good fitting suggestions as your audigram does not match the typical kind of hearing loss and needs a rather different approach.
I don’t have that much exp. but enough to speculate that the HAs (hardware) is capable of improving your hearing, but it takes a fitter who knows how to get the HAs to process in a way that is not typical. Thus you need a fitter (even if not experienced with your “issue” who is willing to behave differntly than they usually do - that is often a stretch for most any professional or semi-professional. I expect you can spot the kind of person who is likely to take input from other professionals. It might take having Costco fitter to get input by calling the Mfg who hopefully would make good input to fitter.
You’ll need to be proactive and collaborative in my opinion. The audi you have worked with likely has more training and atleast comparable exp. to any fitter at Costco, and audi was more highly motivated as more money was at stake. Costco fitter is on salary and doesn’t have the same monetary incentive. Hopefully you find fitter at Costco who likes a challenge and to learn. When making an appointment I’d explain very briefly that you have an unusual hearing loss (reeverse slope) and would prefer to have appt with theperson with the longest experience (assuming there is more than one fitter). Hopefully some fitter whohas longevity continues because they actually enjoy helping people improve their hearing.
Best of luck to you. Hopefully others will offer advice on getting the most out of Costco. One other tip is that most costcos have long waits for appointments. In your first contact make several appointments as it is easy to cancel an appointment. You will need a first appt for them to do testing (even though you already have test reesults which they will look at as well). You’d choose HAs at that 1st appt. You’d need 2nd appt (ask scheduler) about 2 weeks later when you’d actually pick up HAs and have the initial programming done. Schedule a 3rd appt. perhaps10 to 20 days thereafter for your first HA tweaking based on exp. Keep making appointments into future.
If I called my own Costco serving area of perhaps 100K, the first appt. might be 3 weeks from now. Be sure to get on waiting list for earlier appt. This is part of being proactive and understanding how Costco works and the schedule demands on fitters. Find out if the fitter you are working with has upcoming vacation planned.
Edma you don’t need another hearing test if it was done within 6 months.
I took my hearing test done at Kaiser to Costco and was able to get an appointment the next week… So depending on the type of appointment, not every Costco has a long wait if you are flexible.
I don’t think a degree in audiology makes for a better hearing aid fitter, as we have seen with Eileen and others. So I discount that thinking.
I think Eileen needs to fire her current audiologist. Sometimes you need another set of eyes on the problem.
If she decides to try Costco, she needs to take notes while she is wearing the aids, and write down what she is experiencing. She can then bring those notes with her when she comes back for an adjustment. If she lives where Costco has multiple hearing aid centers, she even try other hearing aid fitters and not feel bad about seeing if one of them has the magic touch.
I’m a BIG fan of writing things down for my audi appt’s. For each app’t, I have Issue, Goals, Follow-up, and we both get a copy to go over together. My previous audi used to tease me about rolling in the “wheelbarrow” of my notes over the past 15 years of regular visits. 
Eileen, I just received Genesis AI HS R. So far, I am quite happy. I am looking to replace my Phonak P90 with these after wearing them for awhile. The issues you described you are having I do not have. In fact so far I have no issues. Time will tell. Since situations (hearing loss, hearing aid fitter, expectations, ets) are so different for people, the Starkey I just received may not work well for you either. Good luck.