Hearing aid question

I use Phonak Audeo Lumity. Very expensive, but paid 100% by insurance. The audiologist has a program, and she works with you to set the hearing aid listening curve perfect to your ears.  I don't think you could get an equalizer to match your hearing without adjusting against lab measurements.

The hearing aids have a Music setting for listening sessions. I am very happy with them.  Others can join me in my listening room without hearing artificially distorted sound.

I chose Lumity for the quality blue tooth and android connection. I use them a lot for conference calls and YouTube videos.  It is very convenient.     Other hearing aids like Oticon have better reviews for listening to music, but I find the Phonak music program exceptional.  

I'm glad that Widex has improved their app. A few years ago I got a pair of Widex in-ear hearing aids for listening with headphones, and the app seemed like somebody's very first app design project in elementary school. 

I am 67 years old and got the Widex Moment hearing aids earlier this year. I had my hearing tested in my mid-50s and it was pretty good, better than average for my age. However, I was starting to suffer from tinnitus. Not too badly, and it would come and go.

Fast forward to last year and my tinnitus is starting to bother me while listening to music. On days that it is acting up, I could not listen with headphones, and it was mildly distracting when listening to my two audio systems. I went for another hearing test and was shocked to see how much high frequency hearing I lost since my last test. In the meantime, I was researching HAs and found several reviews of the Widex Moments and their popularity with musicians. I was also seeing a lot of people saying that their tinnitus had improved after getting HAs. (There are a lot of different causes of tinnitus and HAs are no guarantee of any relief).

After about four months of use, I am thrilled with the Widex Moments. First of all, I am one of the lucky ones that got significant relief from my tinnitus. Even on days when it is present, I find it easier to listen through it. Secondly, I feel like I just did a major upgrade to both of my systems.  (I'm actually spending way too much time listening to music again).

Everybody's experience will be different, but my HAs have given me exactly what I was hoping for. I do wear them all the time, with the exception of vigorous exercise. While I never felt I had any difficulty hearing day-to-day stuff, I was mildly surprised to experience what I was really missing once I started to wear the HAs. 

The Moments are very comfortable and I don't really notice them while I am wearing them. Not one single person has noticed them either unless I point them out. The app for the phone is terrific and allows me to create custom settings and save them. I am still experimenting with different setting for music, but I have a couple that I am happy with.

I have pretty bad tinnitus, caused by cervical stenosis and arthritis in my jaw, but the severity comes and goes. At the same time, I have only very mild hearing loss, somewhat better hearing than normal level for my age. So for now, I just dial up the high end on the speaker crossovers, when needed.

I did audition a $6,000 pair of hearing aids. They sounded awful.

@signaforce 

Thanks you saved me some time and money.  I did not like the feel or the sound of the IEM's vs open ear RIC's. 

I suspect there will never be a market for audiophile hearing aids and if a market ever develops it will take many years for the market to evolve and produce a decent product like it did with DAC's.

And, as I have a floor-standing ribbon tweeter speaker and a tube front end and a tube DAC it seems wrong to take that glorious sound and convert it to non-discrete solid state and run it thru I 1-2 mm speaker.

My hearing loss is in the top end, too, and I've always worn custom ear molds that are not 'open ear'; there may be 'open ear' custom molds available, but I've not seen them. Domes, on the other hand, usually have openings for air and room sound to get through.

If I could hear well without my hearing aids' assistance, I'd save myself a good bit of coin and not buy them. 

BTW, piano music sounded wonderful. I can see why the Grand Piano review loved them. 

@rikkipuu 

@rcm1203 
I did buy the ASI IEM’s, and soon thereafter returned them. I found their overall sound and harmonics to be good to very good… except bass. My KEF R11’s, Rythmic F12SE’s and miniDSP are tuned beautifully. 
Most hearing aids (RIC) are ‘open air’ allowing our ears to hear without their assistance. My hearing loss (typical) is in the high end. I have no correction in the low end. 
With my open air hearing aids (top of line Signia’s), my systems bass sounds glorious & crisp with great harmonics. 
The IEM’s close off your ears, so you are relying solely on the internal IEM speakers. The bass is there, but much less crisp… almost dull. As an aside, I have small ear canals, and found the ASI’s to be uncomfortable. YMMV

My be worth a try as they are an easy return. 

Responses seem to have slowed to a stop, or at least a trickle; this is of course inevitable as the thread drops lower in the channel list, but as I said earlier, I have been pleased and grateful for the sheer volume of information here. I wanted to once again thank everyone who chimed in with their thoughts, insights and information. I intend to archive this thread for my personal reference. (Nothing fancy, just printing the full page to PDF.) Best wishes to all of you out there.

I am buying the ASI’s. Will let you know my impressions. 

I've had ReSound unit for about five years now. I bought them from a local audiologist who did a very thorough  exam process. While they improve everyday life, I don't find they are very good for music. Things just don't sound natural (as I remember them).

Imaging, soundstaging.... just aren't there like I remember. I can only assume that due to the internal hocus pocus that is being done with phasing and such to make speech more ineligible, it is at a cost of messing up other things.

As a lot have stated, above 2K, things go south with my hearing. One issue I had was when I play piano, there was one note that would cause the units to feedback. Never had it happen in everyday life, but when I play it does. Audiologist explanation was, the ear canal can change the shape of the frequency response of the system (makes sense since the tests are done with headphones, but that in itself is a flaw).

The one thing that I wish manufacturers would do is make an option for audio minded people to have more that a 3 band graphic equalizer on them. I wish I had more control like a parametric so I could tune or shape the response to my liking, or should I say what I think sounds natural.

I tried a newer improved model a couple of years ago, but I couldn't justify $5,000 for such little improvement. I'm going to do more investigating into some of the brands that were mentioned in the thread to see if I can find something better. Resound is suppose to be a top of the end brand, but no one mentioned it.

One final thought which makes me think its my aids, I can listen to music with a set o JBL ear buds or AKG headphones and music sounds great. Don't notic the mid and high frequency loss, which further makes me believe the aids are not meant for music. Even then, speech ineligibility in a noisy environment is hit or miss. It is better than not having them, but far from perfect.

Oh, and go behind the ear, Very unobtrusive and don't require the miniaturization of in the ear units, which have tradeoffs regarding function and reliability. 

I'm on my second pair of Oticon top of the line aids. Hearing loss runs in my family. Life changing.  No messing with settings. They adjust to background noise, volume at live music events. Important to note, if you've put off getting them, you will have a longer time for your brain  connection to adapt. They will sound tinny so your audiologist will slowly increase the level over months. Best improvement to my system and my life. You simply can't tune your system to your hearing needs. You're kidding yourself and missing out on life if that's all you try.

The Jabra Enhance Pro 20's I just got at Costco have frequency range up to 8K or more. 

I researched most of the hearing aid options and landed on top level Widex ones.  The Music setting is very good in the range of this genre of aids. None of this kind of aids reproduces above 4k, however. 

I have recently learned about a new genre of aids that that use an "earlens" surgically attached to the rim of eardrum and vibrating directly against the eardrum.  They get a radio signal from a device that looks like regular hearing aid.  They claim to extend the lower range and more so the upper range up to 10k with a more natural sound throughout.  I am about to try them myself.

The problem is that they are very expensive comparatively, although a lot of us spend more on our systems or even some components.  For those both motivated enough and having the means this promises to be a superior improvement for audiophile listening along with the rest of hearing.  Check out earlens.com.

I went to hearing aid 2 years ago.  I bought the top Phonak aid.  They are designed with music in mind and have an adjustable music mode.  One of the main aspects of this mode is the removal of any “noise reduction” processing.  This can destroy the sound stage.  I have a PS Audio system which includes the flagship FR30 speakers.  The aids retail for more than $7k but I will not listen to music without them.

I have mild hearing loss and tried the top of the line Phonak behind the ear receiver in canal hearing aids and did not like the tin can sound when listening to music.  I settled for Resound but still don't listen to music with them.  Streaming Bluetooth, my $100 ear buds are much better for music than the $6800 hearing aids!  I found the open ear plugs to be more natural as they let in sound in addition to what the speaker provides.

It is not surprising to me that these fly weight devices can't come close to producing natural sound as they are primarily designed to improve speech recognition and while they do that fairly well the sound is to me artificial and un-analog, but in a noisy restaurant I am fine with that as I just want to follow the conversation.  How sophisticated can the DAC inside these tiny things be.  They are using a digital amplifier- no class A here. So it is no surprise that music sounds unnatural.  I will agree that there is an emphasis on high frequencies and when I use the hearing aids I hear a lot more high frequency than without, but it is digititis on steroids.

I suppose that as my hearing gets worse I may need to use hearing aids to make up for the loss.  

I would like to hear from anyone that is using the ASI 3DME as to the tone of the sound.

I have had Oticon and currently Widex (~$3K). The best pair I had were a pair of Widex top of the line $7k. They blue toothed to the phone and could be adjusted and changed with a phone app. Really handy. Lost one somewhere and had to fall back to the less expensive model. I highly recommend them for conversations and general daily use but I still like listening to my main system without them. Or have them tuned for a setting that is open but turn them down.

Insurance may cover some of the cost. When I worked for a big Euro based telco they paid $2.5K. now I work for a USA company and the insurance sucks. Didnt really understand how sh!tty our insurance programs are compared to western Europe. Pathetic.

+1 on all the recommendations to get hooked up with an Audiologist. If you pay some of them will come to your house and configure them for listening to your system.

whether through natural aging or some other process

I had a blocked eustachian tube in one ear. Maybe from ear infection. That caused a big drop around 3-7kHz

One quick test for differences in right and left ear is make the "money" gesture by rubbing your fingers together. You can move hands further away from ears and also rub harder or softer to vary the "volume".

After a long career as a symphony trombonist and an equally long period as a recording engineer I finally realized that the high end of my hearing spectrum was less than optimal.  Fortunately, I was a VET and was able to work with my VA audiology clinic to address the problem.  Believe me, I was VERY reluctant to admit the problem but very glad that I did.  My audiologist at the VA was one of the most cheerful persons I've ever had the pleasure of meeting ---- BUT ---- what really made me super comfortable with him was when I noticed that his tie tac was a miniature saxophone !   A fellow musician !!   Surely, it turned out that he was a saxophonist and we connected immediately on what my major concerns were in regards to a musical outcome for my remediation.  He delivered on every aspect of my concern.   He chose "Oticon" devices [as "Timkeogh" mentioned] and made sure that if they didn't fulfill my requirements that I could return them and choose others if I wasn't satisfied with the result.  Thusfar, they have far exceeded my expectations despite the fact that I HATE have anything in my ears.  Earbuds are the most annoying devices I've ever experienced !   When my sax/audio-guy explained that your ears are not the part that is most required to adapt, but that your brain IS, it put me on a much more focused path towards accepting the adjustments required for a successful outcome.  I realize that the 8K price of these devices might turn away a lot of folks, but if you are anywhere near being considered as an audiophile, the cost is about 1/2 the price of a good turntable, 1/4 the price of a good amplifier, 1/3 the price of a good set of earphones, 1/10 the price of a good set of interconnects, 1/20 the price of a  ----------------------------

    I dreaded listening for the first time to my Linkwitz Orion loudspeakers, expecting a shrill, mush-like simulation of what I knew them to be capable of producing.  What happened ?   It sounded the same as I remembered it many years previous ----- only Better !!   I was incredulous !!   The BIGgest surprise was when I finally had the nerve to play my trombone for the first time with my new "toys" in my ears.  I was almost brought ti tears when I realized that there were myriads of nuances that I heard in my sound that influenced everything that I did from forming articulations to the quality of tone production.   What a gift !!

   I cannot proselytize for any specific brand or approach to improving our hearing deficiencies but I can definitely recommend addressing the problem.  It can provide so much pleasure in our listening experiences,

   I want to mention having seen individuals walking around the NYC Audio Show wearing leather "Hearing Muffs" !   They were the equivalent of "cupping" your ears without the inconvenience of having to actually "cup" your ears. They seemed to be very happy in their choice.  I suppose if you only wore them at home -------- ? 

Eric . . . this is NOT a gag or a joke. For $12.98 on eBay you can buy “Earglasses” . . incredible. Sit in front of your tv or sound system. Cup your hands behind your ears . . . difference is beyond belief !  Depth and clarity are incredible improved. We should have dog ears !  Earglasses are decidedly not for public use but at home they would be amazing. Full disclosure, I do not own Earglasses but often sit with my hands cupped behind my ears . . . and envy dog hearing ! 

I have been using hearing aids for a number of years now. The first two pairs I had were just awful! They were Costco's best and Phonak. I have Widex now and they are absolutely the best. Recommended by musicians. But you need a good audiologist who is willing to work with you. Make sure they understand that you want to listen to music, not just tweeked for voice. 

ericrhenry5488

I’ve been pleased and surprised by the number of thoughtful responses ...

Me, too @ericrhenry5488. I’ve been an audiophile for a l-o-n-g time. I’m sure that any discussion about hearing aids would have been met with derision by the audiophile world of my youth. In fact, they were used as insult, as in, "You really need to get some hearing aids if you like that amp."

It’s refreshing to see the supportive tone of this discussion. It may be that we will all rely on hearing aids at some point in our future, so it might be beneficial to learn a bit about them now. Thanks to to all that have contributed.

One more thing.  The hearing aids I have have 48 frequency bands for the audiologist to adjust hearing with.  I got mine though my insurance and they are a rebranded signia hearing aid which is why the price is relatively low.

I have a similar hearing loss.  Hearing is normal up to about 2 k then falls sharply after that.  About 5 years ago I purchased my first set of hearing aids.  My current devices are Signia AX.  I have 6 hearing settings universal, noisy environment, television, recorded music, outdoor sport, and stroll.

My audiologist had tweaked the universal profile to boost upper frequencies by about 2 db to help with hearing conversations.  The recorded music profile takes the 2db boost away.

If I listen to music on the universal profile highs will seem a bit bright and harsh.  On the recorded music profile it clears it up immensly.

After going to the hearing aids my quality of life and enjoyment of music has increased.

I have seen some people here fretting about the da converters in the hearing aids and so on.  Never occurred to me to worry about that.

The cost of the hearing aids was very reasonable at about $2100 for the pair.  For me this is a great investment.

Do they sound the same as my original equipment (ears) no but getting the harmonics back through the hearing aids has given me plenty of enjoyment.

Just my 2 cents worth.

As the original poster, I've been pleased and surprised by the number of thoughtful responses--and I certainly don't want to discourage further discourse on the subject. I've learned a lot, but one obvious conclusion is that there is no single best answer, and that there is no substitute for research. It probably makes the most sense to divide the whole hearing-aid question into two parts, one dealing with basic quality of life (i.e., conversational competence and the like) and the other dealing with the experience of live and recorded music; I've made a lot of compromises regarding the latter over the past few decades, but I can still make the case that music is actually part of my "quality of life" as well.

My impression is that the Costco experience, in terms of support and quality of offerings, would actually be a bit better than just saying 'Costco' might suggest. When I am in a position to do so, I will probably at least make some preliminary inquiries there. I suspect their offerings would probably be "good enough" as far as conversation and other basic functions are concerned. This discussion has provided a lot of helpful input with respect to the music question, certainly by introducing some names (e.g., Widex) that I might not otherwise have encountered during a routine search. By all means, carry on, and thanks again for all the responses so far.

Eric,

I'm musician and audiophile and was in the same boat so after a lot of reviews I've decide it to go with Widex Moment 440 and very happy with it, all the details that I've be missed it's back with a natural sound.This aids it's amazing.

Yes, see an Audiologist and invest in programmable hearing aid that correct for your specific hearing loss.  You can’t get this level of correction buying something off the shelf.  Additionally, quality aids will have filtering programs specifically for listening to music.  No hearing aid will solve your loss, but good aids can change your life…and maybe help your marriage 😆

@signaforce - yeah, maybe in the future there will be something like that. I've worn hearing aids for over 20 years now and tend to upgrade them every 4 or 5 years. They have gotten better and most have 'music' programs and very basic Bass, Mid, and Treble EQ. No, it's far from perfect but it's the best I've heard in a long time (just got new ones a couple weeks ago), and I can also use them for speech, TV, etc etc. I will be getting a pair of in-the-canal ones for use with my headphones; I've got one pair of those now, but I don't like them that much, even though the headphones still sound a lot better with them than without them. 

@larsman 

Unfortunately, there are no audiophile hearing aids. The IEM’s, such as the ASI’s would work for voice also but are ear buds with a small belt pack so not inconspicuous. I also read that while other voices sound fine, your own voice sounds weird. 
Quality hearing aids are very small and inconspicuous, but are designed for voice. They have music settings to improve music listening and help a lot for listening to music for those with hearing loss. 
There is no perfect solution. For me, I think my best solution is hearing aids for the real world and the ASI’s for music. If only one purchase, I would choose hearing aids. However, IMHO doing nothing is not a wise choice.

Side comment, some studies have shown a link between untreated hearing loss and dementia. With dementia and untreated hearing loss in my family, my choice was easy… and my music sounds much better!

Would audiophile hearing aids be any good for helping to understand speech in different environments, or would you need a 2nd pair of hearing aids for that? I would be a customer for audiophile hearing aids, but I'd need them to perform just as well for other purposes. 

Their answer was in response to the following:

For ASI, it appears the audiophile market is untapped although your product may be the best available solution. An audiophile wish list would be very high quality microphones with known frequency response curves with your electronics flattening that curve. (You may have that, but don’t publish it). Just 20-20,000 hz, without +/- on db. You should also expand the number of adjustable frequency bands, with potential slope adjustments on the bands. I believe Audiophiles would spend $K’s on such a product.

For those interested in the ASI 3DME IEM’s, attached is their response on their utilization by audiophiles. 

I got hearing aids about 1 yr ago. Since I'm retired, my health Insurance has a deal with Tru-Hearing. The audiologist works in an ENT dr's office, and the hearing aids offered are made by Signia. My hearing loss is in the same range as yours OP. I got the RIC type which are made for TH by Signia. They are the AX series which Dr Cliff (audiologist on Youtube) considers to be among if not the best. BTW his videos were quite helpful in knowing what to look for in the process. The audiologist is the most important part of the process. They have to program for your hearing. 

Bottom line is that I am very pleased with the hearing aids. I now hear the highs. Yet everything about the sound is natural. I recommend these tru-hearing or the Signia AX RIC. First, a good dr/audiologist. BTW mine cost $700. The app allows me to tone down the highs or lift them up. If anything I sometimes have to tone it down of some more bright recordings and it still sound very natural.

Here's Dr Cliff speaking about the newest gen IX vs AX. His other vids are very informative. BTW I found this vid AFTER i already had my Signia's

Signia IX Detailed Hearing Aid Review (youtube.com)

Here's mine

Signia Pure Charge&Go 3AX

Headphones are at just as much a disadvantage without hearing aids as speakers are; I never knew what my headphones actually sounded like until I started using in-canal hearing aids with them. 

@peter_s - It would be nice if you could, but no, you cannot; this is specialty equipment. There is a reason that hearing aids cost what they do, even ones from Costco. 

Buy a good set of headphones. Then all is good

Yes you need to see an audiologist and get a hearing test they can test what frequencies  you have decreased my experience is high frequencies the hair cells in the cochlea decrease as we age and males tend to lose it in high frequencies that's why you can't hear her as well due to her voice being more in high frequencies. A good ear nose and throat can tell you if you have cerumen impaction too much wax build up in the ear canal.most likely age related hearing problems. And audiologist can tell you that as well. There are many options for hearing aids listen to those who have tried specific brands that like them. It's hard to turn that graphic equilizer up on the spouse.i tried it didn't turn out well. 2 types of hearing loss snhl in nerve or chl conductive in little bones in the middle ear. I have put several back in.regaurdless audiologist with hearing test in hand to a ear nose throat MD will clear it up.spent my life studying this.enjoy the music

Absolutely get the hearing aids, decent ones after and audiology appointment. I did that 2 yearsa ago and it was the best audiophile expense to date.

I’ll throw in my 2 cents:  The longer you go needing hearing aids, the greater the loss of hearing.  Specifically, word recognition.  And, once it’s gone it’s gone FOREVER.  HiFi is a hobby:  hearing is a gift.

For those who claim their high frequency hearing is distorted with hearing aids, use the app to adjust the frequency or simply toe OUT the tweeter.  And for tinnitus, cut out salt, drink more water and go to your ENT and get betahistine (not sold in the USA but can be made by a compounding pharmacy).  Been there.

This is such a great topic.  I also have hearing loss at the high-end frequencies.

I purchased the top-of-the line Starkey hearing aids, thinking they would make music sound fantastic once again.  I was disappointed to discover they didn't.  Per the audiologist, hearing aids are designed to improve hearing from other people, not music.  She even setup a "music" mode, but I found it didn't work very well.

As others have noticed, if you cup your hands behind your ears when you wear hearing aids, music sound significantly better.  I'm not sure why this works, but it does.  However, it's not practical (or comfortable) to listen to music with your hands cupped behind your ears.  I wish someone would invent a device that has the same effect -- I would buy immediately.

My only suggestion is to buy speakers that compensate for the sound frequencies where you have hearing deficiencies.  I have hearing loss at the high frequencies, so I enjoy listening to speakers that others would consider bright (such as B&W or Paradigm).

An amplifier that has a built-in equalizer might also do the trick, but I personally haven't tried that approach.

A couple other thoughts. IMHO don’t knock Costco unless you tried them. Their testing equipment is outstanding and brand availability and pricing is unmatched. I ended up buying from an audiologist, but Costco was very good.
Also there are music audiologists, if you are lucky enough to have any in your area (I don’t). They tune your hearing aids or IEMs to music harmonics vs voice. 

@rcm1203

If you buy them, please let me know your impressions. I plan to buy them as a birthday present for myself 😎 in early July. Wife can’t say no if it’s for my birthday… right?
 

For those on the thread, I recommend you take the time to read the Grand Piano Passions review. 

After 30 years of playing in bands and going to 100 db concerts, my upper end frequencies were shot. It got to the point where conversations were muffled, and music sounded like I was listening under water. I finally broke down and begun using hearing aids. My main advice to you is to do a lot of research. Don't let people tell you that you cannot significantly improved your hearing with hearing aids. Adding EQ will do nothing if the upper end is lost. Only quality hearing aids will help you. Like anything, you get what you pay for. I chose Oticon. They are one of the industry best. Oticon offers a special program called MY MUSIC. Your audiologist programs it to your specifications. I also invested in custom ear molds, which help tremendously. Talk to a good audiologist. Don't settle for Costco (or any big box store) for such an important medical device. 

I too have lost high-end hearing and have been using hearing aids for about a year. I’ve spent much of that time testing listening to music with and without hearing aids using all sorts of different music. I have come to the conclusion my system and virtually all the different music I listen to sounds much better, warmer and more cohesive than when listening with the aids (which do have a music setting that has been set by an audiologist). Listening with the aids can in some cases emphasize cymbals, snares etc. but the sound is constricted, the soundstage diminished, and overall wearing so I’m not able to listen for extended periods. Just my experience but I’ve opted to listen without aids and hoping my brain makes adjustments for my new levels of hearing. So far, so good!

US Based; I’ve worn hearing aids for 40+ years, tried a few brands as well as different Audiologist. Never tried Costco, hearing aids are personal item much like most of you didn’t go to BestBuy to buy your audio equipment, I’m not sure I would do the same for hearing aids. You can request to adjust hearing aid to have different modes and I always have a mode to turn off all filters this way the hearing aid is strictly making all noises louder and not modifying/filtering the sound in any fashion. 
 

my favorite brand for quality of build and durability is Starkey.

I would definitely go with equalizers first before hearing aids. Like the Schiitt loki max I use or their less expensive models.

  I'm in the same boat with many other members, having reached that stage in life where my hearing is not as good as it once was. Whether it's hearing aids or in ear monitors, one common thread always crops up. People either love the sound or they hate it.

  I have used IEM's for many years, and from this experience the most important take away is that proper fit of the soft ear cup in the ear canal is an absolute must for the best sound possible. It's not just how well it fills the canal opening, but also the depth it reaches within the canal. Even a slightly loose or slightly too shallow fit will dramatically change the sound characteristics of an otherwise stellar pair of IEM's. That's why good manufacturers ship their products with such a wide array of ear cups. Also be aware that all earcups are not created equal. The material they are made of has a lot to do with obtaining that all important fit.  Good manufacturers usually offer optional ear cups in different materials for this reason. 

  This is not something that many people new to IEM's understand, so keep that in mind as you read the reviews of the IEM's or hearing aids you are considering. 

  +1signaforce. Musicians tend to be even more demanding than audiophiles when it comes to sound reproduction! I will probably try the ASI 3DME's myself.

I have been wearing hearing aids for a little over 4 years. My hearing changed and I updated my aids a couple of months ago. I got Phonak's top of the line hearing aids both times. The music setting gives me a more open sound than the other settings.

I recommend going to an audiologist who will work with you until everything is tuned perfectly using real ear measurements.

The Costco Hearing Aids are refundable for months and cost around $1300.  They aren’t perfect for music even with the HiFi setting .  Upper frequencies get screechy.  I can’t practice the piano wearing them and I choose not to use them while listening to my good system, although I leave them on for the third system which is mainly for video and background Internet Radio .  Where they really help is for speech recognition and ambient clues.  I have used them more for streaming lately-they aren’t as good as even Apple AirPods-but they did get noticeably better after an update last summer.

  You can’t lose financially with Costco, given the much lower price and the return policy.  My recommendation is try them.  Would 6K buds be better for music?  My audiologist at the University of Chicago says no, but then most people don’t think that an expensive audio component is worth purchasing when cheaper alternatives exist.  I haven’t sampled the higher priced buds and I don’t know how to go about doing that.