<div dir="ltr">Whoops, should have proof read more. The Adviser that told me about the Smart Phone App to adjust the aids was from Costco, not Kaiser as I mis-stated. Sorry. Needless to say, I did not go back to Kaiser for anything.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 11:07 AM Robert O'Brien <<a href="mailto:baro@pdx.edu">baro@pdx.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">I'm glad you asked, John.<div>For decades I've had poor hearing in both ears but my left ear was far worse. This was confirmed every two years or so at Kaiser NW here in Portland. Other than showing me the test results, no action was taken by Kaiser.</div><div>It had gotten to the point that my wife was constantly asking me to get hearing aids, since I was constantly asking her to repeat things.</div><div>Finally Covid hit both of us late, about a year ago. Neither was very serious and soon abated. Except for my hearing, which became far worse in my already bad left ear. I looked online and found this to be one of many after effects of Covid. </div><div>I then went to Kaiser to try to deal with it. I won't talk about the details, which were ridiculous, ultimately culminating with a Kaiser Audiology MD giving me a small Kaiser pamphlet describing the process to purchase hearing aids from Kaiser. He wrote into the pamphlet the estimated costs for each ear. $5,000 for the left, $3,000 for the right. Total $8000.. He did mention I did not have to purchase them from Kaiser (I knew that).. Wow. I asked whether over-the-counter hearing aids would work. He doubted it, given the seriousness of my hearing loss.</div><div>My next step was Costco, having my hearing tested there, with the same results as Kaiser had gotten. But the outcome was a little bit different. A pair of Costco hearing aids would be $750 each, total $1,500. Naturally I went for that. The Costco person had extensive experience with their hearing aids, although he did not have any real medical training that I knew of. He was very knowledgeable and helpful. Great.</div><div>When they came in and were 'installed', the hearing in my historically bad left ear was restored within a day. That is, both ears were the same <b><i><font size="4">without</font></i></b> the hearing aids. They remain so. (That after a decade or so of tests at Kaiser with no advice). My hearing was still poor but was nicely restored by the Costco hearing aids. I now could hear high frequencies that I had not heard in decades.</div><div>I was so amazed by the restoration of my left ear that I tried to schedule another hearing test with Costco to double check the 'miracle in my left ear'. Saw the same Costco person who said that another test was not necessary, since the restoration of my left ear was 'normal'. He was not surprised at all.</div><div>I'll let the reader draw their own conclusions about Kaiser Audiology down here.</div><div>It's now been almost a year and the hearing aids continue their excellent performance. I have never even adjusted them.</div><div>One caveat though. Although I can hear the kinglets now, I can't really determine the direction of their calls. Turning 360 degrees is no help. This, of course, remains a real Birding deficiency that so far I've not tried to correct or deal with.</div><div>Bob OBrien Portland</div><div>P.S. My Kaiser covers Portland and Vancouver. Seattle would be a different 'branch'? of Kaiser that I know nothing about. Costco has 3 or so different manufacturers and I followed the advice of the costco adviser, which was not the most expensive. But the pricing is not that much different between them.</div><div>P.P.S. The Kaiser adviser told me that the hearing aids could be adjusted by cell phone but my ancient Samsung S7 phone was not up to the task. So I purchased an S23, used, online. When I went to download the software for the hearing aid (Phillips) I was required to allow Phillips to listen in to all of my conversations and sell anything and everything to whomever they pleased. Perhaps this is why they were so cheap? Sorta like cheap printers and expensive ink? I skipped the software and have not adjusted for a year, even though there are buttons on the hearing aids so it can be done manually.. I had bought the new (used) phone unnecessarily as my S7 worked fine. However the camera on the S23 is far better than the S7, so that was not a total waste of money.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 9:07 AM jgretten via Tweeters <<a href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu" target="_blank">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">Hello Tweeters,</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I'm starting to look at hearing aids and was wondering if anyone had advice/experience on brands or types as it relates to hearing birds, particularly those high-pitched kinglets. Thanks.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">John Grettenberger</div><div dir="auto">Olympia. WA</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto" id="m_-6573263972302890842m_-6120033100472953431composer_signature"><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(87,87,87)">Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone</div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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