4 Best Reasons to Get Costco Hearing Aids

These are the four best reasons to go to Costco for hearing aids.

Hey guys, Cliff Olson, doctor of Audiology, and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona. And in this video, I'm sharing all the reasons why Costco hearing aids might be right for you.

So I know you're probably thinking, why in the world would Dr. Cliff ever say anything nice about Costco's hearing aids? I mean, after all, isn't Costco just gonna put me outta business?

Well, here's the deal. I owe Costco a lot of credit for my success over the past eight years of running a private practice audiology clinic, Costco does a great job of spreading awareness about hearing loss by offering convenient hearing tests right inside of their warehouses. And a lot, and I mean a lot of Costco hearing aid users transfer their care over to my clinic once their hearing loss becomes too complicated for Costco to treat.

That being said, I know that I've become much more critical of Costco over the past eight years. This has a lot to do with how many disgruntled Costco hearing aid users have reached out to me over the course of that time. That being said, I'm extremely comfortable admitting that Costco can be a good option for certain people, which is why I wanted to share my top four reasons why you should consider Costco hearing aids.

But before I do, do me a huge favor and click the like button. It really helps out the channel. And if you are not yet subscribed to the channel with notifications turned on, go ahead and do that as well. It is greatly appreciated.

And let me know down in the comment section if you have ever purchased hearing aids from Costco and what that experience was like.

Okay, so clearly the first reason why you should consider going to Costco for hearing aids is the low prices. Now, I know that not everybody is looking for the absolute cheapest hearing aids in the world, but in case you are one of the individuals who are, it's really hard to find cheaper hearing aids than you can get at Costco.

Unfortunately, Costco did discontinue their Kirkland Signature brand, which was their most affordable option after the rechargeable battery disaster of 2022. Now, this may have been a blessing in disguise because when they discontinue the Kirkland Signature 10.0 hearing aid that cost around $1,400, that allowed them to immediately discount all of the other brands that Costco sells.

Now, instead of paying up to 2,500 bucks for Philips Jabra or Rexton hearing aids, you can get these hearing aids for around $1,600 to $1,700, and this is significantly less than what you'll pay at a private practice audiology clinic like mine.

The other blessing in disguise from the discontinuation of the Kirkland Signature model was the over recommendation of this particular hearing aid brand to the individuals who would go into Costco for hearing treatment. They were basically making the recommendation because it was the lowest priced option, rather than it being the actual best option for the patient with hearing loss.

I've also gotta say that when it comes to low prices, Costco prescription hearing aids can even be lower cost than a lot of over the counter hearing aids that you can get online. So if low price is what's most important to you, going with a Costco hearing aid is actually a better option than going and buying an over the counter hearing aid that comes with no professional care.

The second reason you should consider going to Costco for hearing aids is if you do not care about name brand hearing aids. Now, you may have noticed that none of the major hearing aid brands are sold in Costco anymore. This is because major hearing aid manufacturers do not want to devalue their premium brands.

Like I mentioned a minute ago, Costco sells Philips, Jabra, and Rexton hearing aids. Philips is owned by Demant, and Demant also owns the premium brand known as Oticon. Jabra is a brand of GN, and GN also owns the premium brand. Resound, and Rexton is a brand of WSAudiology, which also owns the premium brand Signia.

Now, I would bet that if you asked an associate who works at Costco, they would tell you that all of these off brands are the same exact thing as the premium brands from these manufacturers. Of course, if you ever talk to anyone in the know at the manufacturers, they will all tell you that the technologies are not exactly the same.

However, what I can tell you after working with hundreds of hearing aids that have come over into my clinic from Costco is that these hearing aids are very similar, but they're not identical.

That being said, if you do not care about getting a name brand hearing aid and you do not care about being able to research your hearing aids online, then going to Costco can be a good option for you.

The third reason you should consider going to Costco for hearing aids is if you have an easy hearing loss to treat. Costco gets a lot of first time hearing aid users, and a lot of times first time hearing aid users do not have a significant level of hearing loss yet. And the less hearing loss you have, the easier it is to treat your hearing loss with hearing aids.

However, I will say that when your hearing loss starts to get a little bit worse, and I'm talking in the low, mid, and high frequencies, you may exceed the capabilities of the hearing care professional who's working with you at Costco. But even if that does happen, you can easily transfer your care from Costco over to another hearing care professional at a different clinic that's more experienced and knows how to treat more complex cases of hearing loss.

Of course, if you're looking for a hearing care professional who is capable of treating a complex case of hearing loss, I highly recommend that you check out my website, HearingUp.com and finding a HearingUp network member in your area. All HearingUp network members have been vetted to follow comprehensive Audiologic best practices, ensuring that even the most complex cases of hearing loss are treated with an extremely high level of success.

So if you think that you've exceeded what Costco Hearing centers are capable of and you're looking to hear your absolute best, then finding a hearing up network member in your area is your best bet.

That being said, the fourth reason you should consider going to Costco for hearing aids is if you do not care who actually treats your hearing loss. Now, let me just squash the rumors right off the bat. There is no person from the tire center coming over and treating someone's hearing loss in the hearing center unless they've gone through their licensure process to be able to fit hearing aids.

You're not gonna be having someone come over from the bakery to treat your hearing loss, and you're not gonna get someone who stocks the shelves to come over and fit you with a pair of hearing aids. All of the hearing care professionals who work in the Costco hearing centers that would be treating your hearing loss with their hearing aids are either licensed hearing instrument specialists or licensed audiologists.

But I want you to think about how you typically find a medical professional work with, with any type of medical condition that you have. I would bet that you either get a direct referral from your primary care physician or you actually go online and research the professional that you're going to go to and check out their reviews and check out their website and all of that.

Now, I am aware that some family physicians recommend that you just go to Costco to get a pair of hearing aids 'cause they think all hearing aids are the same and it's super easy to treat no matter what. But even if you do get a physician referral, I suspect that you do a little bit more research on top of that referral. I know I do.

The problem is when you go to Costco's website, you can never find out any information about the actual professionals who work there. And if you've been watching my channel for a while at this point, you know that the hearing care professional that you work with is substantially more important than the hearing aids you get.

So essentially, it turns it into luck of the draw. You could go into your Costco Hearing Center and work with an excellent hearing care professional who has 20 years of experience, or you could go in there and get someone who's on their very first day of treating hearing loss with their license. The thing is, you'll never really know, and Google reviews really aren't that much help with this either.

Take my home, Costco, for instance, in Paradise Valley, Arizona. There are nearly 4,000 reviews for this Costco location. And after 20 minutes of searching, I was unable to find a single review of the Costco Hearing Center to know if a specific provider at this location was any good.

But I often think of it like this. So I'm the type of person that when I go in and get my haircut, I want the same person to give me my haircut every single time. So it's consistent. And I know that that individual is good at cutting hair, but there's also a lot of people who walk into their barbershop or their salon, and they do not care who touches their hair.

So if you're the type of person that you do not care who's actually treating your hearing loss, you just know you want to get a pair of hearing aids and get the heck outta dodge, then Costco can be a great option for you.

And there you go. Those are the top four reasons that I can think of that you should consider going to Costco to get your hearing aids.

Now, if you're interested in learning more about Costco hearing centers and what that experience is like, I do have a Costco playlist that I will link down in the description of this video.

While Costco may not be the best option for everyone, it could be the right option for you. You just have to make sure you do your research before you let anyone touch your ears.