Siemens Gets Active With New Cielo And Nitro Hearing-Aid Families
Siemens Hearing is the quiet giant in the hearing-aid industry. While Phonak makes noise with its splashy Audeo ads, while Oticon promotes its stylish candy-colored open-fit hearing aids, while Widex keeps itself busy being the “blingi-est” hearing-aid company, and while GN ReSound makes headlines not getting itself acquired, Siemens Hearing just goes about its business developing new products based on cutting-edge technologies. Read more
Songbird Hearing Gets Re-Start Financing For Disposable Hearing Aids
Songbird Hearing, the disposable hearing-aid company which mysteriously suspended operations several years ago, has recently received venture capital financing to re-start its operations. NewSpring Capital and The Provco Group of Pennsylvania have put $4 million in new financing into the New Jersey company, according to the VentureWire newsletter. Read more
$50,000 Widex Hearing Aid Is One Of The Nuttiest Promotions I’ve Seen
I stumbled across a news release purporting to be from the Widex people in the U.K. promoting a gold- and diamond-encrusted hearing aid with remote controller priced at 25,000 UK pounds ($50,144 U.S. dollars). Advertising itself as the “blingi-est” hearing aid in the world, it is a version of the new Widex “M” family of hearing aids. Read more
NBA Basketball Legend Kevin McHale Supports Cochlear Implants For Kids
Former Boston Celtics great and current Minnesota Timberwolves General Manager Kevin McHale has recently made news for his 5-for-1 NBA mega-trade, but it’s his 4-for-1 deal that’s been turning heads outside the basketball world: four cochlear implants for the cost of one. In partnership with four other board members, McHale has co-founded the Help Me Hear Foundation, an organization dedicated to granting free cochlear implants to impoverished deaf children. Read more
Future Cochlear Implant Patients Might Preserve Some Residual Hearing
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new, less-invasive means of implanting electrodes into the cochlea that may ultimately do less damage to hearing nerves in the cochlea and preserve more residual hearing in the patient. Read more
‘Boomer Babe’ Says Phonak Audeo Hearing-Aid Ads Are Okay With Her
The Phonak Audeo hearing-aid advertising campaign is the gift that just keeps giving. I ridiculed the campaign when it first broke, but shame on me. Read more
Advanced Bionics Is An Independent Cochlear Implant Maker Again
In 2004, it seemed to be a marriage made in heaven: Boston Scientific, the world’s leading manufacturer of cardiac stents and other implant devices, acquired Advanced Bionics, one of the world’s three cochlear implant manufacturers for $740 million plus additional payments based on future growth. But the marriage quickly soured and after several difficult years dissolved entirely last week. Read more
How To Find A Hearing-Aid-Compatible Mobile Phone
Bryan Lockwood has written in with a tip on a site that makes it very easy to find out whether the mobile phone you are shopping for will be compatible with your hearing aids. PhoneScoop.com has a phone finder which lets you search for hearing-aid compatible phones, including their ‘M’ and ‘T’ ratings. Read more
Josh Swiller Can Tell You Exactly What It’s Like To Be Hard-Of-Hearing
Josh Swiller, who started an excellent blog several years ago about what it’s like to get a cochlear implant, wrote a great article for the New York Times Sunday Magazine today that may be the best description I’ve read of what it’s like to be hard-of-hearing. Read more
Beltone Touts New Hearing Aid As Smallest And Lightest In Its Class
Beltone has introduced the Beltone Marq, an open-fit receiver-in-the-ear hearing aid that the company describes as the “smallest and lightest hearing instrument of its kind.” Read more