Sonic Innovations Jumps Into Open-Fit Fray With Ion Hearing Aid Family
Sonic Innovations has jumped into the booming market for comfortable “open-fit” mini behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids with its new Ion Open Ear family, which it touts as the smallest and most powerful in its class. Read more
Starkey ‘nFusion’ Hearing Aids Automatically Adjust To Acoustic Environment
With its nFusion hearing-aid architecture featured in a new flagship Destiny hearing-aid family, Starkey Laboratories has taken a giant step forward in the digital world. Read more
Introducing The Long-Awaited Convergence Of Hearing Aids And Consumer Electronics
Paul Dybala, Ph.D., the editor of both Audiology Online and Healthy Hearing, has filed a wonderful, comprehensive report on the convergence of hearing aids and the wave of consumer earpieces and headsets being marketed by cellphone makers and consumer electronics companies. In 1999, Dr. Dybala was among the first to predict the mainstreaming of ear-level hearing-assistance technology in the form of “Ear-Level Voice-Activated Systems” (ELVAS). Now he is declaring that “Elvas Lives.” Read more
Oticon Introduces High-Function, High-Fashion Behind-The-Ear Hearing-Aids
Last year the hottest innovation driving the fastest-growing segment of the hearing-aid market was the “thin-tube, open-fit” design for behind-the ear (BTE) aids. This year, will the hottest new products be RITE? Oticon will show its new Delta “Receiver-in-the-Ear” hearing aids featuring the RITE architecture at the American Academy of Audiology annual conference in Minneapolis this week. Read more
Widex Super-Power BTE Hearing Aids Do The Trick For Me
After losing one of my old Widex behind-the-ear hearing aids, I finally got a new pair of super-powerful BTEs. After thorough research, I came right back where I’d started from, at Widex. I got the Widex Senso Diva SD-19 model, the most powerful hearing aid the company sells and a step up from my previous Senso Diva SD-9’s. Read more
ClearSounds IL40: An In-Line Telephone Amplifer For All Seasons
Usually hotel telephones are a nightmare for me. They almost never work, even with my telecoil setting turned on and my hearing-aid volume set as high as it will go. (And then, insult is added to injury when the first call I want to make is to complain about the closed-captioning on the TV set not working, but I have to schlepp to the front desk in person to complain instead). I have the same problem with phones I try to use at clients, at friends’ houses… anywhere other than home, where I can rely on my trusty amplified desktop phone. But on our recent trip to New York, I tried out a ClearSounds IL40 Portable Telephone Amplifier, and now I believe my hotel phone problems may have disappeared forever. Read more
Digital Clarity Power From Clarity Products Is Chock-Full Of Digital Signal Processing Performance
Several weeks ago I complained that Clarity Products hadn’t adequately explained the enhanced Digital Clarity Power (DCP) technology it was promoting as the latest and greatest innovation for its cordless and amplified telephones. Clarity was quick to answer my questions with comments on the blog post. And now on their website they’ve unveiled the technical background information they promised. Read more
Ear Gear Keeps Hearing Aids Safe And Secure
When I was five years old, my winter jacket had a pair of discreet retractable straps inside the sleeves with clips on the end that latched onto my mittens. I have no doubt that without the clips I would have spent many an unpleasant hour rummaging through the lost-and-found box looking for my misplaced mitts. Now a new company in Canada is applying the same principal to hearing aids, with a line of colorful, kid- and adult-friendly protectors for behind-the-ear hearing aids. Read more
I’m The First On My Block With Hearing Aid Sweat Bands
Okay, call me a nerd, I don’t care. I just ordered my first pair of Hearing Aid Sweat Bands, and I can’t wait to get them. Maybe they will look ridiculous to you, but not as ridiculous as I’ll feel if I continue tempting fate by playing tennis, running around in the rain, shoveling snow at the tail end of a New England blizzard or undertaking any number of other high-risk activities with my hearing aids on, unprotected from the elements. Read more
Jabra’s New Headset Is Hard-Of-Hearing Friendly
Jabra has always set trends for great design and cutting-edge consumer technology with its telephone headsets and earpieces, and now it is aiming its marketing guns directly at hard-of-hearing consumers with its announcement of the new Jabra 650 telecoil-compatible corded headset. Read more