What is the Roger Pen, and how can it help me hear better?

I had a recent fitting of  Roger Pen that I want to share.  The patient is well into her 90s, with a moderate to severe flat loss and poor word understanding abilities. She came in to see us because she was continuing to struggle, despite having what many would  describe as "premium level" hearing aids.   I was a bit concerned that the Roger Pen  technology would be overwhelming.  Boy, was I wrong.  This woman took to the Roger Pen immediately, and is the best advocate I have seen for remote mics in a long time.   

The Roger Pen does what hearing aids alone cannot do.   I describe it as "going to get the sound for you, and bringing it back to your ears".  We know that the technology in hearing aids can work quite well, but the testing that proves these differences is done in ideal environments.  Unfortunately, the world is not an ideal environment, since there is competing noise, distance, echo and many other challenges.  

My patient, described above, was able to not only successfully use her Roger Pen in many environments, but even took it steps beyond what we originally showed her.  She uses it for TV listening and takes it in the car when traveling with her daughters.  She points it around to the sound she wants to hear, and reports that it has made "a world of difference".  Her motto seems to be "Be not afraid".  I admire her a great deal, and I encourage persons with hearing loss to consider remote microphones such as this.  I encourage people with budget constraints  to consider spending less on the hearing aids (purchase mid-level technology), and save any extra to put towards these types of assistive technologies!

The Roger Pen in addition to being used as a mic (that can be used up to 20 meters/60 feet approx from the aided individual) can be used in conjunction with a neck worn device worn by the aid user called the Roger My Link. This allows the aid user to stream the sound through the loop/telecoil setting on ANY hearing aid with the loop! It can be used to stream from the TV to point towards a speaker in "presenter mode 45 degrees" on a table in the meeting mode (flat on the table) or around the neck of a speaker in a challenging environment ie a bar/party/restaurant/car. *I am just adding a brief but exciting update to this answer. The Com-Dex now allows you now to link to Widex devices ie the Beyond. This allows a broader frequency response than relying on the loop & a much smaller & more stylish neck-worn device*! I hope this helps.

Roger Pen transmits the speaker's voice directly to you. It is a wireless microphone that helps people with a hearing loss to understand more speech in noise and over distance. It is an accessory to the hearing aids and works with other accessories. Roger Pen is something that would be used in conferences or meetings.

In essence it is an acessory that works in conjunction with your hearing device designed mainly for better speech underrstanding in noisy environment. 

The Roger Pen is a quite interesting accessory from Phonak.  However, you must first consult with your hearing professional on the proper configuration needed with your current instruments, for it can be pretty interesting not only in what is needed but the additional costs involved.  With current patients that I have seen and have dispensed to, our patients see a dramatic increase in their ability to hear specific people in rather nosiy and crowded situations.  As one would say it dramatically increase the speech to noise ratio, so in noise people hear very well.   I have used the Roger Pen, Roger Easy Pen, Roger Remote Mic, and Roger Table Mic incorporated with icompilotII as well as mylink streamers.  I must stress, that the person who wears this system must not be afraid of trying new things to help with their hearing.  Truly when the system is setup right, the performance speaks for itself.   Currently dispense this to people who need more noise reduction than a remote mic, and want to be able to hear people in very noisy situations.   I will stress also that you will be carrying the pen a lot, some patients do have a concerns about carrying an extra device or devices in some cases.  Ultimately, I leave to the patient to decide if it's worth something they would like to use.  I also will stress via the streaming application of this accessory, those accesories tied to this system are rechargeable, however, it may drain your hearing instrument batteries as well, please also keep tha tin mind.