New Hearing Aid Tech at #AAAConf19
For audiologists, the annual American Academy of Audiology (AAA) conference and expo is a great way to network with peers, absorb best practices, and have a little fun. For consumers, the expo is great way to see, touch, and experience the latest and greatest products from hearing tech startups and top hearing aid manufacturers.
For those who couldn't make this year's conference in Columbus, don’t worry, Dr. Cliff, AuD was on the scene, interviewing hearing aid technology leaders Phonak, Signia, Widex, and Oticon, and hearable startup Nuheara. He also got the scoop on ZPower’s silver-zinc rechargeable hearing aid batteries. He came back last week with six information-packed videos (also available on the Hearing Tracker’s YouTube Channel) to provide highlights from the expo.
Stylish Solution for iPhone and Bluetooth Connectivity
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Signia's fashionable, rechargeable Styletto hearing aids have been a hit with patients because of their unique, attractive design. Now there’s another compelling feature: Made-for-iPhone and Bluetooth connectivity. Tish Ramirez, Signia's Director Of Clinical Education, explains how the new Signia Styletto Connect family enables wireless stereo streaming of phone calls and music directly from the iPhone, as well as streaming from Android smartphones, other Bluetooth devices, and TVs via Signia's StreamLine Mic and StreamLine TV accessories. And that’s not all. For patients with single-sided deafness who want the convenience of rechargeable batteries, Signia also demonstrated a new CROS/biCROS option for its Signia Pure Charge&Go hearing aids.
Universal Bluetooth Connectivity (Finally)
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Christine Jones, AuD, Director of the Phonak Audiology Research Center, tells Dr. Cliff why the new Phonak Marvel hearing aids have been such a success. By offering wireless streaming from any Bluetooth device to the hearing aids — without the need for an intermediate streamer — Phonak delivered an industry first that has proven popular with consumers.
We wanted a product that would work for everybody, regardless of what device they wanted to listen to.
Christine Jones, AuD, Phonak
But that's not all. Users are clamoring for the new rechargeable option: 80% of Marvels shipped now are rechargeable. The recent addition of a T-coil and integration of a Phonak Roger receiver for remote microphones has provided "universal public accessibility."
Machine Learning Hearing Aids
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Through AI-based machine learning, Widex Evoke hearing aids discern the best audio settings for various challenging listening environments. Oliver Townend, Head of Audiology Communication at Widex, explains how machine learning enables ongoing improvement in performance based on constant user inputs. And he also describes the technology behind the tiny Widex rechargeable fuel cell—a unique, new, environmentally friendly way to power hearing aids.
Retrofitted Rechargeable Hearing Aids
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Anson Martin, Chief Commercial Officer of ZPower, says the company's key to success has been "easily retrofitting a non-rechargeable hearing aid and making it rechargeable." ZPower’s silver-zinc batteries feature high energy density in small form factors, making them well suited for small hearing aids. And ZPower has designed its hearing aid batteries to easily swap out with traditional zinc-air hearing aid batteries. There's another big benefit: while zinc-air non-rechargeable and lithium-ion rechargeable hearing aid batteries can create hazardous waste in landfills, ZPower's silver-zinc batteries are non-toxic and recyclable.
Better Hearing Before Hearing Aids
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Nuheara, maker of the IQ Buds Boost, made big progress in the past year. To find out more, Dr. Cliff interviewed Phil Davis, Nuheara's Chief Sales Officer, and Alan Davis, Vice President of Product. "People need to start taking care of their hearing health seven to ten years before they get a hearing aid—that's our sweet spot," Davis says.
We will monitor their hearing loss, and if it progresses, we will recommend they get a hearing aid.
Alan Davis, Nuheara
Among his revelations: customer surveys indicate approximately 20% of Nuheara customers are starting to experience hearing loss serious enough to step up to custom programmable hearing aids. And 72% have already had a hearing test.
The Next Generation of “BrainHearing”
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Oticon took a big technological step forward when it introduced its Opn hearing aids with "BrainHearing" technology in 2016. And it's just taken another big step forward with its next-generation Opn technology, dubbed Opn S. Donald J. Schum, Oticon VP of Audiology, says Opn S provides a 30% improvement in comprehension in noisy environments over the first-generation Opn hearing aids. And he says new OpenSound Navigator technology provides 360-degree environmental sound while still improving speech comprehension.
"We didn't want a person to have to turn every time they wanted to listen in a particularly noisy environment," he says. Instead, the technology "allows a patient to perform better in these complex environments, but without that closing down of the sound scene."
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MUSIC! MUSIC!! Music? I don't see the word among all this clever stuff.
I don't mean Bluetooth, loops, anything add-on. I mean hearing aids that will cope not just with speech but with a LIVE concert: decent bandwidth, appropriate compression characteristics, option to switch off anti-feedback pitch translation.
Here in UK, the industry at large, and audiologist training, is in the dark. There are shining exceptions of course, and at last a research programme backed by musicians. But in practice what we get as default until we Google up our vocabulary and agitate, is 250 Hz to 8k (if lucky), syllabic limiting (dreadful on classical music), and warbled flute/soprano unless we educate the clinic into more attentive fitting. They're nice people - we shouldn't have to do that!
Hoping to see your bigger industry might take a lead.
Thank you for answering. I do hear Widex mentioned quite a bit. Must explore.
As for being moved by music - yes a wonderful amateur choir sang Allegri's Miserere here last week and the pitch-perfect soprano put me in tears every time! It was fortunate my ancient Phonaks had been de-warbled, or the emotion may have been quite different!
This review was terrific! Thanks once again to Dr. Cliff. With regard to the WIDEX methanol fuel cells, I was happy to see the size and shape of the HA as well as the "re-energizing" station. What remains unanswered for me are the details of the methanol fuel supply. Would the user have to purchase proprietary methanol fuel containers from WIDEX AUDs or would they be available over the Internet? What would they cost, and how long would they typically last? Or, like some printer ink cartridge refill solutions, could they simply purchase methanol and inject it into the re-energizing stations? (One of my objections to ZPower cells is their cost and their exclusive availability to the AUDs--one can't just order from Amazon, for example.)