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." In an article entitled "Elvas Sightings - Hearing Aid or Headset?," he has provided the most complete and up-to-date list of new earpieces amplifying environmental sound and/or cellphone signals. Among other things, he asks the reader to view each "mystery" product, then answer the question, "hearing aid or headset?" Surprisingly, many of the hearing aids have more attractive designs than the consumer headsets for people without significant hearing loss. I've written about this issue and a number of these products before, including the Gennum Hearphone, the Starkey Bluetooth ELI, and the futuristic designs at the Albert & Victoria Museum's "HearWear" exhibit in London (picture). But Dr. Dybala's report is the most comprehensive I've sen yet. (He has written a similar feature in the March issue of The Hearing Journal which, as Dr. Dybala observes, increasingly looks like more like Wired Magazine than a specialized medical journal).
Posted by David at 10:41 AM on Apr 4, 2006 in ASSISTIVE LISTENING, BLUETOOTH DEVICES
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