Or, You Can Trade In Old Hearing Aids For $200 Back From America Hears

If you don't want to grind up your old unused hearing aids in a blender as seen in the funny Blendtec video, and if you have already made your charitable donations for the year and don't feel you need to donate them for recycling, there is another way to get them out of your drawer: you can trade in two of your old aids for $200 off the price of a pair of new digital hearing aids from America Hears. The promotion means you can get a pair from America Hears, the only direct-to-consumer online provider of premium programmable digital hearing aids, for $895 a piece.  It's a great deal, as America Hears' flat $995-per-hearing-aid price is already less than half the cost of other premium brands. I recently wrote about my experience with a new pair of America Hears aids, which allow you to make programming adjustments at home.

Posted by David on May 3, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, You Can Buy Premium-Quality Digital Hearing Aids Over The Internet

I recently got a new pair of hearing aids, and I'm as excited as if I'd just bought a new sports car. One of the reasons I'm so happy is that I was able to take ownership of the process for the first time by getting them from America Hears, Inc., which sells and supports hearing-aid consumers directly over the internet. I still love my audiologist, but I'm always looking for something new, and America Hears not only offered a new product but also an entirely new way of getting hearing assistance. I ordered exactly what I wanted, got a set of aids in the mail programmed to my audiogram, and then I was able to make adjustments using software they gave me for my PC with the help of the America Hears audiologist at the other end of the phone. Because the company manufactures and sells direct to consumers, their hearing aids are much less expensive than other premium brands. My expectation was that I'd get a serviceable product, but without the bells and whistles of my high-end Widex hearing aids. However, I was stunned when America Hears sent me full-function, premium digital products that provided me with a much better hearing experience in every way. 

Here's the short story, though I will write more about it in future posts. To get an America Hears hearing aid, all you have to do is fax the company a copy of a recent audiogram. They build a fully digital product, and their staff audiologists program it exactly to your specifications. They ship it to you along with software and a simple programmer you can use with your PC to adjust your hearing aids further. Because they sell and support direct without any middlemen, they are very affordable, charging only $995 per hearing aid. That's less than half what other makers of premium-brand hearing aids charge. They charge the same price for any of their models, wihch range from new open-fit speaker-in-the-ear products to traditional behind-the-ear models to numerous in-the-ear designs.  

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Posted by David on Apr 20, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Gennum Abandons Hearing-Aid Market With DSP Chip and Headset Spinoffs

Gennum Corp. of Canada, long one of the leading suppliers of digital signal processing (DSP) chips and other technologies to the hearing-aid and headset industries, is abandoning the hearing-aid market with the spinout of its hearing instrument design and manufacturing operations to a private equity group and the sale of its consumer Bluetooth headset business to a consumer electronics company based in Sweden. The Gores Group, LLC, a Southern California-based private equity fund, has purchased the hearing-aid chip business and is backing a management spinout that will be named Sound Design Technologies Ltd. And CellPoint Connect AB, manufacturer of the Flamingo Bluetooth, has acquired the Gennum nXZEN and nX6000 Bluetooth headsets that have won acclaim for their sophisticated DSP-based noise-cancellation technology. Gennum's retreat from the hearing-aid business isn't necessarily bad news for hearing-aid manufactrers depending on its DSP chips, because the equity firm is backing a group of managers already running Gennum's Sound Design hearing-aid business and presumably will help them more sharply focus on hearing-industry customer needs in addition to providing investment capital to further develop their technology.

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Posted by David on Sep 29, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Note To Steve Jobs: Why Isn't The Apple iPhone Hearing-Aid Compatible?

I can't believe Apple failed to make its iPhone compatible with either hearing aids or cochlear implants. I'm in the market for a mobile phone again and just discovered the lack of compatibility. Given all the hype surrounding the iPhone launch, I'm surprised there haven't been more complaints, other than the strong objection I just found on Paula Rosenthal's HearingExchange site, some chatter on Apple forums, and a complaint made to the FCC by the Hearing Loss Association of America. HLAA has done the most advocacy for hearing-aid compatibility (HAC) regulations, which now mandate 50 percent of manufacturers' handsets meet minimum M3 compatibility standards. The M3 and M4 ratings mean there's no buzzing when you listen to the phone with your hearing-aid microphone on, and T3 and T4 ratings mean the phone works with the telecoils in your hearing aids. But according to the HLAA complaint: "Apple has now entered the scene and is predicted to shake up the entire wireless industry. Yet they are not, nor have ever been, involved in any discussions regarding HAC requirements." Steve Jobs is known for his arrogance and inflexibility when it comes to the design of his products. Apple's treatment of the hearing-impaired population is a great example. What a disappointment.

Posted by David on Sep 20, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

HearUSA Hires NFL Coaching Legend Don Shula To Promote Hearing Aids

HearUSA, the rapidly growing conglomerator of hearing-aid retail stores across the U.S., has hired Don Shula, the legendary former coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, to promote hearing aids among active Baby Boomers. In its second-quarter financial report, HearUSA cited the costs of the Don Shula "Just Find Out" TV and promotional advertising campaign as one of the reasons it incurred a $3.4 million loss, or $0.09 per share, in its second fiscal quarter. The company has been investing in rapid growth and said it expects to hit more than $100 million in revenues in 2007 as it continues opening and acquiring retail hearing-aid centers. The company also recently announced expanded agreements with leading managed care providers, giving the hearing-aid provider access to a pool of 2.5 million insured patients. Among the providers HearUSA has agreements with is the U.S. Veteran's Administration. That relationship is curious given the fact that the U.S. government usually looks for made-in-America suppliers, whereas 90 percent of the products HearUSA sells comes from Siemens, a German company, according to an announcement HearUSA made in January 2007. Siemens also has a significant financial interest in HearUSA, the company said in the same announcement.

Posted by David on Sep 10, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Hearing-Aid Reseller Amplifon To Get Long-Overdue Image Makeover

The Deafness and Hearing Aids blog reports that Amplifon, the world's largest hearing-aid retailer, has hired world-class advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi for a $14-million image makeover. Reselling hearing aids has long been a mom-and-pop-style business, with small dispensers and one-person audiology practices accounting for a huge percentage of global hearing-aid sales. Amplifon is one of several companies attempting to rationalize hearing-aid distribution, sales, and service by creating and acquiring chains of hearing centers throughout the world. Saatchi promotes its ability to turn brand names into "Lovemarks" that the consuming public cannot get enough of. The image makeover is timely and long-overdue, especially for Miracle Ear, one of Amplifon's best-known brands, which has hearing centers in hundreds of Sears stores in the U.S.  

Continue reading "Hearing-Aid Reseller Amplifon To Get Long-Overdue Image Makeover" »

Posted by David on Aug 31, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

'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. By blitzing consumer magazines popular with baby boomers (Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, etc.) with its edgy ads, the new Audeo open-fit behind-the-ear hearing aids have turned more heads of fashion-conscious boomers than anything I've seen. I really enjoyed the latest writeup on Boomer Babe's blog on the Inventor Spot web site. Boomer Babe writes about all sorts of gadgets of interest to people in the 40s, 50s and beyond and should be a fun read for many Hearing Mojo readers. One of the best lines in her writeup, which is titled "Hearing Aids Just Got Cool and Sexy," is in the comment section, where a reader observes: "Biggest cause of hearing aids? To much phone sex." That about sums up the Phonak campaign which Sonova CEO Valentin Chapero is touting as a vehicle for the company's bid to overtake Siemens and William Demant as the world's top hearing-aid company, in spite of the collapse of Sonova's long-planned acquisition of GN Resound.

Posted by David on Aug 13, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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. Boston Scientific agreed to return the Advanced Bionics cochlear implant and a line of drug-pump products back to Mann and other members of the original management team, and Boston Scientific will keep the Advanced Bionics pain management business, which includes a spinal-cord stimulator to manage chronic pain. The match was problematic nearly from its inception.

Continue reading "Advanced Bionics Is An Independent Cochlear Implant Maker Again" »

Posted by David on Aug 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sonova Undaunted By Collapse Of GN Resound Hearing-Aid Acquisition

Valentin Chapero is telling Wall Street that Sonova, led by its Phonak brand of hearing aids, will still vie to become the world's number one hearing-aid company even after the collapse of its bid to acquire GN Resound from GN Store Nord. The German trade authorities blocked the bid with a final decision this past week forbidding the merger in Germany, where the combination would create an effective oligopoly with three companies in control of 90 percent of the hearing-aid market. Sonova CEO Chapero has told analysts he still expects Phonak to grow faster than the rest of the industry and close in on Siemens Hearing and the William Demant companies, the world's two biggest hearing-aid companies. GN Store Nord, which has a highly successful head-set business, now has to decide whether to seek another buyer for GN Resound, spin it out as a separate company, or hang onto it.

Posted by David on Aug 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sonic Innovations Sees Healthy Increase In Hearing-Aid Sales

Sonic Innovations, a leading U.S.-based manufacturer, reported a healthy 16.4 percent increase in sales to $30.4 million (US) in its latest fiscal quarter, a growth rate apparently well above the rate at which the global market is growing. Sonic Innovations has cashed in on the craze for small, open-fit, behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids with its year-old ion family of hearing aids, and in April the company not only introduced the new and improved ion 200, but also an entirely new family of Velocity high-performance BTE and completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aids. Sonic Innovations reported a very slight loss for the quarter of a little under half a million dollars, or $0.02 per share, due to costs of developing and introducing the new products. But the company is profitable for the first six months of the fiscal year. If new-product sales continue to increase at such a healthy clip, the company should be well-positioned to secure its position as one of the top seven global hearing aid manufacturers.

Posted by David on Aug 4, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Aug. 8 Is Drop-Dead Date for Phonak GN Resound Acquisition Decision

Valentin Chapero, CEO of Sonova Holding AG, formerly Phonak AG, said this week Sonova may abandon its quest to acquire GN Resound if the German trade office on Aug. 8 confirms its veto of the merger. The German decision would prevent the combined companies from doing business in Germany, would make it impossible to go forward with the acquisition, Chapero indicated following a preliminary ruling this week. Sonova changed its name Aug. 1 in anticipation of the merger, which would have added the GN ReSound brand alongside Phonak in making the holding company one of the world's top three hearing-aid manufacturers. Stay tuned.

Posted by David on Aug 4, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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." The GN Resound subsidiary is a well-known brand in the U.S., where it serves the market for low-to-medium-priced hearing aids through numerous retail Beltone hearing centers. The technology and design are similar to other manufacturers' tiny behind-the-ear designs with near-invisible wires to a speaker (receiver) with a soft, open tip inserted deep in the ear canal. Like the others, it is so lightweight and comfortable that the user can barely feel it on or in the ear, and from a cosmetic perspective it is truly near-invisible. The only catch is that GN Resound's parent company, GN Store Nord, is trying to sell GN Resound and its subsidiary brands to Phonak, which is intent on becoming one of the world's largest hearing-aid companies through both acquisitions and aggressive introductions of new products.

Continue reading "Beltone Touts New Hearing Aid As Smallest And Lightest In Its Class" »

Posted by David on Jul 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Startup Bionica To Market New 'Personal Communication System'

It's not every day a new hearing-aid company is launched from the ground up. A group of entrepreneurs in Providence, Rhode Island, yesterday announced they formed Bionica Corp. to develop and market a new "Personal Communication System." With $250,000 in backing from the Slater Technology Fund, a New England Venture Capital firm, the new company sits in the shadow of Brown University. With broad and deep experience in technology development and industrial design, Bionica's founders, Ralph Beckman and Kipp Bradford, have impressive start-up credentials. And they have recruited a CEO with world-class hearing-aid experience, Peter T. Hahn, the former President of U.S. Operations for Oticon, the world's third-largest hearing-aid manufacturer. Their personal communicator, Clio, apparently will be a next-generation hearing aid that is "based upon leading edge technology in microprocessors and sound transmission technology" but which is "carefully designed for user friendliness." I can't wait to hear more.

Posted by David on Jun 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AdRants: Do Hearing Aids Really Need 'Dolce and Gabanna Treatment'?

AdRants, a top web site covering the advertising industry, picked up our recent post on how Phonak is using some over-the-top advertising imagery in an attempt to make the new Phonak Audeo hearing aids more cool. The AdRants story is worth reading because it points out that the evolution in perceptions of hearing-impaired people is on the same positive track we've seen with other conditions -- as when things once labeled "disabilities" are now labeled "challenges." It shares my question whether hearing-aid manufacturers need to bend over backward to eliminate the hearing-aid stigma by trying to make their products impossibly cool: "Some things don't need the Dolce and Gabbana treatment." But it quite rightly points out that ads featuring buff dudes are often what it takes to get the attention of an aging generation of Baby Boomers desperately trying to hang onto their youth.

Posted by David on Jun 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Phonak PR On Slow-Growth Hearing-Aid Market Misses The Point: It's Not The Product, It's The Price!

Phonak has cranked up its PR engine for the launch of the snazzy new Audeo hearing aid family, scoring a beautiful piece in BusinessWeek magazine on the wonders of its expensive new digital hearing aids with their jazzy colors and names. BusinessWeek gives Phonak CEO Valentin Chapero a bully pulpit to promote his company's strong financial performance and to tout Phonak's contested acquisition of GN Resound. But he fails to mention what should have been the main point of the story -- that manufacturers' too-high prices are responsible for the slow growth of the global hearing aid industry. Chapero tells BusinessWeek that, in spite of the mushrooming population of hearing-impaired baby boomers, poor marketing and product development have meant slow adoption by consumers. He even makes the stunning admission that, "It's very difficult when you are making a product that actually nobody wants." He goes on to predict the situation will change when the hearing-impaired public discovers the "hip" new Audeo family and clamors to spend upwards of $3,000 per hearing aid, more than double and even triple what you pay for comparable digital aids from other manufacturers. While the article gushes over Phonak's profit performance, it misses the main point entirely: that as long as the oligopoly of seven (soon to be six) leading manufacturers in the global hearing aid industry continue to charge thousands of dollars for a collection of digital components with an original cost of no more than several hundred dollars in total, growth in the hearing aid industry will remain stagnant, and millions of consumers will remain priced out of the market no matter how dire their need or how seductive the design of the manufacturers' new products may be.

Posted by David on Jun 6, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Sebotek Patent Infringement Suit Challenges Big Hearing Aid Companies

Sebotek's patent infringement suit against several of the world's largest hearing-aid manufacturers is a David-and-Goliath challenge to protect its intellectual property. It also throws a big element of uncertainty into a significant and fast-growing segment of the market for open-fit behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids. Sebotek was first to market with a "receiver-in-the-ear" (speaker-in-the-ear) hearing aid featuring a nearly invisible wire from a small behind-the-ear sound processor to a speaker situated deep in the ear canal. Separating the microphone from the speaker, which is usually integrated into the same behind-the-ear device, made the hearing aid smaller, reduced feedback and made the BTE's far more cosmetically appealing. Subsequently, other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon with their own "receiver-in-the-ear" designs, and now Sebotek is crying foul.

Continue reading "Sebotek Patent Infringement Suit Challenges Big Hearing Aid Companies" »

Posted by David on May 5, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Oticon Integrates Wireless Bluetooth Receiver In New Epoq Hearing Aids

Oticon’s latest new technology is whiz bang, integrating a Bluetooth receiver inside its new Epoq family of hearing aids. Epoq also provides wireless binaural communication between right and left hearing aids to make stereophonic sound more natural. But to me the most exciting innovation is the integrated Bluetooth, which enables mobile phone reception directly by the hearing aids. I get that benefit currently with a pair of Hatis silhouettes which plug directly into my cell phone and hang behind my ears next to my behind-the-ear hearing aids. They work well but require that I be tethered to the phone in addition to taking them on and off and constantly making sure the silhouettes are set properly next to the telecoils in my hearing aids. Getting phone reception directly into the aids through a wireless Bluetooth connection is the holy graille. But the nifty new solution isn’t without its drawbacks.

Continue reading "Oticon Integrates Wireless Bluetooth Receiver In New Epoq Hearing Aids" »

Posted by David on Apr 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

On-Again, Off-Again Merger Of Hearing-Aid Giants Phonak and GN Resound May Be On Again

The CEO of Phonak Holding in Switzerland says he won’t be deterred, at least for now, by the German cartel office veto of the company’s acquisition of GN ReSound. Valentin Chapero said Phonak will work to alleviate regulatory authorities’ concerns that eliminating yet another independent hearing-aid manufacturer from the hearing-aid market will give the remaining giants – especially Phonak and German giant Siemens – de-facto monopoly pricing power. If the merger goes through there will be only six major manufacturers controlling the vast majority of global hearing-aid sales.

Posted by David on Apr 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

USA Today: How Starkey Founder Bill Austin Does Well By Doing Good

USA Today has published a wonderful profile on Bill Austin, Founder and CEO of the biggest hearing-aid manufacturer in the U.S., Starkey Laboratories. It focuses rightly on the phenomenal degree of philanthropic work he's done, distributing free hearing aids to millions of people in need throughout the world. It also reviews his history as a super salesman of hearing aids, with his biggest breakthrough fitting President Ronald Reagan in 1983.  Since then he's fitted four other presidents including G.W. Bush who wears Starkey earplugs while hunting to protect his hearing from gunshot noise. There's also a link to an additional interesting story on why hearing aids are so expensive.  It's the most concise summary I've seen of: 1) the hefty R&D costs that have to be amortized across a market of far fewer units than typical consumer electronics products reach; and 2) the lack of insurance reimbursement for hearing aids. Mostly though it's an inspiring story of an all-American entrepreneur and innovator who single-handedly helped build an industry, then used his hard-won riches to help out others around the world.

Posted by David on Aug 11, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

And Then There Were Six: GN Store Nord Puts GN ReSound On The Block

I wrote about the "seven sisters" of the global hearing aid industry a while ago, but now it appears there will be six.  Consolidation among the largest manufacturers continues as GN Store Nord considers selling GN ReSound, the world's third-largest hearing-aid brand, to one of the other majors.  Analysts expect there will be several suitors. William Demant Holdings of Denmark, the world's second-largest hearing-aid maker with the Oticon and Bernafon brands as well as Phonic Ear assistive listening devices and Sennheiser headphones, would be a natural fit.  So would Phonak Group, the world's fifth-largest manufacturer.  There are a number of reasons for consolidation among the majors, some of them good for hearing-aid customers, othters not so good.

Continue reading "And Then There Were Six: GN Store Nord Puts GN ReSound On The Block" »

Posted by David on Jul 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Buy Or Build? Starkey Turns Semiconductor Design Over To AMI

Buy or build? That's a question that always confronts system manufacturers. It makes sense to buy standard components, but you want to own the designs for components that give your product a performance edge. Starkey Laboratories has answered the question about a major component in its hearing aids by selling its chip design group to AMI Semiconductor, Inc., which produces DSP chips for a number of hearing aid manufacturers around the world. Standard products can be produced in high volumes that help lower the cost of the system, whereas the propriety components, while they are more expensive to build, can help the system manufacturer command a higher price because they give a competitive advantage to the end product.

Continue reading "Buy Or Build? Starkey Turns Semiconductor Design Over To AMI" »

Posted by David on Jul 20, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Vortis Cell Phone Antenna Reduces Hearing-Aid Interference

A start-up company based in Glasgow, Scotland, has developed an innovative antenna technology eliminating the electrical interference that can make cell phones impossible to use with hearing aids. Dual-antenna array technology built into the Vortis Technologies Ltd. antenna radiates electrical signals in a figure-eight pattern out and away from the user's head and hearing aids.  The result is not only buzz-free reception through the hearing aids but also lower power consumption and longer battery life, because the phone has to work less hard to deliver a clear signal. It has the added benefit of eliminating radiation directed at the head that some still fear may cause long-term health problems.  A Silicon Valley telecommunications entrepreneur, James Johnson, began working on the innovative antenna technology in the '90s and located the company in Scotland to address the emerging European Union market for accessible solutions.  With the U.S. Federal Communications Commission recently mandating cell phone compatibility with hearing aids, Vortis Technologies has its sights set on a major global market.  The Vortis antenna is being sold direct to consumers as an attachment to existing handsets, and the company is talking with major manufacturers about the possibility of building the antenna into their phones.

Continue reading "Vortis Cell Phone Antenna Reduces Hearing-Aid Interference" »

Posted by David on Apr 15, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sonic Innovations Jumps Into Open-Fit Fray With New High-Performance 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.  The open-fit phenomenon -- featuring small BTEs with very thin tubes attached to lightweight, one-size-fits-all, open-vented tips inserted deep within the ear canal -- is driving the hearing-aid industry to new growth and profitability.  Because they are practically invisible, extremely comfortable, and avoid the fitting problems of both custom in-the-ear and standard BTEs with traditional earmolds, the open-fit designs appeal to baby boomers worried about both cosmetics and comfort.  And because they deliver increasingly powerful programmable solutions for high-frequency hearing loss, they hit the sweet spot of today's market: aging baby boomers who are starting to strain to hear the high notes.  Sonic Innovations is staking out leadership positions in both performance and size in this fast-growing market with its new Ion family.

Continue reading "Sonic Innovations Jumps Into Open-Fit Fray With New High-Performance Ion Hearing Aid Family" »

Posted by David on Apr 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Starkey 'nFusion' Hearing Aids Eliminate Feedback And 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.  The American hearing-aid leader claims its new platform entirely eliminates feedback while providing improved understanding of speech in noise along with automatic adjustment to different listening environments.  With its new Inspire OS fitting software, the Starkey system also makes it easier for audiologists to communicate with patients, discern their specific needs, and fine-tune the programming of the hearing aids to provide the best possible solution for the individual.  While it remains to be seen if the Destiny hearing aids will fully live up to these bold promises, the new architecture and extensive R&D investment make it clear that Starkey, traditionally a sales and marketing powerhouse, is also committed to asserting itself as a bona fide technical leader in a global industry dominated by no more than a handful of vertically integrated manufacturers.

Continue reading "Starkey 'nFusion' Hearing Aids Eliminate Feedback And Automatically Adjust To Acoustic Environment" »

Posted by David on Apr 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

'Listening Post' Email Newsletter From Hearing Mojo Debuts

Today we are introducing "Listening Post," the first email version of Hearing Mojo delivering our latest news and information direct to your inbox. On or about the first and fifteenth of each month we will send our newsletter to subscribers.  The stories and ads will provide direct links to the relevant information on Hearing Mojo.  This inaugural issue is going out to a select list of friends and family in the hearing loss community and beyond.  Feel free to forward it to a friend who may be interested in checking out Hearing Mojo and/or subscribing to "Listening Post."

Posted by David on Apr 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A New Look For Hearing Mojo

I started Hearing Mojo last year to share all the information I'd learned about hearing loss and to invite other people to share their thoughts.  The response has been pretty amazing and tells me there's a pent-up demand for better information about ways to cope with hearing loss, especially for information about the wave of new digital and wireless technologies coming on the market.  I've spent the last two months working on a new design for HearingMojo.com that will make it easier to connect with people and communicate with them.  The new look debuts today and with it comes a renewed sense of purpose.  And, now that the time-consuming web-site-building is done, I expect to have new reservoirs of time to pursue the mssion of researching and writing about all the products and technologies that can help hard-of-hearing people, and all the ways people cope with hearing loss.

Continue reading "A New Look For Hearing Mojo" »

Posted by David on Apr 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Creative Firm Partners+Simons Gives Us World-Class Treatment

We are pleased and proud to introduce a new look for Hearing Mojo designed by Partners+Simons, a world-class design and interactive firm based in Boston. I first met proprietor Tom Simons more than 25 years ago when we were classmates at Harvard.  I don't think I ever saw him without a guitar under his arm, and at the time I was only vaguely aware that his other creative passion was visual arts and graphic design.  But he went on to become one of the nation's best-known advertising creative geniuses.  Now, it's especially appropriate Tom and his team have designed a site to promote better listening and hearing, because when he is not delivering the world's best creative output, Tom still spends his time making music. His rock-and-roll band, "The Loomers," has its own special mojo: it was a finalist at the 2005 Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame "Battle of the Corporate Bands." Thanks, Tom and team, for a website and email design that finally does justice to the content of HearingMojo.com.

Posted by David on Apr 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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. DCP uses a digital signal processing chip and sophisticated algorithms borrowed similar to those found in hearing aids to improve the performance of its amplified phones.  DCP has three main features: Multiband Compression, Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Noise Reduction.  Multiband compression uses proprietary algorithms to determine what incoming sound is the human voice, then provides more amplification to the voice signals while suppressing other sounds.  Acoustic echo cancellation elminates the feedback that happens when amplified signals from the speaker are picked up by the microphone.  And noise reduction reduces the hiss, static and background noise found on many connections, which amplified phones often exacerbate. The technology is featured in the company's new amplified Clarity Professional C2210 corded desktop phone and in its new amplified cordless portable phone, the Clarity Professional 4205.  Other than the new cordless and corded amplified phones from ClearSounds, I haven't seen any other manufacturers delivering such advanced technology in full-featured office phones for hard-of-hearing consumers.  In addition to its updated website, Clarity Products has been turning on the public relations machine.  This past week, BusinessWeek magazine featured the Plantronics subsidiary and its new DCP technology in a major feature article.

Continue reading "Digital Clarity Power From Clarity Products Is Chock-Full Of Digital Signal Processing Performance" »

Posted by David on Nov 17, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

GN Acquisition Of Interton Accelerates Hearing-Aid Industry Consolidation

The big are getting bigger in the hearing-aid industry, with GN Store Nord, parent of the GN ReSound Group, acquiring German hearing-instrument developer Interton for DKK 350-million ($56 million USD).  GN Store Nord is a DKK 6-billion ($960 million USD) conglomerate based in Denmark.  Wth its hearing instrument and audiologic diagnostic equipment businesses accounting for approximately half its revenue, GN is one of the four largest players in the global hearing-aid industry.  Interton is a small (approximately $36-million USD annual revenue) manufacturer of hearing-aids that will continue for the time being as an independent subsidiary of the GN ReSound Group, maintaining the Interton brand in the German and U.S. markets where it is well known.  

Continue reading "GN Acquisition Of Interton Accelerates Hearing-Aid Industry Consolidation" »

Posted by David on Oct 5, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Only 12.9% Of U.S. Doctors Screen For Patient Hearing Loss At Annual Checkups

One of the things I like best about my family doctor is the way she interviews me during my annual physical about everything going on in my life.  In her view, early identification of the causes of potential disease, ranging from big issues like job stress and emotional or marital problems to relatively minor issues such as too much caffeine, are just part of the preventive maintenance a healthcare provider is supposed to perform during the annual checkup.  A simple question such as "are your eyes giving you any trouble?" or "how's your hearing?" quickly turns into an in-depth interview and diagnostic tests if I give any hint of a problem.  But if you think that level of care should be standard, you will be as stunned and disappointed as I was when I learned that only 12.9 percent of physicians in the U.S. routinely screen patients for hearing loss during annual physicals.  Even worse, that number -- from the 2004 Better Hearing Institute MarketTrak survey of the U.S. hard-of-hearing population -- is down from a high of 20.2 percent of doctors who screened patients for hearing loss in 1990.  That's 50 percent more than is done today, 15 years later, even with the rapidly growing wave of baby boomers losing their hearing as they age.  But perhaps it should be no surprise.

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Posted by David on Jul 15, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hard-of-Hearing Population Tops 30 Million In U.S., With More Than 20 Million Untreated

The total population of Americans with hearing problems topped 30 million in 2004, according to the Better Hearing Institute's seventh update to its landmark MarketTrak hearing-aid adoption survey.  Moreover, fewer than a quarter of those hard-of-hearing individuals are receiving help for their hearing problems.  The Institute has been conducting the survey from a statistically valid sample of the U.S. population since 1990, following the Hearing Industries Association's 1986 benchmark survey of the total hearing-impaired U.S. population.  The survey confirms that with some 22 million Americans are going without the help they need, approximately 10 percent of Americans are neglecting to get needed help with their hearing.  In a news release, the BHI claims that lost income due to hard-of-hearing U.S. workers failing to achieve their full earning potential amounts to more than $100 billion per year.  According to the author of the survey, BHI Executive Director Sergei Kochkin, Ph.D, “People are still embarrassed to admit they have a hearing loss and get hearing aids. But the price of their vanity is lost earnings for the rest of their lives, a diminished ability to communicate effectively, family problems and a host of other troubles.”  The survey also notes the high costs of hearing aids and lack of sufficient screening as factors contributing to the low adoption rates by hard-of-hearing consumers.  A report on the survey will appear in the July issue of The Hearing Review.

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Posted by David on Jul 15, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Oticon Powers Up Sumo DM Hearing Aids For Hardest-Of-Hearing Customers

Designing hearing aids for people with severe-to-profound hearing loss is one of the biggest challenges confronting hearing-aid manufacturers.  Packing all that power into a small digital device not only exacerbates many of the problems found in hearing aids for moderate hearing loss, but also creates a few vexing problems unique to the high-power end of the market.  Because so much amplification is required for the user to hear speech, identifying and squelching background noise is an especially difficult problem to solve.  Then, without near-perfect matching of amplified frequencies to the user's audiogram, too much amplification at the wrong frequencies can quickly overwhelm the user's sensitive ears.  And feedback, the noisy whistling that occurs when a microphone and hearing aid re-amplify sound made by a nearby speaker, is a huge problem because the more powerful the speaker, the more feedback you get.  Unfortunately, because severely impaired consumers make up a small segment of the hearing assistance market, though one with the most acute need, the industry has tended to spend less time developing technologies that can be helpful in mitigating the problems that come with high-powered hearing aids.  That's why Oticon's latest high-end hearing aid is so refreshing: the new Sumo DM, designed specifically for severely impaired users, takes on the technology problems at the high end of the market with gusto.  I even like the name Oticon gave to the new product and its associations with super-strong Japanese Sumo wrestlers.

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Posted by David on Jul 13, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

In Memoriam: Jack Kilby Made Today's Hearing Aids Possible

It's a little-known fact that Jack Kilby, the inventor of the microchip, was also a hearing-aid pioneer.  The Texas Instruments engineer and Nobel Prize winner's death yesterday at the age of 81 has spurred a slew of stories about the invention of the integrated circuit and the dawn of the computer age.  But Kilby's first job out of college in the 1950s was with the Centralab Division of Globe-Union Corporation in Wisconsin, where as a young engineer interested in "miniaturization," he helped develop what the Smithsonian Institution calls one of "the first consumer products of the electronic age -- the transistor-based hearing aid."  Later, he won fame and fortune with his work on the first electronic calculators, on the first thermal printers, and then for his breakthrough proving it was possible to integrate a large number of transistors on a single piece of silicon to create the first semiconductor chips.  Kilby shared the honor of "father of the chip" with Robert Noyce of Intel Corporation, who most likely would have shared the Nobel Prize with Kilby had he lived long enough. After they developed the first memory chips, Intel and Texas Instruments raced to develop and commercialize the first microprocessors.  Intel took the lead in microprocessors powering personal computers, while TI took the lead in developing the digital signal processors (DSPs) used in many communications devices, including today's digital hearing aids.  So in addition to his early work miniaturizing the amplifiers used in the first generation of analog electronic hearing aids, it's fair to say Jack Kilby also helped make possible today's amazing digital hearing aids.  May he rest in peace.

Posted by David on Jun 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Newsweek Hearing-Loss Cover Story: I Guess Half A Loaf Is Better Than None At All

While the Newsweek cover story this week is notable for the attention it gives to hearing loss as a major societal issue, it's also notable for what it doesn't cover.  But at least the cover picture is worth a million words.  When Bill Clinton announced he was buying a set of hearing aids a decade ago, people in the industry jumped for joy.  They were certain the endorsement by the youthful President would jump-start demand from millions of other baby boomers who needed hearing aids but weren't yet buying them.  But then, nothing much happened. In fact, hearing-aid sales were close to stagnant for several years.  Will we see a "Newsweek effect" that jump-starts sales of hearing aids and other assistive technologies, or will it prove to be the same lead balloon as the Clinton announcement?

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Posted by David on May 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

California Dreaming About Hearing-Hair Replacement

Let's talk hair-replacement therapy.  No, I'm not talking about premature baldness, Rogaine or Hair Club for Men.  I'm talking about the 15,000 hair-like cells we have in each cochlea at birth that are responsible for translating sound waves from the ear drum into electrical signals the brain can decode as speech, music, a baby crying and all other sounds. When these cells die due to natural aging processes, trauma, or exposure to too much noise or otoxic drugs, we experience sensorineurial hearing loss, the most common form of hearing impairment.  Human cochlear hair cells don't regenerate, but a few years ago scientists discovered that they do in birds.  Now stem-cell gene researchers are looking for ways to make the hair grow back in humans, too, which could be a potent cure for the most common form of hearing loss.  Last year, California voters approved $3 billion in funding for stem-cell research, bucking the President's go-slow approach and instantly making their state a magnet for the world's best stem-cell researchers. This week, Stanford University scored a huge recruiting coup when it stole from Harvard Dr. Stefan Heller, a world-leading researcher investigating stem-cell enabled regeneration of "hearing hair."  

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Posted by David on May 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hearing Aids And Cellphones: One Step Forward, Half A Step Back

Making a cellphone easy to use with a hearing aid is devilishly hard.  Both devices are packed with so many chips and other digital electronics that electromagnetic interference causing feedback, static and distortion is bound to occur in one or both devices.  Last week, the cellphone/hearing-aid industry coalition that is racing to meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements for hearing-aid compatibility issued a good-news, bad-news update.  According to a news release from the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, its Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) group "has performed extensive work and believes that wireless manufacturers generally will meet the regulatory requirements defined by the FCC...."  (Good news).  "However, the wireless industry has recently documented several challenges to achieving FCC-required HAC compatibility measurements for GSM handset devices operating in the 850 MHz frequency band.  This reported challenge appears to be industry-wide."  (Bad news).  The upshot is that while most new cellphones will work with hearing aids, as mandated by the U.S. government, some apparently will not.  Like reputable hearing-aid vendors, many cellphone manufacturers offer 30-day "try-before-you-buy" trials of their products.  If you're buying a cellphone, taking advantage of this trial period, even if it's a hassle, is a must.  Because for the time being, the watchword for hearing-impaired cellphone consumers must remain "buyer beware."

Posted by David on May 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

More Boomers Than We Knew Have Hearing Loss

Bad news for boomers, good news for hearing aid manufacturers: A survey by The Ear Foundation finds that more American baby boomers than previously thought are losing their hearing, with nearly half the total of those aged 50 to 59 reporting some degree of hearing loss.  A 1990 National Health Interview Survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that only 20 percent in a comparable group were suffering from hearing loss.  Further, the new survey found that more boomer men (55 percent) than women (44 percent) are suffering early hearing loss.  Most respondents attributed their hearing loss to work- and recreation-related environmental noise.  But only a third of those who said they are hearing impaired said they had ever gotten their hearing tested.  NOTE: The Ear Foundation is backed by a manufacturer, Clarity, a division of Plantronics, Inc. that makes amplified phones for hearing-impaired consumers.  The non-profit foundation does independent research that supports all the hearing manufacturers' efforts to increase awareness of the need for their products.

Posted by David on May 15, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ScanSoft: Will Speech Processing Go The Way Of The Kurzweil Reader?

I frequently entertain myself with a futuristic vision of high-tech eyeglasses equipped with a tiny microphone, a tiny speech processing chip, and a tiny holographic projector that can transcribe everyday conversation in real time and project it in front of my eyes like the closed-captioning system on my TV.  Believe it or not, all the technologies required to create such a product are known -- it will only take another 10 or 15 (okay, maybe 20) years of development before we see such a device.  Ray Kurzweil, the irrepressible inventor and serial entrepreneur, had a similar vision more than 20 years ago of a digital Reading Machine that would scan written words and speak them in real time, so that blind people could read normal text again.  The good news: Kurzweil invented the technology and sold it to Xerox.  The bad news: Xerox used the technology instead for more lucrative business applications and put the product for the blind on the back shelf.

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Posted by David on May 11, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Go America is Going Places

I'd heard of Go America in the go-go days of the dot-com boom, but back then it was just one of a million hot new suppliers of wireless data services for handheld computers.  I never knew about its Wyndtell subsidiary, which focused exclusively on providing telecommunications services for deaf and hard-of-hearing people.   After I suffered my severe hearing loss and couldn't use the phone, my audiologist told me to get the Wyndtell handheld service for text messaging, but I thought she said "Wintel" and never found it on my internet searches.  Instead, I got a Blackberry device with Skytel text messaging and email.  It worked great but was way too expensive.  Later I tried out a Sidekick II device from T-Mobile when it first came out, but the service initially had all kinds of bugs that kept me from getting onto my T-Mobile web account, so I returned it before the 30-day trial period was over.  I currently use a very inexpensive and simple AT&T Wireless (now Cingular) Ogo handheld device.  It works very well, and at only $17/month for data and email service, the price is right.  But now I've finally stumbled across the fact that Go America has brought its Wyndtell business front and center and repositioned itself with an exclusive focus on meeting the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers.  When Go America got caught in the downdraft of the dot-com bust and telecommunications industry meltdown, the company apparently went through a serious rough patch.  But now the company has a new direction and strategy focused on a market that is guaranteed to grow rapidly.

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Posted by David on May 7, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sonic Innovations Banks on Innova Sales

Sonic Innovations issued its first-quarter earnings release a few days ago, and this weekend I finally listened to the webcast of CFO Stephen Wilson's conference call with financial analysts.  The bad news is that sales are down two percent from last year's record first quarter.  At first glance it looks like an indicator of weak demand and flat sales generally in an industry that should be seeing healthy growth from consumers whose need for hearing assistance is constantly growing.  But Sonic Innovations is betting heavily on its new Innova  line of hearing aids, which it didn't introduce until early April after the fiscal quarter ended.  Innova features a directional microphone for hearing conversation in noisy environments that the company says is nearly twice as effective as its competitors'.  And as a strong entry in the high-end behind-the-ear (BTE) market, Innova will help boost the company's sales in Europe, where Wilson says more than 70 percent of the market prefers BTE aids.  And there is additional silver lining in the results.

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Posted by David on Apr 30, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Did Songbird Croak? Will It Rise From The Ashes?

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Posted by David on Apr 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

William Austin is at it Again

The only thing William Austin seems to work at harder than promoting himself is promoting the benefits of hearing aids.  But in fact, the two go hand in hand.  Over the past 40 years, the founder of Starkey Laboratories, one of the world's seven dominant hearing aid manufacturers, has waged what at times has seemed a one-man war against the stigma of wearing hearing aids.  From fitting U.S. presidents with aids (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton) to starting a foundation that raises more than $1 million a year and has donated more than 120,000 hearing aids to people in need around the world, the name William Austin has become synonymous with hearing health.  This month Vanity Fair magazine put him in its Hall of Fame.  And today the Starkey Hearing Foundation issued a news release entitled "Legendary Audiologist William Austin Restores Hearing to 113-Year-Old Woman."

A publicity stunt from the P.T. Barnum of the hearing aid industry?  Perhaps.  But it couldn't be for a better cause.  For more information on the Starkey Hearing Foundation, including information on how to contribute, go to http://www.sotheworldmayhear.org.

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Posted by David on Apr 25, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Seven Sisters of the Hearing Aid Industry

When you start thinking about buying a hearing aid, the choices can be dizzying.  On first look, you would think there are hundreds of manufacturers.  The reality is simpler.  While there are scores of name brands, in fact only seven manufacturers control about 90 percent of the worldwide market for hearing aids.

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Posted by David on Apr 11, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

How Many of Us Are There?

The hearing-impaired population is huge and growing.  But a surprisingly small percentage of people who need hearing aids choose to use them.

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Posted by David on Mar 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)