Widex

 

Brand Profile: Widex Hearing Aids

Widex has been a leading global brand of hearing aids since 1956, when the family-owed Denmark company introduced its first hearing aid and simultaneously established a presence in the large North American market. Since then Widex has been credited with numerous industry firsts, including the Quattro Q8, the first digitally programmable hearing aid with remote control (1988), the groundbreaking Senso series, the world’s first fully digital in-the-ear hearing aid (1995), and the Widex Passion, which at the time was the world’s smallest receiver-in-the-ear canal hearing aid measuring only 21 mm in diameter (2008).

In 2009 and 2010, Widex introduced its current flagship product families, the Widex Mind family providing a broad range of options at different price levels, and the premium-performance Widex Clear family featuring fully wireless performance. The Clear family makes it easy to stream audio from Bluetooth phones, televisions, stereos and other sources directly into the user’s hearing aids. It also features sophisticated, wireless binaural communication between the left and right hearing aids, providing better location of sound and improved understanding of speech in noise. And a FreeFocus feature makes it easy to focus on sound in selected directions, without turning the head.

Both the Widex Clear and Mind families feature the unique Zen relaxation and tone program, providing a range of user-selectable audio tracks that create soothing background sound that has been shown to counter the effects of tinnitus. In 2010, Widex also introduced Baby 440, a hearing aid specially designed for babies.

Recent Posts About Widex Hearing Aids

No Tinnitus Cure In Sight, But Plenty Of Therapies Make Ringing In The Ears Easier To Live With

Tinnitus–unnatural ringing, buzzing, hissing, humming and other unwanted sounds in your ear–can literally drive you crazy if you let it. Researchers have studied the phenomenon for years, and while there are range of theories about its causes, a good layman’s explanation is that when your hearing and auditory nerves suffer damage or degradation, the brain tries to make up for the lack of usual sounds by creating its own. Unfortunately there is no known conclusive cure. But as The Wall Street Journal recently reported, numerous therapies have been developed in recent years that can help you live with even a severe case of tinnitus.

My tinnitus crept up on me gradually, starting in my twenties, but when I suffered severe sudden hearing loss a few years ago, it came on like gangbusters. When I’m by myself in a quiet room, there’s a cacophony of noises in my head, including the weird phenomenon of phantom music. The good news is that when I’m wearing my hearing aids while I’m out and about interacting with people in the world, I barely notice my tinnitus. The real-world sounds seem to both mask the bothersome noises in my head and, just as important, distract my attention from them.

These two effects — masking and distraction — are the first steps in many of the most effective therapies. Tinnitus sound-masking devices simply create soothing music or white noise that blends with or overrides the tinnitus sounds. They can come in hearing-aid-like devices, ear-buds with hand-held units similar to MP3 players. They can also come in hearing aids themselves: Widex has incorporated its Zen sound-generating program into its flagship mind330 and mind220 series of hearing aids. The Zen program uses soothing music to fill in quiet periods and distract hearing-aid users from their tinnitus. Read more

Widex Goes Wireless With New High-End Clear 440 Hearing Aid Family

Widex has introduced the new high-end Clear 44o hearing aid family, featuring binaural wireless communication between each hearing aid to provide richer and more realistic sound for users. The new hearing system also provides an external transmitter to send TV audio signals directly into the hearing aids; a small remote controller to switch program settings, control volume and manage other functions of the hearing aids; and a Bluetooth-compatible handset that transmits your cellular phone signal directly into your hearing aids. Other hearing aid manufacturers have introduced their own wireless communication schemes between hearing aids and external devices to enable rapid adjustments to changes in environmental sound, better synching of the sound processing between the two hearing aids. Users report better sound location and comprehension because they are getting more realistic replication of the sounds in their environment, in stereo. Widex is promoting its new C-ISP platform powered by three custom chips as the industry’s best way to synchronize the sound processing in the hearing aids, enable remote control of selected features, and port high-definition audio streamed from external sources.

The three new accessories are a big step forward in assistive listening, because they eliminate the need for a neck loop that provides a direct link through the hearing-aids’ telecoils. Instead the devices transmit digital signals directly into the hearing aids, enabling better audio performance in addition to increased convenience. The TV-DEX system consists of a base and recharger unit that plugs into the TV and transmits to a handheld unit that re-transmits the signal to the user’s hearing aids; the handheld also provides volume control and also has a button to turn off the external microphones on the hearing aids so the user only hears the TV audio signal. The M-DEX device has a Bluetooth link to your mobile phone and acts as a handset that lets you listen and talk, transmitting the phone signal directly into your hearing aids. It also has a volume control plus a button to turn off the external microphone on your hearing aids to make it easier to hear the cell phone signal without the distraction of external environmental noise. Finally, the RC-DEX is a small controller that you can keep in your pocket or purse to control the program settings on your hearing aids as well as raise or lower the volume.

The Clear 440 also includes the Widex SmartSpeak feature — a human voice piped into the hearing aid informing you about what program mode you are in and alerting you when the battery is running low — as well as the innovative Widex Zen relaxation program, which plays random and harmonic tones when you feel like relaxing. IE Zen works as an effective tinnitus masking program, overriding the annoying tinnitus sounds within your ears with more tolerable background noise.

$50,000 Widex Hearing Aid Is One Of The Nuttiest Promotions I’ve Seen

I stumbled across a news release purporting to be from the Widex people in the U.K. promoting a gold- and diamond-encrusted hearing aid with remote controller priced at 25,000 UK pounds ($50,144 U.S. dollars). Advertising itself as the “blingi-est” hearing aid in the world, it is a version of the new Widex “M” family of hearing aids. 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