With its introduction this week of a very small digital hearing aid that sits deep enough within the ear canal to disappear from sight, Miracle-Ear is the latest entrant in the burgeoning market for “invisible hearing aids.” The Miracle-Ear Mirage is a digital hearing aid with many of the advanced features customers expect in full-featured digital aids, including feedback cancellation and digital noise reduction, programmable settings, intelligent peak smoothing, and “SoundBoost” volume control.
Miracle-Ear hearing aids have been on the market since 1948, when Ken Dahlberg, a World War II aviator turned electronic inventor, started manufacturing the first in-the-ear hearing aid, which he called “The Miracle Ear.” Since then the company has not been known as an innovator in digital hearing aids, but with the backing of corporate parent Amplifon, it has maintained a strong presence in retail channels including an exclusive relationship with Sears Hearing Aid Centers.
Today the entire line of Miracle-Ear hearing aids extends from entry level devices to the high-end ME-1 hearing aids with advanced noise reductdion, speech enhancement, Bluetooth compatible connectivity, optional remote control, multiple listening programs, and other features.
Other invisible hearing aids include the SoundLens and other branded solutions from Starkey Laboratories, Lyric Hearing’s extended-wear invisible hearing aids, ExSilent’s QLeaf invisible hearing aids, and ReSound’s Alera Remote Microphone hearing aid.
Laura S. says
Um… The Miracle Ear Mirage has been available for at least the past 10 years! This is not recent technology.
Andy says
Just looking at this little thing scares me: I would be afraid to wear one this small for fear of not being able to pull it out again without the use of a tool. Perhaps I’m just a coward, but is there not a point at which these things become too small?
SV says
David,
It’d be cool to have Q&A blog with someone in the industry about why you would consider invisible and extended wear hearing aids–and why you wouldn’t. They are not for everyone (dexterity, severity of hearing loss are two things that come to mind). Who is best suited for these types of hearing aids?