Industry
Oticon To Double The Processing Power Of Its Hearing Aids With New Flagship ‘Agil’ Family
Oticon to Introduce Agil Hearing-Aid Platform
William Demant Holding Group’s Oticon hearing-aid brand is getting ready to introduce a new line of hearing aids with twice the processing power of its current flagship family and a new set of sound processing algorithms that the Denmark company claims will substantially improve users’ comprehension of speech in noise. Oticon’s new Agil family will be formally launched in March and be shown for the first time at the American Academy of Audiology convention in San Diego in April. The Agil family will serve a broad range of hearing needs from moderate to severe hearing loss and will come in form factors ranging from behind-the-ear (BTE) to receiver in the ear (RITE). Oticon is promoting two innovations enabled by the more powerful processing platform: Speech Guard and Spatial Sound 2.0.
Oticon says Speech Guard is based on a new wireless platform with twice the calculation power of its current flagship Oticon Epoq family. It includes a new processing kernel that it says will preserve signal fidelity–quality of sound, especially human voices–far more effectively than in the past. At the same time, Spatial Sound 2.0, a “spatial noise management system” that “maintains natural acoustic cues.” The platform integrates seamlessly with the Oticon ConnectLine wireless listening system.
“With Oticon Agil,we have virtually improved all the advanced features already available in Oticon Epoq,” William Demant Holding President and CEO Niels Jacobsen said in a statement to investors. “Our almost three years of everyday experience with wireless audiology and connectivity has given us valuable insights enabling us to bring forward a significantly better hearing solution.” Among those insights is the fact that better comprehension of speech based on more natural processing of spatial sound reduces the cognitive “overhead” required to understand speech, enabling hearing-aid users to better understand speech with less stress, Oticon said. The company said it is focused on new research showing that struggles to comprehend speech can significantly increase fatigue and impair performance of everyday activities in ways that lead directly to loss of income.
Every few years the major global hearing-aid manufacturers release their new processing platforms, promising to deliver breakthroughs in comprehension of speech in noise. It’s gratifying to see a major manufacturer linking its new product platform so tightly to new research on how hearing loss directly effects people’s health and incomes.
Race To Acquire Siemens Hearing Aids Heats Up As Cochlear Ltd. And Synthes Join Fray
Reuters quotes sources saying Cochlear Ltd., one of three global suppliers of cochlear implant devices as well as a leader in bone-anchored hearing aids, intends to join two private equity firms in making a multi-billion dollar bid for Siemens Hearing Instruments, which is being spun off by its parent company. The report also says Synthes, a global medical equipment manufacturer, also will join the bidding.
This is a huge story for the hearing aid industry, which is going through a wave of consolidation as the leading global players try to simultaneously gain market share by broadening their distribution at the low end of the market while building war chests for a new generation of R&D-led innovation at the high end of the market. Putting the very high end digital technologies required for cochlear implants under the same roof as mainstream digital hearing aids will give a shot of much-needed energy into high-end hearing-aid innovation.
Sonova CEO Valentin Chapero kicked off the industry’s consolidation charge in 2007 with his failed bid to acquire GN Resound and vault to undisputed leader of the global industry. Undaunted, in November 2009 Sonova made a bid to acquire Advanced Bionics (AB), the U.S.-based cochlear implant maker. Then in January 2010 Sonova acquired InSound Medical, developer of an innovative hearing aid implanted deep within the ear canal. Assuming the AB deal passes regulatory approvals, Sonova have a vertically line of hearing assistance products, offering everything from inexpensive entry-level hearing aids all the way up to the most sophisticated cochlear implant technologies available.
Cochlear’s strategy appears to be similar to Phonak’s, but it will enter the market from the opposite direction by leveraging its strong position in high-end cochlear implant technology to move into the mainstream hearing-aid market with the acquisition of Siemens Hearing, one of the world’s seven largest hearing-aid suppliers.
Six Bidders Compete To Acquire Siemens Hearing Instruments
FOR SALE: Siemens Hearing Instruments
HearUSA Scores Hearing-Aid Distribution Deal With AARP
HearUSA Signs Distribution Deal With AARP
The arrangement is good news for Siemens, which is a major investor in HearUSA and supplies most of the hearing-aid products sold by the company. In addition to providing a financial boost to HearUSA, the AARP deal may enable geographic expansion of its retail chain, which currently sells hearing aids through 180 company-owned hearing care centers in 10 states in the U.S. and its Hearing Care Network comprised of over 1,900 affiliated audiologists in 49 states.
HearUSA this week also announced second-quarter net income of $1.1 million, compared to a half-million-dollar loss in the previous quarter. Like other companies in the hearing-aid industry, HearUSA has seen a falloff in sales due to the recession, but cost-control measures in addition to the sale of its Canadian subsidiary boosted both the bottom line and balance sheet in the second quarter of 2009.
Opinion: Hearing Aid Pricing Should be More Transparent
Hearing Aid Pricing Should Be More Transparent
And there are good alternatives to the established brands now for cost-conscious, tech-savvy do-it-yourselfers: America Hears, which builds top-quality digital hearing aids and sells them online, programs them to your audiogram at the factory, sends you the software to make your own adjustments, and has licensed audiologists at the end of the phone to give you as much help as you need. All for under $1,000 a hearing aid. But most other comparable top-quality digital hearing aids still cost two to three times that much. Why? The answer is in the cost of the service required to get a custom fit. If you don’t dare do it yourself, a good audiologist truly is worth his or her weight in gold, especially if your hearing profile is complex. Getting a comfortable fit and programming assistance tuned to your audiogram usually requires multiple tries and is seemingly as much art as science. An audiologist who will stick with you through multiple adjustments is worth a significant mark-up. But it’s fair to question the value of the markup above and beyond the wholesale price of the basic hearing instrument components.
The hearing industry for the most part remains stuck in a very old distribution model which has restricted growth and shut off affordable options for a large segment of potential buyers in need of hearing assistance. Today most hearing aids are sold by audiologists who charge a single price for the hearing instrument and the service they provide. They give you a hearing test and fit you with hearing aids that meet your specific needs. Their invoice most often does not include line items for the cost of the hearing test, for the ear molds, for the hearing instrument, or for follow-up service. If it did, you would see there’s a lot of cost built into the time they put into helping you out. If you don’t need much help, they make a lot of money. If you are a difficult case requiring a lot of adjustments, they make less. This model worked well until recently. But now, digital technologies are making many more options available for people with different kinds of hearing loss. Open-fit designs mean many consumers don’t need an earmold fitting, and good digital amplification is making it possible for many people to get the hearing assistance they need from low-cost manufacturers selling direct, over the counter. One manufacturer, Songbird Hearing, is even offering disposable hearing aids that you can buy direct from their web site to address mild hearing loss, without a hearing test if you sign a medical waiver.
The big established manufacturers hate the idea of hearing aids being sold over the internet or over the counter. They would like to protect a business model that protects high margins for increasingly low-cost technologies by restricting availability to the audiology channel. That way they can maintain quality control and customer satisfaction by ensuring customers get the right product, the right programming and a good fit. They also need healthy gross profit margins to fund research on new technology, especially better software for digital sound processing. But unfortunately that business model also keeps prices high and hearing assistance out of reach for many consumers who simply can’t afford it. I’m a big believer in the value audiologists provide as part of the hearing industry supply chain. However, I think they will have to start publishing more detailed pricing for their services as well as for the products they provide. Competition from direct-to-the-consumer vendors will force them to. However, the competition won’t put them out of business, and won’t eliminate the premium end of the market. It’s okay to charge for valuable service, but customers should know what they are paying for.
And have no doubt customers will continue to spend for hearing assistance, especially when the industry makes it easier to buy exactly what you want at affordable prices. As the big established brands and new and established distribution channels offer a broader range of prices, products, services and solutions, the market will start expanding as fast as it should be, given the demographic increase in hearing loss. Everyone will win: the manufacturers, audiologists and other resellers will continue to make money, and, most important, more consumers will hear better.
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.
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.
Unlike low-cost mail-order resellers, America Hears manufactures its own premium digital hearing aids and supports its customers with its own staff of audiologists. So when you see an ad and call their 800 number or email them, you get a response from a trained audiologist, not a salesperson. They immediately engage you in a lengthy discussion about your hearing needs and help you choose a design that should work for you. You don’t have to worry they are guiding you to a more expensive model, because all their hearing aids are priced at the same $995. Then they build the hearing aid using top-quality digital chips and sound processing software from Dynamic Hearing in Australia. They ship it to you with the programming kit that includes software for your PC. Then they continue to support you over the phone, helping you learn to use the software yourself and downloading adjustments you may need after getting used to the new hearing aids. They also offer a 60-day money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied.
I had thought I couldn’t wear in-the-ear aids any more because of my severe hearing loss. When I had a mild loss I wore completely in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aids and was pretty happy with them, though they were a little uncomfortable and feedback was always a problem. So I’d take them out for a “rest” after a few hours of wear. But when I suffered a sudden severe loss in 2002, I moved to behind-the-ear (BTE) aids. These were more powerful but more comfortable because I got a good fit with soft earmolds, and though feedback was still a bit of a problem with my bad left ear where I needed a lot of amplification, I wore them all day long.
America Hears, though, fit me with with in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aids. They are not completely in the canal, but they are not the huge full-size ITEs that I’ve always found cosmetically unappealing. When I put them in, the fit was very good. More important, there was an immediate improvement in my hearing over my previous hearing aids. I could hear speech better in noise, the directional microphones seemed to be more finely tuned, so background noises were less prominent, and noise suppression at high volume was much better so I no longer had to turn them off to avoid hearing damage when at a ball game or walking on the noisy streets of New York City. And feedback simply wasn’t a problem. The feedback cancellation algorithms in their software must be awesome.
All in all, the hearing experience has been amazing–premium quality digital sound and a much better hearing experience from a product priced at less than half my previous brand, and a third the price of the most expensive premium brands. Once I put them in, I didn’t take them out. I wear them 18 hours a day.
To get these benefits you have to do some of the work yourself, learning how to use the programmer and working over the phone with the America Hears audiologists. But I’ve found that to be a benefit, as I can get adjustments any time I want with downloads from America Hears, or even by using the programming software myself to make slight adjustments, rather than waiting until I can get an appointment with my audiologist, getting to the office, etc. So once you get comfortable plugging your hearing aids into the programming software and working out your issues over the phone with your America Hears audiologist, you get the same benefits as you did in the past with a lot less logistical hassle.
I’ve got a lot more to write about America Hears hearing aids. One, I made my own earmold impressions using a kit they sent me. I got an excellent fit and want to write a separate post about the experience using “the blue goop” that you pour in your ear to take the impression. (It was a lot easier than I thought it would be!) Two, I want to write about the programming software they send you, which as far as I can tell is as full-featured as the software your audiologist uses. Three, I want to write about their business model, which not only depends on selling and supporting their customers over the internet, but also utilizes standard chips and software available from leading vendors who specialize in those products, much as the personal computer industry was able to continue lowering costs by standardizing on Intel chips and Microsoft operating software.
Full disclosure: since I started wearing the America Hears hearing aids, I have started doing some consulting work for the company, whcih I intend to continue. I’m doing it through my “day job” as principal of Aquarius Advisers LLC. America Hears will also sponsor ads on my site, once I set up display ads in addition to the Google ads I’m running. So I will be writing more about America Hears in addition to all the other topics on coping, issues and technology that I’ve always written about. I’d love to hear from other America Hears customers who have been through the process.
FDA Warns Viagra, Cialis and Levitra May Cause Sudden Hearing Loss
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered makers of the erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra to post prominent warnings on their labels of the possilbity they may cause sudden hearing loss. The FDA said it has received 29 reports of sudden hearing loss, both with and without accompanying ringing in the ears, vertigo, or dizziness following usage of the drugs. Most cases involved one ear, with either a partial or complete loss of usual hearing.
Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Can Cause Hearing Loss