Hansaton’s Jerry Yanz Predicts Hearing Industry Will Get A Charge From Rechargeable Hearing Aids
Hansaton's AQ Hearing Aids Get An Overnight Charge For All-Day Power
If you can recharge your cell phone once and it will work for several days, why can’t you do the same thing with your hearing aids? Jerry L. Yanz of Hansaton will tell anyone within earshot why. More important, he will tell you how yesterday’s inadequate rechargeable hearing aids are being replaced by new rechargeables that actually work the way you do–all day long.
Until recently, the few rechargeable hearing aids on the market had significant limitations. Often their charge lasted less than a full day, so if you depended on them from morning to night, you were out of luck.
Many first-generation rechargeable hearing aids also suffered from the problem you had with early cell phone batteries — if you recharged them before they were completely empty, they would run out of gas quicker and quicker after each charge.
As a result, most hearing aids today still require non-rechargeable, disposable batteries. The batteries last a few days or, if you’re lucky, more than a week. But no matter how energy-efficient your hearing aids are, you end up buying dozens of batteries a year at up to a dollar a piece. It’s expensive, and disposing of so many dead batteries is wasteful and bad for the environment.
But there’s good news: Hansaton solved the problems of first-generation rechargeables to many users’ satisfaction more than a year ago when it introduced its new AQ 2G hearing aids featuring the AQ Custom ITE (in-the-ear) and AQ X-Mini RIC (receiver-in-the-canal) models. Jerry Yanz, PhD and director of audiology at Hansaton Acoustics, is a long-time hearing-industry evangelist who has been banging the drum for rechargeable hearing aids as a solution whose time has finally come. He recently co-authored an article in the Hearing Review telling you everything you need to know about the new rechargeable hearing aids.
The new Hansaton hearing aids keep their charge for 20 hours or longer and fully recharge in less than eight hours. Unless you sleep with your hearing aids turned on, you get to use them during all your waking hours. If you wear contact lenses and take them out only when you go to bed and pop them back in when you wake up, now you can follow the same routine with your hearing aids.
Other manufacturers with rechargeables already on the market as well as new entrants will be racing to catch up to with new rechargeables that deliver the mainstream features that Hansaton is promoting. When they do, customers will have a choice of fully functional rechargeables to compare against traditional hearing aids requiring disposable batteries.
If you are shopping for rechargeable hearing aids, Yanz and his co-authors suggest asking questions such as: How long will the charge last? Will the power really last all day? How long do they take to to recharge? Will they be fully charged even after a short night’s sleep? How long will the rechargeable batteries last before I have to replace them? Will the manufacturer replace them for me? And how convenient and easy is the recharging system?
When multiple manufacturers along with Hansaton are able to come up with satisfactory answers to all those questions, we may see the day when rechargeable hearing aids are as familiar as our rechargeable cell phones.
Oticon Enters Invisible Hearing Aid Market With Intiga-I For First-Time Users
Intiga-I Hearing Aid is Oticon's Entry In The Hot Invisible Hearing Aid Market
Oticon has jumped into the hot market for “invisible” hearing aids–tiny devices that sit deep within the ear canal–with its new Intiga-I model for first-time users.
The Intiga-I hearing aid has a nanocoated wax protection system and a T- cap microphone protection system that will enable the device to withstand the moist environment of the deep ear canal. And it features Oticon’s high-end SpeechGuard sound processing technology as well as the company’s Rise 2 amplifier which conserves battery power.
The Oticon Intiga-I joins other major brands’ entries into the popular market for small invisible hearing aids aimed at first-time users, including the Starkey AMP, promoted as the first hearing aid “for people who aren’t ready for a hearing aid.”
The Intiga-I follows last year’s introduction of the Oticon Intiga, a small, high-performance on-the-ear open-fit hearing aid that the company promotes as “the world’s smallest fully wireless hearing solution,” enabling the hearing aid to act as a wireless, hands-free headset for cell phones and other entertainment devices.
Phonak Shrinks Lyric Invisible Hearing Aid And Improves Fit To Increase The Number Who Can Use It
The Lyric Hearing Aid Is Completely Invisible
Phonak announced it has shrunk its Lyric invisible hearing aids and improved the fit to make it accessible to 50 percent more consumers. The Lyric hearing aids meet the needs of people with mild to moderate hearing loss who are looking for a completely invisible hearing solution.
Placed deeply within the ear canal by an audiologist, the Lyric hearing aid is worn day and night for up to four months, when its battery expires and is replaced by the audiologist. The new size makes it easier to fit a larger number of consumers.
“I like to compare Lyric to the contact lens: just wear it and forget about it,” Phonak CEO Lukas Braunschweiler said in a news release. The Lyric hearing aids are sold on a subscription basis, with upgrades and service bundled into the subscription price.
Unitron Introduces High-End Models In Its New Quantum And Moxi Hearing Aid Families
Unitron's Quantum Family of Hearing Aids
At last week’s AudiologyNow convention in Boston, Unitron showed its new premium hearing instruments for its Quantum and Moxi product families featuring better speech comprehension through improved location of sound.
Built on Unitron’s Era sound processing platform, the new Quantum Pro and Moxi Pro feature Unitron’s binaural spatial processing and SpeechZone automated directional technology to make it easier to understand speech in challenging listening environments. With SpeechZone, the two hearing instruments work together to determine the location of a sound and focus on it.
Unitron also showed its uDirect 2 and uTV 2 accessories. uDirect 2 uses Bluetooth technology to enable seamless wireless connection to entertainment and communications devices. It also acts as a remote control for quick access to essential features. Unitron’s uTV 2 accessory provides similar wireless connectivity for the television, sending stereo audio to both hearing instruments via the uDirect 2.
Siemens Debuts New XCEL Sound Processing System Along With New Eclipse In-The-Canal Hearing Aid
Siemens Eclipse Hearing Aid Has A Soft Dome For Deep Insertion In The Ear Canal
Siemens Hearing Instruments introduced its XCEL sound processing platform, the next generation of its BestSound platform technology balancing improved sound quality with better speech comprehension for hearing aid users. The XCEL sound processing system is integrated with its new Eclipse in-the-canal hearing aid as well as new models in its Pure and Motion hearing aid families.
The Eclipse XCEL is a deep-fit completely-in-the-canal hearing aid featuring a flexible, soft dome designed to fit comfortably deep within the sensitive bony areas of the ear canal.
“Eclipse is virtually invisible and delivers beautiful, natural sound,” Scott Davis, CEO of Siemens Hearing Instruments said in a news release. “It’s the first solution that provides the benefits of a deep-fit hearing aid using the simple, safe, standard impression methods hearing care professionals employ every day.”
