TV Ears Aims At Sweet Spot Of Assistive Listening Device (ALD) Market By Bundling TV Amplifier With Captioned Phone and Hearing Aids

George Dennis, the entrepreneur who founded TV Ears in 1998, has plans to address hearing-assistance needs well beyond the company’s initial target market of consumers needing help hearing the TV. This month TV Ears announced its “3D” strategy in which it will bundle different sets of assistive listing devices (ALDs) — including the TV Ears wireless TV amplifier, the Hamilton CapTel i800 captioned telephone, either two hearing aids or two personal sound amplifiers (PSAPs), LACE listening training software, and a Dri-Dock hearing aid dryer — starting at the low-low price of $995.

You’ve probably seen ads for TV Ears, the simple wireless headset that provides nicely amplified audio from your television set. The rig looks a little funny, with the receive hanging below your chin from a set of foam ear buds, but it works. It’s maintained domestic harmony in countless households where the TV no longer has to be turned to maximum volume to compensate for Mom’s or Dad’s hearing loss. And, in an assistive listening device market where more sophisticated transmitters and receivers can run into the many hundreds or even thousands of dollars, TV Ears products start at a very affordable $99.95 USD.

TV Ears has been a big success, with more than a million sold. But that’s only the start. Dennis’s initial vision for TV Ears was to provide a “gateway” for consumers with mild hearing loss, knowing they would be more likely to migrate eventually to additional solutions if they discovered the benefits of hearing assistance with an easy-to-use product that meets a very specific need. Now Dennis has widened the gateway by reselling a product that addresses perhaps the second-biggest complaint of people with mild hearing loss — problems with the phone. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), TV Ears announced a deal with Hamilton CapTel to resell Hamilton’s i800 Captioned Telephone. At the same time, TV Ears has expanded its product set by offering personal sound amplifiers along with open-fit and receiver-in-the-hear hearing aids. Read more

Hamilton CapTel Offers 800i Captioned Telephone With Free TV Ears Thrown In For Only $99

Want to save $600 and get two of the hottest assistive listening devices (ALDs) available? Hamilton Relay’s Hamilton CapTel business unit is making a limited-time offer for its CapTel 800i captioned telephone, bundled with a TV Ears system, for only $99 combined. Hamilton CapTel has been special-offering its $595-list-price 800i captioned telephone system for $99 for a while, and now it is throwing in the highly popular wireless television amplifier from TV Ears for free.

All you have to do is go to the HamiltonCaptel web site’s special-offer landing page, grab the coupon/promo code, click through to distributor Weitbrecht Communications’ (WCI) fulfillment page, put the 800i in your shopping cart, then make sure to enter the coupon code in the “Redeem a discount coupon” space on the shopping cart page — the TV Ears product, which usually retails for $99.95, will appear as a second item in your basket with a discounted price of $0. It takes a few steps, and I don’t know how long the special offer will be available, but if you or anyone you know would benefit from either or both products, it’s a great deal.

Hamilton CapTel and TV Ears got together at the Consumer Electronics Show, where TV Ears returned the compliment by announcing it will bundle the 800i phone with the TV Ears system and a variety of personal sound amplifer products (PSAPs) and entry-level hearing aids. (More on that announcement later). The two companies make a welcome fit for hard-of-hearing consumers looking for cost-effective help with their hearing. TV Ears serves the huge market of people with mild hearing loss, positioning their easy-to-use TV-amplification headset as a “gateway” for those who might later migrate to more powerful assistive listening devices and/or hearing aids.

Hamilton CapTel has been a leader in delivering captioned telephone solutions to consumers, and the 800i is a great product for anyone who has trouble understanding phone conversations. The 800i plugs into a standard Internet connection, which enables you to initiate a free WebCapTel call, and the unit’s LCD displays lets a real-time transcript of the words of the person on the other end of the call while you conduct a regular conversation with the handset over a normal phone line. While Hamilton CapTel usually serves customers with more severe hearing loss, while TV Ears is for people with mild hearing loss, you can envision the same person using both. The 800i product makes the WebCapTel service easy to use, so that people with moderate hearing loss who only have occasional problems with the phone are more likely to use it; and the TV Ears product has enough of a volume boost to be of help even for many regular hearing-aid users with moderate hearing loss.

I plan on trialing both products and will let you know how they work.

Hatis Assistive Listening Devices Make Hearing Aids Phone- and iPod-Friendly

To listen to an iPod or communicate successfully on the phone, even on my most powerful amplified phone, I need to hear with both ears. I’ve found the best way to accomplish that trick is with a line of products from Hatis that plug into my iPod and my phones. Read more

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. Read more