Phonak’s new Remote Support Service enables fine-tuning of its Audéo Marvel Bluetooth hearing aids from virtually anywhere in the world. Hearing aid wearers can now communicate with hearing care professionals by smartphone audio and video to adjust their hearing aids in real time—and in any challenging real-world listening environment.
One reason consumers with hearing loss are often slow to start using hearing aids is the multi-step fitting process. Adjusting amplification to the user’s unique hearing profile often requires multiple trips to the audiologist. When time and distance reduce those adjustments, the consumer can end up unhappy with the sound from the hearing aids.
But Phonak’s new myPhonak smartphone app enables patients to communicate with their audiologists any time, from anywhere. It utilizes Microsoft’s Azure cloud-based technology platform to manage audio, video and digital communications. The robust platform enables patients and audiologists to see and hear each other while the audiologist makes simultaneous real-time updates to the hearing aid programs.
On-The-Fly Adjustments
Phonak gave Abram Bailey of Hearing Tracker a preview of the Remote Support Service along with the new Marvel hearing aids. Bailey, a doctor of audiology, came away impressed with the ability to make on-the-fly adjustments to respond to a variety of listening situations.
“The patient could potentially have their hearing aids adjusted while sitting at a cafe, for example,” Baily said. He added there are three innovations that may give Phonak an edge:
- Full fine-tuning capabilities. The audiologist can make nearly all the same changes remotely as in the clinic. (The only exception is feedback calibration, which requires a quiet setting and is better performed in clinic.)
- Real-time adjustments. The audiologist makes the tweak and the patient instantly hears the difference—enabling efficient fine tuning in a variety of listening settings.
- Video chat. Face-to-face interaction between doctor and patient results in much better communication. At the same time, the doctor controls the hearing aid adjustments from the desktop computer.
Phonak’s service benefits from a year-long trial of remote care with the U.S. Veteran’s Administration, one of the world’s largest providers of hearing aids.
A New Era of Telemedicine
At the same time, the other major hearing aid companies have positioned for the new era of telemedicine. Signia was first out of the gate over a year ago with its Telecare service. It has many of the same features as Phonak’s Remote Support Service but less real-time adjustment capability.
Phonak added that its partnership with Microsoft is strategic. In fact, parent Sonova Group said it expects to partner with Microsoft to deploy additional cloud-based digital services from Phonak and its other hearing aid brands.
Phonak Remote Support will be available with the rollout of Audéo Marvel hearing aids at the end of November 2018 in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA.
Hua Zhang says
Great! Stay at home to help my patients and make them happy