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Last week was a big week in the world of tech. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) happened in Las Vegas, unleashing all sorts of new devices. Wearables, and more importantly hearables(!), is set to be one of the biggest trends of 2015.
Smart Hearing Aids & Practical Health Solutions
Some of the gadgets on display at CES tended to border on the ridiculous, but there are plenty of devices this year that are addressing real world problems, says Jason Hiner reporting on the event. Practical health solutions was a theme, offering up devices ranging from a smart lilypad that tells you how much sunscreen to put on, to hearing aids that can be controlled by your smartphone. In fact, multiple companies announced smartphone-controlled hearing aids. Hearing aid giants Siemens, Beltone and Resound all revealed plans for their own. CES 2015, you have our attention.
Outside the world of CES…
Reversing Hearing Loss
Research is being done to eliminate the need for hearing aids completely. Gene treatments are in development that may be able to reverse the effects of hearing loss. However, these treatments are not posed to be introduced any time in the near future, and will not be effective for genetic hearing loss. Read on for the latest.
Jaw-Powered Hearing Aids?
Are you sick of disposable hearing aid batteries? Stock up on gum! Yes, chewing gum – the energy created by your jaw while chewing is enough to power your hearing aid. Now, researchers just have to figure out how to harvest it…
What do you think about these technological developments? Would you be willing to pay extra to use your smartphone to control your hearing aids? What about using hearing aids powered by chewing gum? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
I’m 77 and use my smart phone constantly. I wear Audicus aNotes and use hand adjustment device. It works but is another thing I have to carry around. Not an iPhone owner. A phone app would be great. My wife has a blue tooth device she wears around her neck to receive phone and music from her smart phone. The device delivers through ear buds. It seems to me it would not be a great leap to include hearing aids into the mix and have all sould delivered thru ear buds. What do you think?
Thanks to Gregg for the tip about the Hansaton app. I use my Bluetooth for music and movies everyday. The ‘surround sound’ effect is absolutely amazing. Having this app option on my LG phone is great. I hope to find one on my Apple iPhone6 soon as well. Audicus has really upped the quality of my life, and brought back a great deal of confidence in social settings. (ha, some say I need to amp it back a bit)
I’d pay extra for aids that make listening to music a pleasant experience: no fluttering feedback suppression or hard clipping of louder notes (that added crunch distortion). I’d also pay extra for aids smart enough to set their own programs to maximize the listening experience with wearers having to touch them. This includes extreme drops in gain as an emergency vehicle, with siren sounding, passes… or other similar volume extremes.
I have canto hearing aids from Audicus and a little known fact is that these actually connect, via the BT remote, to Hansaton’s android app that mimics the remote. Just putting it out there. I think its awesome but I’m waiting for an iphone app and better capabilities.
@mary sue j: Of course you can get hearing aids without a smart phone! In fact, hearing aids capable of connecting with a smart phone is a new technology, and most hearing aids don’t have that capability at all. Audicus hearing aids do not require a smart phone to function, check them out here! http://shop.audicus.com
Smart phones are the younger generation’s thing. Most of older, hard of hearing have not mastered the smart phones. I have one and use it for 10% of what it can do. I think it will take 20 years before the smartphone generation needs hearing aids.
Hearing aid batteries are a hassle and an on-going expense. However, given the choice between replacing batteries and needing to chew gum to keep my hearing aids running, I would chose batteries!
Regarding smartphone control, I guess it depends. Sounds like it would be a nice option, but I would probably not select it if it added more than, say, $50 to the cost of the devices. I believe my devices had a pricey blue-tooth option that I didn’t buy. But, smartphone control would be a handy option at times, particularly if it provided feedback, like battery status.
do you think i can still get hearing aids if i don’t have a Smart Phone? Those Smart Phones are too confusing for me
I have an average intelligence phone… Guess I’ll be sticking to regular hearing aids for now!!!