Latest Solution For Severe To Profound Hearing Loss

In a press announcement today in Copenhagen, Resound announced the launch of their updated superpower range. They are bringing the 3D platform to the Enzo range. The release of the Enzo 2 was welcomed and celebrated by many experienced users. We would imagine that the Enzo 3D will be the same if the success of the LiNX 3D is anything to go by. Let’s take a look at the announcement.

So Resound say that the devices which are “based on GN Hearing’s 5th generation 2.4 GHz wireless technology and GN Hearing’s 3rd generation binaural directionality, ReSound ENZO 3D has been proven to allow users to experience 60% more clarity of the sounds around them and 60% better speech understanding in noise“. While we always take manufacturer’s claims with a pinch of salt until we experience the goods. We would have to say based on our experiences of the LiNX 3D, these claims will have more than a little weight. 

users to experience 60% more clarity of the sounds around them and 60% better speech understanding in noise

Available Now in The US

The statement said that the Enzo 3D Made For iPhone hearing aids are now available in North America and that availability in all primary world markets would quickly follow. The introduction of the 3D platform to the Enzo will mean the same sound quality and the groundbreaking comprehensive remote fine-tuning feature is now open to users with a severe to profound hearing loss.

All The Features, Improved Clarity, Excellent Localisation

The new ENZO 3D will have their 3rd generation binaural directionality, giving hearing aid users with severe to profound hearing loss pretty excellent sound quality and improved clarity in any environment. Steve has been impressed with this system in the LiNX 3D, he feels it delivers pretty good spatial awareness and is part of his success at hearing speech in noise.

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Remote Fine Tuning With Resound Assist

This was a really groundbreaking feature when Resound introduced it. It offers in-depth and comprehensive fine-tuning remotely through the accompanying app. It simply means hearing care wherever you are. Enabled by ReSound Assist, this feature allows Enzo 3D users to stay in touch with their hearing care professional wherever they are. It will allow them to receive on-the-go hearing care and new settings securely via the cloud without having to schedule and travel for a clinic appointment.

ReSound Smart 3D™ App

ReSound Assist is accessed via the ReSound Smart 3D™ app, (available on the App Store and Google Play), which was launched with the LiNX 3D. The app allows users to easily personalize and control their sound at anytime on-the-go directly from a smartphone.

Made For iPhone

Users can also stream phone calls and music directly (no streamer) from their Apple smartphone or iPad to their ReSound ENZO 3D hearing aids. They can stream from Android devices but they will need an intermediary streamer. ReSound say that the ENZO 3D is the smallest and most powerful superpower hearing aid available, and also a Made for iPhone Cochlear compatible bimodal hearing solution.

The Enzo 2 was met with real fanfare by users, many experienced super power users were genuinely blown away by the devices. I would imagine the Enzo 3D is probably going to knock their socks off. One lady who has been using the new devices for a while during the R&D period had this to say:

Tara Svensson: “I can hear the waves, I can hear the breeze. It’s a fantastic balance of sound. Everything has a lot more layers now to what I’m hearing. I’m not just hearing traffic – I am hearing layers of traffic. I’m hearing the difference between small cars, trucks and motorcycles, and I can hear things coming from different angles so I have got a lot of directionality,”

They announced and we missed it, on August 22nd Unitron announced the launch of a new custom hearing aid range called the Insera which completes the Tempus platform and a Rechargeable Stride BTE called the M-R. 

Meet The Insera Range

The Insera is the custom in-ear range on their latest Tempus platform. It now means that the Tempus platform will be complete. They are also going to use biometric data from the outer ear to make changes to their directionality. This is a really fascinating idea and the improvement in signal (what you want to hear) to noise (what you don’t want to hear) ratio (SNR) is being quoted at 2dB. That doesn’t sound a lot, but it is when combined with everything else they are doing to increase the SNR. Here is what they said

Addressing the fact that no two ears are built alike, the Insera ITE family’s sophisticated EarMatch process optimizes directional microphone performance by compensating for individual differences in each patient’s ear. The optimal directional performance frees up advanced features in Tempus such as SpeechPro and Spatial Awareness to provide wearers with fantastic speech understanding in conversation.

The improvements in directionality and spatial awareness that the Tempus platform brought were pretty impressive. I remember trying them out at launch and being impressed with the spatial awareness they delivered. It will be interesting to see how this transfers to the custom devices. They are expected to be available in October apparently. 

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A Rechargeable BTE

Not to be outdone, they have also introduced the Stride M R, their first ever rechargeable behind the ear hearing aid. here is what they said.

With the launch of Stride M R, Unitron expands its choice of rechargeable product options, addressing growing patient demand for flexibility and freedom. Just as patients have become accustomed to charging their smartphones, Stride M R offers similar charge and go capability. Wearers simply charge the hearing instrument overnight, for just 5 – 7 hours, and the hearing instrument is ready to perform for a full 24 hours, including 90 minutes of streaming or 16 hours of continuous streaming. There is no fuss, nor buttons to fiddle with. Patients simply pull out their Stride M R hearing aids, put them on and go. Because hearing happens around the clock, Stride M R offers wearers the flexibility to swap rechargeable battery cells with traditional zinc-air batteries at any time, ensuring patients will never run out of charge.

From what they are saying I would assume that the new rechargeable runs on Silver Zinc rechargeable batteries and a similar charger to their Moxi. It also looks like they have made sure there is an auto on feature when you take the hearing aids out of the charger. Something that many users will welcome. The system that Unitron picked is a pretty good all round rechargeable system. It offers some pretty serious running time and also the benefit of being able to shove disposable batteries in when you forget to charge (we all know we will forget to charge). 

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Which on Hearing aid brands and retailers

We were interested to see Which talking about National hearing aid retailers and their ownership by big hearing aid brands. We have talked about National Retailers here on Know, but we have never focused on them really. Our job as we see it is to support Independent hearing healthcare. The article caught me a bit by surprise, probably cognitive bias though. I just assumed everyone knew that certain retailers were owned by hearing aid companies?

Lack of Transparency

In essence, Which pointed out that three hearing aid brands owned or part owned by some of the big hearing aid brands. What they were most concerned about was that when you went to visit these retailers, they only carried a few hearing aid brands and pushed you toward their owner company brand.

I think the biggest complaint was in relation to transparency and I get that, I do understand that. However, the three hearing aid brands involved, Oticon, Widex and Phonak actually offer some fantastic hearing aids. In fact I would go so far as to say market leading. Are there better, depends on what you want really. If i was buying Made For iPhone, I would buy Resound. At least for the moment.

Would I be afraid of any hearing aid from the three brands mentioned. I would have to say no. In fact I would be happy to reccomend most of the hearing aids they offer to my Patients depending on their loss and their individual needs. I am not here to defend hearing aid brands, or National Retailers, but you know, you got to be fair and balanced. Although I think Which were. But I think they missed a bigger point. 

White Labelling & Missing The Point

I think Which actually missed the point a little, in fact they mentioned it, but didn’t really expand on it. The real issue for me is white labelling. They mentioned white labelling and that certain manufacturers made white label or own brand hearing aids for particular retailers. 

White Labelling Hearing Aids Gives No Transparency

I have said here and in my hearing aid book that I don’t like white labelling, white labelling ensures that a hearing aid buyer has no idea what they are buying. How can they? No brand name, no brand technology level, so exactly how do you know what you are getting for the money spent? Absolutely no like for like comparison and the retailer can tell you any old rubbish about provenance. Now that’s a lack of transparency.  

I was surprised that Which didn’t look deeper into this, but hey, I was caught by surprise by the article, cognitive bias again maybe. Assuming that everyone knows what I know. Anyway, you all should be going to see Independents, the Nationals can take care of themselves. 

Yesterday Resound were the latest big hearing aid brand to announce the introduction of a rechargeable hearing aid. The device is a Receiver in Canal (RIC) hearing aid and a brand new form factor from them. They say that the new model is similar in size to their existing RICs. It will be one of few rechargeable Made For iPhone hearing aids on the market.

As I said, the device is a completely new form factor and is similar in size if a little different from their existing LT61. The device is officially designated the LT61-DRWZ and it runs on a 312 rechargeable battery which we believe is supplied by Zpower as is the recharging technology. That means there should be plenty of power for a full day of use even if you are streaming audio and taking phone calls. You can see the device below beside the LT61 version of the LiNX 3D.

Rechargeable Made For iPhone Hearing Aid

The devices will be one of very few rechargeable MFI hearing aids available on the market. While MFI can be a bit power hungry, the Silver Zinc rechargeable system seems to offer more than enough output and life to meet the needs of even the most committed mobile phone users. 

Three Levels of Technology

The rechargeable model will be available in the three levels of technology on offer with the LiNX 3D range, the 9, the 7 and 5. They will also be loaded with the usual features and the ability to be remote fine tuned. The devices should be launched in September and we would expect them to be priced in line with the Resound LiNX 3D range.

Ruth has recently got involved with us on Hearing Aid Know, she wanted to tell her story in order that others may recognise Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) and get treatment as soon as possible. In this article, she speaks about her experience with the hearing aid provided by the NHS, the Oticon Spirit Synergy. Her experience has not been fantastic, but I think there are very valid reasons why. First I will let Ruth tell her story and at the end, I will make observations on why she may be having the difficulties she is. Geoff

I’ll be honest with you, I don’t have a great deal of experience with hearing aids. I’ve only ever had the one, I lost my hearing just over a year ago and lost it in only one ear at that.

So, for 39 years my hearing in both ears was excellent and if I’m being really honest I’d never previously even entertained the notion of my ears stopping working.

But due to a viral-induced Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) last August, I now have one fully functioning ear and one fairly deaf ear – in audiogram terms my left ear resembles a ski slope, things aren’t too bad at the top of the slope with those low, base tones, but once you get going down the higher frequency end (where all the consonants hang out), things on my left side get pretty quiet.

To help with this I’ve been wearing an NHS supplied Oticon Spirit Synergy and as my only frame of reference is to a fully functioning ear (and to the recent memory of two fully functioning ears) I thought I’d share my experience with it.

Firstly, given the aid is digital, supplied to me for free on the NHS and looked after by a brilliant team of audiologists at my local hospital I cannot praise the aid enough. After an initial period of getting used to it and some fiddling with the settings I feel that the Oticon is certainly a benefit to me and that it improves my understanding of the world around me. However, as time has gone on and I wear the hearing aid in a range of different settings I can’t help wonder whether this is as good as it can get for a hearing aid and I suspect that the answer to that is no, but that to address the question would entail a significant cost implication.

Out and about with traffic noise, the wind blowing, people chatting I still feel pretty left-sided deaf with the Oticon. The difference, I guess, is that with the aid, I generally now know that there is someone or something on my left side, though in a noisy environment I still struggle to make out what might have been said and sometimes where the sound is coming from. If I close off my right ear (which does a lot of the hard work) the clarity of the Oticon is disappointingly tinny with a sense of distortion in the higher frequencies where I am most deaf. My word recognition is also very poor without the assistance of my good ear, though it is still a lot better than when I am not wearing the aid.

So, I guess because my right ear is doing its job the Oticon does improve my ability to hear and supports rather than undermines my confidence in noisy environments. However, I suspect that if I had the same level of loss in my good ear, then the Spirit Synergy would not be for me as I feel I’d need an aid that would work a little harder in terms of all-round clarity and in delivering the sounds that I want to hear, such as conversation and dialogue with less of the clatter, commotion, car sounds and wind noise that I’d rather stayed in the background. Overall though, the benefit of having a solid, reliable, fairly small digital hearing aid, supplied for free on the NHS feels like a pretty good deal.

Ruth

As Ruth says, she suffered SSHL probably from some sort of viral agent that entered the cochlea. When this happens, if treatment is rapid and in-depth, people can be lucky enough to regain much of their hearing. 

I have noticed though that in many cases of SSHL I have seen, the speech resolution in the bad ear seems to be pretty bad. Even worse than the hearing loss may account for, it may be a function of the damage done to the nerve endings in the cochlea from the event that caused the loss. 

In the case of a hearing loss similar in nature to Ruth’s, amplification to the bad side is one solution. However, a CROS device solution may also be a ready and perhaps better solution. A CROS system works by routing the audio from the bad side to the good side. 

I have in fact had some really great results with CROS systems, if you face a situation like Ruth’s, try both solutions, amplification to the bad ear and a CROS system, pick the one which is best for you, the one which gives the best results. 

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Yesterday Donald Trump signed the Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017, legislation that provides for greater public access to over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids into law. The legislation means that adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss can access OTC hearing aids without being seen by a certified and licensed audiologist or hearing instrument dispenser.

What Happens Now?

Initially, the product segment that is Over The Counter hearing aids doesn’t exist and there is no guidance for what those devices will be. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be working on the development of the regulations that will guide the implementation of this new legislation. That process can take up to three years, however, signals from the FDA appear to suggest the process will be much shorter than that. 

THe FDA will have to regulate this new category of OTC hearing aids to ensure they meet the same high standards for safety, consumer labeling and manufacturing protection that all other medical devices must meet. This will give consumers the option to purchase a safe, high-quality FDA-regulated device at lower cost.

Who Will They Be Suitable For?

The legislation says mild to moderate hearing loss, so I would imagine that the devices would be theoretically suitable for anyone with a hearing loss up to 60 dB across the board. However, it remains to be seen what will be available and from who. 

While there are many electronics companies interested in this segment, Bose and Doppler Labs being two of them. Some of the traditional hearing aid manufacturers have signalled interest in the market segment as well. 

Interesting Times

I think there are very interesting times ahead for everyone who is involved with hearing loss and hearing healthcare. As the regulations play out and the devices begin to arrive to market, we will keep you informed. 

Natural Own Voice Sound, Fantastic Connectivity and Access To Telecare

I have been wearing a set of Signia Pure 312 7 Nx hearing aids for the last week, and I have to say I am pretty impressed with them. I am going to have to break this run-down into a few articles because there really is so much to talk about. Great sound quality, direct connection to an iPhone, pretty impressive in noisy situations and pretty astonishing Own Voice Processing (they aren’t joking about this). All of that and so much more, let’s talk about the latest hearing aids from Signia. 

The Look, Pretty Svelte

First off, they look really pretty, mine are silver with a matching silver bottom and button. The shape is really nice and they look pretty svelte. They are a pretty small, light and discreet 312 receiver in canal device and they sit really well on the ear. The ergonomic shape of the inner case of the aid and the receiver wire hold them very well on the ear. The battery door is really easy to use and allows you to turn the aid off without opening the battery door fully. The rocker switch on the back is easy to use with good tactile feel when you are pressing it. All in all, it’s a pretty device. 

The Fitting

I wouldn’t normally talk about the fitting of hearing aids but in the case of the new Signia Nx, I think I need to make an exception. Primarily because of their new astonishing Own Voice Processing feature. Typically when hearing aids are fitted, the user considers their own voice both unnatural and loud. Up to now, it did not matter what brand of hearing aids were used, it was always the same thing. Let’s talk about that before I go on.

Dealing With The Own Voice Problem

Basically what we do is reduce the amplification in certain frequencies to make the user’s voice more acceptable. However, it still doesn’t necessarily make it completely palatable and in reducing the amplification we are also reducing the amplification for certain speech sounds. 

As the user rehabilitates, we tend to increase the amplification towards the prescription however, we may still have to keep some of the frequencies under-amplified. The user generally gets used to the sound of their own voice, however, getting used to it and liking it are probably two very different things. In essence, no matter what steps we take, the result is a compromise between sound quality and overall audibility. Some of the problems are in the amplification of the user’s voice, some of the problems are caused by the occlusion effect. 

Delivering A Natural Sounding Own Voice

Signia has developed a completely new way to deal with the own voice issue. Basically what they have done is used some of their outstanding directionality features to identify the user’s voice and remove it from the overall amplification strategy. They do this by separating the user’s voice and processing it with a separate processor. I don’t want to bog you down in the details, I just want to explain the difference it makes from my first-hand experience. It delivers a natural sounding own voice experience which will mean easier and quicker acceptance. 

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Closed Domes, No Damned Acoustic Occlusion!

Okay, I need open fit hearing aids, I have a high-frequency hearing loss with excellent low frequencies. I also suffer from some nasal problems and hence some mild mid ear problems. In essence, if you close up my ear canals I find the occlusion effect really irritating, in fact, more than irritating, it can drive me a little mad. Hence I always wear open domes on my hearing aids. This helps to reduce the effect of the own voice problem, but I still suffer it a little. I am relatively stoic about stuff mostly, so I just get on with it. 

When I was fitted with the Nx I was fitted with closed domes, I thought this isn’t going to work as I heard my voice explode in my head. Then, we went through the own voice training protocol (count from twenty-one until it is happy it knows your voice). The feature was turned on, and no more occlusion, just like that. I was a bit speechless (that doesn’t happen very often). By no more occlusion I mean no more auditory occlusion, I wasn’t caused any difficulty by my own voice. 

Because of my middle ear problems which are playing up a bit at the minute, I still felt some physical occlusion, (which is very different from acoustic occlusion) from the closed domes. I eventually changed to the open domes, however, I think if I didn’t have the slight mid ear problems, I would have had no issues at all. You know what, that is pretty damn impressive. Really damn impressive. There is an argument for sealing the ear when wearing hearing aids, I mean we do all this amazing stuff with hearing aid features and directional microphones and then we leave the ear open and let some sound in naturally. 

That probably doesn’t make sense and it isn’t the best use of the hearing aids. However, because of occlusion, that is what we need to do. What Signia has done with this new feature means that we may well be able to seal up more ears and let the features do what they do. That’s an interesting thought and one that I think will develop with more innovation within the feature. Enough navel gazing, what does this mean to you, the prospective user?

Pretty Damn Good

It means that they are pretty damn good and it will be pretty easy for you to accept them. In the next article, I will discuss some of the features, how they work and what they do in real life, stay tuned folks, these are pretty cool kit and you will want to know how they perform. 

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We actually nearly missed this, it was announced on August 15th that Sivantos was expanding the Signia myHearing App to include a new video calling feature. This is the first commercial use of video remote hearing care for the fitting of hearing aids. Basically the professional can schedule a video appointment and then call the wearer on his or her smartphone or smart device at the arranged time. The video option is now being piloted in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States ahead of a wider roll-out in Fall 2017.

You can read more about Signias outstanding Telecare innovation here

We reported last year that they were introducing the app and we thought it had amazing potential. They obviously decided that the potential could be increased and they updated the app with the introduction of their Pure Made For iPhone hearing aid. They are now introducing video calling as a further update to the functionality.

This can only be a good thing for both users and professionals, it will increase ease of communication and ensure that follow ups don’t have to involve office visits. I have said before that I see a huge market for this type of telehealth approach, it will mean that users can access hearing healthcare on their terms. Like the Patient Insights app from Unitron which we have discussed here, this will allow users to collaborate with their care professionals in a deeper manner. And that can only be a good thing. 

New Hearing Aids Use Bio-Metric Data To Deliver Better Experience

While I, and many others concentrated on the new Made For Any Phone hearing aid introduction yesterday. Phonak also introduced the complete range of Virto B custom hearing aid products. They say that it is the first ever hearing aid to use bio-metric data to increase signal to noise ratio. That’s another new innovation.

They say that they are custom-made to perfectly fit in your ear, Phonak Virto B are the world’s first hearing aids with Biometric Calibration, which take your individual ear anatomy and hearing needs into account. That’s an interesting description.

They say that they will identify over 1600 biometric data points in and on your ear, and the unique calibration settings are calculated for each Virto B hearing aid. In this way, Virto B is able to more reliably sense where sound is coming from, thereby giving you access to better hearing performance.

Using The Outer Ear

What does that all mean? Well, we think that Phonak are the first ever hearing aid manufacturer to carefully map the outer ear to take advantage of its natural abilities. The outer ear naturally heightens some sounds while also helping us to identify where sounds are coming from. They say that the new process will deliver a 2dB signal to noise ratio improvement. Basically means it will make the signal (what you want to listen to) 2dB higher than the noise.

2dB doesn’t sound like much, but combined with all the other strategies that Phonak use it will be a marked improvement. Phonak Virto B is available in six models to match your hearing needs. It is also available in the usual four levels of technology, the 90, 70, 50 and 30. They say that there will also be a Virto B CROS. This pretty much fills out the Belong range, now all of the latest Phonak hearing aids are powered by Belong apart from the Naida. The devices should be available in the US around the end of August and in the UK and the rest of the world early September.

Meet The New Phonak Virto B Range

Virto B-10 NW O

In the Ear

• Custom Product
• Mild to severe hearing loss
• Battery: 10 zinc air
• Truly invisible
• Non Wireless
• Omni-Directional

Virto B-10 O

In the Ear

• Custom Product
• Mild to severe hearing loss
• Battery: 10 zinc air
• Wireless
• Omni-Directional

Virto B-10

In the Ear

• Custom Product
• Mild to severe hearing loss
• Battery: 10 zinc air
• Wireless
• Directional Mics

Virto B-312 NW O

In the Ear

• Custom Product
• Mild to severe hearing loss
• Battery: 312 zinc air
• Non Wireless
• Omni-directional

Virto B-312

In the Ear

• Custom Product
• Mild to profound hearing loss
• Battery: 312 zinc air
• Wireless
• Directional Mics

Virto B-13

In the Ear

• Custom Product
• Mild to profound hearing loss
• Battery: 13 zinc air
• Wireless
• Directional Mics

I have been using the Signia Styletto for a few days and I wanted to give you my impressions. They are based on the Nx platform so I expected them to sound really good, I was right, they do. In fact, they sound really nice giving clarity in the high frequencies while handling transient or sudden impact high-frequency sounds very well. They are easy to wear fitting the ear really well and very discreet while still looking like high-quality electronics. The charger is a dream, being small enough to fit in a trouser pocket with ease and offering three recharges on the go. Having said all of that, there are some things you need to know, so let’s dive in. 

When I first received the hearing aids I sat for a while and inspected them and the charger. My set came in an attractive white box which was reminiscent of the packaging typically seen for high-quality electronics. I liked the packaging and I have said it here before that hearing aid brands could learn from other industries how best to present their products.

This is I suppose style over substance but I do think there is a psychological element to it. The packaging of the devices frames our psychological response to them. If the packaging is high class and representative of expensive consumer electronics well then that is how we consider the devices. Anyway, rant over, the packaging gave me a warm fuzzy feeling and when I opened it, so did the devices and the charger.

The Devices

My devices were a kind of a slate grey with the brushed metal strip along the back. The devices look and feel of quality, both the hearing aids and the charger feel well built and well designed. To open the charger you need to squeeze the sides of the top. I was glad this was explained to me because if you try to just pull it open intuitively, you will break a thumb or the locking tongue on the lid.

The open action feels pretty good and the lid feels pretty secure. the hearing aids come out of the charger with ease and they go into it with ease and a satisfying clunk. I really like this charger, with one exception, the coating. The surface of the charger has a matt finishing, which picked up oil and dirt pretty quickly from the fingers.

Hahahaha, I was affronted that something so vulgar would sully something so beautiful and spent a lot of time wiping it (that’s my OCD again). The charger case really is small but highly functional. It offers three extra charges so you are never out of power and it really is small enough to fit in a pocket. 

It has a simple LED system towards the bottom front with a button which allows you to see at a glance what the charge state is. It is a smart charger system which turns the hearing aids on when you pull them out and turns them off when you put them back in to recharge. 

Wearing The Devices

Like I said earlier, the devices fit well and they are pretty discreet on. In terms of how they work, they work really well as you would expect from a hearing aid on the Nx platform. The devices worked well for me and they handled the situations I found myself in very well. They handled impulse sounds very well, I was in a cafe with clinking glasses, plates and cutlery, all of which never irritated me.

The Own Voice feature continues to surprise me, it just works. You never have that sense of your own voice being a bit unnatural. I wore both closed domes and open domes with the devices. Again, as with my earlier experience with the Nx platform the closed domes were tolerable, but I settled for the open in the end. 

They handled background noise as well as I expected considering my experience with the Pure 312 7Nx last year. In general, they never let me down and I found them a pleasure to wear. Another pleasure was the fact that they are rechargeable, I am actually being slowly swayed towards Lithium-ion rechargeable hearing aids. I really enjoyed just pulling them out of the charger and shoving them back in at night, all the while knowing I didn’t have to panic about changing batteries.

The Things You Need To Know

I would honestly recommend these hearing aids to anyone, however, there are a couple of things I would feel honour bound to make clear. Here are those things:

• No Bluetooth
• Fixed Receivers
• Only for Mild to Moderate hearing loss
• Reduced Battery life after two years

Not Made For iPhone

Unfortunately, these hearing aids are not Made For iPhone or Bluetooth enabled so they don’t offer a direct connection to mobile phones or wireless accessories. For me, that isn’t a deal breaker, I don’t mind wearing a streamer to bounce audio to my hearing aids, but I know some people hate the idea. Update: Just an update here for clarity, the last comment in relation to the streamer was just a general observation. The Styletto is not made for any streaming capabilities, so you can’t stream audio to them at all. 

Fixed Receivers So Take Good Care Of Them

Although these are Receiver In Canal devices, the receivers are not changeable in clinic. If the receiver fails, the hearing aid will have to be sent away to be repaired. That means at least a week without your hearing aids. So, do your best to take care of your receivers, change the damn wax guards and clean the tips regularly.

This is a really big problem, I see users on a regular basis with their “the hearing aid just stopped working!” The question is always, did you change the wax guard, followed by a no. Pull that wax guard out and show them it stuffed up with wax and voila, the hearing aid miraculously works again.

The problem is, the more you allow this to happen, the more likely it is that wax will enter the receiver and kill it. Wax is like a Ninja Assasin to receivers, killing them day after day. When this happens with other RICs, there is a good chance that the repair will be handled in clinic so it isn’t a major disaster. There is no chance of that with the Styletto. 

In fairness, Signia offer double protection from wax, they have a grid in their tips that is designed to capture wax and then they have a wax guard at the tip of the receiver. That doesn’t mean you can be blase though. While we are speaking about the receivers.

The receivers that are fixed to the device are Signia M receivers, they only come with these receivers. That means that the devices are only suitable for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. 

Reduced Battery Life

Finally, after about two years the battery life of the Lithium-ion cell will begin to deteriorate. I have been told that the battery life may dip below sixteen hours after two years, that means that they may not last a full day. In fairness, many users do take their hearing aids out during the day for different reasons and thirty minutes in the charger will add an extra five hours.  

We do know that Signia will be able to replace the cell, however, that will be another factory job. You will definitely have to send them away to have this done. Signia say that the cost to replace will be negligible so it shouldn’t cost you an arm and aleg as they say. 

I would say that none of the preceding should put you off, you just need to be aware of it to make an educated decision. I mean I am sure there are plenty of people out there who don’t care about streaming and are looking for a reliable and discrete rechargeable hearing aid, if so, these are definitely worth a look.