I was given an opportunity to test some Eargo Plus devices recently, I told them what I tell everyone, I am pretty honest with my articles so if the stuff isn’t great, just don’t send it to me. This has in fact put off other people, Eargo seemed undeterred. For me, that has to be a good start, if they choose to make them available to a big mouth like me, they probably believe in them. They promptly arrived, I have been impressed, let’s talk about Eargo.

Small instant fit hearing device

I noticed Eargo a couple of years ago, I was really impressed with their concept and their approach. It was and still is different to most of the herd. They aimed their devices squarely at the Boomers, with marketing and communications to match. I was impressed by their willingness to be playful while dealing with a serious issue. I said then, that Eargo was a company that I would happily do business with.

But, company culture and outlook is not enough, the hearing devices have to deliver. By all accounts they seemed to, but I had no experience. Recently I was talking to the guys and they said, hey, why don’t you try them out? Back to the earlier paragraph, we don’t take cash or inducements on Know to review stuff. (offer it, offer it you fools). So, what you get is a pretty much-unvarnished commentary on whatever we are reviewing. I told Eargo that and they were still happy to let me try them out. Other companies, who will remain nameless, have not been so happy to do so.

Confused About The Right Hearing Aid For You? 

Our buying guide, easing the confusion with clear easy to understand info, we guarantee it will help you pick the right hearing aid for you.

A Thing of Beauty

I swear when they arrived I almost didn’t want to take them out of the box. The packaging that Eargo use is exceptionally well designed, almost a thing of beauty. This feels like quality, real quality and traditional hearing aid manufacturers could really learn a thing or two here. The presentation is faultless and it drives warm, fuzzy, happy feelings (that might just be the nerd talking). Yes, yes I know, get onto the damned hearing devices fat lad.

They were pretty damned good, I really mean that, I was impressed with the quality considering mine were bog standard pre-sets. Not changed in any way or customised to my hearing loss. Both the hearing aids and the charger feel substantial, as does the charging cord. Again, there is quality and thought in the design process. The devices are set up to go from the start, so you simply take them out of the charger and pop them in your ear.

The physical fit was good for me with the supplied tips which I think were large. They sat in the ear well and deep enough to be well hidden. They were also pretty secure in there, no real danger of falling out. When you first put them in, they take a moment to set up and set the feedback calibration for your ear. They whistle for a second when doing so but it quickly shut off.

Four Pre-sets

The feedback management system they use is interesting, in my ear, the aids were on the cusp of feedback, but they never did. so I got max gain, without any feedback which again, for an off the shelf job was pretty impressive. The devices come with four pre-sets, basically four different high-frequency boost programmes. You change the programmes with a clapping motion to the side of your head. Takes a little getting used to, but once you have done it right, it just gets easier.

The second pre-set seemed to be more or less right for me, although I probably could have managed with the third one. Volume and sharpness weren’t too high but the sound was a little strange. Again, this was simply because the fitting was a general type fitting and not customised. 

What’s in the box?

So, what is in that beautiful box, you get the devices and charger (so pretty). The charging cord (USB Cable) and plug, a cleaning kit, your quick start guide, your manual and shower stickers. Yep, you read that right, shower stickers, cool idea, You ain’t nude until you take your eargos out!.

I paraphrase but you get the idea. Going to show a picture of the cleaning kit here, just because, it’s pretty. The cleaning kit contains replacement flexi fibres, wax guards and a cleaning brush. Pretty standard stuff, right, but look at how it is presented. I mean who wouldn’t want one! (yep, that’s definitely the nerd talking)

So, that pretty much wraps this article up, I will do a couple of follow-ups as I play with the devices and get a clearer idea of performance in different situations. In the limited environments I have been in, they work out pretty well.

I wear a set of top of the range hearing aids every day. While I am aware that the sound of the Eargos aren’t exactly right for me, they perform pretty well in non-difficult sound situations as compared to my usual set. I will put them through their paces over the next while, I really want to see how they manage complex noise. Hell, I really want to see how they manage any real noisy situation.

At some stage, once I am finished with my experiences, I will have a chat with the Eargo guys and get some technical answers as well.

Jabra, the sister company of Resound, last month, launched an upgraded version of their Elite Sport Wireless EarBuds. They will deliver longer battery life, personalisation of sound and another colour. The battery life increase takes the devices up a step and means that battery life will be similar to competitor products. The Jabra Elite have got some really good press, but battery life was a bug bear for some. The latest upgrade should deal with much of those complaints. Let’s take a look at them. 

The new version provides users with 50% more battery life than the original, the company says that the upgrade features 13.5 hours of battery life, enabling consumers to enjoy a full day of continuous listening. While that is true, it’s not quite the truth, the devices will now run for 4.5 hours solid, which is in line with other products in the market. However, the portable case doubles as a charger and simply popping them in the case while on the move will recharge the devices, which bumps up the possible use time to 13.5 hours.

The upgrade will allow users to personalize their sound with equalizer profiles and settings and choose from a new Lime Green Gray color option. They say that the product delivers freedom of movement, ground-breaking in-ear fitness analysis and a distinct focus on the in-call experience, delivering superior audio quality for calls and music without wires. By all accounts on the web, they aren’t fibbing, the reviews are singularily good, with the exception of battery life, which the upgrade has addressed.

In addition to the upgraded functionality, the new devices include all of the original features. So you should get:

• Superior sound for calls and music.
• Four microphone technology
• All-day comfort and a secure fit.
• Customisable fitting options
• Advanced heart rate monitor.
• In-ear precision for optimized workouts

3-year warranty against sweat

Jabra are pretty confident about reliability with the devices and they offer a three year warranty against sweat killing them. Considering the use profile of these devices they must be really confident about that. The devices are very attractive to the exercise set, in fact they are squarely aimed at them. 

The devices offer advanced personalised fitness analysis using in-ear heart rate monitor. They also offer personalised, real-time guidance with the integrated Jabra Sport Life app. They say the combination will allow the user get the most of each work-out.

They devices offer quite deep analysis of what exactly is going on in the body during exercise. While the in-ear audio coaching will assist you it also monitors activity, it can help you monitor your target pace or heart rate zone during a run. It will help you count reps during a work-out circuit.

The app gives heart rate training guidance, automatic rep count and automatic VO2 Max fitness testing. It will also offer advice on recovery to avoid overtraining. So you can probably see why they are exceptionally attractive for the exercise set. 

Existing Jabra Elite Sport users can benefit from the software functionality including equaliser profiles and settings via the software upgrade to the supporting Jabra Sport Life app. Jabra say that tweaks within the system should also extend the battery life of existing users. 

It is this functionality that intrigues me, I have wondered for many years what integration of such features would do for people who wear hearing aids. Jabra have already entered in the medical monitoring field. If features like this were integrated into hearing aids, what power over health could be brought to bear? What difference could hearing aids make to ongoing health if they were used as an integrated part of health analysis?

Personally I think it is the next step forward for hearing aids, however, there are many technical difficulties to be solved. I believe that any hearing aid manufacturer worth their salt is probably already at work solving them though. 

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In a report presented July 20 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2017 (AAIC 2017) in London, The Lancet International Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care said that more than one-third of global dementia cases may in fact be preventable. They believe that there is the possibility to prevent dementia through addressing lifestyle factors that impact an individual’s risk. The AAIC announced.

These potentially modifiable risk factors—which included hearing loss—have been identified at multiple phases across the lifespan, not just in old age. “Our results suggest that around 35 percent of dementia is attributable to a combination of the following nine risk factors: education to a maximum of age 11-12 years, mid-life hypertension, mid-life obesity, hearing loss, late-life depression, diabetes, physical inactivity, smoking, and social isolation,” the study said. I have spoken about the link between hearing loss, cognitive decline and dementia before in the article Untreated Hearing Loss Causes Dementia!!!!!!! and all of the evidence that is gathering is worrying. There is a great weight of evidence that dealing with these factors will reduce the chances of Dementia. 

Preventing One Third of Dementia Cases

In essence what they believe is that managing lifestyle factors such as hearing loss, smoking, hypertension and depression could prevent one-third of the world’s dementia cases. The report was presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2017 and published in The Lancet. The report also spoke about the beneficial effects of non-medical interventions for people with dementia. It highlighted social contact and exercise as something that would deliver benefit. It said:

 “There’s been a great deal of focus on developing medicines to prevent dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. But we can’t lose sight of the real major advances we’ve already made in treating dementia, including preventive approaches.”

66 Million People With Dementia by 2030

Currently there are around 47 million people have dementia worldwide but the number is expected to rise to 66 million by 2030. It was also noted that they would expect that to increase to a frightening 115 million by 2050.

The Nine Risk Factors For Dementia

The commission’s report identified nine risk factors in early, mid- and late life that increase the likelihood of developing dementia. They believe that 35 percent of dementia cases is attributable to these risk factors:

1. lack of education in early life (early life)
2. Untreated hearing loss (early, mid and late life)
3. Hypertension (mid life)
4. Obesity (midlife)
5. Stopping smoking (late life)
6. Treating depression (late life)
7. Increasing physical activity  (late life)
8. Increasing social contact (late life)
9. Managing diabetes  (late life)

The report stated that they believe that dealing with these risk factors could reduce the incidence of dementia by a staggering 35%. That far out weighs any effect of the experimental medications now being studied. Dementia is a terrible burden on the people directly effected by it. It is also a growing burden on creaking health care systems everywhere. 

Reducing the incidence of dementia can only be a good thing for everyone. Again, I would say that we have known for some time that there is a link between untreated hearing loss and cognitive decline. As I have said before, though, the link between untreated hearing loss and dementia is less clear. We do know that there is a clear correlation between the two. 

Above and beyond everything we now know, treating your hearing loss makes sense in many ways, it will keep you socially active. It will ensure that you don’t become isolated, therefore it will reduce your liklihood of depression. I keep saying it, life is for living, so go live it. If you think you may have hearing loss, just go and get it sorted. 

Life Changing Breakthrough for People with Hearing Loss

I don’t know how many times I have heard groundbreaking, or game-changing in the hearing aid tech world. In fact, we hear those expressions so much we just tend to nod. In fairness though, much of the innovation within the space is life changing. Phonak today have delivered true game-changing technology for people with hearing loss. A technological innovation that means hearing aid users, no matter what brand of mobile phone they use, will be able to enjoy the simple pleasure of mobile phone calls with ease and simplicity.

Meet The Audeo B-Direct

Phonak Delivers Made For Any Phone

Phonak have just introduced a device called the Audeo B-Direct. It is a revolutionary hearing aid that changes wireless connection to a mobile phone forever. The Audeo B-Direct connects to any Bluetooth® enabled mobile phone, directly without a streamer. Even better, it offers true hands-free calling. As it supports the classic Bluetooth protocol, it provides direct connectivity to cell phones – including AndroidTM, iPhone® and even classic cell phones – with no extra body-worn streaming device required. This is their first ever Bluetooth hearing aid, something that they had been under pressure from their shareholders to deliver.

True hands-free calling is now a reality

The hearing aids offer real hands-free voice calling. The wearer can answer or reject a phone call by simply pressing the push button on their hearing aid. The ringing of the phone is heard through the hearing aids and once the call is accepted, the conversation is instantly streamed. You don’t even need to pick up your phone. Your voice is picked up by the hearing aid’s intelligent microphone network and transmitted to the other caller similar to a wireless headset.

No Music Streaming

At this time, while phone calls will be streamed, music or other audio like Audio Books cannot be. I don’t think this is a deal breaker, considering the telephone functionality that is delivered. I mean answering a call with a touch of your hearing aids? That is truly amazing stuff, no need to pick up the phone to talk either. Those are big selling points for many. They have dealt with audio streaming from other sources though, so enjoying music or the TV is catered for. 

Hearing aids that double as a wireless TV headphones

They have also introduced an accompanying TV Connector, which uses their proprietary AirStreamTM technology. It is designed to be a state-of-the-art compact multimedia hub that seamlessly connects wearers to their favourite TV programming for an immersive audio experience. It’s a plug and play solution that automatically turns a pair of Audéo B-Direct hearing aids into wireless TV headphones. The TV Connector can also connect and transmit to multiple sets of Audéo B-Direct hearing aids simultaneously. That’s a pretty good solution for couples with hearing loss.

Delivering direct streaming to an underserved group

Android is the predominant player in the smartphone market with an estimated four out of every five smartphones being Android. The Audéo B-Direct will now bring direct streaming to this neglected market while also providing compatibility with Apple’s iPhone. More than that though, the new solution allows users who own a classic cell phone to avail of direct streaming as well.

The device is a receiver in canal (RIC) hearing aid which means that it will be suitable for a wide range of hearing losses and users. It is also the first device to make use of Sonova’s revolutionary SWORD chip and wireless radio technology. They say that the low-voltage radio chip has the lowest power consumption of any hearing aid using Bluetooth Classic.

The device uses a size thirteen battery and Phonak reports some excellent battery life figures. They say that the battery should last for six days with one hour of phone use and 3 hours of TV per day. That isn’t bad, I would say though real-world experience will vary, some people like to talk more and watch a lot more TV. Even though the device is a size thirteen, it isn’t actually much bigger than their Audeo B 312. 

Three levels of technology

The new device will be available in three levels of technology, the 90, the 70 and the 50, so no entry level device this time around. Although that was to be expected based on the introduction of the rechargeable devices.

New Accompanying App

There is a new app to go with the devices for smartphones; the app offers the typical features you would expect.

Volume adjustment, programme changes, you can also rename the programmes to make them easier to remember. The app will show a list of the available audio sources and allow the user to control the balance of audio when streaming.

What really excites me is that the device is not just Made For iPhone, not just Made For Android; it is simply made for any phone. Astonishingly as it may seem to many of us. Not everyone has a smartphone. There are people out there who just want a mobile phone that allows them to call people, shocking isn’t it? The Audeo B-Direct and the onboard Bluetooth technology will finally solve the irritation that is streamers. It will deliver complete freedom for hearing aid users to finally speak on mobile phones just like everyone else. The hearing aids are expected to be available in late August or early September and the official UK launch date is the 8th of September.

Seven Tips To Help You Survive The Office With Hearing Loss

Modern offices are a tough place for those of us with hearing loss. The trend of late has been for “open plan” offices, basically large open spaces stuffed full of desks, with no dividing walls between desks or areas. This is supposed to improve collaboration amongst employees as everyone can talk and see everyone else, the jury is out as to whether an open plan office improves anyone’s working life at all, but one thing is for sure: it’s a nightmare if you have hearing loss. 

Years back the office trend was for everyone to be in cubicles like each person had their own little walled-off area with just them and their desk in it, this layout was widely hated but it would have been a much easier environment to hear in. Offices have a lot of background noise, with different groups of people talking and general noise like phones ringing, chairs scraping, clattering on desks, computer noise etc.

I found it really hard to concentrate on work with all the background noise, add to that the fact that I’m trying to ignore all the noise but also trying to remain alert to anyone talking to me – that might be easy for someone with good hearing to do, I found it very hard, either I was paying attention to all the noise or none of it, which meant people had to get my attention before speaking to me, either by coming over to my seat or waving at me. 

Meetings are also a source of grief for the hearing impaired. The bigger the meeting room and the more people that attend, the bigger the problem. Meetings have people talking from all angles and from differing distances, sometimes people over loudspeaker phones and multiple talkers at the same time. Trying to keep up with meeting conversations can be exhausting if you are struggling to hear, I’ve often found myself drifting out of the conversation and thinking, “If someone asks me a direct question now, I am doomed”. 

How can you make your office life a bit easier?

The seven tips to coping with hearing loss in the office

1. Tell everyone about your hearing loss
2. State your needs
3. Find the best seat
4. Use non-vocal collaboration tools
5. Get stuck in the middle of meetings
6. Use your hearing aids to their full potential
7. Consider how accessory devices can help overcome problem areas

Let’s take a little deeper look at those concepts. 

Tell everyone about your hearing problem.

This is number 1 on any advice on how to make your life easier when you have hearing loss. If you tell everyone in the office you have a hearing problem then you immediately give yourself a headstart. You will be surprised how accommodating people will be, most people are happy to get your attention before speaking and repeating what they said when needed. Remember: you are not your hearing loss. You have skills, assets and positives that you are bringing to your job, don’t let your hearing loss take away from that, make it a much smaller issue by making sure everyone knows about it and deals with it.

Another thing: people forget. My hearing loss is a big thing TO ME, I don’t expect it to be more than a passing thought to anyone else. If someone forgets about your hearing problem, remind them, they have their own stuff going on in their life, don’t expect them to remember what you’ve got going on as well. 

It’s especially important to let your superiors know about your hearing problem, i.e. the people deciding if you get a pay rise or not – make sure they judge you for your abilities, not your disability.

State your needs

A good employer should be willing to help you with the things you need to get your job done to the best of your ability. The one thing I always state to any employer is that I don’t use a desk phone, it is just so much more difficult for me to hear on a desk phone than it is on my mobile/cell phone. When I use my cell phone I can use my ReSound Phone Clip+ and have the phone call played directly into my hearing aids for a much louder and clearer conversation.

This is the best way for me to take calls and I make sure any employer knows that. I’ve never had an employer who has had a problem with this, I think if you say, “look, I need this thing because it makes it easier for me to do my job” then they are happy to provide it, after all, they are paying you money to do a job, they want you to do it as best you can. 

Find the best seat

Location. Location. Location. Where you sit in an office can make a big difference to how well you hear, especially in a large open plan office. As I said before, offices tend to be noisy places with sounds coming from all angles, to make it easier for you to hear it is best to minimise the unnecessary noise around you – one way to do this would be to sit with your back to a wall so that there’s no noise behind you, getting a corner seat would be even better, blocking off two directions of noise. Getting a good seat is often difficult, people don’t like to move once they’ve found “their spot”, again, it’s worth mentioning to your employer to see what they can do. 

Use non-vocal collaboration tools

Times are a-changing, not so many people use the phone for communication anymore, which is great news for us. Email is the obvious alternative, if I’m initiating a conversation with somebody at work I will almost always email them, I will never call them, I find if you email someone first they will usually stick with email throughout but if you call them first then the phone remains the communication device. Sometimes people will ask to call as its better for them, when that happens I explain about my hearing loss and say that it could be an issue but let’s try a call and see what happens. 

Again, if people are aware of your hearing loss then it’s no drama if it becomes a problem. Don’t let other people dictate the terms of communication to you if you are more comfortable with email then push them to email, if they want to talk/call then let them know the possible problems with that.

Get stuck in the middle of meetings

If I am in a large meeting room where it is going to be difficult to hear I try and sit in the centre of the table so that I’m as near as I can be to most of the people. If there is someone I know is a real quiet talker I try and sit near them. If you are the person setting up a meeting, book a small room, better to have everyone squashed in and sitting close to you! 

Your hearing aids have options, use them

Most hearing aids have a volume control and some changeable programmes, use them to your advantage. Don’t be scared to reach up to your ear and press the volume up button if things are too quiet, better still, install the smartphone app for your hearing aids that lets you control the settings via your phone, its much more discrete, especially as most people spend meetings looking at their phone and/or laptop anyway.

All hearing aids these days have “settings” or “programmes”, this is something your hearing aid provider can set up and it means you can have different setups for different environments. For example, a hearing aid can pull in sound from a 360-degree radius all around you in equal measure or it can focus 100% on the person talking directly in front of you, or focus on a 90-degree angle in front of you, etc. They can also be programmed to expect different levels of background noise or to be extra loud and so on.

Basically the point is this: your hearing aid provider can set up your hearing aids to have a programme specifically for meetings and this may help you hear much better than your normal everyday hearing aid setting. If you are having a problem in meetings then explain that to your provider and get them to set up a new “meeting programme”, you’ll need to explain the environment to them so that they can set it up best for you. Hearing aids are very smart these days and “just work” most of the time, but if you need something specific for a specific meeting room or office environment then you can have that too.

Remote microphones and other add-ons are extra helpful

Every hearing aid manufacturer offers remote microphone and Bluetooth phone connectors with their hearing aids. These are immensely useful to me in the office. I take all phone calls on my cell phone and have the call relayed directly in to my hearing aids via Bluetooth, this results in a much clearer and easier-to-follow phone call, before I had Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids I was reluctant to make calls as they were almost always problematic, but now I am much more relaxed about the phone.

I also occasionally use ReSound’s Multi Mic remote microphone if I am in a presentation or somewhere else where the speaker is some distance away – the remote mic means that I can leave the microphone device near the speaker and have their voice relayed directly into my hearing aids via Bluetooth. This sounds like the speaker is sitting right next to me and singing sweet nothings into my ear, the audio is clear and sharp, it makes a potentially difficult listening environment into a very easy one. 

In Summary

I’ve worked in many offices over the years and they are consistently the most difficult places I have had to hear in, I’d often find that I’d spend the working day having to really concentrate to stay in the game but at home and elsewhere I could hear comfortably. Open plan offices are not our friends but you can make your life easier by taking control of your hearing loss, telling people about it and setting up your working environment as best you can so that you can do your best work without your hearing being a problem.

Don’t let your hearing loss stop you from doing your best work.

Making A Claim, But Not in The Usual Sense

It has come to our attention that many Veterans in the UK have conflicted feelings about using the Veterans Hearing Fund. Many feel they are making a claim against the British Legion. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The Veterans Hearing Fund is in fact funded by HM Government using monies from fines raised during the Libor Scandal. Let me explain. 

The LIBOR Scandal

The Libor Scandal was a series of fraudulent actions in which financial institutions (Bankers, it’s always Bankers) were accused of fixing the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). LIBOR is an important interest rate in global finance. It is used to determine the price that businesses pay for loans and individuals for mortgages and is also used in derivative pricing.

The rate is supposed to represent the interest rate that a bank pays to borrow from another bank. The scandal involved banks understating the interest rate, which could keep the Libor rate low. Because of the manipulation of the rate leading up to the financial crisis in 2008, this made financial institutions appear stronger than they actually were.

Millions in Fines

The scandal became evident as emails and phone records were released during investigation. Regulations in both the United Kingdom and United States levied millions of dollars in fines on banks involved in the scandal.
 

Funding The Veterans Medical Fund

HM Treasury decided that some of the cash raised through these fines would be used to support Veterans medical needs (imagine Governement actually getting something right!). The Royal British Legion’s Veterans Medical Funds programme is funded through a five year, £13m commitment from HM Treasury using income  from the Libor fines.

Hearing Loss and Serious Physical Injury

The Veterans Medical Fund has two elements: support for veterans with hearing loss and support for veterans with serious physical injury. Each programme has been designed in consultation with the Ministry of Defense (MOD), National Health Service (NHS), Department of Health and representatives from subject matter experts in the medical and Armed Forces charity communities. The structure and intent of the Funds are based on the Legion’s desire to reduce or negate disadvantage to those who have served. 

The Veterans Hearing Fund

We have spoken about the Veterans Hearing Fund before here, however to re-iterate, the Veterans Hearing Fund provides support to veterans who acquired hearing loss during Service where there is a wellbeing need that cannot be met through statutory services. For instance, because of the typical nature of hearing loss caused by service, often hearing aids may not be enough for an ex service person to manage. In this case, the fund will finance extra equipment like wireless accessories or assitive devices to ensure they get on. 

UK Veterans Hearing Help

We have mentioned UK Veterans Hearing Help here before, these guys are committed to working with the Royal British Legion to ensure that Vets get easy access to the fund if they need it. The lads will guide you through the application and they have built a network of hearing centers across the country who will look after you.

As an ex service member with hearing problems you should be well looked after. Again, this isn’t the normal type of legal claim or compensation. No solicitors and no courts involved. Simply the UK Government through the British Legion recognising your service and your individual needs because of that service. 

You can visit the UK Veterans Hearing Help website here. 

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I’ve got into running recently in a pretty big way. I started around March 2017, here’s my stats so far. And yes, in case you are wondering, I have become one of those annoying people who can’t stop talking about running.

But anyway, I started having a hearing aid versus sweat problem pretty quickly. I have been wearing my Phonak BTEs whilst running, mainly because my ReSound Linx 3Ds are a receiver-in-the-canal model and so I figured, given all the sweat and heat in my ear, a rubber mould on the BTE would be less likely to be damaged than the receiver on the RITE. So the problem isn’t in the ear as such, but over the top of it. The sweat drips down and gets in the main BTE unit, seems to be worse on the right hand side, on which the hearing aid usually stops working after a decent amount of sweat gets in – the left continues to work but the microphone does make some crunching noises after a while.

Any hearing aid is going to have a problem with excessive sweat, rain, or any other moisture exposure – microphones, electronics and water don’t mix that well.

So I’m hoping that a pair of Ear Gear will save the day. Ear Gear are basically a stocking for your hearing aid, they are waterproof but do not affect the sound getting in to the aid at all, they don’t block out any sounds that you want to hear. 

Another post to follow when they arrive and I give them a spin.

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Are Bluetooth Hearing Aids About to Change For Ever?

So Phonak are leading up to a big announcement and launch cycle in September. They have been dropping hints all over the place and everyone knows that it will be the launch of their Made For iPhone hearing aids. Here is the thing though, while cryptic, their hints just lately make me think that it might just be Made For Android hearing aid time!

I don’t know about you, but that looks like a direct jab at Made For iPhone to me. We know that Android accounts for the largest market share in the Smartphone world. However, up to now, there has been no true Made For Android hearing aids. Mainly because Android didn’t sort out a system that was similar to Apple’s, and none of the hearing aid manufacturers coded one either. 

Made For Android Hearing Aids

While many bluetooth hearing solutions will connect to Android phones they will not stream directly. They all need some sort of intermediary device. While hanging said device around my neck doesn’t bother me, other people get really irked by it. A true Made For Android hearing aid would have a direct streaming link and offer similar features to common Made For iPhone hearing aids.

The obstacle, for now, has been that Android has never coded a system in their os like Apple’s. The only way around that is a shed load of coding work from a hearing aid manufacturer to organise their own system. that’s a lot of time and effort. Phonak are really the last to come to the Made For market, maybe extra coding time was the reason? 

We will have the answer in September, but if I am right, Phonak will be delivering a truly groundbreaking hearing aid system that caters to 100% of Smartphone users. I (nerd that I am) for one, can’t really wait to find out.

Debi Ghose was always careful with her hearing. She has unusually sensitive ears, meaning that being in loud environments without earplugs can be physically painful, and her uncle, an ENT surgeon, lost his hearing on one side from an ear infection, making her “hyper aware of how fragile hearing is.” All of which made her doubly alarmed when things started to go wrong. 

She’d been booked to play on the Sunday of Bloc festival in 2016, and arrived on Friday night to enjoy the festival. She’d picked up some disposable earplugs at the bar, but at some point noticed that the one in her right ear had fallen out. “I woke up the next morning and had a searing pain, like white-hot painful, and mad tinnitus in my right ear,” she says. “I couldn’t believe it; it was just incredible pain. That whole night I couldn’t even go near the venue, and then I had my show the next day. I knew it was the worst thing for it but I was there to play, so I played.” 

The above is from an excellent article called A music-lover’s guide to tinnitus on residentadvisor.net, which contains this superb quote:

“Close your eyes, and think about what you’re seeing. You don’t see black, you see colours and lights and movement. That’s partially the light coming in from the outside world, but it’s also your brain trying to turn up the gain and see something out of the nothing that you’re getting. You’re seeing your nerves firing and working. And what we’re hearing when we’re hearing tinnitus is the same thing. Just your brain and your ear and your nerves working. It’s a sign that the engine is functioning. I don’t think that we can get rid of that, because it’s a natural part of our body.” 

Click this link to read the original  A Musician’s Guider to Tinnitus article.

Researchers from Columbia University in New York have designed a hearing aid that uses cognitive cues to deliver focus on the voice you want to listen to. In essence, they have invented mind controlled hearing aids. The hearing aid picks up several speakers before separating them into individual voices. The hearing aid then uses the listener’s brain signals to determine the focus of the listener, the dominant voice they wish to listen to, which it amplifies. The problem at present is that it takes ten seconds to do so and you can’t exactly walk around with the set-up, however, that will change as more research and design is undertaken. 

The concept of mind control of hearing aids has been around for some time. The Cognitive Control Of A Hearing Aid project was set up some years ago as a collaboration between several Research Departments across the world. The vision of the project was to work towards cognitive control of hearing aids as the ideal way to increase the benefit of them. Their work has been ongoing since then.

This particular discovery however, came from a team in Columbia University in New York. They made a breakthrough in auditory attention decoding (AAD) which in simple language means how humans sort out sounds. They combined this with a deeper understanding of neural networks and have proven that it is possible to use cognitive signals to present the voice that someone wishes to focus on. 

In testing, they were able to do just that. However, real world applications are a long way off. As I said earlier, it takes ten seconds to achieve the effect at the moment. Initially the first step will be to change that to milli-seconds. Once that is done, the next step will be minaturisation and a strategy to develop un-invasive sensor sets that would be more suitable to daily use. 

We know that the ear canal is a fantastic place to mount sensors of all kinds to read biological data. We can even perform an EEG with a sensor in the ear canal. There will need to be real work done to find a way to place sensors to read the neurological data. That may not be a difficult step though, it just depends on what level of data and how best to collect it. 

No matter what, this is a huge step forward to delivering hearing aids with mind control. Like I said, don’t hold your breath just yet, but hopefully within a few years we may see the first mind controlled hearing aids enter the market. When and if they do, it will truly be a groundbreaking moment for hearing aids. It would mean hearing aids that would probably be better than normal hearing, it could make hearing devices attractive to people with no hearing loss. 

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