This is a press release from ReSound:

ReSound, the technology leader in hearing aid solutions, has released extensions to its wireless hearing aid, Alera™. Originally released in August 2010 and the winner of a 2011 CES Innovations Design & Engineering Award, Alera is now available with configurable BTE and Remote Microphone Technology custom enhancements.

“Every few years, technology takes a significant leap forward,” said Laurel A. Christensen, Chief Audiology Officer, ReSound. “Alera gives you new surround sound technology that provides crisper, cleaner, more natural sound and improves hearing in even the most difficult listening environments.”

The latest updates to Alera, in the Remote Microphone model, take advantage of natural directivity afforded by the pinna and external ear. By allowing the natural ear to collect, direct and amplify sound waves, Alera provides better capabilities for speech recognition than any other hearing aid product.

With the Remote Microphone located in the concha, sound moves naturally through the folds and whorls of the ear, meaning that the listener can better locate sounds that come from behind and more easily identify the source of the sound. The Remote Microphone also provides significant wind noise reduction benefits.

The configurable Alera BTE provides both standard and power options for patients. This revolutionary behind-the-ear design combines a standard power and a high power hearing instrument in one product. It is the only Standard BTE that can easily be converted to a very small high power instrument, with one housing for both. The BTE provides patients with an adaptable hearing instrument solution should their hearing change over time.

“The configurable BTE has the highest directivity index of any other hearing aid,” said Christensen. “Optimal directional processing has been shown as the single most important way to provide better hearing ability in background noise.”

With this addition of Alera Remote Microphone and the Alera BTE to the ReSound Alera™ line, there is an Alera solution that will fit 90% of patients – addressing mild to profound hearing losses. Both new models also feature wireless connections to TV, stereo and telephones for convenience and optimal listening experience.

To learn more about ReSound Alera™, visit www.gnresound.com/alera.

The weekly round-up is a little collection of blog posts, articles, news, etc that I’ve enjoyed or found useful in the last week. If you’ve read something good or if you’ve got a website/article/press release/whatever that you’d like to see featured in coming weeks then please get in touch.

• Jamie at About.com on the Soundbite hearing aid getting FDA approval.
• Dr Jeanne Ward on the history of hearing aids.
• What would you do? Hidden cameras reveal bystanders’ reactions when discrimination is staged

A HEARING aid dispenser has been banned for ignoring a patient’s ear infection until it was so smelly the pensioner wouldn’t leave the house.

Specsavers worker Pauline Lutwyche’s advice to the elderly woman was to put Vaseline in her ear. The Health Professions Council (HPC) was told doctors later diagnosed a perforated ear drum.

Misconduct charges were found against the 62-year-old of Warren House Walk, Sutton Coldfield, who was banned from work for a year and has now retired.

Chris Whalley, representing the HPC, described how the patient’s ear infection worsened after forking out £1,395 on new hearing aids from Lutwyche.

Mr Whalley said the woman was in a lot of pain and suffered a stinging sensation – her skin cracked and bled.

Her ear began to smell so strange that she grew her hair longer and stopped going out of the house in case other people smelt it, said Mr Whalley.

The HPC panel ruled that Lutwyche, who worked in Nuneaton, had failed to complete a hearing test, prescribed an inappropriate hearing aid and failed to refer the patient to her GP despite the pensioner losing hearing in one ear in 2008.

Originally seen on birminghammail

I’m becoming more and more convinced that my ability to hear and understand what people are saying is strongly linked to how much sleep I got the night before.

I’ve written before that I don’t hear the same things every day. Yesterday I was very tired and it was a bad hearing day, I couldn’t really understand anyone in the office, I was constantly straining to hear and often asking people to repeat themselves. Last night I went to bed an hour earlier than I normally do and today I am far more awake and alert – I’m also asking people to repeat themselves a lot less.

This ties in with the theory that we hear with our ears but listen with our brain. It is not that anything is louder today than it was yesterday it’s just that voices are sounding clearer and easier to comprehend – my ears are still picking up the same sounds, hearing aids amplifying the same voices but my wide-awake brain is processing them better.

Anyone know if there has been any published research into sleep deprivation and hearing ability? I’m looking for some science to back up my theory!

Cochlear Ltd., the world’s largest maker of bionic ears, on Tuesday reported a 16% rise in first-half profit as it expanded in emerging markets and people in developed countries with only one implant opted for a second to improve efficacy.

Net profit for the six months to Dec. 31 of 87.2 million Australian dollars ($88.6 million) was up from A$75.2 million in the previous corresponding period and beat the A$84.2 million average of four analysts’ forecasts compiled by Dow Jones …

You can read the original article in full on The Wall Street Journal (you’ll need to subscribe).

The weekly round-up is a little collection of blog posts, articles, news, etc that I’ve enjoyed or found useful in the last week. If you’ve read something good or if you’ve got a website/article/press release/whatever that you’d like to see featured in coming weeks then please get in touch.

• David at Hearing Mojo writes about Starkey’s new Personal Audio Amplifier.
• Ms Sparks on the fully-captioned Super Bowl.
• Sarah’s interview with Gordon Hempton, the author of One Square Inch of Silence.

TV Ears are running a competition to win one of their Wireless Speakers. To stand a chance of winning you have to go to either their Facebook (www.facebook.com/tvears) or Twitter page (www.twitter.com/tvears). Competition closes on March 21 2011, winner drawn at random.

The weekly round-up is a little collection of blog posts, articles, news, etc that I’ve enjoyed or found useful in the last week. If you’ve read something good or if you’ve got a website/article/press release/whatever that you’d like to see featured in coming weeks then please get in touch.

• Listening to music with a hearing loss by Hamish Innes-Brown.
• James Moody: Saxophonist, Hearing Impaired, Hated His Hearing Aids on Hearing Informed.
• Oaktree’s roll-on adhesive to keep hearing aids in place by aubankaitis

The world’s most sophisticated hearing aid is being launched in the UK combining an unrivalled level of performance with a stylish design. Enclosed in a luxurious ceramic housing, the tiny device – just 2cm in length – sits discreetly behind the ear and allows optimum hearing in all environments.

The Audéo S SMART Ceramics, developed by Phonak, the world’s leading manufacturer of hearing instruments, is the first ever hearing aid to utilise a premium quality material and takes a step forward from traditional polymer housings. Due to its versatile properties ceramics are used in a variety of other luxury consumer products such as knife blades, watch casings and even protect space shuttles on re-entry into the atmosphere.

The hearing aid’s sleek ceramic housing provides a highly-polished, scratch-resistant surface for the discerning customer as well as hypoallergenic properties to reduce skin irritation. Cool to touch, the material quickly reaches body temperature and reduces perspiration behind the ear.

Audéo S SMART Ceramics is powered by the newest Phonak microchip technology which allows the user to accurately identify subtle sound changes in the environment and control the volume directly at the ear, via a push button or with a remote control. It also offers unlimited wireless connectivity to TVs, telephones and MP3 players.

Approximately 12 million people (one in five adults) in Britain currently experience hearing difficulties and this figure is expected to rise to one in three by 2025.

Suitable for mild to moderate hearing loss, the Audéo S SMART Ceramics will help meet a growing demand from the baby boomer generation, the young at heart consumers in their 50s and 60s who want to boost their hearing to stay at their best but don’t want to draw attention to a problem typically associated with ageing. According to experts, people currently struggle for 10 years on average before seeking advice.

Furthermore, the Audéo S SMART’s unique combination of sophisticated audio technology and luxurious exterior has just beaten product entries from more than 35 countries to win the prestigious international iF product design award. Since their introduction in 1953, the iF awards have been a reliable indicator of outstanding quality in design.

Phonak UK MD, Stuart Neilson, says “Stylish, sophisticated and smaller in size, the Audéo S SMART Ceramics is a significant advancement in hearing technology. The high value, ceramic device is both stylish in look and powerful in performance, ensuring strong appeal with the younger market.”

Audéo S SMART Ceramics will be available from private audiologists nationwide and will be launched in the UK from February 2011. Visit www.phonak.co.uk for further information.

How often do you listen and how often do you just hear? Listening and hearing, the same thing, right?

Megan was kind enough to publish a guest post from me on her Hearing Sparks blog about hearing, listening and how you can improve your listening skills. Go and check it out: Listening Vs Hearing.

In fact, even if you don’t want to read my bit over there you should still visit Hearing Sparks, it’s a great blog.