The importance of quality hearing

Hearing plays such an extremely important part in our ability to communicate and interact socially and physically. Left untreated hearing problems can have a significant influence upon the way we continue to live our lives.

Hearing loss is degenerative, worsening with age and noise exposure, meaning that for millions of people, untreated hearing loss has the potential to result in future health problems.

A reduction in hearing capacity means that the brain must work harder to process the sounds you can hear. This additional processing can result in the brain becoming overloaded, making you more tired, and meaning your brain has less capacity for memory. Over time these reductions in cognitive ability have been shown to lead to a variety of health concerns including depression, social isolation and even accelerate the onset of age-related conditions like dementia.

From hearing aids to sensory augmentation

Many people with hearing loss suffer with the problem without seeking help. This can be a result of feelings of embarrassment that can come with wearing hearing aids, that have traditionally been clunky and uncomfortable in design, or from people seeing it as ‘just part of the aging process’.

For others, that may have tried hearing aids, the experience often falls short because of failings with the hearing technology, which has in the past resulted in distorted sounds, whistling feedback or discomfort for the wearer.

In recent years improved technology, combined with the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence has resulted in a revolution in hearing technology. Long gone are the days of clunky hearing aids that fail to improve the lives of wearers. Instead, this new breed of hearing tech has taken hearing aids and given them a 21^st century makeover.

Manufacturers like Widex, who have a long history in developing cutting-edge hearing technology, have risen to the challenge, meaning that hearing devices are more about sensory augmentation than simply amplifying sounds.

Devices like the Widex MOMENT hearing aids are designed to seamlessly fit within our modern lives providing the wearer with a high degree of comfort while enhancing conversations, phone calls, entertainment and all those daily interactions that rely upon our sense of hearing.

Widex MOMENT and PureSound

We recently tested the WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids, devices that bring together decades of research into a wearable specifically designed to reduce many of the common problems associated with conventional hearing technology.

Traditionally, sound processed in a digital hearing aid reaches the eardrum later than sound travelling directly into the ear, resulting in distorted, artificial sound caused by the “comb-filter effect”. This has long been a barrier to hearing aid acceptance.

WIDEX MOMENT PureSound is scientifically proven to process sound 8-20 times faster than any other manufacturer, eradicating the comb-filter effect to deliver more natural sound in the hearing aid.

According to company tests WIDEX’s patented ZeroDelay technology delivers sound to the eardrum in 0.5ms, compared with competitor averages of 6-8ms.

Widex MOMENT hearing aids also support the ability to stream from Apple iOS and Android devices, allowing a user to experience higher sound quality when listening to music, video chatting or making calls.

Enhanced hearing for all situations

In the past hearing aid wearers have only been able to benefit from enhancement applied across all sounds and situations. This often leads to ambient, or background noise, being boosted just as much as voices, or the other noises that wearers want to hear. This blanket approach often results in annoying sound interference and difficulty processing particular sound-related situations.

Widex have taken this problem and developed MySound – an AI-enhanced approach to sound filtering whereby the technology infers which sounds to enhance based upon the user’s intention.

Instead of being singularly programmed to enhance sound in all situations – with no distinction between what users want to hear and don’t – MySound automatically adjusts based on your intention.

For example, users can select their activity through the Widex MOMENT app, such as dining, then choose their intent, such as concentration. Based on those selections, My Sound draws on tens of thousands of real-life data points and instantly presents customized options.

Widex MOMENT hearing technology in review

In our review, the impact of Widex’s machine learning algorithms and sound processing was instantaneous. Even for someone with no significant hearing loss the difference in quality and reduction in interference from feedback and other ambient noise was considerable.

My Sound is integrated into the Widex MOMENT app and is the home for all the powerful AI personalization Widex offers.

For a true test of the technology, we also asked long-time hearing aid sufferer Mark to trial the Widex MOMENT devices. As someone with moderate hearing loss, Mark falls into the category of people who are aware of their hearing loss, however, due to shortcomings with traditional technology have chosen to avoid using hearing aids.

Prior to the test Mark described his experience of using hearing aids in the past.

“For me the lack of definition in hearing enhancement made using hearing aids virtually impossible. I could hear the sounds of my footsteps louder than many ambient noises, yet when presented with a conversation all I tended to hear was feedback. The persistent whistling, and distortion, were also quite disorientating and at many times more isolating than dealing with the hearing loss. Units in the past have also proven very uncomfortable to wear.”

For the review Mark was set up with a calibrated set of Widex MOMENT hearing aids and provided some quick training in using the accompanying Widex MOMENT app. The results were significant.

“For the first time I can wear hearing aids without really knowing that I am wearing hearing aids” commented Mark. “The impact was instantly noticeable with the sound clarity and lack of feedback, just not being an issue. I have been extremely impressed with the way that the devices have easily fitted into everyday life, something I have not previously experienced with any hearing aids before.”

“Conversations and everyday situations have become much easier, and the devices are so comfortable to wear that I often forget that I have them on.”

According to research from the company other wearers feel the same. In recent tests 95% of wearers felt that the sound produced using the Widex Moment technology was ‘natural’ and ‘clear’ with the sound of their own voice being perceived as ‘natural’ too.

The importance of hearing care

Widex also provides its wearers with a much greater degree of customisation. Using the Widex MOMENT App users can easily customise their devices to fit within particular situations or activities.

In review, we found the app to be extremely intuitive meaning that for day-to-day use there was very little adjustment required. Adapting the settings for specific situations, like listening to music or watching TV was easy, using the pre-calibrated AI-supported programs. The app also allows you to develop your own programs that blend specific hearing qualities for different activities. These are then available for rapid adjustment.

Modern hearing technology has also updated the way that hearing care is provided. In the past wearers would often live with uncalibrated and outdated technology. Now hearing technology providers like Widex provide digitally-supported care.

While wearers are still required to make regular visits to their care provider (in order to monitor any decline in hearing ability), virtual consultations, predictive data analytics and automated calibration, provide wearers with a significantly improved experience.

In fact, the overall hearing aid experience has become something more akin to a modern wearable like the Apple Watch. Technology is allowing users to seamlessly integrate these solutions into their everyday lives with few, or no, complications. The result is a future that will hopefully mean hearing loss becomes a much less debilitating condition to millions than it currently is today.

By Matthew Driver – Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of mHealth

The post The Future of Hearing Technology is Less Hearing Aid and More Sensory Augmentation appeared first on .

He’s young, tech-savvy and a professional with an ambition to progress in his career. He has experienced hearing loss all his life, worn hearing aids throughout and always wrestled with a lack of confidence and self-consciousness because of it.

This customer is very real. He came to Boots Hearingcare recently and in addition to his small on the ear hearing solutions, we made some custom in-ear products for him. Essentially, it was a black faceplate that looks like a standard earbud, something that he could wear at night in order to be more aware should his baby cry. Beyond that, though, it enhanced his day-to-day life, made him feel comfortable and confident and removed awkward conversations he’d previously encountered when people saw his hearing aids.

Importantly, he felt connected throughout the day.

That customer has been blown away by how it’s changed his life – not in a revolutionary way, but by how it has simplified his life.

That cosmetic narrative in this conversation is what has allowed him to feel comfortable and confident. That accessibility is blurring the line of what is a hearing aid and just technology and is making the industry far more accessible.

That, of course, has been supported by the delivery of a superior experience.

Hearing aids are now multifunctional and even come with an app

You may remember a time when hearing aids came with fiddly controls that brought nothing but difficulty, especially for anyone that had dexterity issues.

That has advanced. A lot of hearing aids now come with an app on the phone, allowing the user to control the listening experience on a device they’re familiar with, while the ability for it to geotag and remember how an individual liked their settings is invaluable and is making the technology far more accessible and easier to control.

Bluetooth has also become a great enabler, helping a hearing aid go beyond what its name suggests. It’s making direct streaming music, radio, podcasts, and audiobooks as simple as it would be if you were wearing a pair of the latest Apple Airpods.

Initially, the limitation the industry faced was that hearing aids could be Bluetooth connected and paired to only one device at a time.

However, that barrier has also been totally removed. Not having the hassle of disconnecting from one device in order to connect with another is an important thing and just simplifies the way we go about our daily lives.

Image | Shutterstock.com

Hearing care pricing structures are more accessible than ever before

Recently, Boots Hearingcare launched its lowest ever price rechargeable hearing aid – the Starkey Livio 1000 R – available at less than £43 per month.

It’s easy to assume that the product will not be up to the same standard. Yes, it doesn’t offer full flexibility when it comes to bluetooth pairing but does offer direct streaming capability with great sound quality. A product like this is significantly better than any old analogue-type hearing aid and has more features than our lowest entry priced hearing aids.

We know monthly payment plans are a good enabler for people to be able to access higher levels of technology than they otherwise would if they were paying for a product in one lump sum. Going back, many years ago now, the price was a shock factor.

This is still a high-end product, one with exceptional sound quality, and is just one example of how life-enabling technology, like this, is available at an affordable payment price, similar to what you would take out for a phone contract.

Image | Starkey Livio 1000 R

Steps being taken to make accessible tech more accessible

Remember the customer I referenced at the beginning? What I believe we will see is the industry take strides to get accessible hearing care tech in front of people, like him, at a much earlier stage in their journey.

The online hearing care sales market is still an issue, in that sense, that we’re trying to navigate around. I can definitely see people being able to walk into one of our stores and wanting to try some technology that they can pair to their phone – the type of person that, perhaps, is only enduring mild hearing loss.

By training assistants up, we will be able to still do the necessary tests, demonstrations  and recommend a product that is either hearing-focused or just wearable. It won’t be prescribed, but it will be a product that will fill that gap before we start opening discussions about thorough investigative assessments.

That type of over-the-counter type hearing care product is emerging in America. We know the tech giants are starting to play in this field and that’s something we need to embrace if we are to widen the market, especially when you consider that there are approximately four million people out there who could benefit and enjoy this technology now. People often wait until their hearing loss gets significantly disabling and impacting on the quality of life before they act, by this time they have missed out on a lot.

Hearing care products are becoming more accessible, affordable, aesthetically good, and multifunctional. In the meantime, we will embrace that in our mission to widen the market and, as a result, our hope is that people will come to us sooner to ensure they enjoy an enhanced quality of life and can stay connected.

Written by Karen Shepherd, Director of Professional Standards at Boots Hearingcare

The post The Growth of Accessible Tech in the Hearing Care Industry appeared first on .

One of the biggest, still, is that people enduring hearing loss feel old. It’s often a matter that is dealt with in isolation, while a common trend with people who find themselves in this scenario is that they feel ‘ashamed’ or ‘embarrassed’ by it. For that reason, it takes on average 10 years for them to address it.

The truth is, though, that millions of people are going through exactly the same thing. At the beginning of March, the World Health Organization reported that more than 40% of over 50s in the UK have hearing loss. That figure jumps to 70% for over 70s.

So, why don’t people want to talk about it?

A large part of that answer lies in the solution: hearing aids. Historically, they were bulky pieces of kit that protruded the ear and made it plainly obvious to the world that the person wearing them had a problem. They weren’t fashionable and, if anything, put people off seeking hearing care.

However, the hearing technology we have at our fingertips is now is incomparable. They have evolved in the hearing instruments and have introduced a wealth of features to support far beyond just improving one’s hearing.

Bluetooth connectivity has become the norm. They connect with our everyday services, like streaming devices, TVs, and mobile phones. They’re also much smaller, to the extent that it makes Apple’s incredibly popular AirPods look big.

Alongside the vastly improved technology, there is a clear recognition that hearing care is immensely important. It’s leaped up the health agenda and is now recognised as one of the globe’s largest diseases.

So, what does the future look like for the industry and how do we go about breaking the stigma that surrounds it?

Technology advancements are blurring the lines between wearable and the prescribed product

The market is changing.

Earlier this month, Bose released a brand-new hearing aid product over in the USA, an over-the-counter product that has been cleared by the FDA. We’re seeing hearing correction and augmented audio coming together and entering the consumer field. It’s only a matter of time before those situational-type products become readily available.

Image | Shutterstock.com

There are already certain available products that have noise reduction and speech enhancing technology built into them now. That’s part of that blurring I alluded to and something that hearing aid manufacturers have been mindful of.

Hearing aids need to be able to do so much more. They are required to be multifunctional. For example, if it acted like those pair of Apple AirPods I referenced earlier, that would be deemed cool and something you don’t mind having in your ear for hours on end.

Having hearing aids that are multi-functional and not, in a sense, just a hearing aid, is going to be the difference.

The future of audiology is going to become far more technical

What we need to be careful of in audiology is where the boundary starts and stops between an over-the-counter product that doesn’t require intervention and when you need a prescribed hearing aid.

The hearing care technology industry is in the privileged position to be able to create a product that, yes, do all of these things we want it to in order to help with our day-to-day lives, but also serves the specific purpose of being tailored to each person’s specific hearing requirements.

That’s supported by the IDA Institute which recently said that 86% of people enduring hearing loss still said they want to see a professional audiologist and wouldn’t feel comfortable trusting an over-the-counter product.

There’s an onus on us to bring to life the experience and highlight the value of spending time with an audiologist. That involves talking about listening conditions, which includes having an individual’s hearing and speech understanding in noise measured

Taking that approach tells us how the brain is processing information and combining that with a tone audiogram will allow us to see what features are required in our hearing aids going forward and how they need to be set up.

Hearing care technology has to be able to offer a full-package service

Hearing technology is going to become far more easily available. Because of that, businesses, like Boots Hearingcare, need to answer the question: why should someone enduring hearing loss come to us over someone else?

Typically, we have bundled all of our services and the hearing aid into one cost. I think that we will see that become unbundled, to the stage where we will have a service menu and a product menu.

That will provide more transparency to the customer as to what they’re getting and the choices they have available when it comes to the technological solution. Wax removal as a service is, finally, something we have traction with.

Like that, there will be all these different types of add-on services that we will start to bring into our portfolio. It won’t just be about technology. It will be how we can actually help people and make a difference.

Article by Karen Shepherd, Director of Professional Standards at Boots Hearingcare

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