High Performance Hearing Aides – The Ears Go Digital Too with Acoustic Algorithms

This is for the hard of hearing empowered patients to empower their ears (grin).  It has a total of 10 programmable algorithms to adjust for telephone, general, etc.  You see something similar today on your pc where you can create your own environments, i.e. a bathroom, underwater, concert hall, etc. and the hearing aid here is something similar.  It is not a wireless device reporting any data, just helping folks to hear better.

What is interesting are the comments at the end of the press release, only one in five of us are wearing an aid, so the other four and maybe be included now or later, (grin) are not wearing one.  When I begin replacing “you know” with “huh” I guess I’ll know when it is time for me to hear better, and maybe I’ll be lucky and not need one later.  This only thing I can see left out here with all the technology is an MP3 player.  Why not add it in when you are creating environments as you might want time to digitally tune some things out too.  BD 

Press Release:

Ear Technology Corporation Debuts Clik® High Performance Hearing Aid

New Generation Aid Offers Revolution in Fitting and Programming

Johnson City, TN — November 23, 2009 — Ear Technology Corporation (http://www.eartech.com), a company dedicated to “helping people hear better, every day,” announced the debut of its Clik® Hearing Aid, the first digital hearing aid that is programmed without cables or computers. It even provides a way for tech-savvy patients, under the guidance of their provider, to configure sound settings in their own listening environments.

Other digital hearing aids require a computer and software programs to fit hearing aids and frequently involve multiple visits to the provider’s office that are both costly and time-consuming. Clik follows a different path to better hearing: all of the tools needed to customize Clik for each user are pre-loaded onto its advanced, industry-first microprocessor. Clik is actually a sophisticated computer packed into a mini, almost invisible, Behind-the-Ear (BTE) hearing aid. Various acoustic algorithms are sampled by simply clicking on a small button built into the hearing aid itself.

The hearing healthcare professional can “clik” through various settings for selection while the patient is wearing the hearing aid. Individuals who want to be even more “hands-on” with the hearing aid fitting process can actually make their own selections away from the office, in their own listening environments.

“Clik is the first hearing aid that really empowers patients to sample and select different settings in their own real-life situations,” said Daniel R. Schumaier, Ph.D., Ear Technology’s president and the inventor of Clik. “It’s especially helpful because my idea of a noisy environment may be entirely different from your idea of a noisy environment. With Clik, a patient can decide for himself or herself what sounds best.”

According to Dr. Schumaier, “A commonly cited statistic is that people wait an average of seven years between knowing they have a problem with their hearing and doing something about it. But hearing better does not have to be complicated. Clik has it all: great looks, cutting edge sound processing and an exclusive fitting technology that puts the patient in the driver’s seat. It’s a product whose time has come.”

Clik is available only through licensed hearing healthcare professionals and provides premium technology at a non-premium price. Standard features include directional microphones and a volume control, plus programs for quiet, noise and the telephone. For more information, visit www.clik-hearing.com.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), only one out of five people who could benefit from a hearing aid actually wears one; approximately 15 percent (26 million) of Americans between the ages of 20 and 69 have high frequency hearing loss due to exposure to loud sounds, noise at work or from leisure activities.

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