MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA — The Earlens® Contact Hearing Solution was named among TIME’s Best Inventions of 2020. The 2020 list from the influential news and current affairs publication recognizes 100 ground-breaking inventions that are “changing the way we live”.
“Most hearing aids do a decent job of amplifying mid tones but struggle with the highs and lows, resulting in sound that is flat and dull. That makes it hard to follow conversations in a crowd—the so-called cocktail-party effect. Earlens ($6,000 per ear) upends the process, nixing the amplifier entirely and instead using a tiny lens that sits next to the eardrum. A microphone housed in the device’s over-the-ear processor picks up sounds, which an algorithm converts into vibrations that are transmitted to the eardrum. Put another way: rather than turning up the sound, Earlens actually re-creates the effect of the sound waves.”
—Marjorie Korn, TIME Magazine
About Earlens
Earlens is a privately held medical technology company committed to transforming the hearing experience for millions of people who suffer from hearing loss. The company has developed the Earlens® Contact Hearing Solution, which directly activates the hearing system, delivering the broadest bandwidth available today and superior sound quality. This revolutionary, nonsurgical hearing solution uses a small lens to vibrate the eardrum, replicating the natural hearing process. The Earlens® Contact Hearing Solution received FDA clearance in 2019 for a second generation of the Earlens technology
It’s nice that these hearing innovations are becoming available. For people with lots of money. At $6000/ear, this technology is out of reach for so many, especially since the majority of insurance plans won’t cover the cost of hearing aids at all.
Are there innovations out there that are affordable?