Hearing Economics

These are the best of times and the worst of times, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us. (channeling Dickens for Audiologists) online pharmacy buy aciclovir no prescription pharmacy Audiologists may agree that we are living in extreme times.  It’s gratifying to practice our profession in the “communication obsessed 2000s” (Ridley, 2010), with ear-level devices at hand as

The sudden emergence of Hearables as a disruptive wearable technology threatens to relegate hearing aids to the gadget bin.  So goes the view in the popular media.  That view is formed and informed by characteristic rapid change and constant innovation in the consumer electronics industry. But, the popular view is not fully informed. Those used to reviewing or knocking out novel electronic

Last week’s Hearables post highlighted some emerging ear-level devices and left three rhetorical questions dangling: What  groups decide which are medical devices and which are consumer devices? Who gets final say on who sells them and how they are sold? Will hearing aids morph into consumer electronic gadgets? Current thinking on that last question brings up thoughts that were previously

Ear-level electronic devices are on shifting ground.  FDA aside, what defines a “hearing aid” these days?  They are sophisticated, computer-based, ear-level, binaural, Bluetooth-enabled devices with storage and automatic programming capability.  They’re poised for far more than amplification, noise reduction, and feedback control. If you accept that functional definition of today’s hearing aids, what’s left to define a Hearable?  Is it every

“Peeling the Onion” is a monthly column by Harvey Abrams, PhD   In last month’s post, I spoke of Audiology’s origins as a rehabilitative discipline and its transition to a doctoring profession. How did we get to where we are? Without peeling back too many layers of the onion, arguably, the major driver was the desire to separate and distinguish

Her was first described at Hearing Economics in a December post as real-life version of Samantha, the ear-level, all-knowing operating system that whispered into Joaquin Phoenix’s ear(s) in the film “Her.” As the hearing industry enters 2015, Her  is manifest in a variety of ear-level wearables of varying sophistication and application, collectively dubbed Hearables.  The January 4-9, 2015 CES (Consumer Electronics Show)

Patent activity in the hearing aid industry continues to grow and grow more interesting.  We’re not Google or Apple, which ranked #11 and #13 for number of US patents in 2013 and are projected to rank higher in 2014.  But, our industry is hanging in there even as the competition heats up for Smart wearables and augmented reality (AR). Besides

2014 was a milestone year for the hearing instrument industry. Today’s post is a milestone, too.  It’s the holiday season,  the 200th post to appear in Hearing Economics, and also the last of the fluffy, sensationalized Siemens fairy tale series with lots of pictures. With all the stars in alignment, Hearing Economics is celebrating by totally making up a killer

Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. HHTM has had more than half a million page

Hearing Economics readers, please welcome Harvey Abrams to the ranks of regular writers at HearingHealthMatters.  Dr. Abrams has graciously agreed to assume the post of monthly columnist at Hearing Economics.  Today’s post marks his debut in a series he’s dubbed “peeling the onion.”  What he means by that will become clear with his monthly contributions.  Welcome, Harvey!   A New