Hearing Technologies

Anker’s Zolo Liberty+ hearable promises to solve the problems inherent in “traditional wireless earphones”, through enhanced technology to offer a “zero compromise” wireless headphone alternative. The hearable will be among the first devices to incorporate the new Bluetooth 5.0 protocol. The company’s Kickstarter campaign, which began in June 2017, has vastly exceeded its fundraising goal of $50,000, totaling nearly $3

Clarity, a Tennessee-based provider of hearing loss products, announced last week the launch of their new Personal Sound Amplification Product (PSAP) the Clarity Chat. The device, available as a single behind-the-ear unit or as a pair, is dubbed as an “affordable and easy-to-use amplifier”. According to the company, the 8 channel digital PSAP device can “help differentiate speech from background

Headset maker Jabra, a subsidiary company of the GN Group, announced a newly-upgraded version of its Elite Sport hearable device. The upgraded version gets a 50 percent increase in battery life, taking it to a more competitive 4.5 hours, which puts it more on par with major competitor’s like Bragi, Apple and Samsung. Like the original version, the Elite Sport earbuds

Cochlear Limited, the world’s largest manufacturer of hearing implants, unveiled today its brand-new Nucleus 7 Sound Processor. The new processor, which received FDA approval in June, is said to be the smallest and lightest behind-the-ear cochlear processor available. Further, the Nucleus 7 is also the world’s first Made for iPhone cochlear implant processor. With the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor, users

By Bruno Scala, Audio Infos France   On May 27, the European Association of Hearing Aid Professionals (AEA) organized a mini-symposium on the topic that has inflamed the debate around audiology the other side of the Atlantic: the unrestricted sale of hearing aids and assistive hearing devices. Focus on this symposium with those involved.   OTC and PSAP… In the

Bay Area startup, iHear Medical, officially launched their all-new Eva hearing aid this month. The Eva, according to the company, is “designed specifically to address hearing loss of women”. The new hearing aid is said to be programmed for the distinct hearing loss patterns of women.   Hearing Loss and Gender   Hearing loss patterns between men and women can

The BRAINNO device is unlike any other hearable available on the market today. It does promise lifestyle and fitness benefits, as many other hearables do, but in a very different way–by not only measuring heart rate, but also your brainwaves. The device’s companion app displays and compares your activity and offers “scientifically curated” games, images and photos to help you

Researchers from India, Sweden and the United States recently carried out a systematic literature review to investigate applications of direct-to-consumer hearing devices for adults with hearing loss, and came to some interesting conclusions. As part of consumer-driven changes in healthcare, the direct-to-consumer approach in hearing healthcare has become more popular. To perform a review in this area, the group used

By Garrett Thompson, AuD The fourth and final panel installment of this series continues to examine why audiologists need not be so fearful about the possibility of a future rife with OTC devices. The data pretty clearly shows that there will be a continued demand from consumers for customized hearing care delivered by audiologists and other licensed professionals.   Japanese

By Garrett Thompson, AuD In Part 2 of this series we examined two studies relating to OTC hearing devices. Today, in Part 3, we will continue to take a hard look at the data associated with OTC devices.   Study #3   Kochkin (2014) conducted a large survey of traditional hearing aid (THA) users and direct-mail (DM) hearing aid users.