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By Cliff Franklin, Ph.D., and Nannette Nicholson, Ph.D.
AudiologyNOW, the annual American Academy of Audiology (AAA) convention, is touted as the world's largest gathering of audiologists. As conventioneers from the 19th annual meeting of AAA ascended upon the Mile High City of Denver, Colo., lavaliere nametags and convention bags could be seen from Coors Field to the Denver Central Business District.
To kick off AudiologyNOW, Marion Downs gave the welcome. Keynote speaker, Allison Levine, team captain of the first American Women's Everest Expedition, motivated everyone to achieve more in each and every endeavor.
This year's showcase of exhibits ranged from new diagnostic equipment to hearing aids with artificial intelligence. Digital hearing aids celebrated their 10 year anniversary with new applications. The major trend at this year's convention was unleashing the power of digital signal processing technology in hearing aids and instruments, which includes datalogging, data learning and binaural processing. For more on each of these new features, see "Showstoppers!" in the Summer 2007 issue of Hearing Health.
The Seven Sisters of the Hearing Aid
Though there are dozens of hearing aid brand names, about 90 percent of the market share boils down to a few significant companies who, as always, made their presence known at the convention, shining brighter than the Seven Sisters constellation – a comparison first drawn on the popular blog www.hearingmojo.com.
Phonak, headquartered in Switzerland, stakes claim to pioneering datalogging, first introduced in their device, Savia™, in 2004. Phonak's SaviaArt™ takes it to the next level with Self Learning! This feature monitors and analyzes real user data, automatically applying a sophisticated algorithm to adjust the preferred volume level over time for a multitude of listening conditions – a true convenience for the user. Unitron, Resound and Hansaton are also members of Phonak Holding AG.
Siemens, a diversified company headquartered in Germany, provides datalogging as a tool for fine tuning by the clinician in the CENTRA™, CENTRA active™ and Artis 2™. Siemen's propriety technology called DataLearning not only records information, it also incorporates an onboard learning system that automatically fine-tunes the wearer's volume control preferences for different listening environments. Adjustments are made by the system – without added trips to the hearing care professional's office. The CENTRA and Artis 2 products learn the users' loudness preferences and automatically adjust accordingly.
Rexton, a subsidiary of Siemen's, introduced the Revera™ with standard datalogging capabilities to complement their Calibra 1 Pro™ and Calibra 2 Pro™ product lines.
Recognized as a world leader in hearing aid technology, Oticon's Epoq features Life Learning, analyzing volume control changes over different listening situations. Epoq then delivers a fine-scale volume level matrix scheme which is automatically applied in those situations that have been shown to need it. Each program is analyzed independently. Oticon also envisions the role of datalogging to assist in managing children with hearing aids and/or FM systems.
Starkey Laboratories, a United States corporation headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn., showed Destiny, a device that provides power and speed with new nFusion technology. This feature identifies and logs individual sound environments which enable the most accurate adjustments for each individual wearer. Other members of the Starkey family also feature hearing aids with datalogging capabilities: Micro-Tech's Radius 4™, Radius 8™ and Radius 12™ and Nu-Ear's Rhapsody™ record hearing aid usage information, including evaluation of nonactive features, and makes recommendations for fine tuning.
Sonic Innovations, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, has Balance™ and Innova™, which feature S.M.A.R.T. Technology, a suite of systems that continuously measures the listening environment and reacts within milliseconds when changes occur, ensuring that soft sounds are able to be heard and loud sounds are not overwhelming.
Widex, a Danish company and still family-owned, showed the AKIA™, employing the integrated signal processing schema and providing the optimum balance between state-of-the-art technology, user lifestyle considerations and price.
That's six but who is posed to become the seventh sister in the big hearing aid constellation? Hearing Health Trends reporters predict that Vivatone Hearing Systems will complete the "Seven Sisters." As "Best of Show" winner for the large company category – we expect to see Vivatone pick up speed and fill in the open slot for the missing seventh sister. Although the "sisters" account for the vast majority of hearing aid sales, there are more than 30 additional hearing aid companies competing for a piece of the pie and though they may not have the mammoth marketing programs and name recognition of the larger companies, many produce high quality products and have earned a solid reputation.
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