2 Hearing Aids Introduced in the Past Month Enhances Normal Ears Too

choi

Farhad Manjoo, Conjuring Images of a Bionic Future. New York Times, Apr 24, 2014.
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/techn ... normal-hearing.html

Quote:

“GN ReSound Linx, one of two new models of advanced hearing aids that can be adjusted precisely through software [or apps] built into Apple’s iPhone. * * * [the other is] the Halo, another set of iPhone-connected hearing aids made by the American hearing aid company Starkey.

“The GN ReSound and Starkey hearing aids are fantastically tiny and attractive * * * On the other hand, neither is cheap. Starkey’s Halo starts around $2,000 a hearing aid, while GN ReSound’s Linx begins at more than $3,000 each. Few health insurance plans cover the cost of hearing aids; Medicare does not.

My comment: I look around and can not find anything in the Web about what technologies underlie the “breakthrough.” ReSound’s website is unhelpful. Starkey.com states
(a) In a Web page titled “Frequent questions”:

Q: “How do hearing aids work?
A: “At their most basic, hearing aids are microphones that convert sound into electrical signals. An amplifier increases the strength of the signal, then a receiver converts it back to sound and channels it into the ear canal through a small tube or earmold. A battery is necessary to power the hearing aid and to enable amplification.         

Q: “Are cheap hearing aids any good?
A: “Inexpensive models are simply hearing amplifiers that will make everything louder (including all the ambient noises around you). They will not, for example, separate human voices from background noises, or hear directional sounds like today’s more sophisticated hearing aids are designed to do.

(b) Halo.
www.starkey.com/hearing-aids/tec ... reless-hearing-aids

Quote:

“To hear more comfortably in noise[:] Advanced noise reduction technology and a precise directional microphone work together to reduce noise and help make speech easier to hear in today's challenging environments.

“No buzzing or whistling[:] Our industry-leading feedback canceller provides feedback-free and comfortable listening all day long.

“Improved high-frequency audibility[:] Patented technology replicates high-frequency sounds (like women's and children's voices) in lower frequencies where they're easier to hear and understand.

* feedback (disambiguation)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedback_(disambiguation)
(may refer to "Audio feedback, the ‘howl' heard in microphone or guitar amplification systems")
(c) Now based in City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota (12 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis), the privately held Starkey was founded by William Austin in 1967, who in 1971 purchased a small company from Harold Starkey, merged the two companies and retained the Starkey name.