Posted on 02/20/2004 6:13:30 AM PST by GailA
Tiny tubular technology makes noise Bartlett-based company enjoys U.S. distribution rights to device
By Mark Watson Contact February 20, 2004
After about 20 minuteson a reclining chair with his head turned to the left, Chris Ward sat up. Dr. Bruce MacDonald asked if he was OK.
"Fine," Ward replied, blinking. "The worst part was the crick in my neck."
Ward had just become the fourth person in the Mid-South to have a RetroX titanium tube surgically inserted in the back of his ear.
The tube is part of a new hearing aid technology distributed by Bartlett-based Gyrus ENT.
RetroX doesn't plug the ear, like a conventional hearing aid. Instead, it sits behind the ear, transmitting sound through the tiny tube into the ear canal.
Ward, 55, has high-frequency hearing loss, but he balked at the discomfort of a conventional hearing aid.
"I never did particularly like the idea of having this wide thing in my ear canal," said Ward, director of the Trust Division at the National Bank of Commerce.
"It always seemed incredibly uncomfortable. It's like having a pencil eraser in your ear."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved RetroX in 2002. Gyrus ENT obtained U.S. distribution rights this past summer.
Gyrus ENT is the former Smith & Nephew division for ear, nose and throat devices. It became part of a British company, Gyrus, in July 2001.
Gyrus ENT is the world's largest provider of middle ear implants, such as the tiny bones required for hearing. The company is also a major supplier of instruments used in ear surgery. But the company does not produce hearing aids, said Michael Crook, senior vice president for the otology global business unit.
"We have been involved in hearing reconstruction," Crook said.
"This is hearing restoration, which is an expansion of what we've been doing."
RetroX was developed by Auric GMBH, of Rheine, Germany., About 2,000 people with high-frequency hearing loss in Europe already are using it. Such hearing problems may cause a person to confuse the words "thirst" and "first" in a conversation, for example.
The procedure and system costs $3,500 to $4,000, about the same as a high-quality digital hearing aid.
MacDonald, whose office is in Germantown, said he thinks the biggest demand for these devices will come from people who already have conventional hearing aids.
"All of the conventional hearing aids require that you have the earplug effect in the ear canal," said MacDonald, a faculty member of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Otolaryngology Department.
"It feels uncomfortable, and the quality of sound is tremendously affected by things like swallowing and chewing. . . . For people who have worn regular hearing aids and RetroX afterward, they really prefer the (RetroX) quality of sound and lack of all those goofy sensations."
For the first six months of Gyrus ENT's control of RetroX's U.S. distribution, the company has concentrated on developing a marketing plan. Gyrus ENT had a national sales meeting to kick RetroX product sales into high gear on the weekend of Feb. 14 in San Antonio, Texas.
As a product that is being distributed, rather than one that was developed and made by Gyrus ENT, RetroX has a smaller profit margin.
Gyrus ENT probably will start making RetroX titanium tubes by May, but the production will not add any jobs, Crook said.
However, RetroX "should be, this year, the fastest growing product in our portfolio," Crook said.
Gyrus ENT also is interested in using the titanium tube as a platform for other communication systems, such as wireless phones. The tubes could act like a wireless headphone, for example, receiving transmissions from a cell phone carried on a belt or in a pocket.
RetroX's competition might not just be conventional hearing aids. Other companies have developed "open fitting" hearing aids. Those aids don't plug the ear canal but rather transmit high-frequency sounds through a tube inserted into the ear canal.
Barb Van Someren, vice president of marketing for Beltone, noted that "open fitting" aids such as the GN ReSound and soon-to-be-released Beltone Edge don't require surgery.
"That's not an issue, as far as I'm concerned," said Ward, who didn't complain about pain during the entire procedure on his right ear.
After the swelling goes down, Ward will return to MacDonald's office. MacDonald will re-examine the tube, which is now about one inch long. He may shorten it.
Then, Ward himself can attach the electronic part of the hearing aid to the end of the tube and hear what he's been missing. He blames himself for his hearing loss.
"I played in the high school band and in college, and I did a lot of hunting over the years," he said.
Say what?
We have neighbor who should wear twin aides 85/95 hearing loss.
I never heard anyone call Hillary 'machinery' before.
My problem is my eyes, continual loss of vision, with no med reason why. Glasses just keep needing to be stronger each year. Blurred at all distances. Thankfully glasses correct it for now. My reader is 400. The cataract in my right eye is no where near ready to be removed. Had the one in my left done several years ago.
Fortunately, my vision is good enough to do most things, use the computer, watch TV, read; the one thing that I can't do is drive, which is very frustrating at times.
Eye doc said on a scale of 1-100 my catarct is a 15, it's been that size for 3 years now. Maybe we will start seeing some big things in the area of sight soon.
As long as I have good light mine with glasses gets me by. I quilt when I'm not FReeping.
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