Posted on 09/08/2011 6:25:18 AM PDT by Red Badger
It is estimated that only 20 percent of people who could benefit from hearing instruments seek help, many often waiting up to ten years from the time they could benefit from hearing amplification. Among those who try hearing instruments for the first time, acceptance can be slow and rejection rates high.
Now, a new advanced technology hearing device from Oticon, Inc. shows the potential to deliver immediate benefits and motivate immediate acceptance by people new to hearing amplification.
Results of a multi-center international study with first-time users conducted by researchers at Towson University in Baltimore, MD and Horzentrum in Oldenburg, Germany suggest that Oticon Intiga provided first time users with immediate and obvious benefits. The study also showed that although it is widely accepted that people new to hearing devices usually take a longer time to accept amplification, participants in the international study immediately accepted new Intiga.
[SNIP]
"Hearing devices, no matter how advanced their technology, provide no benefit 'in the drawer'," says Oticon President Peer Lauritsen, referring to industry studies showing that 1 out of 10 of those who purchase hearing aids never wear them -- a number estimated at nearly 1 million people in the US alone (MarketTrak VIII, 2011). "With Oticon Intiga, we aim to create an immediate 'now effect' -- immediate and obvious benefits from the start that motivate rapid acceptance and long term use."
[SNIP]
Intiga is the world's smallest wireless hearing instrument. Bluetooth capabilities allow Intiga to connect wirelessly to cell phones, becoming a virtual hands-free headset. With addition of the Oticon ConnectLine system, audio from televisions and landline phones can be streamed directly to the hearing instruments. The discreet ConnectLine clip-on microphone can be used with Intiga to enhance a user's ability to engage in one-on-one conversations in difficult listening environments.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Amplify tinnitus? No, they just amplify the sound outside your head, not inside.
Looks cool!! I already laid out $6k for mine so I may have to wait a few years to upgrade.
I know a lot of people are shocked that someone wold pay that much for hearing aids, but try living a week with my hearing loss and then tell me how much being able to hear is worth to you.
Served in the Corps as a 0811 cannon cocker ... mostly 105's. Hearing in my right ear is impaired ... it could be from my wife sitting on my right hand side while I'm driving ... my doctor tells me it's age related hearing loss. Anyway, since I've never once tapped into any VA benefits it occurred to me maybe I ought to look into their hearing aid program. Might have to check it out ...
I notice no one has mentioned the Esteem Hearing Implant. Here’s the link. http://www.envoymedical.com/
Exactly, it’s the cost. I can’t afford them either.
I have El Cheapos and sweat and rain is a big problem.
The batteries, air-zinc, get their little holes in the backside clogged. I take it out and blow off the moisture and dry them with a tissue and they are usually fine................
I’ve shot too many guns and flown too many little airplanes with out ear protection, and will need something in a very few years, but I will be damned if I will pay $2000+ for $11 worth of components.
When the time comes, I will buy a little project box, a little mic, some ear buds and some op amps and dig into my junk box for the rest and carry it in my shirt pocket. I can build a better one than they sell. If needed, I will buy a DSP design kit and customize the pass band to my notches and peaks.
Looks like a trip to the sporting goods store this weekend. They just might work for me!
I talked to my doctor about Esteem because what I really want is to not have to wear hearing aids, but just get the darn things fixed once and for all.
He told me he won’t recommend them because they require a battery that needs to be changed fairly often and each battery change requires surgery!!
Hopefully in a few more years the technology will improve
I have a drier, it works well enough. It revitalizes damp batteries too. It’s just that I can’t be outside in a high humidity environment and have them work much longer than five minutes.
Sometimes I use a hair drier.............
My mom is 88 and we live together since her strokes.
It IS frustrating. I love her to bits... but it is like ‘I Love Lucy’ at my house. I put something down, in a flash is GONE and she doesn’t know anything about it.
When I come home from work it is... ‘s’plain Lucy’....It is mostly OK, but a little crazy too.
And just how do you know you aren’t the one who is forgetful. :-)
I tell her:
I have a million things to remember and I forget one. You have two things to remember and forget both.
I got a email marketing flyer announcing a waterproof model. That’d be good, except I’m not ready to spend multiple thousand for it.
I took mine apart, El Cheapo, so it wasn’t much risk, and sprayed the circuit board with clear Krylon coating to keep the sweat and salt from shorting anything out. The battery, though, is still a problem. If I can find a way to seal the battery compartment sufficiently I can have a ‘WATERPROOF’ El Cheapo..............
That’s all highly adaptable and ingenious of you. With my hearing loss, in the high frequencies, I find that I miss a lot of the chatter I wouldn’t want to hear, but readily pick up the voices when people are talking seriously, as then they use a lower toned voice.
That’s great. You don’t hear any liberals!..........
“Hmmmm.....means tests for VETERANS but not for Social Security or Medicare..............................”
That is correct. There is something like a 8 point rating system. Some of it based on service based disabilities, other parts are based on net worth.
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