Oticon Jumps into the iPhone Hearing Aid Market

It seems that while I was away on vacation and enjoying some R & R with family, Oticon jumped on the iPhone hearing aid bandwagon. As the Atlanta Hearing Doctor whose a big nerd for this type of stuff, I know my readers appreciate inside scoops. So that’s what this article is about.

MFi Connectivity Solutions Being Unleashed

Hearing aids have come a long ways since the original designs in the 17th century. Otherwise known as ear trumpets, you may have seen them in older or historical movies (horn-like contraptions you hold up to your ear). But, the first modernized hearing aid actually sprouted from the telephone! It makes sense then that contemporary smartphone-based hearing solutions would enjoy wide usage.Here’s the exciting part: Oticon hooked up with Apple’s Made for iPhone (MFi) program and later this month (March) at the 2014 AudiologyNOW! Conference (being held here in FL), the very first MFi connectivity solution for hearing instruments will be unveiled for all the world to use.

A Few Juicy Details

• Some of the new audiological features cannot be found anywhere else. They’re totally new and exciting!
• What we’re seeing is a move towards better truer binaural signal processing with less and less power consumption (efficiency).
• Guess what? Hands Free iPhone conversations! You’ve got to love that. These days less and less people want to have super-high tech gadgets streaming Wi-Fi right next to their temple.

As with just about all other Apple products, the functional design is intuitive and incredibly user-friendly. A simple interface allows you to change up the programming, volume and input source. Here’s what Soren Nielsen, president of Oticon A/S had to say in a recent interview:“People are no longer restricted to a single choice of hearing solution. They can select from a variety of hearing instrument styles and technology levels at a range of price points, and know that an MFi connectivity solution is available for them. All of our wireless hearing instruments are compatible with the new MFi connectivity solution, which includes instruments launched since 2007.”This is big news for a fair amount of my clients. Oticon has been in the hearing aid industry for more than a century now. They’re known for being at the forefront of all up and coming hearing aid technology. Here’s a snippet from their website: “Today we hold many patents in advanced hearing technology and our products are built with features available nowhere else: Speech Guard, which delivers more natural sounding speech; Spatial Sound, which preserves your ability to know where a sound is coming from; Connectivity, which links you to TV, computers and smartphones; and many other leading-edge capabilities that are exclusive to Oticon.”

Want to Know More?

If you have any questions about the conference, how to get your hands on this technology or modern hearing aids in general don’t hesitate to contact me. I live and breathe this stuff. I’ll be sure and write more on this as time goes by and user-feedback starts streaming in.