Hearing Aid Technology - The Year of the Ear
In the last year I entered the world of fitness tracking with a wrist worn bit to help me be fit. (See what I did there?) I started to log steps, track sleep, set goals for activity and try to meet them, and became attached to my “numbers”. My wife also joined me in this adventure around this time and has done much of the same. It has made me think more about my health and what I am doing to stay on top of my game. How did I sleep last night? My wrist lets me know each morning with a report. How active was I yesterday? Again, my wrist has the report. You may ask, what does this have to do with the ear? Here’s what I think.
At the national American Academy of Audiology convention in Nashville, Tennessee this past April I heard a speaker mention that 2017 was the “Year of the Ear”. He spoke about innovations in hearing technology and the possibility of combining hearing and fitness technology in the ear. I was fascinated and there are already several non-hearing aid products on the market which allow a user to enhance their hearing in an environment while listening to music and tracking their fitness statistics. So, as the speaker spoke about a single device worn in the ear that could track fitness, aid hearing, allow the user to listen to phone calls and music, connect with other devices to enhance hearing (such as a Bluetooth enabled TV), and many more I began to wonder about the technology already on the market. I wondered how much people know about these solutions and how they are being used.
Today, you can go to an audiologist and purchase a hearing aid which is bluetooth enabled and can communicate with your smartphone allowing you to listen to music and hear phone calls. You can use your smartphone as a remote control to tailor your listening experience in real time right as you need it. There are hearing aids that can use services through your smartphone to trigger other devices in your home. For example, when the hearing aid is placed into a TV listening program, your TV and entertainment system is turned on automatically. When you are finished watching TV and change back to a normal listening program, the entertainment system is turned off. These changes can be triggered through the smartphone or even through a wrist worn device such as an Apple Watch. The experience with the hearing aids can be more controlled by you and when you return to the audiologist the changes and adjustments you have made are read back into a computer and adjustments can be made to make your experience even better. I believe this is only the start of great things to come.
In the future hearing aids and ear level technology will continue to move forward and become more and more integrated with our lives and yet be seamless. When technology seems almost magical in it’s ability and it continues to improve we know we are living in an amazing time. The ear is a wonderful and amazing organ system and the technology available today and in the future to improve our hearing and ears continues to amaze me. The simplest act of listening to a loved one and being able to follow a conversation with friends is just the start for hearing technology. Connecting people to their world in their way is the future and this will not be limited to hearing, it will include fitness, entertainment, transportation, real time information, and even help in an emergency situation. Imagine all of this in the ear with a single device. The future of technology for and in the ear is moving quickly and I am excited for it!
If you or someone you care about is struggling with hearing or is interested in these new ear and hearing technologies, contact an audiologist. I personally am always excited to share these innovations with patients and the public alike. Hearing and good health go hand-in-hand and as technology continues to become better we will see the ear become the prime real estate of communication, health, and better living.