Smarter Solutions for Better Hearing Devices
 By Linda Kallman
President, Kallman Communications

According to National Institutes of Health, approximately 36 million (one in every 10) U.S. adults say that they have some degree of hearing loss … more often men than women.
 
According to the Mayo Clinic, it’s common for gradual hearing loss to occur as you age, with the main factors being heredity and chronic exposure to loud noises.
 
Even though hearing loss cannot usually be reversed, it can easily be treated with a hearing aid device. However, the traditional image of these devices as clunky and erratic makes many consumers reluctant to adopt them. Susan Whichard, vice president of marketing for InSound Medical, and a former audiologist, tells us that most people wait seven years to seek treatment after they notice a problem with their hearing.


 
And even though the Hearing Loss Association says that most Americans (95 percent) with hearing loss could be successfully treated with hearing aids, less than 25 percent actually use them. Clearly, there is a market opportunity for smarter, innovative hearing solutions that incorporate wireless technology, are less noticeable, and much more effective than previous generations. InSound Medical has developed the Lyric to fill that need with a hearing aid that is worn internally, leveraging long-lasting batteries and wireless programming.
 
The Lyric was developed with the needs of those millions of consumers with hearing loss who are not willing to wear traditional, external devices. Their team of audiologists, engineers, and ENT physicians, along with Dr. Robert Schindler, founding director, collaborated on bringing to market a hearing aid that was hidden from view, small enough to place near the eardrum (for the most natural sound amplification), and able to be worn for an extended period of time.
 
The resulting product, which became available through select U.S. audiologists in 2008, is designed for people with mild to moderately severe hearing loss. A trained hearing professional assesses hearing loss, ear size and shape, medical condition and lifestyle to determine if Lyric would be an appropriate solution.
 
During a routine office visit, with no surgery or anesthesia required, Lyric is placed deep in the ear canal, four millimeters from the eardrum. Because of proprietary developments – a long-life battery, a foam seal that contours the ear canal, mechanical and coating technology that protect it from moisture and earwax, and a programmable sound processing system that allows for both the microphone and receiver to be placed deep in the ear canal – the device can be worn invisibly, around-the-clock, for up to four months at a time.
 
During fitting and installation, Lyric is wirelessly connected to the HandFit, a programming wand linked to a tablet PC with a touchscreen that that the hearing professional uses to calculate fitting parameters, fine tune the Lyric and then capture and store patient data and records for future visits. The consumer also gets wireless control of the Lyric, with a key-fob device used to adjust volume, and turn the Lyric off and on as desired.

Transforming Lives and the Popular Image of Hearing Devices

Dr. Angela Loavenbruck, an audiologist practicing in New City, N.Y. and past president of the American Academy of Audiology, was one of the first audiologists in the Unted States to embrace this new technology. “It’s totally different from any other previous hearing aid technology out there … the very first hearing aid that is placed completely in the ear canal and remains there 24 hours a day for all normal daily activities … including showering, talking on the phone, exercising and even sleeping.”
 
Battery life varies from patient to patient, depending on usage patterns, environment and lifestyle. Therefore Lyric is sold on an annual subscription basis, and every few months the patient receives a brand new unit, with a new a battery, during a routine office visit where their hearing aid is replaced with the most advanced version. Patients are provided with a magnetic tool for adjustments between office visits.
 

“What my patients appreciate,” added Loavenbruck (pictured left), “is the ability to just completely forget that they are using a hearing aid. Once it’s in their ear they don’t think about it. It doesn’t show and they don’t have to remember to take it out, change the battery … they describe it as life changing.”
 
Susan Whichard was inspired to become an audiologist because her brother was born with a severe hearing loss and was fit with hearing aids at age three. Later in her career she realized that in addition to helping people, she found working on developing new hearing technology most rewarding.

“I have been able to stay close and follow patients as we went through the research and development phase,” she said. “Because of the design and placement of the product, patients tell me they feel normal again. That’s a very powerful thing.”
 
As far as Whichard knows, the youngest person wearing a Lyric hearing aid is nine years old, and the oldest is 102. “The 102 year-old was aware that he needed a hearing aid for a while,” said Whichard, pictured right. “But he wanted one that didn’t make him look or feel old. Now they say he has a zip in his step and is more active than ever.”
 
Global Growth Opportunity
 
Noted benefits of the Lyric hearing aid include better overall sound quality, reduced distortion, and natural sound directionality. But Whichard tells us that of all the people who have hearing loss, only 20 percent have done something about it. She hopes that since hearing aid technology is improving all the time, the more new options there are the more people will try them. “We believe that extended wear hearing, where people can hear 24/7, and no one can see the device, is the way of the future. Similar to the way glasses graduated to contact lenses, and then to extended wear contact lenses.” The Lyric’s value proposition was recently affirmed in the market, as InSound Medical was purchased by Sonova Holding AG a global leader in hearing solutions.

Linda Kallman is a freelance writer/editor and communications consultant. To read more of her articles, please visit please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Michael Dinan