It seems as if all our devices are getting smarter, stronger, and smaller. Being smaller while doing more is the general trend.
So it’s no surprise that hearing aids are no exception. Though hearing issues have a number of causes, hearing difficulties are more common among older people, and the world’s population is getting older. Around 37.5 million people and 3 million Canadians describe some amount of hearing loss according to the National Institutes of Health. And that number is increasing as age is the strongest demographic variable to predict hearing loss.
Of course, if you’re dealing with hearing loss, even one individual with difficulty hearing, i.e. you, is one person too many. Better ways to minimize hearing loss? Let’s have them! Advancements are happening, here are some.
Using Your Hearing Aid to Track Your Entire Body
This one seems as if it should be obvious. Health and fitness trackers have to be worn on the body. So, if you already have a device that’s in your ear… do you really need a separate one on your wrist? The answer is no. Or at least, you don’t with some of the latest hearing aids, which along with helping fix hearing difficulties such as tinnitus, will also track your pulse, your physical activity, and much more. Certainly, a wearable like an Apple Watch can do that, but hearing aids can offer you other types of input that can be helpful to monitoring health, like how much time you spend having conversations or listening. How much social involvement you get can actually be an essential health metric, particularly as you age.
Better Streaming Straight to You
Connectivity is the primary watchword, as virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa have advanced from smartphones to in-home devices without missing a beat. Some hearing aids that provide Bluetooth capabilities now allow users to stream audio directly from a device, like a smart TV for instance, to the hearing aids. Google published open-source standards for Android developers that show them how to use specific channels within Bluetooth to produce uninterrupted audio straight to hearing aids. This kind of technology is helping hearing aids work almost like super-powered wireless headphones, making it easier to enjoy movies, music, and more.
Smart Adjustments From Big Data
Your next hearing aid could make personalized suggestions similar to how a Fitbit alerts you to fitness objectives or how Netflix suggests your next movie in line with your viewing trend. The places you go and the adjustments you make will allow these new hearing aids, being developed by a few brands, to learn your behaviors. Some push it even further, crowdsourcing information on how individuals use their hearing aids anonymizing and then aggregating the data. So whether you’re watching TV at home, or in an IMAX theater, your hearing aids will be able to use this information to recognize what your situation is and make adjustments to give you the most enjoyable audio experience.
Finally Losing The Batteries
Hearing aids that don’t need their batteries changed? Sound too good to be true? After all, making sure you’ve got spare batteries on hand, or even making time to recharge your hearing aid batteries, can be a pain in the, um, ear. While a hearing aid that doesn’t take any batteries at all might seem like wishful thinking, rechargeable battery technology keeps improving. That means longer in-use time, faster recharging, and less worrying about batteries, all in all, not too bad.