There is a word that is becoming popular in the hearing
industry and it is “hearable”. The hearable refers to the normalization of
hearing devices that are accessible and useful to everyone. As an audiologist I
am excited as always by new technology but not always sure what the hearing
related landscape will look like in the next several years and what our role as
Doctors of audiology will be. I have to say though that I am very excited about
the new technology that is on our doorstep even today and wanted to share some
of the possibilities as well as some of the realities with you.
So how many of you have joined the fit bit craze or any of
the other similar devices that allow you to measure hear rate or steps walked
etc.? How many of you use an mp3 device like an iPod? How many of you use hands
free blue tooth devices for the telephone or an ear thermometer. These are all
examples of some of the common devices that we use in everyday life as for
leisure or with other singular purpose.
In the hearing world much is changing as we start to understand the potential
of the ear for more than just hearing.
The ear is certainly involved in hearing but it is a site
that we can use to ascertain body temperature or to monitor our pulse or to
sample body chemistry. Some of the research that is being done also uses the
ear as a site to place sensors that allow us to monitor brain wave activity.
With all of these possibilities the ear can become a part of the body that
allows for sensors that can be used to provide information on well being as
well as a point of communication. The hearable is a group of devices that tries
to use the ear for many or some of these purposes.
In todays world the hearing aid has already taken on some of
the technological advances and brought them to the ear. I have been fitting
hearing aids that can be linked to an app on you iPhone that allows you to
control it and make fine tuning adjustments. You are able walk into a room and
adjust the sound of your hearing aid for that room and then save that setting
for the next time you are there, this geotag will then be saved and the next
time your iPhone locating service sees that you are in that same spot it will
ask you if you want to use your previous setting. In the future everyone’s
preferences for locations will be uploaded via the “cloud’ and the information
analyzed and stored allowing for preferential algorithms to be accessed by the
hearing aid user when they walk into that environment.
Todays hearing aids can allow you to speak on you phone
hands free with your hearing aids being your phone, they can allow you to
listen to your music wirelessly through your hearing aids or to connect to
other blue tooth devices or your television.
In the hearable world we have devices that resemble custom
made hearing aids that allow you to store and listen to music in your ears as
well as to give you information on your heart rate or how many steps you have
taken or to use as your hands free phone etc. The hearing aids of the future
will be able to monitor your brainwaves in response to the sound input and
detect the bits and pieces that might be missing centrally allowing the hearing
aid to then react and provide that previously missing information on a fluid basis.
The hearing aid in short will be able to tell what you didn’t hear in speech
and make sure that you do. Wow!
In the future and even in the present hearing devices can be
worn by both the hearing impaired as well as the normal hearing individual with
the only difference being which functions are activated in them.
Here in our clinic we are getting ready to bring these
technological advances to our patients so keep following us on Facebook or on
our website or twitter as we will be launching some really amazing new products
that everyone can use to enjoy life more fully. I have normal hearing and cant
wait to use these hearables myself. I expect to be amazed.
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