“Imagine earpieces that let you tune in to a guy who is whispering across the room, or eyeglasses that allow you to scan the price of any item in a supermarket.” This is the bionic future that The New York Times journalist, Farhad Manjoo, writes about in his article: “Conjuring Images of a Bionic Future”, one that smart hearing aids like ReSound LiNXTM are helping to make a reality.
“It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that the latest crop of advanced hearing aids are better than the ears most of us were born with,” writes Manjoo. “I’m 35 and I have normal hearing. But if I could, I’d wear these hearing aids all the time…. Wearing these hearing aids was like giving my ears a software upgrade.”
Majoo chatted with ReSound LiNX user Dick Loizeaux about his recent experience in a New York City nightclub. “’After a few adjustments, I was having a comfortable conversation in a nightclub,’ Mr. Loizeaux told me during a recent phone interview — a phone call he would have had difficulty making with his older hearing aids. ‘My wife was standing next to me in the club and she was having trouble having the same conversation, and she has perfect hearing.’”
Hearing aids in a nightclub? Does that mean hearing aids can be hip? That’s the question that Suzy Frisch answers in her Star Tribune article. “Wearing a hearing aid is rarely considered cool — one of the reasons many hearing-impaired people delay the inevitable or live without hearing much of the world around them. But align the iconic Apple name with hearing aids and that device may just become hip.”
“iPhone-connected hearing aids are just the beginning,” writes Manjoo. “Today most people who wear hearing aids, eyeglasses, prosthetic limbs and other accessibility devices do so to correct a disability. But new hearing aids point to the bionic future of disability devices.”
But ReSound LiNX isn’t just cool because it’s Made for iPhone. In an article from Audiology WorldNews Lars Viksmoen, CEO of ReSound pointed that out.“I think it [ReSound LiNX] will be special and I think the most important thing is that it is a very good hearing aid – the best hearing aid that money can buy!” He continued, “as a hearing aid the sound quality is just fabulous and we get that comment from patients when they are trying it. There are obviously some benefits that go beyond the hearing aid itself, which are the connectivity and the app.”
So, can hearing aids be hip? We think they already are!