By Eric Jackson, world champion kayaker, professional angler,
entrepreneur and ReSound hearing ambassador
My past 35 years have been focused on kayak designs, and improving them to give me a competitive advantage over the rest of the world. At the Olympics in Barcelona in ’92, I had a boat like everyone else and got 13th place.
The next year, I had a prototype that was cutting edge and won my first World Championships. Since that time, I have had a laser focus on pushing the limits of what kayak design can do. It has really paid off. And I developed the skill of recognizing where improvements can be made, and the abilities to make them into a new design.
When the kayak company I was designing for didn’t want to pursue a design I created to help kids get into kayaking, I left to start my own business (Jackson Kayak), and launched my brand with a kids boat for kids. The result was to lower the average age of new kayakers by 50 percent.
Hearing By Design: My hearing aid journey
One of my biggest challenges in life/business has been my severe hearing loss.
I never let it bother me, but it can’t be ignored. And those around me certainly can’t ignore it…constantly repeating themselves, hearing me crank the volume on the TV or radio, and I talk very loud when inappropriate.
I tried hearing aids back in the 1970s, but they were so poorly designed that the use of them was so annoying that I preferred not having them. Analog, noisy, and terrible sound in general.
In the 1990s, I got my next set of hearing aids that was much better, but still didn’t work well enough for me to begin to enjoy the benefits of amplified sound. They were digital, but the quality was so far below what my earphones delivered for sound when listening to music that I still felt I was wearing something sub-par.
In 2002, I got another set of top-of-the-line hearing aids that promised an experience that was “almost like having my own hearing back.” It was a huge improvement over my 90s devices and I wore them for about 6 months, most of the time. I was really trying to get to like them. In the end, I lost motivation to wear them.
Meanwhile, my new kayaks were winning the World Championships with me paddling them, and the new designs were changing how people viewed kayaks. They would never look the same. I was waiting for hearing aids to do the same.
ReSound ONE and M&RIE: A Hearing Aid Breakthrough
Three more generations of hearing aids over the past 18 years brings us to what I believe is the critical moment in hearing aid history, where the hearing aid is so natural and high quality, and offers so many benefits, that I won’t EVER want to go out without them on.
I recently was fitted for the biggest breakthrough in hearing aid design, the Resound ONE. Yes, it has the latest in technology…the Bluetooth is impeccable, and they are simple to use and sound amazing.
However, for the first time in history, I am not wanting for more and it is their breakthrough in design that delivered what I feel is the holy grail for hearing aids…M&RIE.
It took me a while to get used to that name and understand what it was. I almost didn’t think it was anything special until really explained to me. M&RIE stands for Microphone and Receiver in ear. That explanation doesn’t do it justice.
In a nutshell…for the first time the microphone was moved from the part of the hearing aid that sits on the back of your ear, into your ear canal where sound is supposed to be picked up.
Your ears are like a satellite dish that funnel sound in the way your brain expects to receive it to your ear drum. If you are not hearing sound in that way (like you would with ALL other hearing aids) you lose the ability to judge the distance sound is away from you, and the direction it is coming from.
Those two factors are game changers and are disorienting when you lose them. Putting on hearing aids in the past would amplify sound, but you lose your sense of that sound that makes it more meaningful. You don’t look in the right direction when somebody talks to you, etc. etc. Resound ONE brings that last missing step to the table and provides you the comfort and natural hearing experience, when you don’t have it due to hearing loss.
Yes, I enjoy the Bluetooth connectivity to my smart phone and listen to music, make phone calls, and control my settings with an app that assures I am always optimized.
Finally, I feel badly for those who don’t need hearing aids. They are tools that really improve modern life and if you don’t have them, I feel like you are not full engaged.
Go to your local audiologist and get your hearing tested and try Resound ONE. They will blow your mind!
EJ
