It’s surprising that technology as commonplace as the hearing aid is not yet fully commoditized, but according to Sascha Segan, the new “Songbird” hearing aid — available over-the-counter for $80 — is the first “disposable” model.
The speaker element comes on an adjustable-length wire, so it’s one-size-sorta-fits-all. You buy it over the counter with no doctor’s visit required. And when you run out of the 400 hours of battery life (call it a month or so), you buy another one.
I was with them right up until the “just buy another one” idea. Throw a rechargeable battery in there, Songbird!
As someone who wears a hearing aid, I heard about this years ago when I was working at Boots.
My first though was “what the hell?” and the second “how long before someone hacks this?”
All the hearing aids I’ve had used little button batteries in flip-out compartments. Changing them is about as hard at putting on a pair of pants. Now, you could argue it’s useful for elderly people so they don’t have to fiddle with batteries. However, you can get magnetic battery dipensers to make that easier, and also a hearing aid requires a bit of fiddling around to put back in, so if you can’t do that you’ll have a hard time putting yours back.
Now, there is one use I can think of for it, and it’s exactly the same as for disposable contacts:
It Doesn’t Matter If It Breaks.
I know people who take disposable lenses camping, and I’d consider doing the same for a hearing aid if I thought there was a good chance of wrecking my ~£600 ones and getting a bill or “tough luck” note from the NHS.
Anyway, screw that, I want the future of hearing aids to go two ways:
1:Integrated Bluetooth headset and sharp design, turning a disability aid into an acessory as happened for glassesd
2: Ones that don’t give you sweaty ears.
As a backup hearing aid, this sounds fine. Though I wonder when that 400-hour clock starts ticking — at the factory or at purchase?
But the economics of these are all wrong for daily long-term use. Going from the figures in the posts, it’s roughly $1000 per year per ear for these! A good non-disposable hearing aid (probably far higher quality and tech, more comfortable, and professionally fitted and adjusted) is, let’s say, $2000 and that’s on the high side. Plus, what, a hundred bucks in batteries a year? And good hearing aids can last much longer than 2 years. It just don’t make sense, it ends up being a waste of money.
Oh, and whoever is calling these “inexpensive” didn’t do the math.
Monkeyduck is pretty close to imagining what I’ve always thought would be advantageous. Perhaps he knows why it wouldn’t be.
My father lost most of his hearing years ago due to large doses of an antibiotic. He now has a hearing aid and a cochlear implant.
Both of these devices are terribly sophisticated. I don’t have any idea how much horsepower is in each, but it’s pretty extensive, and it’s moderately delicate. He loses at least one of the devices per year due to sweat.
Why, then, don’t we have bluetooth headsets tethered to a PDA that does the DSP work? Yes, it’s a step back, visually, from the smaller, less-obtrusive hearing aids we have now. But a best quality bluetooth earpiece surely can be had for $200, and a good PDA can be had for $400. Said PDA could do all sorts of audio tricks that the hearing aids can’t do- for example, dad can’t see movies because the reverberation from surround sound plays havoc. I would imagine audio modeling could be done to solve that- click on the right preset, voila!
Anyways, $600 hearing aids that are commodity and easily replaced. That’s my dream. Somebody feel free and steal this idea and make a fortune, but just send my dad a set once you get it done…
I ordered a Songbird Hearing Aid and tried, unsuccessfully, to get it to work. I tried it three times and NOTHING. When I called to report it, I was told the time had expired and they would do nothing about it. It evidently was defective when it was sent, so I think they should have done something about it. It may be convenient but very expensive. BE AWARE: THEY DO NOT STAND UP TO THEIR PROMISES.
JOHANNA STRAUB
ELLIJAY GA 30540
I’m not really in favor of the songbird…but just a comment on harshlanguage saying that $2000 per ear is at the high side? no way you can easily go $3000-5000 per ear depending on sophistication of the instrument.
I wouldn’t mind the expense if they would figure out a way that it wouldn’t break down because of ear wax and sweat. It’s crazy since the design is meant to be placed into that kind of environment (ear wax and sweat) yet that is exactly the worst thing that can happen to the instrument. HELLOOOO!!