Hear ‘em out
Hearing aids can help improve one’s quality of life.
THERE shouldn’t be any shame in wearing a hearing aid, says Nessa co-founder and chief technological head Eddy Ng. Nessa is a hearing solutions provider that hopes to create a positive perception of the devices.
“As small as they are, they have a negative reputation attached to them. People think, or have a feeling, that when they put them on, that they’re suddenly older or that there’s something wrong with them,” said Ng.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 360 million people in the world suffer from hearing loss.
In Malaysia, 30% of the 3.8 million elderlies have some degree of hearing loss. WHO also claims that 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults worldwide are at risk of hearing loss due to unsafe sound levels mainly from prolonged exposure to personal audio devices, noisy workplaces and lifestyle.
Co-designed with Apple, Nessa’s hearing aids are made in Denmark, weigh about 3g and are as small as 10sen coins.
“Users can stream music directly to their hearing aid, or control the volume of the sound from the television without disrupting the experience for others,” Ng said.
The hearing aids are not waterproof, and come with nonrechargeable batteries that last three to seven days. “But if you do heavy streaming, then it would probably last for two days,” he said.
Using the HearMax or Smart 3D apps on their mobile devices, users can adjust their hearing aids to different settings like Restaurant, AllAround, Outdoor, Lecture and TV.
“For example, if you’re in a restaurant, you would want to drown out the sounds around you. You can also adjust the directionality of the sound, so you can focus on your subjects,” he said.
Nessa’s hearing aids can be remotely calibrated, and users don’t need to do follow-up checks with their audiologists to adjust them.
“Traditionally, you’d have to take
a trip down to the hospital or your audiologist to make the adjustments. And some people would give up after two tries which is why we came up with the Remote Pod that allows them to do the adjustments without having to leave home,” he said.
Generally, in the first six to eight weeks, the hearing aids need to be adjusted on average of five to seven times.
“Our natural hearing works across multiple frequencies, so there are minor adjustments to make to the hearing aids to get the settings right,” said Ng.
Nessa offers three different packages with the price ranging from RM2,000 to RM12,000 for each hearing aid, and Android users will have to purchase an additional device called the Phone Clip (RM1,200) to enjoy most of the features.