New Hearing Aid Takes International Best of Show
: ith 3,400 hearing clinicians in attendance to a standing-room only crowd The “A4” hearing aid was released at the recent Hearing Innovation Expo in Las Vegas.
“This new instrument revolutionizes hearing and understanding in one fell swoop, causing other contenders to go back to the drawing board,” said Brian Dobson, senior mechanical engineer. “The level of pride our engineers feel about our accomplishment is very satisfying.”
The A4 features a noise-attenuating breakthrough known as the MEMS Microphone with 10 kilohertz bandwidth — the result of a decade of micro-engineering research.
The A4 also features a telecoil for automatic pairing with phones and looped areas such as theaters and public areas, and a micro antenna cast into the spine for Bluetooth connectivity and streaming television, cell phone, and music.
“The A4 is an engineering marvel due to its small size and features previously available only in larger hearing aids,” Dobson, said. “The design is svelte, with a pronounced push button and a cut-out near the front. The reason we did that is it is a very small receiver-in-canal, and we want patients who have dexterity issues or loss of sensitivity of touch to be able to slide their finger down the Mic cover, land on the push button and be able to activate it.” The A4 is now available through NewSound Hearing Clinics in Houston. 1-888-796-4976.