Hearing aids, as with many other devices, are getting smarter, less conspicuous and cooler every day, and just in time. The average American is older, reports The Us Census Department, as the whole population gets older, and sadly, loss of hearing, especially in older people, is very common. About 37.5 million American adults and rising say they have some level of hearing loss.
Luckily hearing technology has had some thrilling developments recently that will offer more options for dealing with loss of hearing. Here are just a few of the innovations coming our way.
Your Overall Health Can be Tracked by Your Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are equal to if not better than a fitness tracker at keeping track of several vital signs. Not only can it keep track of step count, how many calories were burned, the total number of steps you took and heart rate, it also checks the time in between heartbeats to help detect any cardiovascular issues. They’re also developing technology that can measure other significant vital signs including blood pressure and oxygenation of the blood. Hearing aids also often have other benefits, including the ability to help drown out tinnitus and will help your overall hearing so that your social life will get better also. Actually, social involvement has been linked to your general health as well, so really it’s another health statistic we should be looking at. Since hearing aids can now also sync with your smartphone so you can listen to your songs, you won’t even need a smartwatch or fitness device?
Simpler And Smarter Streaming
Being connected to your virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa is becoming more important as people get more addicted to these features. Even if using these assistants is not your thing, Bluetooth hearing aids allow you to stream sound from any Bluetooth device like your phone or smart TV. Just think of the advantages: You could hear the play-by-play in the next Super Bowl clearly over your family’s cheers (or at least steer clear of getting yelled at for having the volume too loud). Being able to directly stream phone calls, music, shows and more right to your ears not only helps you hear and enjoy them more, but it will help you handle your hearing loss inconspicuously.
Automatic Adjustments
Did you ever notice how Goodreads seems to know what kind of book you’d like to read? Or how Amazon somehow know which items to suggest? That’s because big data and artificial intelligence are very powerful. Modern hearing aids harness this type of intelligence and use it to make changes based on your past reactions. For instance, if you lowered the volume the last time you visited the train station, your hearing aid will remember that and turn itself down the next time you go into the train station. They are extending this technology to include crowdsourcing also, allowing information from other people to notify your hearing aids that you’re approaching a loud zone. Over time you can quickly adjust to changes in the hearing environment because your hearing aid will make recommendations based on all the information it has gathered.
You Won’t Need to Keep Replacing Those Tiny Batteries
Why would you want to continuously struggle with hearing aid batteries? Rechargeable hearing aids are currently available. Even though you can do a lot to help increase the life of your hearing aids’ batteries, let’s be honest…it’s still pricey and annoying. Better yet, technology to recharge your hearing aids while they are still in your ears is being developed.
