There has been a huge breakthrough in hearing aid
technology!

But let’s look at the development of hearing
aids over the last twenty-five years, first.
Twenty-five years ago, hearing aids were linear, analog
circuits – pure amplifiers needing constant adjusting of the
volume control. This technology worked well in a quiet
environment but was far too loud and distorted in a noisy
restaurant. You had to take your hearing aids out – the
place where you needed them the most.

The first big advancement was programmable hearing aids
with wide dynamic range compression. These circuits
amplified soft sounds a lot but hardly amplified loud
sounds at all. They did some self adjusting which meant
you could leave your hearing aids on while in that noisy
restaurant, and follow some of the conversation.
In the late 1990’s, digital technology was introduced.
Digital processing circuits were much clearer sounding. It
was like listening to a CD versus a record. We were now
able to match your specific hearing loss more accurately,
and that meant better clarity and more comfortable
listening for you. Multiple listening programs also became
available. For example, program one might be for normal
listening situations while program two might be set for that
noisy restaurant.

Today, some of the more advanced digital technologies
continually analyze incoming sounds, process them and
reduce unwanted noise making the speech easier to
understand. But up until now, reducing the undesirable
noise also meant reducing some of the speech cues. If
you add directional microphones to your hearing aids,
most people do much better in a noisy restaurant and can
actually follow more of the conversation.
In May 2010, Starkey Laboratories made an extraordinary
leap in hearing technology. Based on their research over a
three year period at the Starkey Hearing Research Center
in Berkeley, California, they have taken on the problem of
being able to hear in noise.

Significantly increasing the speed of their digital
processing has allowed Starkey to come up with this
breakthrough technology that diminishes noise while
preserving the speech. I know. You’ve heard this before.
But here’s the difference. The new Voice iQ benefits from
voice-finding technology that analyzes and adapts at
speeds fast enough to reduce segments of noise within
sentences. In fact, it reduces noise between the gaps of
words or syllables. By reducing that noise so quickly, the
speech or words seem to pop up out of the ocean of noise.
The Starkey Voice iQ is literally changing the way people
hear conversations in noise!

For me, the proof is always in my patients. One 55-year
old, man who has worn hearing aids since he was 3-years
old was fit with the new Voice iQ. He has a severe-toprofound
loss and literally is left out of conversations when
in a noisy situation. With his new Voice iQ instruments, he
sat in a noisy restaurant with three women and followed
the conversation. Most importantly, he felt included. When
he told this story, he got all choked up and teary-eyed. So
did I!

A 44-year old woman with a mild hearing loss wore her
new Voice iQ to a party. She was in awe as to how easy it
was to follow conversation and how comfortable everything
sounded despite the loudness of the party. The next night
she went to another party but accidently wore her old
hearing aids. She had to take them out because everything
sounded too loud and harsh. She was shocked at the
difference in the two technologies even with her mild loss.
First-time wearers who start with Voice iQ get used to them
quickly. One man said, “If I’d known it would have been
this easy to get used to hearing aids, I’d have done it
sooner!” I reminded him that this revolutionary technology
had just been released so his timing was perfect!
Whether you are discouraged about your current hearing
aids or you’ve been putting off getting your first set of
hearing instruments, the Starkey Voice iQ will change the
way you hear conversations! Please check it out!
For more information on this topic or other important hearing
health issues, contact Betty Vosters-Kemp, Avalon Hearing
Aid Centers, Inc. at any of three offices: