Harvey Fletcher, a scientist at Bell Laboratories, is widely credited with inventing the electric hearing aid — a cumbersome, body-worn device that debuted in the 1930s.
Eighty years later, a Minnesota company is trying to solve a problem that has eluded decades of innovation: reconcile the problematic device with ordinary life, 21st Century-style.
ReSound, headquartered in Bloomington, recently introduced technology that can wirelessly stream sound from television, cell phone, computer, and even iPod to a patient’s hearing aid.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
By integrating hearing aids with modern consumer electronic devices, the company hopes to energize an industry perpetually retarded by the stigma of hearing loss. In addition, most insurance companies don’t cover hearing aids, which cost anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 per device.
“Who wants to wear hearing aids?” said Keith Lewis, ReSound’s vice president of business development. “It’s a significant problem. Most people wait four-to-seven years to do something about [hearing loss]. The cosmetic side has been addressed. But how do we get this embedded into our daily existence?”
Hearing aid sales increase an average 4-to-5 percent every year in the United States — solid but not spectacular growth. ReSound, which controls 15-to-17 percent of the $1.2 billion wholesale hearing aid market, hopes its Alera and United wireless technologies will change that.
“We’re taking everyday mobile technologies and applying them to hearing aids,” Lewis said. “We’re maybe at a tipping point [of consumer acceptance], because our technology addresses everyday existence.”
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
ReSound and ReGen, owned by GN ReSound Group in Denmark, along with Starkey Laboratories Inc. in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, both have benefited from advances in digital sound processing technology in recent years.
Today’s hearing aid systems feature powerful minicomputers and software that can quickly process much more information per second than older analog models. As a result, hearing aids can strip out unwanted background noise and boost desired sounds, like human speech.
“If you can process more, you can do more,” Lewis said.
With Alera and Unite, ReSound hopes to preserve wanted background noise. For example, users can participate in conversations, watch television and enjoy music at the same time, even if they are several feet away from the devices. Thanks to Bluetooth technology, ReSound’s system can transit sound directly to a hearing aid without wires, allowing users to move freely.
However, recent innovations in hearing technology could make hearing aids irrelevant in the future.
Envoy Medical Corp., a startup in White Bear Township, Minnesota, has drawn considerable buzz for its Esteem system, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year. The device, which is implanted in the ear, can convert mechanical noise into digital information, clean up the sound, convert the information back to natural sound and transmit it to the brain.
Lewis said he’s watching Envoy with great interest. But he notes the device, which is designed for people with severe hearing loss, is expensive ($30,000) and requires invasive surgery that few doctors in the country are qualified to perform.
When it comes to paying for hearing device like Esteem or Alera, “what is the ‘return’ on happiness?” Lewis asked.
