Tuheen Chakraborty, a tabla player with the band Indian Ocean, suffered partial hearing loss in a car crash in 1999. But when he is up on stage he never trips up on the taal or misses a note. What allows him this near normal connect to the aural world is the smart digital hearing aid he switched to recently. It can be remotely connected to electronic equipment - such as speakers and mobile phones - and filters out ambient noise so that he can hear clearly.
Like Chakraborty, a growing number of people with mild to severe hearing loss are turning to smart hearing devices. Unlike simple digital aids which have been around for a while, the new advanced aids can be remotely connected to public announcement systems or microphones and receive data streamed through apps. Some of the models even enable the user to hear normally in very noisy settings like a cricket match, a crowded restaurant or a concert hall.
Leading the pack of sophisticated listening devices are GN ReSound's Linx and Starkey's Halo. These aids, launched earlier this year, can be integrated with Apple's iOS products, like iPhone and iPad. These smart, and very small, hearing aids are integrated with your iPhone via an interactive app, which streams audio data like conversations and music to the phone and allows the user to adjust the volume, treble and bass. Both these aids are now available in India in addition to models from other leading brands like Widex and Siemens. Hearing aid users can also download smart hearing apps like RealClarity, Aud1 and EarMachine, for Rs 250 to Rs 300 from the internet.
Digital technology has radically transformed the soundscape for the hearing-impaired who earlier had to rely only on analog aids. They were boxy, unsightly contraptions which helped one hear but had problems like an echo, a lag and in crowded situations, one had to struggle to make sense of the muddled medley of noises.
"Smart digital devices amplify only those sound frequencies which the wearer cannot hear clearly. On the other hand, people who use analog aids always complain that they hear the ceiling fan just as loudly as the voice of the person talking to t h e m , " s ay s D r Someshwar Singh, a Delhi-based consultant ENT surgeon. He says he prescribes 20-30 of these sleeker, smarter digital hearing aids in a month. Brigadier Sivinder Singh, a retired army officer, uses Starkey Surflink, a Bluetooth-like device, which connects his Starkey hearing aid with his android phone. "When my phone rings, Surflink via an app on my phone transmits the sound directly to my hearing aid. Nobody else hears it ringing," says Singh whose hearing was impacted from exposure to deafening artillery sounds.
Wireless accessories, like Surflink, transmit sound via FM spectrum or Bluetooth platform to digital hearing aids placed either inside or behind the ear. These accessories connect the hearing aid to a number of electronic gadgets - FM radio, TV, mobile phones, cordless phones etc. With Siemens' ePen, users can change the volume, flip programmes or turn the aid off and on. GN Resound's Remote Control 2 has a bigger display so that the user doesn't fumble while adjusting the controls.
Smart hearing aids, however, are expensive. A good quality aid starts at Rs 30,000 and can go up to as much as Rs 2 lakh and more. The analog variants only cost between Rs 500 and Rs 2,000. The cost factor forces most hearing-impaired - currently 6% of India's population - to opt for analog devices.
In government-run schools, for instance, hearing impaired students are provided free analog aids but with uniform calibration. "They are of little use because every child has a different degree of hearing loss," says Devangi Dalal who runs Josh, a Mumbai-based NGO which works with hearing impaired children.
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