Where’s the Beep?

Karen was visiting her friend, Sylvia who lives in Tampa. Sylvia wears hearing aids and has worn them for years.

I always know something amused these ladies when Karen comes back from her visit and asks me technical questions about hearing aids.

While the ladies were visiting, Karen’s phone beeped and pinged a few times. Each time Sylvia would swivel her head this way and that searching for the sounds.

Karen shared that sound location is an unusual experience for hearing aid wearers. Wearing hearing aids can result in hearing all sounds occurring at shoulder height. For the wearer there is no up or down for the sounds. And for new sounds the front and back location can take a few times, since bouncing of sounds can distort the ability to locate it.

Karen explained that years ago Oticon discovered higher frequencies, which we can’t hear, assists with locating sounds. Since Karen hasn’t studied hearing aids for quite a few years she thought that by now, it should be industry knowledge and manufacturers would be using it.

When Karen got home she asked me if all manufacturers are using sound location. No. Actually only two manufacturers have true Spatial Sound ability. This technology can assist hearing aid wearers to identify the location of sounds, even the first time they hear sounds. These higher frequencies help to detect vertical locations as well as front and back. They use a sphere shape for sound location technology.

Oticon has had this technology for years. And Resound has just released a new model that also has spatial sound ability.

If you are curious about hearing spatial sounds, call for a free no obligation demo. Even if you aren’t currently in the market and just want to experience sounds location, call us at 941-244-9300.