Technology Cool Hearing Aid: Wearing hearing aids currently isn’t cool, they look boring, bulky, and out of fashion. A device that is strongly tied to old people. But some smart tech companies are on route to change that perception.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), 1in 3 people aged 70 or older who could benefit from hearing aids has used them. To make matters worse they are very expensive, costing up to $7,000 for a high-end pair.
There could be a disruption in the hearing aid market as wearables like Bose and Apple have plans to produce fashionable hearing aids. The AirPods pro already functions as a hearing aid since the release of iOS 14, with “Transparency Mode”. While Bose has a hearing aid device “Sound control aid” with very minimal looks.
Apple seems to be winning this space, as the AirPods Pro is more affordable at $250, the Samsung buds pro costing less compared to Bose’s sound control aid at $850. But hey, competition will always drive down prices and fuel innovation. Win-win for the customer.
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These cool devices could replace hearing aids in no distant time, contact lenses have replaced bifocals. But for this to happen fast, “marketing is key” said Dr.Justin S.Golub, an ear, nose, and throat doctor at Columbia University Medical Center.
To speed the disruption in the hearing aid market, US Congress passed legislation in 2017 that allows manufacturers to sell hearing aids directly to consumers from an audiologist, eliminating the middlemen that charge higher prices.
Brain Maguire, category director of Bose Hear said the three big barriers to hearing-aid acceptance are price, the complexity of access, and stigma. He believes Bose has the opportunity to change all three of those over time.
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