In his newest blog written exclusively for Starkey, Justin Osmond—who was born with a severe-to-profound hearing loss and has been wearing hearing aids since he was two years old—talks about how the advancement in hearing aid sound quality and features motivates him to invest in new hearing technology on a regular basis.
I’ve now worn hearing devices for over 45 years, so I think it’s fair to say that I have enough experience to know, understand, differentiate, and hear how hearing technology has evolved over the years.
I well remember the days when I was young. My mom tried with all her strength to get me to wear my big, bulky, hardware devices around my ears, because she was told by my audiologist that hearing aids would provide optimal treatment for my severe-to-profound hearing loss.
Past hearing aids felt more inconvenient, less helpful
But as a young boy, I disliked wearing these devices—not because of the cosmetic issue, but because of the poor quality of sound that the analog hearing technology provided. With my profound hearing loss, I needed as much gain, output, and power as possible in order for me to hear my surroundings.
But the more my hearing specialists raised the volume on my hearing aids, the more feedback I would get. As you can imagine, it was annoying, frustrating and embarrassing—particularly in front of my family, friends, and classmates. Back in the day, I felt that wearing hearing aids was more of an inconvenience rather than a way to make my life easier, more seamless, and better overall.
So as a young boy, I found opportunities and excuses to get rid of my hearing devices to avoid wearing them: I fed one pair of hearing aids to my dog. Another time, I hid them under a large plant in our family room. And I dare say that I once flushed a pair of devices down the toilet (I knew for sure my mom would never find them there!).
Let’s just say that I cost my parents a lot of money back in the day, and looking back, I regret my actions.
Hearing technology has advanced exponentially
Thanks to the significant investment in research and development, we have the BEST hearing technology available to us today.
In my upbringing, I’ve seen and witnessed how hearing technology has improved from analog to programmable to digital—and now to Bluetooth® streaming and AI compatibility.
But the breakthrough for me and for millions of others struggling with hearing loss was when engineers invented the feedback cancellation feature. From that moment on, wearing my hearing aids no longer felt like an inconvenience because I didn’t have the fear of others hearing that noisy, annoying ring of feedback from my hearing devices.
Upgrading offers plentiful benefits, thanks to innovation
This brings me to why I like to upgrade my hearing aids every few years: Just when I think hearing technology can’t get any better, it truly gets better. It’s legit and the sound quality is unreal. I feel as though I’m getting closer and closer to what normal hearing sounds like.
I’ve learned that getting new, upgraded hearing devices can also help your brain process speech faster, reduce fatigue, and make it easier to hear in noisy environments.
As a producer of large events, I rely on my hearing so I can connect, understand, and communicate with the production team, crew, and cast members. In my most recent production at a university football stadium—sold out with thousands of noisy and excited people—I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hear and communicate via radio with my backstage manager. But surprisingly, I was able to connect, hear, understand, and speak with my production team over the background noise.
It’s moments like these that make me so grateful for modern day technology and the latest hearing technology out there. Today’s hearing innovations include features like noise reduction, directional microphones, and Bluetooth connectivity. (Thank you, Starkey Hearing, for these amazing hearing devices hearing devices that allow me to do my job effectively in very noisy environments.)
And that’s not all …
There are many more reasons why we should consider updating and upgrading our hearing technology:
- Our hearing changes over time. Your hearing care professional can help you determine whether a new hearing device may better accommodate your changing hearing needs.
- Hearing aids reach their lifespan (like any digital device). With normal wear and tear, hearing aids eventually reach a point where they aren’t working the way they used to, so upgrading is necessary to maintain your best hearing.
- New hearing aids can help eliminate fatigue and frustrations and make hearing more comfortable. For example, the latest technology can help you track engagement and achieve well-being goals; stream stereo sound from TVs, phones, computers, and radios; and allows you to have a dialogue on your phone—hands free.
- Rechargeable hearing aids are now available for added convenience, powered by a lithium-ion battery. Starkey's Genesis AI hearing aid has the industry's longest battery life, lasting up to 51 hours on a single charge.
- The latest hearing aids can differentiate between music and speech and automatically change settings to let you hear and enjoy music.
- Imagine a hearing system that can help you hear wherever you are. Today’s hearing technology is so smart, it can tell when you are at your favorite restaurant, in a place of worship, or at work, and then automatically adjust sound quality for that environment. This feature is available with smartphone-compatible hearing aids.
- Hearing aids continue to get smaller and more powerful. Many styles, including wireless options, rest comfortably inside your ear canal where they are virtually invisible to others.
- Today’s hearing technology can provide tinnitus relief. This technology allows you and your hearing professional to customize a soothing sound stimulus to help you manage your tinnitus.
Upgrade to better hearing and living
Like many other high-tech devices (TVs, phones, computers), hearing aids have experienced a major technological revolution in the past decade and especially in the last few years.
I hope that after reading this, you will strongly consider upgrading your hearing technology every few years. I know it’s made a tremendous difference in my life, as I’m now able to hear better and live better.
You can follow Justin Osmond on Facebook at JAOsmond; on Instagram at justin_osmond; on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinosmond/ or at his website www.justinosmond.com