Hearing Aid Innovation Never Stops! | Phonak Audéo™ Paradise

In this video, I'm talking about why hearing aid innovation will never stop and why this shouldn't stop you from treating your hearing loss right now. Coming up. Hi, guys, Cliff Olsen, Doctor of Audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona. And on this channel, I cover a bunch of hearing-related information to help make you a better informed consumer. So if you're into that, make sure you hit that subscribe button, and don't forget to click the bell to receive a notification every time I post a new video.

You probably don't know this about me, but I did not get my first smartphone until 2017. In fact, I use this exact same brick slider phone for over nine years. And part of the reason why I use this phone for so long is because I kept seeing smartphone technology get better and better each and every year. And I was always willing to wait a little bit longer for the newest, latest, and greatest smartphone. When I bought my first smartphone in 2017, it was the most advanced piece of technology known to man. That is until 2019 came along, and so did a better smartphone, which I am now the proud owner of. Well, the same thing is true with hearing aids. In fact, you can go back over two years on my channel and look at video reviews of hearing aids that were the most advanced pieces of hearing technology at the time. And we are still seeing newer technology come out today that is even better.

Since the ear horn, the very first hearing aid ever recorded, hearing aid technology has continued to improve over the decades. The exciting thing is that hearing aid innovation happens at a significantly faster rate today than ever before in history. As more and more individuals with hearing loss continue to pursue treatment with hearing aids, engineers are able to collect a ton of data to identify exactly what individuals want. And this leads to the development of new technology, which significantly improves patient outcomes and overall satisfaction with hearing aids. Not to mention, making hearing aid technology that is actually cool to wear because of all of the amazing features that not only enhance your ability to hear but they enhance your lifestyle as well.

No matter how great hearing aid technology was yesterday, innovation will always lead to a better hearing aid in the future. And nobody knows this better than Phonak, today's video sponsor. In 2018, Phonak released the award-winning Audeo Marvel line of hearing aids, which went on to be the most popular hearing aids in Phonak history. and one of the most popular hearing aids of all time. Individuals who are fortunate enough to experience Marvel over the past two years not only got to enjoy the benefits of this innovative technology to help them hear better, but they could also connect to an Apple or Android phone, they could have totally hands-free calls, they could connect to a Roger microphone directly with their hearing aids themselves, they could use the myPhonak app to customize their own audio, and they could even have remote sessions with their hearing care professional without having to go into their office. However, over the past two years, Phonak engineers have been able to a lot of research and collect a ton of feedback obtained with the Marvel hearing aids in order to identify ways to improve upon one of the most popular hearing aids of all time, which led to the development of the Paradise line of devices. Not only does the Paradise have all of the same great features of the Marvel, like I just mentioned, but Phonak takes it a step further, starting with the new PRISM chip that has doubled the memory of the previous chip that Marvel uses. With the new PRISM chip, Paradise hearing aids can now pair to eight different Bluetooth devices and have an active connection to two different devices at the exact same time. Which means if you want to switch back and forth between your two favorite Bluetooth devices, you don't have to keep turning off and turning on Bluetooth to make the switch.

Phonak has also added motion sensors to the rechargeable versions of their Paradise hearing aids. These motion sensors will help the hearing aids to identify your body movement, which will adjust your microphone settings to help you hear better. These motion sensors also allow you to answer your phone, they allow you to stop and start Bluetooth streaming, and they even give you access to a voice assistant like Siri, Bixby, or even your Google Assistant by simply double tapping your ear, which is a ton of convenience 'cause no longer do you have to constantly search for those push buttons. Phonak has also updated their operating system to AutoSense OS 4.0, which introduces three new features to the Paradise. First is dynamic noise cancellation, which can improve your signal to noise ratio by up to four decibels in a noisy environment, which is huge if you struggle in background noise. Second is the speech enhancer, which can boost audibility in a quiet environment, so you can actually hear the soft-spoken people that you continue to hang out with. And third is an updated fitting formula called Adaptive Phonak Digital 2.0, which introduces adaptive compression speeds and more linear high level gain, which once again, is used to help you hear better in a loud environment. The point of all of this is no matter how advanced hearing aid technology becomes, innovation will always lead to something better. And right now that's something better is the Phonak Audeo Paradise. Now, before you go and say like, I used to say, which is, "You know, in two years from now, there'll be something even better. I'll wait till then." That is exactly what you said two years ago, and two years before that, and two years before that. Innovation will never stop, and it shouldn't. But if you're not careful, you could end up in a situation where you never actually treat your hearing loss because you're always waiting for something better.

Yes, in two to three years, innovation will likely lead to a better hearing aid, but you need to consider how much better you could be hearing right now, instead of just imagining how much better this technology might be in the future. I waited 10 long years between 2007 and 2017 before I got my first smartphone. And had I known then what I know now, I would have got a smartphone over a decade ago. Now I love new hearing aid innovation as much as anybody, but don't let the potential of new technology down the road prevent you from seeing the innovation that is in front of you right now. That's it for this video. If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below. If you like the video, please share it. If you wanna see other videos just like this one, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. Also, feel free to check out my website DrCliffAuD.com.