For those of you keen on rechargeable custom hearing aids - you may be interested to hear that there is now (as of 5th December 2022) a new rechargeable custom device available from ReSound. While ReSound has had some new technology available in their behind ear (BTE and RIC) styles for almost two years, they haven’t updated their custom hearing aid range for a while.
The new range of custom devices will join the Resound One family of hearing devices. You can read more about the technology powering ReSound One here, but here’s a summary:
Compared to the previous LiNX Quattro platform, One offers the following:
- Improved localisation (the ability to tell where sounds are coming from).
- Improved speech intelligibility in noise while maintaining awareness of your surrounding noises (using new features called Ultra Focus and All Access Directionality).
- It also introduced a new receiver type, M&RIE (short for ‘Microphone & Receiver In Ear’), which places the microphone into the ear canal to improve localisation, wind noise reduction, and sound quality and hearing in noise compared to hearing aids without this receiver. However, this is for a receiver-in-canal (RIC) style, so it doesn’t apply to custom hearing aids.
- Made for iPhone (MFi), including hands-free calling (for iPhone 11 or newer), as well as introducing compatibility with (newer) Android phones (compatible Android phones listed here) for direct Bluetooth streaming
As mentioned, Resound One custom options will be released in a lithium-ion rechargeable option. Three rechargeable styles are available - in-the-canal (ITC), in-the-ear (ITE) half shell, and ITE full shell.
Cosmetically, they look like a cross between hearing aids and earbuds. You can select from a more traditional range of skin tones or an anthracite (dark grey, almost black) colour. More excitingly, they have been nanocoated inside and outside and officially boast an IP68 rating, indicating that they are highly weather- and sweat-resistant.
The charger that comes with the ReSound One Li-ion custom devices is uses customised inserts for charging the hearing aids and uses inductive charging for easy-to-manage charging (which means no visible metal contact points required on the hearing aid and no need to fiddle around to get it in exactly the right spot for charging). The rechargeable custom options also offer up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge (actual battery life depends on the severity of hearing loss and Bluetooth use).
An updated option is also available for those interested in the completely-in-canal (CIC) style, but it doesn’t offer Bluetooth compatibility or rechargeability. Anyone wanting a ReSound invisible-in-canal (IIC) style will have to stick to the previous LiNX Quattro generation. The most significant focus of this particular release has been on rechargeable custom devices. Despite all the new features, ReSound hasn’t compromised on power, with the rechargeable custom styles suiting mild to severe hearing loss (it’s important to note that more powerful devices do mean that the actual hearing aid will be larger compared to a less powerful device due to the space required for the more powerful receivers).
A version of the Resound One custom hearing aids has been available from Beltone (ReSound’s sister manufacturer that caters specifically to independent clinics in Australia) since September 2022. The Beltone Imagine custom devices offer the same features as ReSound One.
So when it comes to custom rechargeable hearing devices, you now have three options (4, technically, if you include Beltone Imagine) to select from Starkey Evolv AI, Signia Insio AX, and, now, ReSound One.
For more information or to see if this is a suitable option for your hearing needs, don't hesitate to contact Value Hearing on 1800 157 429
