Ultra Power Hearing Aids Ranked

[MachineGhost]

I'm maintaining a project to quantitatively rank (via a proprietary algorithm) ultra power hearing aids as to how powerful they really are and how well they handle the frequency range (a fancy way of saying "high fidelity"). Ultra power, for this purpose, means a peak output of at least 140dB SPL in real ear simulation. The working theory is the better the bandwidth, the better the perception of sound quality, especially in terms of music. Qualitative user experiences tend to support this. Secondary features such those targeted towards "speech enhancement" do not play a role of any importance in these ranks. If you suspect you may care about such features, then please discuss such with your audiologist so he/she can "value add".

I have made about a handful of exceptions to the above rule for noteworthy hearing aids and have identified them with "Natural Sound" in the notes. I'm fully aware that "mission creep" is starting to occur as the industry responds with improved hardware, but that should not be viewed as being on the road to a comprehensive ranking of all hearing aids in existence or ever produced (sorry!).

If you know of any other digital or analog ultra power aids and have the technical specifications for such, please PM me and I'll add it to the list.

[Craig Sharp]

I believe you left out the Widex Fusion with large receiver - which would probably be in the top ten of your list. Maybe top five.

[Don]

Rexton Bridge 12 HP. Lots of features including bluetooth.

http://www.sennberg.se/admin/UploadF...ridge12_HP.pdf

[silent night]

Starkey Xino AP

[?tahW]

Speaking of Germany
http://journals.lww.com/thehearingjo...ression.5.aspx
we have a German elec. engineer friend who says that the US is about five years behind implementing what current research is showing, so I guess I'd lean toward a non-US make.

Of course, he is a very difficult customer for his audiologist. I may be able to get his PTA.

BTW, a data compression book told me that the amount of information in a sentence depends on how unexpected it is, so unless you see people advertising "unnatural sound" or "lack of speech enhancement" or "battery-gobbling circuitry", there's not much in sales pitches and pretty much zero info in what any politician says.

Thanks for the links.

[IMBack]

Originally Posted by ?tahW

Speaking of Germany
http://journals.lww.com/thehearingjo...ression.5.aspx
we have a German elec. engineer friend who says that the US is about five years behind implementing what current research is showing, so I guess I'd lean toward a non-US make.

Of course, he is a very difficult customer for his audiologist. I may be able to get his PTA.

so I guess I'd lean toward a non-US make that should be pretty easy

[Don]

Originally Posted by ?tahW

Speaking of Germany
http://journals.lww.com/thehearingjo...ression.5.aspx
we have a German elec. engineer friend who says that the US is about five years behind implementing what current research is showing, so I guess I'd lean toward a non-US make.

Of course, he is a very difficult customer for his audiologist. I may be able to get his PTA.

BTW, a data compression book told me that the amount of information in a sentence depends on how unexpected it is, so unless you see people advertising "unnatural sound" or "lack of speech enhancement" or "battery-gobbling circuitry", there's not much in sales pitches and pretty much zero info in what any politician says.

Thanks for the links.

Everyone would be "behind" current research. First you research, then you analyze and plan, then you develop.

[?tahW]

Originally Posted by Don

Everyone would be "behind" current research. First you research, then you analyze and plan, then you develop.

Good point.
What would be a typical turn-around time for a project like a HA? The guy implied that Euro (his company is in Switzerland) turnaround time is quicker than the US.

[Agil]

Originally Posted by ?tahW

Good point.
What would be a typical turn-around time for a project like a HA? The guy implied that Euro (his company is in Switzerland) turnaround time is quicker than the US.

Are you referring to how long it takes to get a new one? I have to wait three weeks for a pair if ITE Oticons, but assume it is different for people with BTE and ITC hearing aids. I guess it also would depend on the manufacturer and your audiologist. Switzerland may have a faster turnaround time on some aids in some places but I doubt that's true for all of them everywhere because there are so many variables.

[?tahW]

No, I mean the time to go from a hearing research discovery to a prototype HA to producing that aid.

I'll try to get the guys e-mail and find out exactly what he meant; I heard this second hand through a non-techie.