[Access] Fwd: Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid

[David Gilmartin]

Received this information (sort of a combo story and promotion, I  
thought) from a friend of mine. Though it seems a bit pricy to me, I  
know hearing aids often cost quite a bit. There's a website mentioned  
in the story that will get you a bit more detail and some graphics.

David Gilmartin

> New York Times  --  April 15, 2008
> Well
> Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid
> By TARA PARKER-POPE
>
> Few products are hated as much as hearing aids.
>
> The devices can squeal with feedback and overamplify background  
> noises like the click of a turn signal or whir of a ceiling fan.  
> They must be removed for showering or sleeping, and their batteries  
> die frequently. Many users, out of exasperation, decide they'd  
> rather live with hearing loss.
>
> But now scientists have come up with a different kind of hearing  
> aid. While the device, called the Lyric, is being used in only 500  
> patients, it appears to have overcome many of the problems  
> associated with traditional hearing aids - without the expense and  
> uncertainty of surgery and anesthesia.
>
> The Lyric, made by InSound Medical of Newark, Calif., is hidden deep  
> inside the ear canal, just four millimeters (about one-sixth of an  
> inch) from the ear drum. While doctors for years have been  
> implanting hearing devices in the middle ear, the Lyric is not an  
> implant: it can be removed with a small magnet. It is worn 24 hours  
> a day, and its batteries last one to four months.
>
> Typically, anything that clogs the ear canal would trap moisture and  
> pose an infection risk, but the Lyric is surrounded by a spongy  
> material that allows moisture to escape. Because it sits so close to  
> the ear drum, doctors say that it works more efficiently and that  
> sounds are more natural because they don't have to be amplified as  
> much.
>
> When the Lyric's battery dies, the entire device is replaced.  
> Patients do not pay for a new device every time; instead, they pay  
> an annual subscription fee of $2,900 to $3,600 for both ears (less  
> if the hearing loss is in only one ear). Insurance plans typically  
> do not cover the cost of the Lyric, or any other hearing device.
>
> A magnet is used to control the volume, turn it on and off and  
> remove it when the battery runs out. It takes only a few minutes for  
> a doctor to insert a replacement device.
>
> The Lyric does not work for everyone. In particular, some ear canals  
> are too narrow to accommodate it, and the company estimates that it  
> is not suitable for up to half of potential patients. A planned  
> newer version should work for about 85 percent of patients, it says.
>
> Still, it is already getting an enthusiastic reception from patients  
> and from hearing specialists not connected with the company. "There  
> are a certain number of patients who just can't get over having  
> something in their ear, just as there are a certain number of  
> patients who can't wear contact lenses," said Dr. Chester F.  
> Griffiths, chairman of the department of surgery at the Santa Monica  
> U.C.L.A. Medical Center. "But that's the minority. The patients that  
> have them love them."
>
> Dr. Griffiths says he has no financial ties to the Lyric, nor does  
> he receive a commission for referring patients.
>
> One patient who swears by the device is Mike Waufle, the 53-year-old  
> defensive line coach for the New York Giants. After a stint in the  
> Marines and regular exposure to the sounds of gunfire, Mr. Waufle  
> suffered hearing loss that grew worse and worse as he aged.
>
> On the football field, he just turned up the volume on his headset.  
> But the locker room was a different story. Some voices were  
> impossible to hear (including that of his last boss, Jon Gruden, the  
> former Oakland Raiders head coach). Players learned they needed to  
> face him when they spoke to him. Using a traditional hearing aid, he  
> found it difficult to control his own voice.
>
> "I teach a lot in a classroom as a coach, but when I would wear a  
> hearing aid my voice pattern wasn't very good," he said. "It was all  
> over the place. I just took it out most of the time. I missed an  
> awful lot."
>
> As it happened, a team doctor was one of a handful of physicians  
> test-marketing the Lyric, which has been available for about 16  
> months. Mr. Waufle tried it, and he says it has changed his life.
>
> "My voice pattern is so natural, and I hear so much better," he  
> said. "Obviously, it's easier to carry on normal conversations  
> without having to always say, 'Huh? What did you say?' And it helps  
> just enjoying life over all and being able to hear the simple things  
> like birds and other sounds you take for granted."
>
> Mr. Waufle says he has no financial ties to the company and receives  
> no benefit for talking about his experience with the device. (The  
> company says none of the people featured in testimonials on its Web  
> site, www.lyrichearing.com, receive any form of compensation for  
> their endorsements.)
>
> Right now, the Lyric is offered only through a dozen clinics in  
> California, Florida and New Jersey, but it should be available at  
> about 100 sites by the end of the year. Some patients who don't live  
> near a clinic simply fly or drive to a site four or five times a  
> year. InSound is a privately held firm, although the pharmaceutical  
> giant Johnson & Johnson is a major investor.
>
> Dr. Robert A. Schindler, a co-founder of InSound and chairman  
> emeritus of the department of otolaryngology at the University of  
> California, San Francisco, says he has had hearing loss most of his  
> life and has worn a Lyric since 2005. He says he remembers listening  
> to an orchestra and hearing the light ping of the triangle.
>
> "I realized I hadn't heard it before," he said. "That was a very  
> exciting moment for me."
>
> E-mail: well at nytimes.com
> --
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