Hearing Aids and Lyric, Expensive, but Invisible

By: Kelly Calkins Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Manufacturers of hearing aids are always trying to find a new way to attract more patients. One of the most recent is the invention of the "Invisible Hearing Aid", Lyric, which is also about to be released under a different name, Wow!. Creating more cosmetically appealing hearing aids has been number one on the to do list of most manufacturers, and Lyric is definitely that. You really cannot see it because it fits deep inside your ear canal just before your eardrum. But is it really a good idea or will it be a passing fad? The positive aspects of these aids are that they are indeed small and cannot be seen. You wear them 24 hours a day, so you don't have to take them out (you can turn them off). There are no user controls, so they are very simple to use. They reportedly have descent sound quality and can be programmed on a computer to your hearing loss.

The negative side, in our opinion, outweighs the positive. Both brands of these hearing devices are expensive, from $1700 to $2000 per year per device! That means over a 5 year period (the typical life span traditional hearing instruments) you will spend from $8500 to $10,000 per ear, double if you need them in both ears! This is about three times as much as you would spend on the most expensive hearing instruments available today, and there is no proof that you will actually hear any better. The manufacturer surveyed 67 people that said they thought it sounded better than their old hearing instruments, but no scientific research. We have spoken with several users and they were changing over to "real" hearing aids after the first year.

At first, a lot of the hype that we heard about these hearing aids, was that you could swim while wearing them. This is not recommended, however, as it could damage the hearing device. Once you take the hearing aids out, you cannot put them back in again! Once the old device is removed, you have to buy new devices since the old ones cant be used again.

A large majority of patients cannot wear these hearing aids because their ear canal is not the right size, or has too much bend, they have too severe of a hearing loss, or they have a medical condition which precludes it. Because the product is deep in your ear there is a danger that moisture could be trapped in your ear canal, which could lead to infection. While the hearing aids are programmable, they are not digital. The amount of fine tuning available is very limited, about the same as we had on analog programmable hearing aids 12 years ago.

Invisible hearing aids are a great idea, but these still need some work and the price is far to high for most patients to be able to afford them. Traditional hearing aids that are offered by the major manufacturers are so small that they are virtually invisible. Technology has advanced so much and it is leaps and bounds better than what we had even just a few short years ago. The price tag for quality hearing aids is coming down, though they are still not "cheap". Our recommendation is to save your money and stick with more traditional hearing aids. With the money that you save, you could buy a new car, put a down payment on a house, or take an exotic vacation!

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About The Author: Kelly C. Calkins, AuD., has practiced audiology for over 20 years. For more information about hearing aids or to find the nearest hearing aid professional to you visit our website at www.adviceonhearingaids.com