High Tech Hearing Aids

How can you make a hearing aid sexy?

Called “Passion” and it is shocking pink or lipstick red.

Call it “Vibe” and dress in leopard print or on the flag that looks positively NASCAR.

Manufacturers are banking on to attract this type of flash baby boomers who have punished their ears with strong concerts and music played through headphones. 78 million boomers, one in six is estimated that the hearing loss.

The last hearing aids were on display at the Charlotte Convention Center this spring at the annual conference of the American Academy of Audiology.

“This is free speech,” said company representative Tom Powers, standing near a giant photo of an attractive young woman in a convention booth.

In his ear was the Vibe, a device the size and shape of a false nail. But instead of mixing with your skin, was a bold pattern like leopard print blouse.

Powers is with New Jersey-based Siemens Hearing Instruments, maker of the Vibe. Other Siemens’ ads feature guys playing air guitar, horseback riding and car racing motorcycles.

The mantra from Powers and several other vendors: It is not your grandfather earpiece. Some manufacturers have even renamed them PCAs or Personal Communication Assistants.

The last thing we want is boom look old or uncool with a piece of skin-toned plastic stuck in his ear. Therefore, manufacturers are developing models HIPPA.

Some, like Vibe, are bright enough to resemble jewelry. Others, like the Passion, made by Widex, are tucked behind the ear and far less noticeable.

Aging hippies who have rocked to the Grateful Dead for 40 years may find their guitarist Bob Weir persuasive, using your EntrePlus 450 ads manufacturer Vivatone.

A display board at the convention even showed a sporty device with a white surface dimples like a golf ball. Its name: Oticon the “Fairway.”

The companies are hoping the popularity of attached to the ear-phones to help make hearing aids more acceptable.

Phones played a role in a leading-edge technology on display for the convention, among the more than 200 exhibitors. This new generation of hearing aids can be used as wireless receivers for cell phones and computers, iPods and televisions.

“They are trying to make hearing devices fun,” says Michigan audiologist Kasewurm GYL.

They are also more expensive, with some models costing up to $ 4000 per ear, which is not usually covered by insurance. Medicare does not cover too because of its high cost.

Customers, but actually go to a hearing aid that calls attention to itself like jewelry?

You bet, said audiologist Erin Maierle of California, among the nearly 7,000 attendees at the convention. “I’ve sold fluorescent orange,” he said.

But it may take a while to catch in the Carolinas.

“In our practice,” says Charlotte audiologist Tracy Swanson, “I have more people who want all the options to be sold for their hair color.”