everything you need to know
Contents
1. contacts that corrode or wear The Charging Station switches the aid off automatically and begins and ends the charging process automatically The charging cradle for the AQ Custom ITE is molded from the shell of the instrument itself so that it drops naturally into the proper position in the Charging Station An LED display on the Charging Station shows time of day and charge status plus a service reminder that appears after 200 charges Sound Processing and Performance Although this article concentrates on the topic of rechargeability the AQ family of instruments competes at the front of the pack relative to sound processing performance Both the AQ X Mini RIC and the AQ Custom ITE are available in three technology levels First Class Business Class and Comfort Class to meet the needs and preferences of a wide range of patients Without going into detailed descriptions of their operation a partial list of digital processing features includes Active Feedback Block 2G Speech Beam Multi channel Adaptive Directionality Acclimatization Manager Situation Optimizer Hifi Sound Natural Sound Speech Detection Noise Reduction Impulse Sound Management Active Wind Block 2G icom 2 wireless synchronization and Bluetooth connectivity A hearing aid user can be assured that having the best in rechargeability requires no sacrifice in state of the art sound processing Summary For new technologies to be accepted in the marke2. very small cosmetically appealing hearing instruments small size is also a liability Rare is the hearing aid wearer who has not chased a battery under the kitchen table or put batteries in the compartment up side down sometimes resulting in a jammed or broken battery compartment People dealing with physical 28 hearingreview com JANUARY 2012 or visual impairments are further challenged by conventional batteries And every hearing aid users manual contains a warning about swallowing hazards A hearing instrument with batteries that the wearer does not need to handle would be a significant boon The second motivation is environmental Even though the button cells in hearing instruments are minute compared to many batteries there is growing awareness of the cumulative effect of metals and chemicals building up in landfills Switching to rechargeable cells in this and many other applications large and small appears to be a worthwhile and growing trend In spite of the motivations to find an alternative to replaceable batteries rechargeable batteries have not made major inroads into the hearing instrument market To put it simply the benefits they have offered to date have not outweighed the limitations and frustrations they have presented That picture has now changed New Rechargeable Technology Hansaton Acoustics recently introduced two rechargeable hearing instruments that promise to change the way the market views r
3. E techtopic Bringing Rechargeable Hearing Aids Into the Mainstream Market BY JERRY YANZ PhD JORG ELLESSER MS AND HOLGER KAEMPF MS In their roughly 30 year history rechargeable hearing instruments have yet to become the chosen alternative for most hearing aid wearers This article details two new hearing systems designed to bring rechargeable hearing instruments out of the niche market and into the mainstream ales of rechargeable consumer elec tronic devices have blossomed in recent years Surprisingly however in their roughly 30 year history rechargeable hearing instruments have yet to become the chosen alternative for most hearing aid wearers The operating time per charge OTPC has simply not been sufficient to get most hearing aid wearers through the day and other design and durability issues have prevented widespread acceptance Battery life cost and ease of use are important concerns for hearing aid wearers If designs can be developed that meet the needs of consumers rechargeable hearing instruments may become the solution to their concerns This article introduces two new hearing systems from Hansaton Acoustics that promise to bring rechargeable hearing instruments out of the niche market and into the mainstream Why Rechargeable Aids There are at least two motivations to use renewable power sources in hearing aids The first is ease of use While a small battery size allows manufacturers to build
4. aids have been susceptible to a decline in OTPC over the life of the battery Commonly known as the battery memory issue this is due to at least two factors 1 Failure to follow a strict schedule of completely discharging and completely recharging the battery and 2 Overcharging the battery by even a small amount So a battery that offers for example 15 hours OTPC when new may begin to lose operating time as it is used As soon as it declines to a point that it fails to operate for the user s typical day it essentially defeats the purpose of a rechargeable system For example an online ad for one competitive product acknowledges this issue and suggests replacing the rechargeable battery when its OTPC approaches 8 hours clearly not enough for a regular hearing aid wearer If the operating time of your MP3 player drops from 6 hours to 4 hours you can probably cope But if you depend on hearing aids and failure means losing your ability to communicate then adequate and reliable battery life is essential The Hansaton AQ system is not susceptible to battery memory issues no rigid recharging regimen is required You can charge a battery when it is near the end of its usable charge or when it is only minimally discharged neither alternative will compromise performance The precise control over the charge cycle offered by the control circuit prevents even the slightest degree of overcharging ensuring long operating
5. echargeable hearing aids In the spring of 2010 the latest version of the AQ Custom Rechargeable ITE appeared and in July 2011 the company launched the AQ X Mini Rechargeable Receiver in the Canal RIC device Figure 1 The patented This article was submitted to HR by Jerry L Yanz PhD director of audiology at Hansaton Acoustics Plymouth Minn and Jorg Ellesser MS and Holger Kaempf director of audiol ogy at Hansaton Akustik Hamburg Germany Correspondence can be addressed to HR or Dr Yanz at jerry yanz hansaton com features of these instruments promise to change the market s view of rechargeable instruments Hearing instrument wearers should be aware of a number of performance criteria when considering a rechargeable hearing instrument m Operating time per charge OTPC m Recharge time m Battery longevity before needing replacement and m Ease of use Furthermore a potential user of rechargeable instruments needs to be confident that the rechargeable hearing instruments perform as well as conventional instruments The remainder of this article addresses the performance of Hansaton s AQ systems with regard to each of these questions How is high level battery performance achieved The three main electrical attributes of the Hansaton AQ rechargeable system operating time per charge recharge time and battery longevity are achieved through a patented charging process that is unique to the AQ instr
6. ed December 5 2011 2 Campbell W Innovations in technology mercury falling Hearing Review Products November December 2008 Available at http www hearingreview com issues articles HPR_2008 11_03 asp Accessed December 5 2011 3 Yanz J Ellesser J Hansaton AQ A revolutionary rechargeable hearing instrument Seminar presented at American Academy of Audiology Annual Convention April 7 2011 Chicago
7. he hearing aid will be ready to go each morning after a night in the Charging Station Battery longevity Battery service life is also optimized by Hansaton s patented control circuit and charging process AQ batteries have a 5 year guarantee If a battery fails within that time frame it will be replaced at no charge Ease of use reliability Ease of use and reliability go hand in hand in the AQ instruments Recharging is achieved via an inductive link between the Charging Station and the hearing instrument To Figure 2 On the case of the AQ X Mini is an infrared port for the control circuit to communicate with the Charging Station and con trol the inductive charging process In the custom AQ the wireless communication passes through the shell JANUARY 2012 Cathode Electrolyte Anode Cathode Electrolyte Anode Figure 3 Diagrams of a primary cell top and secondary cell bottom More About Batteries Batteries are electrochemical systems that convert chemical energy into electrical energy to power devices Figure 3 In a typical zinc air battery the cell fails when its supply of electrolyte is depleted at this point we throw it away and replace it with a new cell A rechargeable cell also depletes electrolyte as it powers the device but unlike the primary cell the original electrolyte balance is restored by recharging the battery so that it can provide portable power again and again Let s review a few te
8. rms A conventional replaceable battery is also known as a primary cell while a rechargeable battery is known as a secondary cell or accumulator in that it accumulates charge overnight and then uses that charge to power an instrument the next day Secondary batteries have realistic limitations Like every primary cell they have a finite supply of chemicals to provide electrical current before being depleted While a primary cell supplies current for a number of days before depletion a secondary cell provides current on the order of hours before needing a recharge No secondary cell lasts forever eventually when the cell loses its ability to recharge replacement is needed The difference here is that while primary cells must be replaced after a week or two a secondary cell continues working for a much longer time before replacement is needed hearingreview com 29 30 hearingreview com JANUARY 2012 E techtopic Figure 4 AQ Custom ITE and AQ X Mini RIC Charging Stations To charge the hearing aid the user simply places the hearing aid into the charging cradle The Charging Station then automatically switches the aids off and begins and importantly ends the charging when 100 complete charge the instrument the user simply slips it into a charging cradle Figure 4 Since there are no contacts to engage demands on manual dexterity are minimal and there is no chance of the process being compromised by electrical
9. t they must satisfy requirements for usefulness and ease of use The usefulness of the Hansaton AQ rechargeables is clear from the performance features just mentioned 20 hours of operation per charge 2 to 4 hours to recharge and a 5 year battery guarantee The other essential element for market acceptance ease of use is achieved by eliminating the need to ever see or touch a battery During a presentation at the American Academy of Audiology 2011 AudiologyNOW convention in Chicago the first author polled the audience by asking them to identify the target patient populations for rechargeable hearing aids They responded with a list including visually impaired physically impaired amputees people with tremors the elderly children all clearly important target patient populations However the most obvious and perhaps most important target group was identified last the entire population of hearing impaired individuals Indeed with a system that offers superb sound processing and overcomes the issues that have limited previous rechargeable systems it is indeed time to lift rechargeable hearing instruments out of the small market niche they have occupied for 30 years and bring them fully into the mainstream market References 1 Kochkin S Consumers rate improvements sought in hearing instruments Hearing Review 2002 9 11 18 22 Available at http www hearingreview com issues articles 2002 11_01 asp Access
10. time over the life of the battery Substituting a primary cell for a rechargeable cell Typical rechargeable aids allow the user to remove the battery and to substitute a primary cell as a backup when the rechargeable battery fails before day s end This approach not only negates the convenience of using a rechargeable battery you still have to change batteries but also presents another issue Primary zinc air batteries cannot be recharged and if a user mistakenly places a hearing aid containing a primary cell in the charger there is risk of the cell expanding or bursting inside the hearing aid with resultant release of electrolyte and damage to the hearing aid The same risk arises if the rechargeable battery is placed in the compartment upside down Hansaton s design decision to seal the battery compartment and eliminate the option of substituting a primary cell is based on a desire to avoid such problems and is made possible by the patented AQ design The OTPC of the AQs eliminates any need for battery substitution As an ancillary benefit eliminating a manually operated battery compartment also enhances cosmetic appeal and moisture resistance and eliminates the old problem of broken battery doors Your patient never has to see or touch a battery Recharge time Recharging an AQ instrument takes on average 2 to 4 hours If the battery is fully depleted it may take up to 8 hours This rapid recharge time ensures that t
11. uments A control circuit inside the hearing aid precisely monitors battery status and communicates wirelessly with a circuit inside the Charging Station Figure 2 If a charge is needed it initiates the charging process and signals that status to the user Cd ddd Goki Beigu Brunne Parl Copper Sawer Gowy Biak EN d Figure 1 A Eight color options in the Hansaton AQ X Mini rechargeable RIC The dot on the back of the case is an infrared communication port B AQ Rechargeable custom full concha ITE C AQ Rechargeable custom half concha ITE via an LED display When the charge is complete the circuit turns the charger off precisely at the point of 100 charge and likewise signals a full charge to the user Importantly the wireless communication between hearing aid and charger prevents the battery from ever overcharging even by a few percent It is this exquisite control that gives the AQ systems unparalleled battery performance Operating time per change OTPC The AQ X Mini RIC rechargeable instruments provide at least 20 hours of operation per charge when the strongest 65 dB gain RIC receiver is used operating time is longer with the optional lower gain 45 and 55 dB receivers AQ Custom ITEs achieve up to 30 hours per charge With this operating time per charge users rarely face the prospect of their hearing aid failing before day s end Long term OTPC the battery memory issue Previous rechargeable hearing
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search