In our conversation centred around expanding the world of hearing technology, Leo shares some of the science behind latest developments in hearing instruments.

BIHIMA: How does improved hearing contribute to wellbeing?

Leo den Hartog (LdH): At Phonak, we have a ‘well-hearing is wellbeing’ philosophy. There is ample evidence that hearing better is associated with your overall wellbeing. We use three dimensions to categorise this: social and emotional, cognitive, and physical. The social and emotional aspect is reasonably intuitive – if you’re able to hear and understand better what other people are saying, it’s easier for you to communicate with friends, family, or colleagues, and this can help you feel more connected to your environment.

There have been many studies that show that being able to hear better helps you with your cognitive health and reduces risk of cognitive decline.

Equally important, improved hearing also helps with your physical wellbeing. If you think about people who are less able to connect with other people and who struggle to understand in social situations, they’re inclined to go out less, they will not move around as much, they will not participate in social situations as much and may eventually lead a more solitary and less mobile lifestyle. You need to move to stay physically well. Using a hearing instrument to improve hearing has also improved people’s physical wellbeing just by the ability to understand their health better. I think that’s fascinating.

© Phonak      Leo den Hartog: “We see the audiologist or HCP in the role of providing better value propositions and products to our consumers and helping them to take care of their wellbeing.”

BIHIMA: Why is the ear such an ideal place to measure heart rate?

LdH: The position of a hearing instrument in the ear is fixed and very stable. The head moves very much in sync with the overall body which makes the ear ideal for placing sensors. There is very thin but very well perfused skin in the ear, giving excellent access to the heartbeat. Another factor is that people are familiar with using the ear as a place for checking vital signs, for example checking temperature with an ear thermometer, so it feels like a natural evolution for hearing technology to have additional sensors.

BIHIMA: What future developments do you see which combine hearing solutions with other aspects of health and health monitoring?

LdH: I strongly believe this is just the first step. People above the age of 60 are at a significantly higher risk of developing many medical conditions.

The hearing industry is one of the only industries that have already placed an electronic device on people’s bodies, and we want to leverage that to improve the wellbeing of our consumers because that’s the ultimate goal; we want people to hear well and understand better to live a healthy life. That’s what it’s all about.

Key technologies that have been established over the last 10 years are chargeability and Bluetooth. I think these are very good examples of technologies that allowed us to start thinking more broadly about use cases and where we can take the hearing instrument into new areas and value propositions.

The key point to me is that we don’t see this as a fitness tracker; as a replacement for someone that has a watch, it’s really a more holistic view on how we can help our end-users improve their wellbeing because we already have a device on millions of people helping them to hear. I believe, as a whole industry, we can play a much broader part in helping our consumers to live a healthy life.

Read the full interview at Audiology World News.