Healthier living is the number one most commonly chosen New Year’s resolution for Americans. In fact, 21.4% of Americans surveyed reported weight loss and improved fitness as their most pressing resolution, according to Staticsbrain.com (https://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/). Luckily for those who currently use or are thinking about using Oticon Opn hearing aids, keeping this resolution may be easier than ever this year. An exciting new app has been unveiled which is called The HearingFitness app. The app is similar to FitBit or other fitness tracking apps by monitoring footsteps, heart rate and caloric burn. What makes it different, however, is that HearingFitness also helps users monitor their hearing health, which is a lot more important for overall well-being than many people understand.
All About the HearingFitness App
For 2018, the Oticon HearingFitness app won a coveted Consumer Technology Association (CES) Innovation Award in the Software and Mobile Apps category. The app is the first ever application dedicated to hearing health and helping people with hearing loss live healthier lives.
Don Schum, PhD, Vice President of Audiology at Oticon made the following statements about the app. “The HearingFitness app helps people with hearing loss understand how their behavior and hearing health habits can influence how effective their treatment is … Hearing plays a huge role in people’s overall health and well-being, and HearingFitness, paired with Opn, encourages routine use of hearing aids to improve hearing and the ability to engage in social settings.” (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171110005092/en/Fitness-Tracker-Ears-Oticons-HearingFitness-App-Wins)
Currently, the HearingFitness app is only compatible with Oticon Opn hearing aids, but it is a really great start. Here’s how it works: First, the wearer’s Opn hearing aids analyze sound environments, track hearing aid use, and send this recorded data automatically to the HearingFitness app. Next, the app uses this data to extrapolate and analyze listening effort, total daily hearing aid use, and historical usage data. The app then combines this information with some user feedback to help the wearer fully optimize the use of their hearing aids. While all this greatly helps the individual, HearingFitness also aims to help the entire hearing-impaired community. Back end analytics will “evaluate anonymized user data for insights involving general health, lifestyle, and social dependencies to guide users toward healthier habits” (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171110005092/en/Fitness-Tracker-Ears-Oticons-HearingFitness-App-Wins).
The Oticon HearingFitness app is not yet available to download, however it will be exhibited at the CES 2018 Awards January 9th-12th in Las Vegas.
All About Oticon
Oticon is a globally recognized hearing aid company with a “People First Promise”. Oticon promises “That everything we do always begins with the people we are doing it for. We are not simply trying to help you hear more, but to live more” (https://www.oticon.com/inside-oticon/we-put-people-first/people-first). The Oticon brand uses its patented BrainHearing technology to allow their hearing aid users to save more of their brain energy for engaging in conversations, rather than struggling to hear. It is this technology that will help the HearingFitness app so accurately collect and analyze user data. For more information on Oticon or Oticon Opn hearing aids, visit their website here: https://www.oticon.com.
All About the CES Awards
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is owned and operated by the Consumer Technology Association. The association generally and CES specifically is thought to be the global stage for innovation and the “world’s gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies” (https://www.ces.tech/). CES is a grand event that explores the future of technology, recognized throughout the world. Last year at the 2017 CES, there were over 184,000 attendees, over 4,000 exhibiting companies and 133.9 million views of the CES Snapchat story. The event is expected to be an even bigger ordeal this year, with a plethora of electric and self-driving cars, more interactive smart home technologies, and vanity smart mirrors that make suggestions based on your skin. The Oticon HearingFitness app falls into a category that is expected to have huge growth from 2017 to 2018 and that is: health. While HearingFitness is the only app focused on hearing health, many new smart technologies are focused on helping us get healthier (https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/3/16842608/ces-2018-las-vegas-rumors-lg-sony-samsung-preview).
Comprehensive Ear and Hearing
Although we love Oticon and the Oticon Opn hearing aid, we also offer many other hearing aid options! Schedule an appointment with us today, so we can work together to find the best hearing aid for your lifestyle, hearing profile, style and budget.