The next generation of hearing aids is now being born, and they promise to be at the vanguard of a revolution. But calling them hearing aids is like calling a laptop a typewriter. So the term “hearables” was coined a couple of years ago by Nick Hunn.
He wanted to distinguish them from “wearables”, the family of tech devices such as Fitbits, Apple watches and the like which are worn, usually around the wrist. Hearables, on the other hand, are worn in the ears.
The ears offer a much better interface with the human body than wrists. They are a great place to monitor heart rates, blood pressure and temperature.
These new wireless ear buds can do all of that and provide direct connections to phones, computers, tvs, music systems and just about anything with bluetooth capability. With noise cancelling features and cutting edge processing power, they can act as hearing aids.
My friend Lloyd Alter took a pair of prototypes for a test drive recently in Toronto. And here’s what he heard:
