Are you a Lyric Wearer? Have your Lyric hearing aids made a big impact in your life? If you answered yes to these questions, you could win $2000 by entering the "Life After Lyric Contest." To enter this contest write an essay or submit a Video showing us or telling us something that you can do with Lyric hearing aids that you could never do before Lyric (or with your old hearing aid), or something you enjoy doing now even more with Lyric. To enter, please click here:
http://www.lyrichearing.com/lyric-hearing-stories/mylyricstory/.

Essays must be 500 words or less, and videos must be 3 minutes or less. Contest entries accepted until 8/31/2010. All entries must be from current Lyric wearers in subscription. For full contest rules, please click here: http://www.lyrichearing.com/contestrules.

In celebration of Better Hearing and Speech Month, we are encouraging Baby Boomers and others who may suspect they have hearing loss to have their hearing checked. Since May is dedicated to helping people communicate and raise awareness about hearing and speech disorders, we want to note that hearing tests are the first step to help people who are experiencing hearing loss determine how they can take advantage of today’s technology. 

For those who address their hearing loss issues and get help, the changes they experience can be significant. 

“Since I have been wearing my Lyric hearing aids, my interactions with people have significantly improved,” said Dana G, Lyric user. “My confidence level has increased because I can hear better and no one knows I am wearing a hearing aid. I enjoy going out in the social world and communicating with people more often now. My Lyrics are totally invisible to those around me.”

“The thing I like best about Lyric is that I’ve been able to return to the activities that I love and enjoy with others. I am able to work in the yard with my family and work up a sweat without having them get ruined,” said Dane Ashworth, Lyric user. “I can play basketball with my son and not have them go flying off. I can ride my motorcycle with my kids and talk with them without making them take their helmets off and without removing mine. With the Lyric, I am able to return to the things I used to do before my hearing declined.”

So, if you suspect you have a hearing loss, get your hearing checked as soon as possible. Why wait? You could be experiencing better hearing without daily hassles and without anyone even knowing you are wearing a hearing aid! To take our online hearing questionnaire click here: http://www.lyrichearing.com/is-lyric-hearing-aid-for-me/do-i-need-a-hearing-aid/. To find a Lyric provider near you, click here and enter your zip code in the “find a provider” section: www.lyrichearing.com. 

 

Many hearing aid manufacturers are taking about having the "smallest hearing aid" or "micro hearing aids" - these are small hearing aids that fit either inside the ear canal or behind the ear that are very difficult to see. These minihearing aids are wonderful for people who don't like the stigma associated with wearing a hearing aid. However, many of these hearing aids are still visible to the eye, and none of them can be worn 24/7 for up to 4 months at a time* and are completely invisible like Lyric Hearing. Lyric is about the length of a dime and is made of soft, flexible seals so it can be placed deep in the ear canal where no one can see it. Because Lyric is so small, it can be placed in the ear canal where it remains while you go about your daily life, without the need to change batteries or daily insertion or removal. Other hearing aids may say they are mini, small, micro, or even say they have the "smallest hearing aid technology," but Lyric is truly the only hearing aid technology that is both extended wear and invisible to the eye.

100% Invisible

• The placement of Lyric in the ear canal makes it totally invisible.
• No one will know why you are hearing better except you.

Effortless Hearing, 24/7

• Lyric can be used during your daily activities, such as exercising, showering, talking on the phone, and sleeping.
• There are no batteries to change, no maintenance is needed, and no daily insertion or removal is required.

Natural Sound Quality

• Lyric's placement deep in the ear canal allows the outer ear (the pinna) to direct sound into the ear canal naturally, resulting in improved directionality and localization, reduced feedback, and improved high frequency gain.

*Individual replacement needs may vary.  See your Hearing Professional to determine if Lyric is right for you.  Swimming with Lyric and submerging your head under water is not recommended.

There is a lot of noise in the market about hearing aids – and this is the time of year that many hearing aid companies are advertising new hearing aid technology and new hearing aids in the market.  In fact there are hundreds of new product launches every year.  So how can you, as a consumer, decipher what new hearing aid technology is out there and what advancements will truly improve your hearing experience?  And how can you tell if the new hearing aids will be better than what you currently have?  One way to know you are getting a truly breakthrough hearing technology is to try Lyric Hearing.  
 
Lyric Hearing is the ONLY hearing aid technology that can be worn up to 4 months at a time,* even while sleeping, showering+, and exercising, and the ONLY one that is truly 100% invisible.  Lyric has incorporated novel hearing aid technology advancements to create a breakthrough hearing device many people have been waiting for.  Lyric has soft, flexible, biocompatible seals that surround the receiver, speaker, and tiny, long-life battery (the battery is designed to last up to 4 months at a time!).  The tiny size of the device and soft seals make it possible to place Lyric close to the ear drum where it amplifies sound using your own ear anatomy. This creates a natural sound quality. And because of the deep canal placement, the device is totally invisible once it is placed.
 
Lyric Hearing is truly a breakthrough solution, and is like no other new hearing aids or new hearing aid technologies launching this year.  So clear through the noise and try something truly game changing!  See a Lyric Hearing Professional and find out if Lyric is right for you.

 + Lyric should not be submerged in water.
*Individual replacement needs may vary.

When Grace J. competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, she couldn’t hear her opponent’s breathing, which she believes could have given her an edge in her judo competitions. Now, the former member of the 1992 U.S. women’s judo team and holder of more than 41 medals from international competitions and a sixth degree black belt, can hear her opponent’s breathing while competing thanks to Lyric^®.

“I’ve competed for so many years and had no way of hearing my opponent’s breathing,” said Grace. “With Lyric hearing aid, I hear so well today that I can actually hear their breathing! I now know when opponents are losing their stamina and become more susceptible to a throw, a primary move in judo. Lyric lets me get ahead of my game plan because I wear Lyric while competing and hear better.

Although she’s no longer competing at the Olympic level, Grace is still pursuing her passion for judo. Unlike traditional hearing aid solutions, the Lyric hearing aid is positioned completely inside the ear canal, and is worn for up to 4 months at a time (individual replacement needs may vary). This feature is especially useful for people, including athletes, who want to enjoy an active lifestyle without worrying about their hearing aid falling out. Lyric stays in place because it is placed deep in the ear canal, and it is water resistant so you can sweat and shower while wearing Lyric. And  because Lyric is completely hidden, no one knows you are wearing a hearing aid but you. Many users forget they’re even wearing a hearing aid, allowing them to focus on other activities, be it an Olympic competitive sport, such as judo, or just relaxing and spending time with family and friends.

To learn more about Grace’s story click here.

 

We have received a few questions lately regarding the definition of extended wear hearing. We are writing this blog to help answer this question. Lyric is the one and only hearing aid technology that can be worn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for months at a time, and is 100% invisible. This means you can wear Lyric for up to 4 months at a time without ever removing the device or changing batteries! Individual replacement needs may vary; some people cannot wear Lyric for 4 full months due to ear conditions and other factors that can impact device life. With Lyric you can live your life without the daily hassles associated with traditional hearing aids! You can shower, sleep, exercise, talk on the phone, play golf on a windy golf course, sail on a windy bay, and still enjoy better hearing! Traditional hearing aids can require daily insertion and removal, battery changes or recharging, maintenance, and can fall out during strenuous exercise. And you cannot shower or sleep with traditional hearing aids.

With Lyric you can hear better throughout the day and night, without daily hassles. And because it sits deep in the ear canal it is 100% invisible. This is only possible with the technology of Lyric!

Atlanta State Representative Doug Holt was featured on News 11 Alive and Well in Atlanta Georgia this week for wearing Lyric hearing aids. Dr. Helena Solodar, of Audiological Consultants of Atlanta, fit Representative Holt with Lyric this past year. Representative Holt mentions that until he wore hearing aids, his hearing loss “kept him on the political sidelines.” He bought his first hearing aids because he said he could not participate effectively without being able to hear. Wearing a hearing aid “helped him get back into the game.” Lyric is called “the next generation of hearing aids” because it is invisible to the eye and provides natural sound quality with no daily hassles. Representative Holt went on to say that many people associated hearing loss with aging, but in many cases, like his own, age has nothing to do with it.

To watch the full segment on the Lyric hearing aid, please click here.
 

I started working for InSound Medical several years ago, and I immediately grasped the concepts of the benefit of a hearing aid such as Lyric that could be placed deep in the canal providing invisibility, natural sound quality, and hassle-free hearing. However, I struggled with the thought of a wearer getting used to wearing something essentially in their head, 24 hours a day for months at a time. Would you constantly feel the hearing aid? How comfortable could it be? Would a form of claustrophobia set in or some other phobia with having a hearing aid residing in your body in this way?

Lucky for me, I got to answer all of these questions for myself when a trial was run to test out the comfort of the Lyric’s seals. Although I don’t have a hearing loss, I was selected for the trial because I have ear canals of the size and shape appropriate for the Lyric device and had no previous Lyric or hearing aid experience so I could provide a first-time user answer in regards to comfort.

In April, 2008, my right ear was fit with the Lyric hearing aid and since I do not have a hearing loss, the amplification on the device was set at the lowest settings so that when turned on it would feel like I was hearing at my normal levels. My initial impressions were that it was similar to wearing a new watch for the first time. You know and are aware that you are wearing it, but it was not uncomfortable in the least. Leaving the clinic, I was instructed that it can take up to a week for your body to adjust to having a hearing aid in your ear and that if it became uncomfortable at all that I could take standard over-the-counter pain reliever medicine the first few days as I adjusted to it.

I am a very active person and decided that slowly getting used to wearing Lyric was not an option. So the first thing I did after leaving the clinic was to head with some friends to a San Francisco Giants game. No one noticed that I was wearing a hearing aid, and it wasn’t until I started playing with my SoundLync magnet, turning the device on and off that my friends even asked what I was doing with my ear. Also, for those of you that know San Francisco, the Giants baseball stadium can be one of the windier places in the world on any given night and I experimented with turning the device up to maximum volume levels to see if the wind noise would cause any problems. It wasn’t until the highest volume that I could even notice any difference in the hearing aid from the wind noise I heard in my good ear, and even then it was not bothersome.

As for my comfort getting used to the hearing aid, when I was distracted by events, I didn’t think about Lyric nor was even aware of it. When I was trying to think about the hearing aid, I could still feel it and realize it was there during that first day. In fact when I woke up the first morning after wearing Lyric, though I slept fine through the night, I woke up with my finger resting on my right ear indicating to me that my body was still aware of something different and still trying to get used to the concept.

Day two, I took the Lyric hearing aid through a ringer of new events. I took a long 20-minute shower and when I got out it felt like the Lyric had gotten a little wet, but it was still working. About hour later, the moisture initially felt on the hearing aid after the shower was gone, and as I thought about it, my awareness of even wearing the Lyric had gone down considerably from the previous day. I went through my days activities including talking on the phone, socializing with friends, and playing a full basketball game (Im a heavy sweater too!!) with no need to change my routine and without anyone noticing that I was wearing a hearing aid. I also began to realize the amplification abilities of the hearing aid and the clarity of its sound. Since I do not have a hearing loss, I could turn up the device and get a heightened hearing ability. I could watch the TV at volume one while my girlfriend slept soundly next to me. I could even hear the couple’s secret conversations two tables away at a restaurant if I listened carefully.

However, my biggest amazement came on day three, when I woke up and at first couldn’t remember which ear I was wearing the Lyric in. I still realized there was something different between my ears, but couldn’t without thinking about it carefully determine which ear housed the hearing aid. My body had accepted wearing the new hearing aid, and like a new watch, forgotten after time that you are even wearing it. As my trial ended after a week, I was very enthusiastic that the Lyric hearing aid is a product that when fit correctly can not only provide sound benefit to the patient, but can be worn very comfortably for extended periods of time. It was great to see how quickly my body had gotten used to wearing the device, and I feel that if I had worn devices in both ears that this adjustment may have been even quicker and easier. Although I don’t need a hearing aid yet, Im glad to know that a solution such as Lyric is available for me in the future.

News Flash!  Lyric was featured on the hottest new medical show on TV, The Dr. Oz Show!   The segment aired all around the country on Friday, October 30th. Dr. Oz spoke with a woman in her mid-twenties who has suffered from hearing loss since she was in her teens.  She had been reluctant to try a hearing aid because she didn’t want the stigma associated with it.  Doctor Oz then showed the audience how hearing loss occurs, and introduced Dr. Shelley Borgia from Park Avenue Acoustics. 

Dr. Borgia introduced Dr. Oz and the woman with hearing loss to the Lyric Hearing Aid.  She showed them how it works, and then placed the devices in the woman’s ears.   Doctor Oz then showed the audience that once placed, the Lyric Hearing Device was 100% invisible and would not fall out.  To watch the video, please click below:

I work at InSound Medical and am an avid runner.  A few months ago I had an opportunity to speak with a fellow fitness enthusiasts whom I often see at my gym.  During the course of our conversation he explained that he loved to run and used to be a marathoner.  He went on to say that in recent years he had given up running because he found it difficult to run with his hearing aids and dangerous to run without them because of traffic concerns. Knowing that Lyric is often a great solution for those who like to exercise, I encouraged him to seek out a Lyric certified provider to determine if he was a Lyric candidate.  I recently saw him at the gym where he enthusiastically sought me out to thank me for telling him about Lyric.  He said that he was running (outside) again, something that he assumed he would no longer be able to do as a result of his traditional hearing aids.  He went on to say that the freedom he has experienced with Lyric has surpassed his expectations.  He can run, snow ski and even ride his bike again while wearing Lyric.  He is thrilled with his Lyric devices and can't imagine going back to his traditional hearing aids.