Bluetooth Hearing-Aid Products Debut

Starkey Laboratories announced its Bluetooth Eli (Ear-Level Instrument) last week in a news release on the Advance for Audiologists website. So we are starting to see the long-awaited arrival of multiple Bluetooth-enabled hearing-enhancement products, which answers my question in an earlier post on whether and when all the anticipated Bluetooth products would ever make an appearance. The Starkey news release claims it is the “first” Bluetooth product from a hearing-aid company, which I don’t think is true, as the Phonak SmartLink Bluetooth product has been out and available for a while. But it does appear to be the smallest Bluetooth-enabled hearing-enhancement product on the market, another claim made by Starkey which is certainly something to brag about. It’s a tiny device that fastens to the DAI (direct audio input) connector on your hearing aid. It’s got a microphone receiver and transmitter that communicates wirelessly with your Bluetooth-enabled cellular phone, personal communicator, or other device. MicroTech says it allows for hands-free operation for up to two-and-a-half hours at a time. Like the Phonak Smartlink Bluetooth personal communicator, ELI is in the advance guard of products utillizing new communications standards that will bring the hearing-aid industry into the consumer electronics mainstream.