Phonak Aims Its Colorful New Audeo Hearing Aids At Aging Hipsters

There’s a marketing bug going around the hearing-aid industry. First Oticon caught it with its Delta hearing aids, whose array of pop colors would have made Andy Warhol proud. Now Phonak has caught the bug with its Audeo hearing aids, which come in 15 hues ranging from “Crème Brule” (brown) to “Pinot Noir” (crimson) to “Pure Passion” (red) to “Green with Envy” (light green). Phonak says the new devices are not “hearing aids” but rather “Personal Communication Assistants” (PCAs) aimed at a younger – or at least younger-thinking – breed of consumers accustomed to wearing trendy Phonak Audeo Hearing Aid Bluetooth earpieces and Apple iPod earbuds. I’m still scratching my head, though, at the photo on their website featuring the tattooed upper torso of a semi-nude man. I guess it’s meant to demonstrate there’s nothing to stop a hearing-impaired person from looking like a hunky model. That’s fine with me. Sex sells. But then things get stranger.

There’s also a picture on the website of a man in a beekeeper’s outfit. Maybe they mean to say that the buzzing you hear will no longer be from the feedback in your former pair of hearing aids. I don’t know. Finally, and strangest of all, there’s a picture of the man in a nicely tailored suit, but his face appears to have been beaten to a pulp. I find it more than a little disturbing. But, no matter. It’s just marketing. The company says the goals of the product design and campaign are to eliminate the continuing stigma associated with hearing aids. As far as I’m concerned, let them do whatever it takes. I looked at the product specs, and it appears the Audeo family for the most part offers features that are already available from several other high-end hearing-aid manufacturers. But the packaging and design are surely new and different. Along with the attractive Oticon Delta hearing aids, the Phonak Audeo family is a breath of fresh air and part of a trend toward better design in an industry that needs it. I wouldn’t mind if they took a second look at their ads, though. Next question: what kind of price premium must I pay for the newest features and edgiest design? And, is it worth it? I’ll tackle that one in a future post.