New Starkey Genesis AI Technology
Dr. Egan provides updates and insights on the newest Starkey product launch. Learn more by scheduling an appointment at our clinic! (919) 256-2898
Hi, I’m Dr. Egan from Now Hear This and today I’m going to talk to you about some exciting new product updates from Starkey and they’ve created a new hearing aid platform called Starkey Genesis AI. Let’s get started!
One of the big, exciting things about their new hearing aid that they launched just this spring is that there’s a 40% reduction in circuit noise. So, we have some patients who come in and get new hearing aids, and they are actually able to hear the sound of the processing of the hearing aid itself in their ears. So, it’s always really exciting when a hearing aid company takes a huge leap forward on reducing that, and we actually had some patients who tried multiple different companies, and by far and across, found that Starkey had the quietest hearing aid with the actual processing of that circuit noise, so that’s really exciting!
Another advancement is that they have a 100% increase in the processing and understanding of soft speech. So, if you’re someone whose worn hearing aids before and you can hear normal conversation well, but you struggle to hear those soft talkers, those people who just have quieter voices, we’ve found a lot of success with the new Starkey Genesis at being able to kind of pull out the soft sounds of speech and those soft talkers quite a bit better.
For those music lovers, Starkey has created a 20%, or 20 decibel improvement in dynamic range, so what that means is that music, which is processed very differently from speech, is able to be better encapsulated and have a much more full, surround-sound. And a 20-decibel improvement is pretty substantial, so for you music lovers and audiophiles out there, I think you’d notice a significant improvement.
Now for me personally, what I’m most excited about is the IP 68 water resistance rating of these hearing aids. We live in North Carolina where in the summer, even going on a walk, there’s moisture, there’s perspiration and we start to see a lot more hearing aids repairs occur in July and August as a result. So, to see they have the strongest possible water resistance rating, that IP 68, is personally what I’m most excited about.
Another thing a lot of our patients really enjoy is the charging of lithium-ion batteries, and all hearing aid manufacturers across the board, have created a much more durable and stable rechargeable hearing aid, but what Starkey has done with their most recent Genesis AI platform, is they’ve created lithium-ion batteries that are able to last much longer than ever before. So, for the behind-the-ear hearing aid, it’s about 51 hours, for the in the ear rechargeable, it’s 42 hours, which you may think, “when am I ever going to wear my hearing aid for two days straight, but what that means is if you’re someone who streams a lot of music, podcasts, videos, you’re not going to see the battery of your hearing aid run down. I also run into a lot of questions from patients when they travel overseas. “Well, I’m going to be on this super long flight, and then I have to be up the whole next day, and how do I make sure my battery lasts the whole time?” And that is really the perfect solution, these new Starkey Genesis hearing aids, their battery will get you through the entire trip overseas and to your hotel by the end of that next day. And last but not least, there has been an update to the physical form of the hearing aid.
So, this is their old hearing aid in the most common RIC style. It had a little microphone cover which could break off and could clog with debris, and they’ve come up with a much more ergonomic design, so this is their new Genesis AI RIC, and it doesn’t have that bulky microphone cover that gets clogged up as easily. So, it’s much more ergonomic to the shape of the ear where it’s less likely to slip off, but it’s also more water resistant, and also keeps those microphone ports from getting clogged.
So, you know, all of our initial fittings have been going really great. We’ve had a lot of people excited about the Starkey Genesis AI. I hope you learned a little bit in this video and if you enjoyed this information, make sure to like and subscribe to our channel for other updates in the audiology world. And of course, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!