Hearing aid developer visits Denison
By Joyce Godwin
URL: http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/2005/05/29/local_news/iq_1841625.txt
Hearing aid patients have a new style of aid to consider, thanks to Dr. Natan Bauman, who visited Dr. Amin Musani in Denison recently from Connecticut. Bauman developed a special hearing aid for a friend who was having trouble with the traditional styles and what he came up with is so simple, he wonders why it hasn't been done before. A Poland refugee in 1970.
Bauman said the hearing aid business has the highest returns rate of any other market and the main reason is, the consumer doesn't have a chance to try it out before they take it out of the shop.
Bauman said patients usually don't know what to expect. Traditional aids are constructed and custom fitted to fill the entire ear canal. One can simulate that sound by talking while holding the ears closed.
One patient said, "You ought to try to eat something crunchy with those ear pieces on." That patient can't stand to wear hearing aids.
Bauman said not everyone is completely deaf but, by obstructing the ear canal, the hearing aids force them to rely only on the artificial means of hearing and can't continue to also use the hearing abilities that remain. He's designed a piece that fits behind the ear. That, in itself, is not so unusual but the thin wire running from behind the ear and into the ear canal is. At the end of that wire is a speaker fitting into the ear canal not even a quarter inch in diameter.
"It makes the sound so natural," Bauman said. "It's also fully digital. This leaves the ear the way it was designed, to do what it is supposed to do. We can still use the microphone in the ear."
Bauman said the most beautiful part of the apparatus for him is, the sound doesn't sound artificial.
Bauman was a refugee from Poland at the age of 25. He and his family left Poland to escape abuse because of their Jewish race. "As much as I wanted to stay in Poland, I have never been back," he said. It was traumatic for me."
He said his son just graduated from New York University with a medical degree. "I think the U.S. is the best country ever," Bauman said. He added that he will always be thankful for "what this country did for me."
Bauman said his hearing aids, called Vivatone, come in four selections and the price points are comparable to those of the traditional hearing aids.
Musani carries the Vivatone and said he's had no returns from patients who decided to try it.
For more information about the Vivatone hearing aid, visit the Web site at http://www.vivatone.com
By Joyce Godwin
URL: http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/2005/05/29/local_news/iq_1841625.txt
Hearing aid patients have a new style of aid to consider, thanks to Dr. Natan Bauman, who visited Dr. Amin Musani in Denison recently from Connecticut. Bauman developed a special hearing aid for a friend who was having trouble with the traditional styles and what he came up with is so simple, he wonders why it hasn't been done before. A Poland refugee in 1970.
Bauman said the hearing aid business has the highest returns rate of any other market and the main reason is, the consumer doesn't have a chance to try it out before they take it out of the shop.
Bauman said patients usually don't know what to expect. Traditional aids are constructed and custom fitted to fill the entire ear canal. One can simulate that sound by talking while holding the ears closed.
One patient said, "You ought to try to eat something crunchy with those ear pieces on." That patient can't stand to wear hearing aids.
Bauman said not everyone is completely deaf but, by obstructing the ear canal, the hearing aids force them to rely only on the artificial means of hearing and can't continue to also use the hearing abilities that remain. He's designed a piece that fits behind the ear. That, in itself, is not so unusual but the thin wire running from behind the ear and into the ear canal is. At the end of that wire is a speaker fitting into the ear canal not even a quarter inch in diameter.
"It makes the sound so natural," Bauman said. "It's also fully digital. This leaves the ear the way it was designed, to do what it is supposed to do. We can still use the microphone in the ear."
Bauman said the most beautiful part of the apparatus for him is, the sound doesn't sound artificial.
Bauman was a refugee from Poland at the age of 25. He and his family left Poland to escape abuse because of their Jewish race. "As much as I wanted to stay in Poland, I have never been back," he said. It was traumatic for me."
He said his son just graduated from New York University with a medical degree. "I think the U.S. is the best country ever," Bauman said. He added that he will always be thankful for "what this country did for me."
Bauman said his hearing aids, called Vivatone, come in four selections and the price points are comparable to those of the traditional hearing aids.
Musani carries the Vivatone and said he's had no returns from patients who decided to try it.
For more information about the Vivatone hearing aid, visit the Web site at http://www.vivatone.com