Demant introduces Philips HearLink hearing aids

rasmus_braun · April 10, 2019, 10:16am

Demant is bringing Philips hearing aids to market

Hearing aid users can now choose solutions from the Philips brand portfolio, one of the world’s best known and leading health technology brands, focused on improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum. The Philips brand portfolio of hearing solutions will enter the hearing aid market with a complete range of premium hearing aids and will offer hearing care professionals an exciting new business opportunity to work with a global brand serving both professional and consumer markets in consumer health and home care. Demant, a leading hearing healthcare company and exclusive hearing aid brand licensee of Philips, looks to the potential of addressing new segments on a global scale combining first-class hearing technology with a well-known brand.

Copenhagen, Denmark, 10 April 2019 – Demant is pleased to announce the introduction of Philips branded hearing aids to the global hearing aid market. A new player, the Philips brand is entering the hearing healthcare market with a complete range of premium hearing aids, accessories, and applications to best serve hearing aid users. These Philips Hearing Solutions will quickly become a trusted brand with hearing care providers and users, as it has great potential around the world to present unique opportunities for hearing care professionals in an ever-evolving market.

“Based on a shared vision of improving the lives of people through innovative healthcare this new cooperation will not only change the way we see hearing healthcare, but also widen the definition of hearing healthcare, supporting healthier lifestyles and active aging,” says Spencer Ramsey, Senior Director, Brand Licensing, Philips. “Combining Demant’s world-leading hearing aid technology with Philips’ global brand presence in healthcare, the cooperation will enrich the hearing healthcare experience.”

“The Philips hearing aids will provide users with an innovative, future-proof hearing solution,” says Søren Nielsen, President & CEO, Demant. “We live in an age where user engagement and digital services are shaping the future of healthcare technology. More and more people are conscious of taking control of their own personal healthcare and are using electronic devices to do so. In this light, Philips Hearing Solutions offers new and exciting premium solutions alongside Philips’ healthcare ecosytem, which will attract interest and generate significant benefits to users, ultimately supporting our valued customer base of hearing care professionals.”

The new premium Philips hearing aids, named Philips HearLink, are now available for trained and educated hearing care professionals in selected countries across the globe: Philips HearLink will enable users to listen better so that they can better connect with the people they care for. Users will also benefit from connectivity between their hearing aids and the devices they use in their everyday life, such as smartphones and televisions. The look and feel of the Philips HearLink hearing aids caters to today’s baby boomer generation with design and usability developed for this expanding market.

“With this partnership, we take connected hearing healthcare to the next level and offer new and exciting solutions within integrated healthcare services to the benefit of both professionals and people suffering from a hearing loss. Health, caring and innovation are cornerstones in the vision of both Demant and Philips, which makes the partnership a great match for the future. Furthermore, it will strengthen and add value to both companies’ ambition to improve people’s lives,” Søren Nielsen concludes.

For further information about Philips Hearing Solutions and a full presentation of the Philips HearLink product range, please visit: hearingsolutions.philips.com

About Demant

Demant is a leading global hearing healthcare group and the exclusive hearing aid brand licensee of Royal Philips that is active in the entire hearing healthcare market, operating in a global market with activities in more than 130 countries. For more than a century, the Demant Group has played a vital part in developing innovative technologies and know-how to help improve people’s hearing and health and create life-changing differences through hearing health. For more information, please visit: https://www.demant.com/

With the Philips HearLink hearing aids, we strive to take connected hearing health care to the next level and offer new and exciting solutions within integrated health care services to the benefit of both the professionals and people living with a hearing loss. For more information, please visit www.hearingsolutions.philips.com

AbramBaileyAuD · April 10, 2019, 6:30pm

Hearing Tracker’s coverage https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/philips-launches-hearlink-hearing-aids-from-demant

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/philips-launches-hearlink-hearing-aids-from-demant

anon66854306 · April 11, 2019, 6:49pm

Interesting @rasmus_braun. I know that Demant owns Oticon OPN and other brands, but some of the features of the new Philips brand portfolio are eerily similar to Oticon OPN, right down to the new OPN-S charger and the ConnectClip. Do you know if the Phillips devices are just “re-branded” or “de-featured” Oticon OPN or Siya hearing aids and accessories? Old wine in a new bottle, perhaps? Gotta wonder, until they publish the specs. Any idea how this line will compare to premium OPN products in terms of price? What incentive would providers have to sell this line if they already sell OPN and Siya?

parth_p · April 11, 2019, 6:57pm

any way but i am using philips headphone ANC its good.so hearing aid must be of good quality.

Volusiano · April 11, 2019, 6:59pm

Sounds like Phillips has a big presence in the health care industry so Demant is just using Phillips as a new global distribution channel for their OPN products.

By that token, Philips is not going to develop any new hearing aid brand. They’re probably just rebranding the Oticon OPN to give Phillips their flagship product to sell through the Philips channel.

Why the need to rebrand with a Phillips brand? Probably due to legalese stuff.

This is only just my guess on things based on reading in between the line the announcement, of course.

parth_p · April 11, 2019, 7:06pm

no seems different on compression system.

see compressio section and how they are using combined things with NR

rasmus_braun · May 19, 2019, 3:25pm

Just to let you know, Costco has started selling the Philips HearLink 9010 product line. It replaces the Bernafon Zerena 9 which was discontinued last month.

Website:
https://www.costco.com/philips-hearing-aids.html

oscar2007_292 · May 22, 2019, 2:11am

Hi! I work for Costco as a Hearing Instrument Specialist. We just had our first meeting with our Philips company representative. He confirmed for us the Philips hearlink is the same chip as Oticon OPN S. Costco wanted Oticon from Demant and this is the only way they would let us have it. This is mostly to keep the independent clinics from rioting in the streets if they let us have Oticon. Our rep was actually transferred from the Oticon division over to the new Philips division. Of course, like the rest of our products we do not handle tinnitus features. I can tell you, however, the programming options are otherwise the same when comparing the Philips software and Genie 2.

Don · May 22, 2019, 3:41am

Ha! I love it…

anon66854306 · May 22, 2019, 5:18am

Thanks for this info, @oscar2007_292 . It’s a bit disturbing for those of us who paid a lot for branded OPN-S, but it’s not surprising. But when I look at photos of the Philips hearing aids, they’re pretty ugly, so no matter how cheap they are, I wouldn’t wear them anyway! Are you saying that tinnitus masking is the only feature that isn’t available on the Philips HearLink hearing aids at Costco? Will there also be 3 levels of devices like OPN-S1, 2, 3, etc? Are you stocking them yet? Thanks again for posting this info.

oscar2007_292 · May 22, 2019, 7:07am

Yes, as far as I can tell tinnitus masking is the only feature lacking. Costco currently only sells premium level devices, the options of the Philips features are equivalent to that of the S1. Every Costco is already set up to begin placing Philips orders.

pvc · May 22, 2019, 3:38pm

Well, same chip is a squishy statement. I think the Costco models will be Bernafon’s. Please excuse the highlight/UN-highlight version of these images. It was all I could find to represent the different models together in one place.

Philips;

Bernafon;

Oticon;

Don · May 22, 2019, 6:41pm

The one in the store looks like an Oticon Mini-rite style.

pvc · May 22, 2019, 7:02pm

In the store? You mean in a Costco Warehouse Hearing Aid store? That seems odd. Why wouldn’t they look like the models on the Philips US website??

Don · May 22, 2019, 7:21pm

In your Phillips picture, the one on the far left looks like the mini-rite.

tenkan · May 22, 2019, 7:52pm

The bernafon and Sonic’s are copy’s of the original oticon mini rights , so one would think the Philips are to.

pvc · May 22, 2019, 7:57pm

Copies? Not exact copies.

pvc · May 22, 2019, 7:59pm

They don’t look the same as Oticon to me;
Philips:

Bernafon:

Oticon:

Don · May 22, 2019, 8:03pm

They all three have the button and the microphone hole in the same place.

MDB · May 22, 2019, 8:12pm

Seems like we could speculate endlessly. My gut says it’s more likely that they would be more like the Bernafon or Sonic models and appearances bear this out to my eye. However, in their product description, they do talk about a noise reduction system that sounds a lot like Oticon’s. Would really help to have a look at the fitting software.