New Starkey HydraShield 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGiDXf3IsmA

As you know I’m a fan of Starkey, and one of their latest innovations is their new method of protecting their hearing aids against moisture, oils, and other gunk that can mess up a hearing aid.

Many hearing aids are now water resistant, but Starkey have gone to the next level with oil resistance as well. They are offering this technology in all their hearing aids.

The YouTube video is of me showing the effectiveness of the technology which in this case had been applied to some regular tissue paper. You get to see how tissue paper normally handles water and oil and then how the treated paper does. It’s pretty cool.

Forgive the video quality, I was holding the cell phone as I did the demo, but you get the idea.

That camera work is nothing to apologize for. You done good.

I love seeing this technology mature. Twice in my life, I’ve had to send aids back to factory for repair after being caught in a moderate thunderstorm.

Wow, that is impressive. It seemed to really block that water and oil from absorbing, which is super encouraging, considering the amount of water/oil you applied (and how no one would have that much). Seems like it should really work. 6 thumbs up Starkey :slight_smile: This will save people a lot of money from repair fees.

That is an impressive demonstration ZCT. And no apologies needed for the camera work…

The Resound website has a video that is similar. They dip two tissues in water and show them in slow motion coming out of the water; the untreated tissue is soaked and the treated tissue comes out “dry”. Pretty cool. I haven’t had any trouble from my Resound Future (Alera) yet and I’ve subjected them to a good bit of sweat and been caught in rainshowers a couple of times.

http://www.gnresound.com/professionals/technologyandinnovation/isolate.aspx

Starkey introduced water resistant technology about 3-4 years ago. They used to demo their aids by leaving them in a glass of water during a two hour lecture and then taking them out.

Many other manufacturers have a similar technology at this time. In fact I’d go so far as to say all premium manufacturers have some kind of waterproofing technology at this time.

The big deal about HydraShield 2 is that there is a second layer of nanotechnology that also resists oil and oily bodily fluids, including wax. So as you can see in the video, the same treatment is now substantially more resistant to additional materials. Also Starkey offer this is all their latest products, not just post aural.

ZCT,
Is the HydraShield2 only on the inside components or is it also on the outside of the HA.

You got me Seb. I don’t know exactly where they put it. I mean I know it does go on the components, and they are using a new treated wax guard system (the applicator is red, not blue like the old ones - called Hear Clear). But I couldn’t tell you if they ‘spray’ the outside with the treatment, have added it to their paint, or how they apply it externally if at all.

That wasn’t covered in the lecture I attended, or if it was it might have been while I was filming a YouTube video of the treated tissue paper! :rolleyes: