I don’t know enough to argue this, but there is a long thread about Philips and Oticons sharing technology. I think in the same sense Rextons are rebranded Signias. These brands are owned by larger companies that need to share their research to keep market share at all their brands. Costco customers benefit because they can buy these HAs for much less than brands sold by private audiologists
Jabras and Rextons are the exact clones of their counterparts from Resound and Signia, they have the same hardware and use the same software, just rebranded.
I don’t know enough about Philips, but on the spec sheet they look like Oficons and they use their accessories too.
Rexton Bi-Core IS a rebranded Signia Pure Charge&Go. The two are identical.
Philips HearLink is NOT a rebranded copy of any Oticon hearing aid. There is no doubt that the HearLink is made by the William Demant Holding Company, Oticon’s parent company. Obviously they can use any proprietary technology which they own on the Philips products which they manufacture and sell. My point is that the purchase of a Philips hearing aid is not simply the purchase of an Oticon hearing aid under a different name. It’s a distinctly different product.
1 Like
I hear these rebranded statements all the time, but never anyone stating how they know. I guess an audiologist who programs both Rexton and Signia would be able to tell if the software was the same. Otherwise, we are talking about proprietary information (business secrets).
In what essential way are Philips and Oticon different that makes any difference to a user, such as myself, who does not have a profound hearing loss and doesn’t need a doctor of audiology who charges much more for Oticon? My Philips deliver what I need. Why would I need to pay extra for Oticon? You say Philips are not Oticon. But the long thread about Oticon, which I have read, but can’t say I fully comprehend, is full of speculation and disagreement, with no substantive proof of an essential difference that supports your claim.
About 15 years ago at a car show I asked an Audi engineer about the difference between my GTI engine and the engine used by the Audi 3. He agreed they were the same engine made in the same factory, but said Audi is a luxury brand that makes more money than VW. I just wanted a fun car at a good price so I made the right buy for me. Are there similarities between Philips and Oticon?
1 Like
Agreed. But, for me, the measured (REM?) and subjective sense of hearing improvement is what really matters.
For me, the real issue is do they deliver the same results using essentially the same technology, even if they use slightly different ways (software?) to get the same results.
Spec sheets, info about software used or even software itself are often publicly available, you just need to know where to look. They’re the same product. WS Audiology [the owner of Signia and Rexton brands] is notorious for rebranding their HAs, they have at least 5 of them.
It’s a similar story with GN Resound/Jabra.
2 Likes
I think the only real difference is software/firmware, the thing is they are most likely Sonic which seems to be the same as Bernafon, they use all the same hardware from the Demant A/S parts bin, Phillips don’t make HAs, Demant A/S do and all these models are made and supplied from the same company parts bin Demant A/S, but your right, Phillips is not a rebranded Oticon in the same way that the Jabras and Rexton are, and of course the KS to Phonak was.
It’s easy to see in the physical sense, but more importantly after using or programming these HAs, you get to see how they are much the same and use the same software, of course they use different names for the same technology, also flavour the software with a different colour, the Apps are also very similar.
Check out this map from hearingtracker to see just how many Rebranded models are out there, to think that the manufacturer’s make separate chips and processors is just ridiculous, they are all the same in some form or another.
Direct download.
4 Likes
Thank you. I think this confirms my view that we can buy Costco HAs that are essentially, if not precisely, the same as much more expensive HAs sold by private practice audiologists. If my Philips are not precisely Oticons, why should I care if I’m getting essentially the same performance results?
3 Likes
What about the Philips company that makes lots of electronic equipment. Did I read Demant bought them? Or is that a different company?
No they didn’t buy Phillips, they entered into a licence agreement of some sort.
Philips is not the company it was decades ago, they license their name to anyone who pays nowadays. They divested most of their divisions, keeping the ones focused on a healthcare equipment like MRIs (not HAs).
Did Williams have a HA division?
Just to reiterate, for someone still wondering if Philips HAs are Oticons under the hood.
Check their respective manuals for their apps.
oticon-companion-app-user-guide.pdf (243.9 KB)
hearlink_2.pdf (8.0 MB)
It’s the same app, just one is using dark color scheme…
Yes, these apps look identical and confirm that Philips are essentially rebranded Oticons. I wonder if most Costco fitters are trained to properly enter the tinnitus program. I don’t have tinnitus, but there are many who would benefit if it works. These new models may now do what is needed.
I’m sure most could, but Costco didn’t want to go down that path, for some, it’s a lot of work/risk to get right, there’s even clinics that specialise in setting these up for people, just too much work when Costco needs to keep the turn over fast and margins high as possible.
As I write this, I’m wearing a pair of Philips HearLink hearing aids. In no way am I implying that anyone should spend the extra money to choose Oticon hearing aids over Philips hearing aids. I say that Philips are not Oticon More or Real simply because when I read the extensive explanations which each brand provides about what their hearing aids do and how they process sound, they’re describing different ways that they get things done. Both use AI but there the similarities end. They use AI differently.
Here is a link to just one of the sources on the internet which states with some authority that Rexton is a rebranded Signia.
I also called Rexton directly and their customer service rep confirmed that Rexton are rebranded Signia hearing aids.
Thanks for your research!
1 Like