Hearing solution player launches 'Coach' in-app feature

Hearing solution provider Unitron has launched Coach, a feature in the Remote Plus app that allows users to take control of their hearing health by facilitating a better understanding of their hearing devices.

Coach sends users notifications for when to change or charge batteries, clean their devices, usage details, what to expect and how to get the most from their hearing instruments. 

Shaun Coghlan, senior product manager at Unitron, said: “Our goal with Coach is to empower clients with the confidence they need to integrate their hearing instruments into their lives. Clients can often feel overwhelmed when fitted with a hearing device for the first time. Traditionally, the hearing care professional provides support and counselling on routine care and maintenance. Mobilising this knowledge in a way that’s easy for the client to access and apply helps uncomplicate what feels complicated.”

Clinical research shows that approximately 90% of hearing instrument owners have trouble with basic hearing instrument management tasks. This can result in the abandonment of hearing instruments, leaving people to continue to struggle with hearing loss. Coach uses video, graphics and text to simplify and improve the experience for clients. 

Coach, part of Insights, is the latest of Unitron’s data-based technology. Insights is a cloud-based system that captures and visualises information about a clients’ unique acoustic lifestyle – including how well, or not so well, the instruments are performing. For the hearing health care provider, this information is crucial to ensuring the hearing device is personalised to a clients’ lifestyle. 

Dawn Heiman, Advanced Audiology Consultants, USA, said: “When the patient comes back we usually go into the software and I'm proud of the fact that I can say, "Hey, let's look at what living situations you have." They usually forget that I told them that we're going to be obtaining some data while they're wearing the hearing aids and the shocked, excited and intrigued look on their face all at once is like, "Wait a minute. What?" They actually say that."

Exclusive to Insights is Log It All, a solution that captures real-life data about the time spent in seven different listening environments. Log It All provides analysis of a clients’ unique acoustic lifestyle, breaking down time spent engaged in quiet or loud conversations, noisy environments or listening to music. This information allows hearing care professionals to make evidence-backed medical recommendations about the best hearing care solution for them.

While there are benefits to Unitron’s technology for hearing care providers, the client experience is also improved. Clients experiencing hearing health-related challenges are often resistant to the idea of having to wear a hearing device because they consider them to be uncomfortable, ineffective or, on a more emotional level, an acknowledgement of ageing.