Imagine walking into a crowded restaurant and having the noise automatically dim to your liking, or hearing turn-by-turn directions while driving without chancing a glance at your smartphone. Consider a world where you can listen to music without headphones, or simply hear conversations clearly, regardless of the background noise. For the 35 million Americans with hearing impairment, this world isn’t a reality — at least not yet. With the ReSound LiNX, the first hearing aid made specifically for the iPhone, the hearing-impaired will be able to connect to the world in a way they never thought possible.
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The ReSound LiNX is a tiny device that connects via Bluetooth to the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The device is customizable through the ReSound app, allowing users to program hearing settings for different locations, and fine-tune treble and bass for music or connecting to the TV. The aids can also be used with other apps in the iTunes store. The ReSound LiNX are basically wireless stereo headphones, which just happen to double as hearing aids.
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Hearing aids are often pegged as being for “old people”, but in America, hearing loss often begins around age 30, and individuals can lose as much as 10% per decade. Given the fact that just 28.5 percent of Americans who experience hearing loss actually wear hearing aids, a product like the ReSound LiNX could make a difference. “There are so many people like me these days. I want my Google ears. I want to hear everything everywhere,” Lloyd Alter, who has worn hearing aids for two years, writes for Treehugger. “If people stopped thinking that these things are just for old people and thought of them as their personal connection the world, perhaps more people who need them would wear them.”
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