Widex may be the smallest of the ‘big six’ hearing aid manufacturers in the world, but the quality of their equipment, and the transparency of the sound it recreates for its users is second to none.
For years this company has lead the industry for the intelligence, and intuitive operation of their automatic program switching algorithms. Now, with the latest addition to their product line of their new ‘Clear’ products, they are raising the industry benchmarks for quality, ease of operation and unsurpassed sound quality once again.
I’ve been wearing the demo 440’s that they sent me for about a month now. They are both incredibly simple to operate, and yet offer layers of consumer benefits, that I’m just beginning to uncover.
Hearing better with my Clear 440’s is as simple as putting in the battery. With their on board ‘sensogram’ INSITU, audiometry, they provide a level of programming accuracy, that simply isn’t possible when using the most common hearing testing protocols in use, and found under headphones. And, I find that Widex fittings need less fine tuning after fitting than just about any other instruments I fit.
Widex was late to the connectivity realm, but their line of Dex controllers allows for streaming streaming audio, and delay free, television amplification, in stereo directly into their wearer’s ears.
I paired my Droid with my M-Dex, remote control/Bluetooth dongle last week, and began to receive my cell phone calls through the system. I found that while the system worked with the M-Dex in my shirt pocket, my outgoing voice, was all but lost in my pocket. This problem was solved by wearing the M-Dex around my neck, using the included, snap on, adjustable strap.
I had used different manufacturer’s dongles in the past, and have been generally underwhelmed. Some seemed prone to loosing their matching, some had cryptic flashing codes you had to decipher to figure out what was going on, not so with the M-Dex. Though not the smallest remote dongle I’ve come across, it is the easiest to use, and most robust of any I’ve seen to date.
All of the previous models I had encountered handled a Bluetooth phone connection between your Bluetooth equip cell phone, and little, else, other than perhaps allowing for volume control, or program change. The M-Dex on the other hand comes with an easy to read, color LCD screen, that allows more than just simple volume and program changes.
The M-Dex allows for emphasis to be switched to a rear facing configuration for being able to hear those behind, such as when you are driving, and want to hear the passenger conversation in the back seat. But, not satisfied with that, the system allows something else that none of the other companies offerings offer.
My M-Dex, found the rather extensive music library I had downloaded onto my Droid summer before last in hopes that the latest industry offering in 2010 would be able to access this library and couldn't. I found the music button on my M-Dex by accident, and suddenly found Andrea Bochelli singing an aria in my ears. It was unnerving at first, having found it accidentally, but I was soon filled with the wonder of it, and found I was quite enjoying my own private concert.
But, these instruments still have other benefits that I haven’t even touched on, like their ability to track, classify, and attenuate multiple sound sources, and emphasise speech in uncanny ways that lets me hear, and understand in some really amazingly complex, and noisy sound environments, like noisy pubs, and restaurants.
These instruments have yet another feature, that sets them head and shoulders above most of the rest of the industry with yet another feature called their Zen programs.
Designed for tinnitus sufferers, the Zen program, allows for the programming of an incredible array of various tones, notes, tempos, and chords, or even white, or pink noise, at any level desirable, for use as a tinnitus management tool. Literally, tempos, tones, and sounds to meditate to, available at whatever level you’d like, anytime via, your Widex Clear 330, or 440 hearing instruments, with the simple push of a button.
The performance, of these hearing instruments, and therefore my ability to understand while wearing them can only be described, as excellent. Couple this, with the coolest set of auxiliary programs I’ve seen, and a remote control dongle that has more to offer than anyone else, and Widex has produced another sure winner, one that is sure to please any user for years to come with their legendary service, and reliability.
So far, these are the most sophisticated hearing instruments I’ve encountered, anywhere. Hat’s off to Widex for setting such a high standard.