Starkey Edge AI RIC RT Review: The Best Hearing Aids

When the US Food and Drug Administration opened the door for hearing aids to be sold over the counter In 2022, I joined. Hearing aids are criminally expensive, and several OTC brands have proven that you don’t have to go to a hearing aid store to find one that does the job. I have tried 38 hearing aids so far, and 29 have been found on the counter. All my favorite hearing aids have been OTC models. Until now.

Starkey is a great name in the hearing aid business, and it’s not just another white label company that slaps a logo on someone else’s product (the plague of these companies). Starkey has been around since 1967, and while it no longer manufactures or manufactures its own digital chips, it is heavily involved in hearing aid development – and boasts of having fitted everyone from Ronald Reagan to Mother Teresa with hearing aids.

Now, with its new Edge AI RIC RT audio equipment, Starkey takes the top position in terms of price and performance, thanks to a new sound processor that includes an integrated neural processing unit – just like we do. laptop and phones. Starkey says this is the only NPU-powered line on the market.

Receiver in the Canal

There’s no telling what the Edge AI RIC RT (which stands for “receiver in the trench, augmented with telecoil”) looks like, built on a premium, teardrop-shaped design behind the ear, though it’s available as an option. of seven kinds. Each aid weighs 2.62 grams, which is competitive with a behind-the-ear hearing aid. (Comparison, i Jabra Enhance Select 500 weighs 2.56 grams.) One button on the back of each support controls the volume: bottom left, top right.

Photo: Christopher Null

Since these are assistive devices, you will need an audiologist to coordinate and adjust them. Instead of sending me to a local doctor, Starkey took the unusual step of flying the medical director, Dave Fabry, to my home to complete the procedure. Fabry brought a suitcase full of tools to recreate what the doctor’s office routinely encounters, right on my dining room table. After that, they gave me a training course and drove me around My Starkey appsuch as a general speech therapist.

Fabry also fitted me with ear studs that were designed to match the shape of my ears. (This type of service would be next to an audiologist.) This is a simple procedure that involves putting putty in your ears and waiting for it to dry. This problem can be used to create a bespoke ear that fits perfectly – even the usual open and closed ear plugs are included in the box.

Photo: Christopher Null