InventorSpot

This ad makes me laugh. The models look like they really don't give a crap what anybody says to them.

Biggest cause of hearing aids? To much phone sex.

Nice article, loved the comment about "it's like buying a lexus".

If Phonak's new marketing stance can make hearing aids a bit 'cooler' then it's a very good thing - hopefully remove some of the stigma that's still associated with them.

My hearing is fine. But these ads make me feel a whole lot better about hearing aids--er, personal communication aids.

The so-called PCAs are so elegant, rather than the old ugly one.

I look at these "cool people" in the pics and I know exactly why they'd need hearing aids. Too much loud rock, punk and heavy metal. You brought it on yourselves, Mr. and Ms. "I'm too cool to turn it down." I'm even happier that the idiots with the boom cars and the mp3 headphones you can hear from 30 feet away will be needing "personal communication aids" by the time they're 40.

You are actually glad that people suffer hearing loss because they MIGHT have played loud music?   How disturbing--and judgmental.

A little twist on the Buick commercial: 

Not your grandmother's hearing aids (or even mine!), that's for sure!

Cindy

Fact 1: 10% of all Americans have some sort of hearing loss - approximately 28 million. Most of these cases are related to diseases of the ear and work related noise exposure.

Fact 2: Less than 2% of these heaing loss suffers purchase hearing aids that could help in everyday communication. Most people that have a hearing loss don't purchase hearing aids because of the "stigma" of being seen as deaf and dumb.

As a result of having a hearing loss through a birth defect, I decided to purchase two digital hearing aids from Phonak two years ago in a electric blue color (why hide them?). Now, I can't wait to get some of the new cooler ones! Bye bye ugly aids!

I really am surprised that people think this is a good campaign. If you didn't know Phonak was a hearing aid manufacturer, you wouldn't know that this ad was even for hearing aids. They make it seem like it's just a bluetooth device. Maybe this is their purpose, but I would think it would lead to a lot of calls and visits to their website that wouldn't turn into sales.

More than one in ten people now  have hearing loss, and our numbers are growing in all age groups. It is sometimes due to noise exposure, yet that is more often not the case (uninformed and sometimes offensive specialists will ask you about noise exposure immediately, yet the more common cause is genetic, of many varieties).

The figure of 28 million people in the USA alone is an old number now (though still on the NIA website); it's closer to 31 million. The stigma of hearing loss is huge, prevents many with an initial small loss to report it or talk about it at all. If you don't have a hearing loss yourself (yet), it's hard to understand the everyday struggle and experience of losing hearing. It's human communication loss - it's the words that are unintelligible (we often hear the sounds, cannot make out the words, and this becomes more confusing because the loss is different in each room, with each voice).

Educated colleagues begin to shun you, exclude you, pity you - ugh! Saying sorry is lame and disrespectful. We need resources, and with current technologies, resources would go a long way to recognizing our abilities (only the hearing is disabled). The best resource, on top of hearing aids, is CAPTIONING, and so many know little about CART (realtime captioning) for full equal communication access. Even those with cochlear implants use captioning because in any group of four or more people, voices (speech discrimination) becomes muddled and impossible, even with good hearing aids.

I love these phonak ads! They are not perfect, and a tad confusing, yes; yet they begin to 'normalize' listening and hearing - for example, sailors use them to communicate with others in high noise conditions I believe.

Lauren, www.alda-maine.mysite.com

Actually, I am only 31 and will need the PCA for both ears (genetics). After visiting the Phonak website, I liked the Audeo's sleek design and hip/trendy feel to it. The campaign is for people who already know or need PCA's. I think it's brilliant and will be getting mine next week!

That's interesting that you think you can tell by looking at their pictures that they have a hearing loss from listening to their music! If I had shown you a picture of me in my early 30's, would you have been able to tell that I acquired my hearing loss simply from a audiological gene that I inherited from my dad? As a Hearing Loss Resource Specialist in the great state of Texas (one of the few states who even have such a program), it breaks my heart every time I see (or feel my car shaking from it!) an "idiot with boom cars and mp3 headphones that I can hear from 30 feet away." I just look at it as job security and wish that I could educate everybody about the dangers of noise-induced hearing loss. Hearing loss is rapidly approaching epidemic proportions with an estimated 55 million people having some degree of hearing loss in one or more ears. It's an invisible disability (and the number one disability in the world), that can have devastating effects on the person who has it!

yes...the person who says "serves them right" might want to remember a little saying that goes "what goes around comes around" so careful what you say! Karma is an interesting thing! And thank you *winks* from comment above, I also inherited genetic issues with my hearing/ears and have several problems resulting in my hearing loss...and people should know that there are many causes to hearing loss and to keep an open mind. numbers show now it's about 1 in every 9, that means, think of 1 for every 9 of your friends or coworkers...someone's hiding it too - I should know...I did it for most my life. So to the one who says "serves them right" think again...and remember you never know if you could be walking in those shoes one day of those you judge. Something to consider and gain perspective if anything!