Widex A/S announced that it has been named a CES 2019 Best of Innovation Awards Honoree for WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology in the Fitness, Sports, and Biotech product category.

WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology will debut at CES as “the world’s first battery-free hearing aid” at the Sands Expo Booth #43735. Said to become available the Summer of 2019, this new technology is built on the WIDEX EVOKE platform to provide “superior sound quality, while liberating users by leveraging the benefits of WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology,” according to the company’s announcement.

“With WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology, the world will finally get to see its first hearing aid powered by fuel cell technology,” said Jeff Geigel, president, Widex USA.

“Most hearing aids today use batteries or battery chargers connected to power outlets. Our new hearing aid will require neither. This is exciting new technology that will be hassle free for the user while providing superior sound quality and app control that makes the hearing aid easy to manage in any setting,” he said.

Using what is reportedly “the world’s smallest commercially-available fuel cell,” WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology allows users to re-energize their hearing aids off the grid in just 20 seconds. It is designed to be easier to handle than traditional hearing aids.

Click below for a video of the WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology:

https://presscloud.com/file/67/676783351486498/RedDot_BGUpdate_H264_V2.mov

The CES Innovation Award is the second honor Widex has received for the WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology. The hearing aid was also honored in the prestigious Red Dot 2018 ‘Best of the Best’ Awards for Design Concepts and is exhibited in the Red Dot Museum in Singapore.

Widex was also recognized in 2018 as a leader in innovation at the Red Dot Design Ranking for Design Concepts. Widex placed number four out of 15 companies in the Americas and Europe region in recognition of its pursuit of design excellence over the past five years.

WIDEX EVOKE and WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology hearing aids will both be on display at CES Booth #43735. Launched in June 2018, WIDEX EVOKE is reportedly “the first hearing aid” to feature advanced machine learning technology in real time to create truly personalized sound for wearers.

How WIDEX ENERGY CELL Technology Works

Fuel cell technology powered the space-race in the 1960s and ’70s and today, fuel cell technology is used in the car industry and in power backup systems, though in much larger sizes.

Widex Fuel Cell

Widex Fuel Cell

WIDEX ENERGY CELL is the Widex technology based on a miniature fuel cell. Widex has developed the intelligent refill unit in collaboration with the Danish Technological Institute (DTI), and with financial support from Innovation Fund Denmark. The miniature fuel cells draw on DTI’s cross-disciplinary engineering skills and specialist knowledge within nanotechnology.

“Together, we have created a small fuel cell that can fit inside a hearing aid without compromising performance and durability. The fuel cell powers the hearing aid through a safe electrochemical reaction using oxygen and methanol. The only waste from this reaction is a small amount of water and carbon dioxide,” said Leif Højslet, director at DTI.

While modern rechargeable hearing aids take three to six hours to get fully charged, WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology is said to reenergize in 20 seconds. For those using traditional batteries, WIDEX EVOKE featuring WIDEX ENERGY CELL technology is designed to eliminate the need to replace batteries once a week.

Source: Widex

Images: Widex