The Paul Simon song, Boy in the Bubble, says these are days of miracle and wonder where “there are lasers in the jungle somewhere; a staccato signals of constant information; a loose affiliation of millionaires, and billionaires, and babies...” Indeed, you can sit on a remote lake in northern Minnesota waiting for the fish to bite while having a conversation with a person walking down Rodeo Drive or a broker on Wall Street who is linked to a computer. In my local coffee shop, the computers of college students are performing verification and security checks with each other before their owners have a chance to make eye contact. The “staccato signals of constant information” are flowing around us in the form of ceaseless electromagnetic waves being beamed and bounced off satellites, cell phones, PDAs, computer ports, and soon everything mundane—including your refrigerator, which may someday email or call for you to pick up milk on your way home (don’t laugh, this exists!). Information Age meet the Wireless Age.

Hearing care professionals are in a unique position to witness the convergence of wireless and communication technologies. In a sense, they’ve pioneered it. FM and other wireless systems have been offered by the industry for many years, and these have been used by hearing-impaired students and others with great success. In this edition of HR, David G. Myers, PhD, discusses the often-overlooked area of audioloops and hearing aid telecoils (pg 22). He believes that, as more public places utilize these systems, a revolution will occur and consumers will come to realize that they are effectively getting two hearing systems in one. Likewise, Stefan Dietrich, ICID, tells of his experiences using the Lexis FM system in a demanding medical classroom setting and during noisy clinical instruction (pg 38).

However, the wireless revolution will perhaps realize its greatest effect via other types of transmission technologies, including WiFi and Bluetooth. It should be noted that several of the hearing industry’s largest companies already have wireless headset divisions. Likewise, many hearing instrument manufacturers have abundant ideas about what they could do with wireless functions, but are still weighing what might be truly useful to the hearing aid user or dispensing professional. As examples of current systems already in use, Brad Ingrao, MSEd, of HIMSA explains Bluetooth technology and, with the help of Terry Ross of GN Otometrics and Pat Henry of Phonak, provides three examples of Bluetooth devices in our industry (pg 26) . Thomas A. Powers, PhD, and Pamela Burton, MA, of Siemens discuss the wireless synchronization technology that has been implemented in Siemens Acuris hearing instruments, a transmission system that exchanges real-time data between two hearing aids in a binaural fitting (pg 28). Additionally, Sidney Tannenbaum, MBA, describes a survey that suggests a need for wireless technology being implemented in testing equipment (pg 50).

And this is only the beginning. Industry engineers predict that total communication devices are not far off, and these systems will ultimately converge with hearing aid technology. In other words, your hearing aid, your phone, your computer, etc, will all be linked and supplying you with an even higher staccato of constant information. Today, few people wear headworn devices—only the true gadget-lovers will wear them throughout the day. Yet, in 10 years, headworn transmission devices are likely to become more commonplace. Having said that, all one has to do is look at cellular telephones to know that, in 10 years, we may have a completely different concept of what these devices are, what they do (eg, taking photos), and what they look like. As always, we look forward to your thoughts and comments.

Karl Strom
Editor-In-Chief