What is your company’s niche within the hearing industry?

Sahara Design and Marketing Group LLC was formed in 2004 to finalize the design of the Sahara DryEar Ear Canal Dryer. I am a board-certified ear doctor and otolaryngologist, and conceived the DryEar to treat my patients with ear diseases resulting from retained moisture in their ear canals. Today our company markets and sells the device in North America, and worldwide, to all people who have difficulties resulting from water in their ear canals. Individuals in the hearing industry derive far greater benefit than any of our other target consumers. As most hearing care professionals are aware, moisture and cerumen are the leading causes of reductions in performance levels and malfunctions in hearing instruments. Our Sahara DryEar is the first device designed to dramatically reduce the moisture levels in the ear canal after showers and throughout the day when perspiration results in moisture migration to the delicate circuits.

How does your device work?

The Sahara DryEar Ear Canal Dryer relies upon the simple technology that a flow of warm air circulating into the moist ear canal will result in evaporation of the water. The technological advantages of the Sahara DryEar Dryer are that the temperature, rate of airflow, ear canal air pressure gradients, and drying times are carefully controlled to insure optimal and safe ear canal drying. We see the Sahara DryEar becoming a fixture in every hearing instrument user’s bathroom, glove box, briefcase, and anywhere else their lives take them.

How do you see the market evolving in the next few years?

We at Sahara Design and Marketing Group plan to continue to improve and alter the DryEar device to address the needs of niche markets such as the saturation diving community, NASA, and military applications. Other new design applications are currently under development.

Robert I. Harris, president of Harris Communications, Eden Prairie, Minn, tells HR how close business relationships keep his business up-to-date with technological advances.

What is your company’s niche within the hearing industry?

Our company provides a comprehensive product line of assistive technology for deaf and hard of hearing people. Those products include amplified telephones, signaling systems, and assistive listening devices such as personal amplifiers, FM systems, and infrared systems. Our products are sold through a mail-order catalog and on our Web site. We also have a dealer and referral network, which includes hearing health care professionals. In general, our niche in the hearing industry is to provide assistive technology for those with a hearing loss who may or may not have hearing aids.

How do you stay on top of industry trends?

We have been in business for 24 years and have close relationships with major manufacturers in the assistive technology industry who keep us abreast with changes in their product line. We also have personnel who research new products for our Web site and catalog.

How do you see the market evolving in the next few years?

Assistive technology continues to improve and there is a greater selection of products available. For instance, higher amplification levels on some amplified phones allow people who have more severe hearing loss to use them. Many manufacturers—such as Clarity with their patented Digital Clarity Power (DSP)—have also developed technologies to improve the quality of their products.

The Internet has made assistive technology for hearing loss more available to the general public, but dispensing professionals will continue to be consumer’s first source for information on these products.

Our goal is to be a resource for hearing health care professionals and their clients, and to provide guidance and recommendations based on our years of experience in selling assistive technology to deaf and hard of hearing people.