PAC (Post Auricular Canal) Hearing System:
SeboTek’s new style hearing aid is in a category by itself
Not since the CIC was brought to market in the mid 1990s has the hearing health field witnessed a new classification of hearing aids. Over the past 10 years, product design efforts have, instead, been largely focused on digital signal processing, improved directional microphone technology, and superior software algorithms.
But the introduction of the PAC in April of this year established an entirely new hearing aid category. It provided hearing professionals with a remarkable new tool to help patients they had not successfully reached in the past. In fact, it was the challenges that hearing aid wearers and prospects experienced with existing models that dominated the product planning objectives for PAC as this new device was being designed.
- PAC’s milestone accomplishments are:
- —expands the skills and professionalism of the US dispensing community
- —overcomes key barriers that have prevented prospective hearing aid wearers from purchasing hearing aids (cosmetics, comfort, unreasonable expectations, etc)
- —provides high-fidelity acoustics that amplifies sounds naturally and allows prospects to immediately hear the benefits of the digital, high-fidelity, sound quality
- —improves the service levels that dispensers offer their customers and prospects
| SeboTek Hearing Systems 2323 S Sheridan Rd Tulsa, OK 74129 Phone (918) 388-9000 (800) 388-9041 (918) 836-0880 www.sebotek.com |
The PAC hearing aid style has many unique features that make it highly distinct from traditional hearing aid styles. Most noticeably, among the style differences, is the product design. The PAC is a three-part system, the heart of which is the digital processor. The miniature processor fits in a tiny pocket behind the ear and contains the instrument’s electronics and the directional microphone system. A push button at the top of the case activates the system’s four, independently programmed memories, including the directional microphone and programmable telecoil settings. The unit is programmed through the battery door. The majority of processor space is dedicated to the size 13 battery, reducing the need for frequent battery changes.
A very thin-gauge, external wire connects the processor with the hearing aid receiver, or speaker as it is more appropriately referred to. The wire, with a patent-pending, locking connector system at one end and the speaker at the opposite end, is available in three sizes (long, short, and medium) and is called the Speaker Link. The proper-sized Speaker Link will enable the processor to rest comfortably above the ear with the directional microphones on a flat plane and with the speaker located in the bony portion of the ear canal, past the second bend.
A mushroom-shaped, soft, flexible tip is the third element of the PAC system. The Ultra Soft Tip comes in seven sizes, and when properly installed over the speaker, the tip will position the speaker within the canal, maintaining an extremely comfortable and effective seal even with jaw movement. A properly positioned tip will be virtually unfelt by the wearer and will be inserted deeply enough in the ear canal to eliminate or, at the very least, substantially reduce most of the occlusion effect.
Other key benefits of the PAC design include the exceptional acoustics obtained, in part, by having the speaker deeply placed in the canal, and the reduced feedback potential that is the result of distancing the microphones from the speaker.
Because the PAC effectively fits mild to severe hearing losses, PAC is highly effective for generically demonstrating advanced, digital technology to current, hearing aid wearers and new hearing aid candidates. PAC demonstrations are strongly encouraged for all visitors to the dispenser’s office since the demonstrations will expose current hearing aid wearers to the benefits of new technology, whether it be the PAC or another brand or style that the dispenser prefers to offer. Using PAC demonstrations with new hearing aid candidates assists the dispenser in the pre-qualifying process by providing immediate evidence of amplification benefits, dispelling most cosmetic concerns and helping the candidate to establish realistic expectations.
Although new to the market, the PAC has already had an impressive history. Developed by an engineering team with extensive dispensing experience, several thousand patients are already benefiting from wearing the PAC technology. Contact SeboTek today at www.sebotek.com, or at (800) 388-9041, and learn how you can use PAC to strengthen the effectiveness of your practice.
