LAUNCHES REVOLUTIONARY HEARING DEVICE
SONGBIRD™, the world’s first disposable hearing aid, now available in Canada
Toronto, Ontario – February 19th, 2001 - A revolutionary new hearing aid will soon be available to people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss across Canada. It is currently available in 10 test clinics, in four provinces, with more than 100 locations being added throughout February. The device is called Songbird, and it is the world’s first disposable hearing aid.
This innovative hearing device is specifically designed to treat people, particularly baby boomers, who have hearing loss resulting from life-long exposure to decibel-blasting music and other forms of noise pollution.
“We’re very excited about being able to offer Songbird to Canadians,” said Frederick J. Fritz, Songbird’s President and CEO. Fritz described his company’s innovation as “driven by the knowledge that there are millions of people between the ages of 45 and 64 who experience mild-to-moderate hearing loss, but have been reluctant to seek treatment.”
“We can now offer this population a hearing aid that satisfies their unique needs. Songbird is designed to be convenient, virtually invisible in the ear, extremely comfortable and very affordable,” said Fritz. “But even more important,” he added, “it offers sound quality comparable to the very best in the industry.”
Fritz explained that each Songbird Disposable Hearing Aid will cost $59 (professional fees not included) and delivers a full 40 days of life when used 12 hours per day.
Because the device is discarded when the battery runs out, consumers no longer have to be concerned about battery replacements or repairs. The elimination of a battery door provides room for a microphone that is seven times larger than typical hearing aid microphones, creating high-fidelity sound in a hearing aid sized to fit discreetly in the ear.
Unlike traditional hearing aids, Songbird can be fit in just one visit to a hearing professional and is available in a variety of pre-set acoustical formats to fit the specific needs of each wearer. Songbird also features automatic volume control, allowing people to avoid the need to make frequent volume adjustments.
“Songbird Hearing Inc. is so confident in the performance of its product, that each disposable hearing aid is unconditionally guaranteed,” explained Fritz.
Fritz added that the new Songbird Disposable Hearing Aid is only available through hearing healthcare professionals.
Research shows that hearing loss is one of the country’s most common chronic health conditions. Of the millions of people with diagnosed hearing deficits, 70 percent are under age 65. An estimated 3 million Canadians are living with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and experts predict that number will continue to grow.
For more information about the Songbird Disposable Hearing Aid, please call 1-800-SONGBIRD (800-766-4247) or visit www.songbird.ca.
Songbird Hearing Canada Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Songbird Hearing Inc., a privately held company based in Cranbury, New Jersey. The company was formed in 1997 to develop a line of disposable hearing aids based on highly proprietary technologies exclusively licensed from the Sarnoff Corporation (formerly RCA Labs). The Sarnoff Corporation is widely recognized as one of the top research centres in the United States.