Innovations: New Hearing Device Technology
Senior Editor, CNBC
In our Innovations segment--we have the first hearing aid to use nanotechnology. It's been so successful--it's pushed the revenue growth for the company that makes the aid --past 35% in a year. The company is Starkey Labs and the firm's president-Jerry Ruzicka talked about the device with Sue Herera on "Power Lunch."
Ruzicka explained that the hearing device uses digital components to help users hear better. It basically adjusts to the sound emitted from a phone--for example--in order to allow the sound to come through better than conventional hearing aids.
Starkey Labs is a private company and Ruzicka says there are no plans at the present to go public. It had $500 million in revenues last year.
FYI: some 31 million Americans suffer from hearing loss. And 6 out of 7 of hearing loss victims between the age of 45 and 64 do NOT have hearing aids.
