Starkey Edge AI RIC RT Review: The Best Prescription Hearing Aids

When the United States Food and Drug Administration opened the door of the hearing aid to be sold over the counter In 2022, I was all over it. Prescription hearing aids are criminally expensive, and several OTC models have proven that you don’t need to visit a mall hearing aid store to get a product that does the job. I have tested it 38 hearing aids to date and 29 are available over the counter. My favorite hearing aid products There have been OTC models. Until now.

Starkey a main name in the hearing aid business and not some white label company slapping a logo on someone else’s product (an epidemic in this industry). Starkey has been around since 1967, and while it no longer designs or manufactures its own digital signal processing chips, it is closely involved in hearing aid development, famously boasting that it has fitted everyone from Ronald Reagan to Mother Teresa with hearing aids.

Now with the new Edge AI RIC RT hearing aids, Starkey has reached the highest level of product quality and performance thanks to a new audio processor that includes an integrated neural processing unit. laptops and telephones. Starkey says it’s the only NPU-powered hearing aid line on the market.

Receiver on the channel

Based on a classic, teardrop-shaped behind-the-ear design, the Edge AI RIC RT (which stands for “in-channel receiver, telecoil-rechargeable”) looks nothing particularly inventive, although it is available in your choice. consists of seven colors. Each aid weighs 2.62 grams, which is competitive for a behind-the-ear hearing aid. (For comparison Jabra Enhance Select 500 weighs 2.56 grams.) A single button on the back of each aid controls volume: down on the left aid, up on the right aid.

Photo: Christopher Null

Since these are prescription aids, you will need an audiologist to fit and adjust them. Instead of sending me to a local doctor, Starkey took the unusual step of flying Chief Hearing Health Specialist Dave Fabri to my home to perform this task. Fabry brought a suitcase full of equipment to recreate what a doctor’s office would normally look like, just by my dining table. He then trained me on the assistive devices and walked me around My Starkey appjust like a standard audiologist.

Fabry also fitted me with custom ear tips designed to fit the exact shape of my ear canals. (This type of service is at the discretion of your audiologist.) It’s a simple process that involves waiting for the wax to plug and harden in your ears. This slug can then be used to create a custom eartip that fits perfectly, although the usual collection of open and closed ear tips of various sizes are also included in the box.

Photo: Christopher Null