Sony - Signia over-the-counter self fitting HA

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m-kro54

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It has come to my attention that Sony makes a couple of HA aids that dont require an audiologist. It's the Sony CRE-E10 OTC and Sony CRE-C20. They look identical to the Signia Active Pro IX and Signia Charge&go IX. It's a reason for that, Sony and Signia is a part of WS Audiology which partnered in 2022. Same factory.

Is this the start of something that will take over the traditional HA market? Reading the comparing reviews it seems Sony performs just as well as the more expensive Signias. And you can fit them yourself. I 'm a user of both Signia models. So I'm beginning to consider to buy a pair of Sonys in addition. it will save me a lot of visits to my audiologist to get the setup optimized for various environments.
 
The CRE-C20s are the OTC version of the Signia Silk , not the C&G.
Sony is not part of WS/Aud -- that's absurd. Sony has a partnership with Signia.

While both share the same hardware, the software and the firmware is different. You are only comparing hardware but the success of an aid depends mostly on the programming .

The Sony's only have five (or 6) fixed fitting profiles for hearing loss (Imagine a stereo that has 5 buttons: Rock, Jazz. Classical, R&B, Rap) instead of an "equalizer" (in simple terms). If neither of those profiles fit your loss, then the aids won't be effective. Signias have the "equalizer" that can match and address your hearing loss without using a pre-made curve.

Also OTCs are only for mild to moderate HA. In the case of signia, the Silk and the Active are also for mild to moderate hearing loss but the rest of the Signia products (C&G for example) can address more severe hearing loss.

So no, OTCs will not take over traditional aids and will not replace audiologists because only a group of people with hearing loss can use OTCs.
 
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