Announcements

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking for public comment on an application from Convo Communications, LLC (Convo). Convo wants to be recertified as a provider of Video Relay Service (VRS). Its current certification expires December 20, 2026. VRS lets people who communicate in American Sign Language make and receive phone calls over a video connection with a sign language…

The San Francisco Chronicle published a feature on why obtaining and paying for over-the-counter hearing aids still remains difficult for many people, four years after the FDA category took effect in 2022. The new rule was intended to let adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss buy hearing aids without a prescription, medical exam, or professional fitting, in order to make them more…

Texas Public Radio and the Texas Standard published the story of Tiffany Storrs, an actress and disability advocate who became deaf after the birth of her first child in 2007 and was later diagnosed as bilaterally deaf. Storrs now uses two cochlear implants and shares her experience to illustrate what the technology can and cannot do. A cochlear implant has a surgically placed internal component…

Demant, the Danish parent company of Oticon, Bernafon, and HearingLife, reported that its hearing aid sales grew sharply in the third quarter of 2026, which the company attributes to two newer Oticon products. In the preliminary figures, Demant reported 17 percent organic growth in hearing aid revenue. The two products represent different approaches to hearing aid design. Oticon Reveal, launched…

An independent developer is looking for people who are deaf or hard of hearing to test VibSense, a free Android app, and share feedback on how it works in daily life. According to the developer, the app listens for sounds such as alarms, car horns, speech, and dogs barking and alerts users with a vibration and a notification. It also includes speech-to-text and text-to-speech for conversations.…

The European Federation of Hard of Hearing People has published the third edition of its report, State of Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants Provision in Europe. The report analyzes access to hearing aids and cochlear implants across 26 European countries. Building on earlier editions from 2018 and 2022, the 2026 report expands its scope to include cochlear implants and personal assistive…

SCAN Health Plan and Costco have announced a Medicare Advantage partnership that includes a hearing aid benefit for eligible members. Announced October 1, the SCAN Costco Medicare Advantage (HMO) plan will begin coverage January 1, 2027, in 17 California counties and in Clark and Nye counties in Nevada. The companies describe it as Costco’s first Medicare Advantage plans. The plan offers an annual…

Starkey has introduced Omega AI+, its newest flagship prescription hearing aid family, announced October 1. The platform is built on a new processing chip the company calls the G4 Gen AI Neuro Processor and uses four deep neural networks that work together to manage different aspects of the sound environment. It follows the Omega AI platform Starkey introduced in October 2025. According to…

A study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity found that greater hearing loss severity was associated with a higher risk of death, and that hearing aid use was associated with a lower risk, among adults with hearing loss. The research combined individual participant data from population studies in Australia, Iceland, and the United States, with a separate replication study using data from…

Phonak announced Roger On Sphere, a new wireless remote microphone that uses deep neural network processing to separate speech from background noise. The device was announced October 14 and is expected to be available in most markets beginning in mid-November 2026. The device works by placing a remote microphone near a speaker, or in the center of a group, that sends sound wirelessly to a person’s…