A Waterproof Hearing Aid From Siemens

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A lot of people who are hearing impaired would be more active if they weren’t afraid of damaging delicate hearing aids that don’t like the humidity of gyms or the dousings of jet skis.

Responding to this issue, Siemens has introduced what it says is the first waterproof hearing aid, capable of working as deep as three feet under water.

Called the Aquaris, the device can also be connected to a Bluetooth remote, called the Minitek, that streams audio to the earpieces, so a person could listen to music from a Bluetooth music player when swimming, for instance. Or an accessory microphone can be worn by someone whom you need to pay close attention to in a noisy room.

A survey by Siemens found that of 500 hearing aid owners, 17 percent restricted their activity to avoid damaging their hearing aids. That is particularly hard on groups like hearing-impaired children and people who work at jobs where there is dust or grime, like farmers or steel workers.

The Aquaris is available through audiologists nationwide, and is priced at around $2,500, per ear, although that number varies based on the cost of the custom fitting.