Hear Me Out, Advertisers

As of June 2017, popular music streaming app, Spotify, had more than 140 million monthly active users. Serial, a popular murder mystery podcast, has been downloaded by listeners more than 250 million times. It’s only natural to run out the door, pop in headphones, and listen to your favorite tracks or stories. However, what is second nature for so many people around the world remains a fantasy for the hearing impaired. More than 50 million people in the U.S. alone have experienced hearing loss in some form. Apple recognized this problem and set their sights on Australia-based company, Cochlear, to forever change the iPhone user experience for the hearing impaired.

Cochlear invented the world’s first multi-channel cochlear implant about 30 years ago. This has now evolved into the FDA-approved, Cochlear Nucleus Implant System. For many who suffer from severe hearing loss, a hearing aid is insufficient. What the Cochlear Nucleus implant does is allow people to hear high frequency sounds such as children’s voices or birds chirping, improve awareness of sounds within the normal range of hearing, and help to enhance speaking skills.

But Apple wanted to take Cochlear’s technology a bit further and allow people to “pair” their implant with their iPhone the same way one might pair their Bluetooth speaker with their iPhone. While there is an iPhone app for the implant, Cochlear’s newest processor — Cochlear Nucleus 7 — is controlled by the phone itself, and allows users to listen to the content they desire with just the push of a button.

Every single day, we strive to create content that helps our patients. Whether it’s providing them with the tools to have productive discussions with doctors or a chat bot that answers questions on the treatment they are on, advertisers focus in on one particular problem and how to be a liaison between the brand and the patients. However, Apple and Cochlear’s partnership takes more of a “big picture” approach by integrating a solution into a patient’s everyday life. While doctor discussion guides and chat bots that answer specific questions are beneficial to both the brand and their patients, it’s possible that focusing on the little things in life, like hearing our favorite song or listening to the birds chirp in the morning, might ultimately inspire a more impactful solution.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/26/apple-and-cochlear-team-up-to-roll-out-the-first-hearing-aid-implant-made-for-the-iphone/