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Whisper Hearing to stop supporting "Whisper Hearing System" hearing aids

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The consolidation of Hearing Aid manufacturers has been seriously going on for last ten to twenty years. At the rate we’re going there will probably only be three to four big manufacturers left standing come 2030. That’s not good. But on the other side of the coin, “over the counter hearing aid manufactures” will probably see a ten-fold increase since there’s less regulation, aids are cheap and you get what you pay for.

Personally I think 2019 Sivantos -Widex merger backfired, with Widex name brand falling by the way side. Unfortunately more deals like the one above will probably continue in coming years.

ouch! Sorry for the early adopters here and elsewhere.

this news doesn’t surprise me however. “The Brain” has been superseded by trad ’s incorporating , or what passes for that, in their design. And anyway, from what I’ve read here and elsewhere, Whisper may have introduced some incremental improvements in some areas, but not enough to be a game changer. And their promised updates…didn’t really happen.

In reply to @billgem

@billgem said:

I wonder if that pivot involves selling to or merging with another company.

That would be my guess. There was another “disruptor” in Australia- Blamey & Saunders. They sold out to Sonova when the price was right.

Weird that they want their hearing aids back. If they were going out of business, they wouldn’t have the money to refund the purchase price you’d think?

In reply to @billgem

@billgem said:

I wonder if that pivot involves selling to or merging with another company.

Might be something to do with technology changing hands.

Seems I remember Whisper having some pretty good reviews about speech in noise, the holy grail.

It was doomed from day one, they can afford to offer refunds because they probably only sold a handful of “the brains in a box”
anyone that thinks they can take on a billion dollar monster without anything of substance is going to fall rapidly…

Edited

In reply to @d_Wooluf

@billgem said:

I wonder if that pivot involves selling to or merging with another company.

@d_Wooluf said:

That would be my guess. There was another “disruptor” in Australia- Blamey & Saunders. They sold out to Sonova when the price was right.

Weird that they want their hearing aids back. If they were going out of business, they wouldn’t have the money to refund the purchase price you’d think?

I actually trialed a Blamey-Saunders hearing aid once upon a time. I liked it. Innovative design.

On another forum I posted the same comment questioning why they want their hearing aids back. I don’t see how a cash-strapped company can afford to enforce that. I also agree that refunding the purchase price seems out of the range of their capabilities at this point. It’s particularly odd for a company whose business model was based on subscriptions. Although they did eventually offer a sales option to enable customers to gain insurance reimbursement, this would seem to represent a small piece of their business. So, who’s getting reimbursement and for what?

Hm. Their website is still up and running as I peck this out. They just announced the 5th software upgrade (aka update?), which was supposed to reduce feedback from various sounds. Er, I’ve had that on my aids going way back to the cave man.

I was also VERY intrigued to learn about the Whisper model (product and pricing) when I was looking for something better than my Phonak Marvel battery aids couple years ago. But ONE LOOK at that cigarette pack-sized brain and I said, NO WAY! Imagine all the places you’d need to drag that giant brain around? Many opportunities to LOSE it, too.

Their pricing of $180 per month worked out to about the price I pay for my aids, which I’ve been swapping out every 3 years: $6500.

Perhaps they want the aids AND the AI brain box to be returned for “safe disposal”. (To prevent re-selling at eBay or who knows where, with buyers not knowing there is no support for the device after this month.)

I think the AI brain simply has to be shrunk and put on microchips in the unit. NO other way to make this product palatable. In fact, it conjured up my dad’s first aid: the mono-earpiece attached by wire to that matchstick-sized box that he slipped in his shirt pocket. Alas! I do not wear shirts with pockets every day. :neutral_face:

Altho Speech in Loud Noise is every hearing aid wearer’s Holy Grail, I opted for the so-called “waterproof” (NOT!) Phonak Lumity Life aid that does indeed offer a noticeable improvement in speech clarity and overall adapting to ambient conditions.

Wow. I was surprised to hear this. Maybe I shouldn’t have been. I was very close to buying Whisper a year and a half ago. Maybe Whisper’s business model made economic sense at their original price, but then they had to keep lowering the price in order to attract customers. And even then they weren’t able to attract enough customers.

I sure would like to know how this all came about and what their “new direction” is. If they are declaring bankruptcy it seems strange that they would be offering refunds to customers. If they’re not declaring bankruptcy are they going to sell (or license) their technology to another company?

IMO this seems likely. I was impressed with the Whispers I trialed. I thought they were about on par with the Oticon Mores I was comparing them with. Unlike many others, apparently, I did not find carrying the brain to be that cumbersome. I was really looking forward to the introduction of the new hardware and software. The concept of using the brain to increase processing capacity made sense to me. It doesn’t make sense to me that they would just give up, especially without declaring bankruptcy.

Just idle speculation on my part, but maybe Whisper is selling or licensing their technology to one of the major manufacturers and the acquiring company doesn’t want those legacy Whisper out in the wild. Considering that important Whisper people had formerly worked for Oticon, I’d say that if my speculation proves correct, that Oticon is the most likely buyer. If Whisper’s technology appears in the next generation of Oticon HAs that would be a win for Whisper, Oticon and Oticon’s customers.

@ziploc said:

Oticon is the most likely buyer

Gawd. I hope not. In my most hopeful mode, I’d like to see Google buy it and incorporate the brain into a future phone.

And then, there’s the possibility that Whisper was built to sell to a larger manufacturer down the road right from the beginning. Like a lot of small innovative ventures in silicon valley that really aim to be bought out at a great profit by larger corporations that are swimming in money.

In reply to @Raudrive

@ziploc said:

that Oticon is the most likely buyer

@Raudrive said:

I can sure see this.

Getting their technology back.
Or one of the other big 5 getting their hands on it.

If I had to guess which company would be motivated to acquire new, innovative technology, I would think that it would be someone who’d want to make a big splash to raise its profile. Oticon doesn’t need to do that.

My money would be on Starkey. They hired an aggressive new VP for product development 5 years ago. In quick succession they’ve come out with the Evolv and the Genesis AI. They’re heavily committed to building with AI and to branding themselves that way. The Whisper technology would fit right in with that direction of the company. Moreover Starkey is an American company which would make the logistics of such a partnership that much easier.

Edited
@d_Wooluf said:

Gawd. I hope not. In my most hopeful mode, I’d like to see Google buy it and incorporate the brain into a future phone.

Apple would be another possible buyer too. I remember hearing rumors a few years ago that Apple might be developing a hearing aid. That would be exciting IMO.

@ziploc said:

Apple would be another possible buyer too.

Apple might do it better but I might actually be able to afford a Google phone/brain. Google have a track record of interest in using in the hearing space. I’m not sure if Project Wolverine (https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/us-news/google-working-on-wolverine-project-a-device-that-enables-superhuman-hearing.html4) is still a goer though.

I just hope it does what it was mooted as doing, which is disrupt the cosy nature of the industry.

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