MINNEAPOLIS, (August 3, 2015) – Starkey Hearing Technologies, one of the world’s leading hearing technology companies, is excited to announce the release of TruLink™ Hearing Control app version 2.1 and Halo and TruLink compatibility with Apple® Watch, select Pebble® smartwatches and three Android Wear watches: Samsung Gear S™, Moto 360™ and Asus Zen Watch™.
The TruLink 2.1 update will be available for download on Monday, August 3. TruLink allows seamless connection with Halo™ hearing aids and enables memory geotagging, streaming, remote control functionality and much more. Updates to the app include improved TruLink Memories capabilities with Memory Hub, better integration with Apple Watch, compatibility with Pebble and Android Wear products and a more comprehensive users manual with direct links to demonstration videos.
“While Halo and TruLink already work with Apple Watch, by offering users the ability to use and control their hearing aids through smartwatches from Pebble and Android Wear, we are making hearing help more accessible and definitely more cool by offering multiple solutions and methods for hearing aid users to engage with and manipulate their hearing aids,” said Vice President of Audiology and Professional Relations for Starkey Hearing Technologies. “The goal was to give users the ability to use their hearing aids without getting out their phones.”
Updates to TruLink Include:
- Improved memory geotagging capabilities with Memory Hub—a central access point for advanced memory features that allows users to change memory names, add location triggers, adjust automatic settings for memories, and launch SoundSpace to create or delete memories
- Better Apple Watch integration
- Compatibility with various Pebble and Android smartwatches
- Updated TruLink Users Manual with links directly to demonstration videos and explanations
- Updated SoundSpace aesthetics
TruLink and Apple Devices
TruLink 2.1 and Halo hearing aids work with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple Watch. In addition to the above TruLink capabilities, users with an Apple Watch will also be able to control volume easily and effortlessly in any environment, change memories to personalized settings and mute the hearing aid microphones directly from the watch itself.
TruLink and Pebble Devices
Pebble, a smartwatch company founded in 2011, wanted to provide Pebble users with a fun, cool and less obvious way to manage their hearing aids. Pebble’s Head of Sales, Kristen Regelein, wears Halos and said the watches are “something that could blend in with what everyone else has but also have a function specially made for hearing aid users needs.”
“The goal was to start a process for creating assistive devices for Halo that didn’t look like a medical device. Something that could blend in with what everyone else had but also have a function specially made for the needs of those with hearing loss,” said Pebble’s Head of Sales, Kristen Regelein. Regelein who has been deaf since the age of 3, was fit with Starkey Halo hearing aids in 2014.
Pebble users with Pebble Time™, Pebble Steel™ or Pebble, will be able to manage hearing aid volumes, change memories and mute the hearing aid microphones directly from the watch itself.
TruLink and Android Platform Devices
Halo and TruLink already work with various Android devices including Samsung Galaxy S 6, Samsung Galaxy S 5, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and others. Now with Android Wear, select models of smartwatches are now compatible with TruLink 2.1 and Halo hearing aids: Samsung Gear S, Moto 360 and Asus Zen Watch.
Users with any of these three watches will be able to change volume and mute the hearing aids, but Android Wear products will only work with Android phones that support TruLink.
Halo hearing aids are available in two styles: a receiver-in-canal (RIC) and behind-the-ear (BTE). For more information regarding Halo hearing aids please click here, or to schedule an appointment with a local hearing professional near you please visit our appointment page.
For media inquiries regarding TruLink 2.1 please contact Karen Spaeth to connect for interviews with Dave Fabry, Vice President of Audiology and Professional Relations for Starkey Hearing Technologies.
About Starkey Hearing Technologies
Starkey Hearing Technologies is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company is recognized for its innovative design, development and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. In addition to employing more than 3,600 people, operating 21 facilities and doing business in more than 100 markets worldwide, Starkey Hearing Technologies proudly supports its philanthropic arm: Starkey Hearing Foundation. The foundation, which uses the gift of hearing as a vehicle to change lives around the world, is nearly 50 percent ahead of its goal of giving one million hearing aids this decade. Starkey Hearing Technologies develops, manufactures and distributes hearing aids via four distinct brands – Audibel®, NuEar®, MicroTech™ and its original brand, Starkey. For more information, visit www.starkey.com and www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org, or the Starkey Expo Page on AudiologyOnline.
