Able Planet- Providing Better Hearing Technology

Able Planet designs and manufactures innovative audio and communication devices for individuals with All Levels of Hearing™. The company’s products include Award Winning headsets, assistive listening devices and headphones like the new True Fidelity® Foldable Gaming Headphones. All products feature Able Planet’s patented LINX AUDIO® technology. The company has won over 30 awards in the past five years, including 25 International Consumer Electronics Show awards for innovation and design. The company’s products are marketed through Able Planet, resellers, audiology networks, non-profit foundations and strategic partners. Able Planet is headquartered in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Most of you do not know that Avery has hearing loss and wears hearing aids. It is a daily struggle with her and the hearing aids. She doesn’t wear them more than she does and I try to be understanding because it is hard to be a teenager and be different. One of the other obstacles we face is her music and my hearing. Since she doesn’t like to wear the aids because they make her look “different”, it is a constant battle with the sound level in our house. Sometimes I honestly feel my ears are going to start bleeding from how loud everything is. While researching for head phones for people with hearing disabilities, I found Able Planet. They were gracious enough to let me review their Musicians Choice Headphones.

They have been such a life saver the last week we have had them. Most headphones hurt her ears and she loves these. They fit snug and are comfortable. Plus she can wear them over the aids, which is hard with a lot of headphones. She does not have to turn the sound up to blasting to hear everything with them on. Plus, I don’t have to listen to her music full blast anymore. One thing I did notice though, is that if she doesn’t have her aids in and turns the volume up on the headphones, I can hear the music as if I am sitting right next to her. That is not a bad thing though because at least it is not making my ears bleed. One of the things that was most amazing to her was how she could really hear high frequency sounds. Most of her hearing loss is of high frequency noise and even with aids, it is difficult to hear some sounds. She said with the headphones she could hear them crystal clear. It was so neat to watch her face light up and say “I heard that.” Avery also said that she could not hear a lot of the outer noise in the house with them on. What a lot of people don’t realize, and even I didn’t know, is that with hearing aids you hear a lot of noise other than what you are supposed to hear. See when we hear, we hear the sounds and maybe some background noise. With hearing aids, you hear all that plus the friction on the aids. It is her biggest complaint and one of the main reasons she hates to wear her aids. Like in school, she can’t hear the teacher because all the other noises ( rustling of paper, kids whispering, etc) is amplified times 10.

I also tried them out and I love them. Avery was right when she said they are very comfortable. They sit right on your head and have padding on the top so your head doesn’t hurt from the pressure. The cups fit snug around your ears and have amazing cushion, making it more comfortable. The sound was really good and I found I did not have to turn it up much.

Your hearing is something that a lot of people take for granted. Seeing my daughter struggle with her hearing has made me more conscious over mine. I have been out in public and heard kids have their music blasting in their ears. I sometimes just want to say “Do you know what you are doing to your hearing?” My brother played in a rock band for years and now has hearing trouble but when you are young you do not think about things like that. Most often times, children, like Avery, are born with hearing loss but it is not found out until later in life. That is why I am grateful to companies like Able Planet. They put names and faces to hearing loss and work on new technologies to make individuals with hearing loss more capable. Please check out The Able Planet Foundation and read at how they are making strides in these new technologies. They recently partnered with the Hearing Health Foundation, which I think is awesome.

You can find Able Planet on Facebook and Twitter. I will be giving away these amazing headphones during the Dishin’ N’ Givin’ event, so please be on the lookout for them!

Till We Dish Again,

Bobbie