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Broadcast legend Red Robinson talks hearing in Kelowna

B.C. broadcast legend Red Robinson speaking at a hearing expo in Kelowna. Klaudia Van Emmerik / Global News

Advancements in technology are being credited for having a dramatic improvement in a person’s ability to hear. The newest technology on the market was discussed at a hearing expo in Kelowna.

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According to NexGen Hearing, which hosted the expo, 10 per cent of all Canadians suffer from some degree of hearing loss. When it comes to seniors, half are said to have a hearing issue. One of those seniors is B.C. Broadcast legend Red Robinson.

“I know it [hearing] deteriorated all those years,” Robinson said. The 79-year-old radio deejay blames loud music and a stint in the U.S. Army as a cannon squad leader for his hearing loss. “They had no protective hearing devices, ” he said.

Robinson was a guest speaker at the hearing expo on Wednesday. The audience, made up mostly of seniors, heard about the latest technology that’s now helping people improve their hearing. Wireless technology is one example. “We’re now in the bluetooth world, our iPhones, our Samsung tablets, they are all bluetooth, hearing aids are now bluetooth,” NexGen Hearing owner Colin VanBergen said.

VanBergen says hearing aids are now communicating with smartphones and allowing the sounds from phone calls, music, even the television to come directly through a hearing aid. “[Hearing aid users] can go to the kitchen, go to the washroom, go lay down and they are still hearing everything through their hearing aids,” VanBergen said.
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“This past summer, a new type of hearing aid was also launched. It can amplify voices all around you, while reducing background noise.”

“They do not use directional microphones, they are no longer focusing sounds,” VanBergen said. “They are reducing sounds from all directions and at the same time amplifying the voices from all directions so rather than living your life in a funnel, just hearing what you are looking at, we are now hearing an open world.”

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