Hearing Aid Blog

A Plainfield man has been charged with stealing hearing aids from a Franklin, Somerset, company and smuggling them out of the country to be sold on the black market in Colombia.

Gerardo Casteblanco, 41, of Plainfield, an employee of Oticon in Franklin, was charged Wednesday and taken to Somerset County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail set by state Superior Court Judge Julie Marino, sitting in Somerville.

More than $600,000 worth of hearing aids, parts, tools, software and other equipment belonging to Oticon were found during a search of Casteblanco’s Birch Avenue residence, said Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest. Casteblanco was arrested yesterday at his home.

Forrest said Casteblanco, an employee of the Denmark-based company, had been taking the items from Oticon without authorization for more than a year.

The thefts from the company were brought to the attention of the prosecutor’s office on Aug. 5 by Thomas Falvey, the vice president of operations for Oticon, Forrest said.

Oticon manufactures the hearing aid parts in Denmark, then ships the equipment to the Franklin facility for assembly and distribution.

An investigation by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Investigation Unit, with assistance from an Oticon representative in Colombia, found that hearing aids manufacturered by Oticon were being smuggled out of the United States and sold on the black market in Colombia, Forrest said.

The investigation found that hearing aids found in Colombia had the same serial numbers as hearing aids stolen from Oticon, according to the prosecutor.

Video surveillance on Aug. 19 at Oticon showed Casteblanco removing boxes of hearing aids from a storage area at the facility, Forrest said.

Another surveillance video from Tuesday, Aug. 26, showed Casteblanco removing items from the storage area and putting them into his lunch box at his work station, Forrest said.

Casteblanco was seeking to move to Colombia, where his wife lives, Forrest said.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080827/CRIME/808270373

How can you make a hearing aid sexy?

You call it “Passion” and color it shocking pink or lipstick red.

You call it “Vibe” and dress it in leopard print or checkered flag that looks positively NASCAR.

Manufacturers are banking on such flash to attract baby boomers who have punished their ears with loud concerts and music played through headphones. Of 78 million boomers, one in six is estimated to have hearing loss.

The latest in hearing aids were on display at the Charlotte Convention Center this spring at the annual conference of the American Academy of Audiology.

“It’s about self-expression,” said company rep Tom Powers, standing near a giant photo of an attractive young woman at one convention booth.

In her ear was the Vibe, a device the size and shape of a fake fingernail. But instead of blending in with her skin, it bore a bold pattern just like her leopard-print blouse.

Powers is with New Jersey-based Siemens Hearing Instruments, maker of the Vibe. Other Siemens ads feature guys playing air guitar, riding motorcycles and racing cars.

The mantra from Powers and several other vendors: It’s not your grandfather’s hearing aid. Some manufacturers have even renamed them PCAs or Personal Communication Assistants.

The last thing boomers want is to look old or uncool with a piece of skin-toned plastic stuck in their ear. So manufacturers are rolling out hipper models.

Some, such as Vibe, are glitzy enough to resemble jewelry. Others, such as the Passion, made by Widex, are tucked behind the ear and far less noticeable.

Aging hippies who’ve rocked to the Grateful Dead for 40 years may find their guitarist Bob Weir persuasive, wearing his EntrePlus 450 in ads for manufacturer Vivatone.

One display board at the convention even showed a sporty device with a white, dimpled surface like a golf ball. Its name: Oticon’s “Fairway.”

Companies are hoping the popularity of attached-to-the-ear cell phones will help make hearing aids more acceptable.

Phones played a role in one cutting-edge technology on display among the convention’s 200-plus exhibitors. This new generation of hearing aids can be used as wireless receivers for cell phones as well as computers, iPods and TVs.

“They’re trying to make hearing devices fun,” says Michigan audiologist Gyl Kasewurm.

They’re also pricey, with some models costing as much as $4,000 per ear, which is usually not covered by insurance. Medicare also doesn’t cover them because of their high cost.

But will customers really go for a hearing aid that calls attention to itself like jewelry?

You bet, said audiologist Erin Maierle of California, among the nearly 7,000 attendees at the convention. “I’ve sold fluorescent orange,” she said.

But it may take a while to catch on in the Carolinas.

“In our practice,” says Charlotte audiologist Tracy Swanson, “I have more people who want all the options they can for matching their hair color.”

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-trendyhearingaids08aug24,0,7679267.story

If your hearing isn’t as good as it used to be, you may be thinking about getting a hearing aid.

Then again, there’s a good chance you can’t be bothered, even though you find yourself cranking up the volume on the TV set or asking a friend sitting next to you to speak up. If so, you are not alone.

More often than not, people put off getting a hearing aid after they first notice it’s getting harder to hear, said East Bay, Calif., audiologist Leigh Kjeldsen. ‘’People wait an average of seven years between knowing they have a problem with hearing and doing something about it.'’