Images from Seahawk.

I’m not sure if more people are mumbling or my hearing is starting to fade. I do find myself saying “what” more often. It doesn’t happen all the time but definitely enough that I am aware of it.

My doctor told me that most seniors have hearing loss. If they are like me, they don’t want to do anything about it until it becomes absolutely necessary. I might, however, invest in an aid called Soundhawk, a smart listening system which sells for $300. It connects to a smartphone app that will let me customize the sound for different environments, like indoors and outdoor modes.

The Soundhawk is really considered a personal sound amplification by Food and Drug Administration. It looks like a bluetooth earpiece so when I wear it you might mistake it for a phone device. Michael Kisch, Soundhawk’s chief executive, said the Soundhawk is really for folks who only have trouble hearing in noisy restaurants or loud parties. The Soundhawk does not need to be tuned by an audiologist. That’s why it is less expensive than a hearing aid. I can select settings as needed.

Soundhawk is headquartered in Cupertino, California. The Wall Street Journal just did I review on Soundhawk. Read it here.