There's a connected hearing aid, and it actually sounds useful
The Oticon Opn ensures you hear an alarm, door bell or smoke detector.
With every new gadget seemingly connected to the internet to automate your life, the question arises if a lot of those items are really useful. Now there's a hearing aid that connects to the Internet of Things, and before you dismiss it, this device seems like it will definitely lend a hand. London-based Oticon announced the Opn: a connected hearing aid that ensures the user knows when someone rings the doorbell, the smoke detector goes off or a baby monitor is chiming. Thanks to TwinLink technology, the Opn doesn't sacrifice size or battery life for connectivity.
In addition to communicating with household tech, Oticon's Opn also works with IFTTT's recipe-based automation. While the company didn't mention specifics, it's probably safe to bet users will be able to set up alerts for things like movement detected by an outdoor security camera -- just as an example. Of course, the hearing aid's primary task is helping with listening. Oticon says the compact unit performs sound analysis over 100 times a second and locates sound in any direction while drowning out background noise. This means that keeping up with conversations where multiple folks are speaking won't be a problem, even in a loud setting. Pricing and availability weren't mentioned in the announcement, but you'll probably want to consult an audiologist if you're interested.
