What's a PCA or PCD?

What is a PCA or PCD?

Hearing Device for the Boomer Who

Isn’t Ready to Look Old

Copied from “The Province”, Sunday, June 17, 2007. By Shannon Proudfoot (*with the exception of 'blue' content)

Boomer with black eye It looks a bit like a Bluetooth device nestling behind the user’s ear with a thin wire snaking into the ear canal, but don’t even think about calling it a hearing aid.

It’s aimed at baby boomers who have trouble hearing but refuse to look old when they decide to turn up the volume.

Available in flashy colour combinations with names like “Pinot Noir”, “Green with Envy” and “Fiery Temper”, the Audeo – which made its debut in the Canadian market last week, is a “personal communication assistant” (PCA).

*Beltone's version, the Marq is known as a "personal communication device" (PCD)

Pictured here is Phonak's 'Audio Personal Communication Assistant' or PCA.

*Pictured here is Beltone's Marq 'Personal Communication Device' or PCD. The smallest, lightest hearing device in it's class.

The aim is to transform hearing devices “from stigma to status” symbol, says Steven Mahon, general manager of Phonak Canada, which makes the Audeo. A pair costs from $2500 to$7000.

A Canadian Hearing Society Survey in 2001 found one-quarter of adult Canadians experience hearing loss, and seven in 10 of those are under the age of 60. Even so, one in five people with hearing loss said they would rather live with it than get a hearing aid.

“The target market of 50- to 65- year olds is folks who do not want to be perceived as getting older,” Mahon says.