At Liverpool Hearing Centre, Liverpool's No. 1 hearing centre, we provide hearing aids in clinic and online and you always get the assurance of excellent service from real audiologists by ordering from a highly-rated brick-and-mortar and 100% independent hearing centre. LHC Online gives you the flexibility to receive our service however you want it, either in our hearing centre or remotely from anywhere in the world. You can save money too by opting for our streamlined Essential Plan with a PAYG service, which is only available online.

It's been 18 months since Widex released a new hearing aid, the Widex Moment Shear. In our opinion, that wasn't a significant enhancement to their prior technology. Now they're back, and this time it's an entirely new type of hearing aid, but how different is it? This article discusses what we know thus far, and if you'd like to be included on our list of those who want to be among the first to try this revolutionary technology, please contact us and make a request for a free trial.

As audiologists, we know that once a patient wears a Widex hearing aid, it is quite difficult to persuade them to switch to another manufacturer, and this is due to Widex's distinct sound. Their sound philosophy is that less is more in order to get the most natural sound possible. Some describe it as a more analogue sound.

As of February 7th, 2024, you will be able to order their new Smart Ric RD in both the United States and Canada, and on April 3rd, you will be able to order them in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Liverpool Hearing Centre. So what's new and what has Widex preserved from their previous hearing aid generation?

The first thing that immediately sticks out is their fresh design. Widex has used the same design for their receiver-in-canal hearing aids for over 15 years, with their size 10 passion models and size 312 fusions, so it's interesting that they've finally taken a chance and followed in the footsteps of both Phonak and Signia with their Slim and Styletto receiver-in-canal models.

One key development that Widex is particularly excited about is their redesign of the directional microphone inlets, which tucks the microphones away on the side while also changing the microphone position to a more horizontal angle (20° if you're really interested in the details), which Widex claims provides two key benefits over their previous technology.

• First, this changing microphone angle will improve the effectiveness of the directional microphones and thus improve your ability to hear in background noise.
• Second, with the microphones being more tucked away, this will also improve their functioning in windy environments and with any noise from touching. So, when you're out on a windy day, the sound shouldn't be quite as overwhelming as with their predecessors, giving you a 20-decibel reduction in wind noise.

Widex offers five various shades, four of which are the most popular from their prior family offering, as well as a new rose gold colour.

While rechargeability is now taken for granted, Widex has found a way to improve it. They did so by creating a completely new charger. In fact, no other hearing aid company offers something like this. For starters, it simply looks great, and like the hearing aids themselves, it has a sturdy, well-built feel that cannot be claimed for all of the technology available today. It feels great, and the lid has a magnetic shutter to keep it closed, which is far superior to having a catch.

It features a power button and is USBC charged, which is quite normal nowadays, and it can also be charged via Qi Wireless technology. As this is also a portable charger, three LEDs indicate the remaining life of the battery incorporated within the charger itself, which breaks all records by storing 5 days' worth of charge.

Phonak, Starkey, ReSound, Oticon, and Signia all have portable chargers, so if you go away for a long weekend camping somewhere and don't have easy access to power, you'll get a maximum of three days of battery life from them, but these have five. To top it off, the hearing aids can retain 37 hours of power with no Bluetooth streaming and up to 27 hours with 8 hours of streaming, so with that plus the charger, you should be able to charge your portable charger for seven full days. You win, Widex!

Similarly to other hearing aids, they contain interchangeable receivers, giving them a wide fitting range from mild to profound hearing loss, making them theoretically suited for everybody. They still have access to the fantastic Widex App and all the accessories.

At Liverpool Hearing Centre, we expected Widex to build a fresh new chip and platform into these hearing aids, but they haven't. Are we disappointed? Actually, no, since we adore the present Widex Moment hearing aids. If it isn't broken, why fix it? Why would they leave a platform that provides patients with the most natural and high-quality sound that Widex has ever produced? The improvements they've made address genuine issues raised by our clients, and being able to offer the world's best rechargeable option that will fit everyone while providing great natural sound in a premium package is the perfect way to wrap up our initial thoughts on the Widex SmartRIC hearing aids.