Global hearing implant developer MED-EL and Starkey are partnering to provide a new Bluetooth listening experience for those using a MED-EL cochlear implant (CI) and Starkey products. 
 
The collaboration marks the beginning of an enhanced Bluetooth experience between MED-EL CIs and Starkey hearing aids. This allows users to take advantage of all streaming technology that Bluetooth offers.
 
“Last year, from the podium at my first ACIA meeting since joining MED-EL, I promised MED-EL would ask our customers more questions and listen to the answers. By announcing this exciting collaboration with Starkey, we expect to co-develop solutions to enhance your MED-EL patient’s binaural hearing experience,” MED-EL USA President/CEO John Sparacio said.

The new technology will expand Bluetooth connectivity solutions for people using bimodal hearing technology.
 
“This marks the beginning of two global technology leaders coming together to help more people hear their very best. Partnering with MED-EL continues Starkey’s vision to always push the edge of what’s possible,” Starkey President/CEO Brandon Sawalich stated.
 
Starkey is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn. Owned by Bill Austin since 1967, Starkey is known for its innovative design, development, and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. The company employs more than 5,000 workers, operates 29 facilities, and conducts business in more than 100 markets worldwide. 
 
MED-EL Medical Electronics is an Austrian privately owned business co-founded by industry pioneers Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair, whose research led to the development of the world’s first micro-electronic multi-channel cochlear implant (CI), which was successfully implanted in 1977 and was the basis for the modern CI. To date, MED-EL has more than 2,700 employees from around 80 nations and 30 locations worldwide. The company offers a range of implantable and non-implantable solutions to treat all types of hearing loss. MED-EL’s hearing solutions include cochlear and middle ear implant systems, a combined electric acoustic stimulation hearing implant system, as well as surgical and non-surgical bone conduction devices.