Kia ora koutou, it’s Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Posted Tuesday September 12, 2023

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is a great chance for all of us to try using some kupu Māori in our everyday conversations — a language only found right here in Aotearoa and something we should all be proud of!

Isn’t it nice to be seeing longer days, and the mercury rising a bit higher now we’ve hit spring. We’ve been busy across the clinics with our current Phonak brand 14-day free trial promotion. It’s been great to help lots of newbies try hearing aids — I’m always amazed at what new wearers find different and fun about hearing well again, including all the sounds that we take for granted if we have good hearing, such as birdsong or clocks ticking, or an electronic device beeping. And it’s also interesting seeing the difference existing hearing aid wearers notice with the new technology, including better hearing on phone calls and the convenience of rechargeable batteries! If you’re interested in seeing what the Phonak brand might offer, book a time to come try them out.

Our completely invisible hearing aid option, Lyric, is also getting lots of attention with our 30-day risk free, no cost trial. Read our Lyric article in this newsletter to learn more, and make an appointment with us to see if it might be suitable for you.

Inevitably software needs updating to keep pace with technology. Oticon is phasing out the Oticon ON app and replacing it with Oticon Companion. The first stage affects all iOS Apple users, who from 12 September should replace their app with the new Oticon Companion. On 31 October Oticon ON will be permanently retired for all Android and Apple users. Prior to using the new app we recommend you delete the hearing aid pairing in your phone settings and uninstall Oticon ON. If you’re using Oticon Opn or Oticon Siya hearing aids your phone needs the latest firmware (version 6.1/1.1) for the upgrade. If you get stuck with this, call into your local clinic — we’re always happy to assist!

We hope you can grab a few minutes and have a read. We’ve put together some interesting articles about the research into medical treatments and hearing loss, and the benefits of hearing binaurally (from both sides), especially if you have an ear that’s not able to benefit from conventional amplification.

Happy reading, ngā mihi nui.

Simon Melville
Senior Audiologist and General Manager