Can These €600 Award-Winning Headphones Replace a Hearing Aid?
A headset for the hearing impaired that amplifies sound via dual bone and air conduction is the concept behind Spokeo, a made-in-France invention awarded the Grand Prix at the Lépine 2025 competition, held in Paris from April 30 to May 11. The headset works in conjunction with a Bluetooth microphone. It is designed as a listening assistant for hearing-impaired people and their close ones.
Spokeo was developed by optician Raphaël Zakine, with hearing care professionals Michael Uzzan and Jonathan Goldminc. The idea behind Spokeo is to provide a less restrictive, easy-to-use backup solution for people who don't like or don't want to use a hearing aid all the time.
Dual bone and air conduction
The Spokeo device comprises a headset and a lapel microphone. The headset is intended for the hearing-impaired, and the microphone is for the person speaking.
The lapel microphone is connected to the headset via Bluetooth. The latter amplifies the sounds picked up by the microphone by "air and bone". The manufacturer doesn't explain very clearly how this patented technology works. It simply states that its Sound Boost technology offers two amplification presets that are supposed to restore good comprehension in 95% of cases.
But based on the visuals and information on the official website and on a certain amount of common sense, we can deduce that "aerial" means only that the sound is reproduced in the conventional way by transducers, as is the case with any other Bluetooth headset.
In one of the product photos on the Spokeo website, you can see a small hole in the headset's earpiece. Perhaps this is where bone conduction comes into play to deliver the vibrations to the inner ear. The aim is to enable the user to hear the headset's sound even if their ear canal is blocked.
598 Euros Minimum
Spokeo is not a hearing aid and has not been designed to replace a hearing aid. The manufacturer insists on this point: it's not a medical device, so you don't need an ENT appointment to get it. This also means that it's not covered by your health insurance or mutual insurance company, and that you'll have to pay the almost 600 euros charged for the headphones outright.
The price of 598 euros can be prohibitive. But if you know the average price of a real hearing aid in France and the average rate of reimbursement, Spokeo's 600 euros immediately seems a little less extravagant.
Many of the uses envisaged for this product are intended for professionals. For example, at the ophthalmologist's office, to undergo cataract surgery and hear the doctor's instructions, at the notary's office, to fully understand inheritance rights, etc. The target audience is senior citizens.
However, Spokeo also claims to consider "close caregivers" as the family and friends of users. So the device's scope doesn't seem to be limited to a purely (and coldly) utilitarian framework. The idea is also to bring users closer to their loved ones by reducing the frustrations and misunderstandings associated with hearing loss.
Incidentally, Spokeo can pair Bluetooth with sources other than the supplied lapel microphone. You could also simply connect it to a TV, computer, tablet, or other device to watch movies and TV series.
What do you think of this kind of device? Could someone you know benefit from a product like Spokeo?
Source: Concours Lépine
