How much time and effort does it take to such high performance into such a small package, like the Moxi™ Move R? What goes into the design of our hearing instruments and, where do we even begin?

With the volume and variety of digital devices and accessories that are available and being used today, consumers have expectations about how they should look, feel and integrate into their lives. And these expectations apply to health care, too.

Design and experience have always been at the core of our product development cycle. Our design philosophy considers all aspects of the wearing experience, including aesthetics, comfort, and ease of use. Using design thinking and research, we put the user at the center of our innovation processes to make sure we are solving real pain points and improving the overall experience – from the first appointment in a clinic to their day-to-day lives.

Recently we’ve wondered, do people truly understand what goes into the creation of such high performance, yet small medical devices? 

The Moxi family, powered by the Discover Next platform, has evolved. Now featuring Moxi Move R, our smallest lithium-ion RIC ever. With proven rechargeable technology and powerful sound performance that helps clients hear better in noisy environments and makes even the softest-spoken people easier to understand, it’ll move them in more ways than one.

• A single, complete charge offers 24 hours of uninterrupted use. Clients who stream media can expect 16 hours of use assuming 8 hours of streaming from a single, full charge.¹
• Pair with up to two phones, and TV connectors via Bluetooth.
• Signal processing technology helps people understand who is talking, where the voices are coming from and the underlying emotions of the speaker.
• Sound stabilization features, such as wind control, a feedback manager, natural sound balance and AntiShock™ 2 significantly reduce discomfort caused by sudden loud noises, ensuring a comfortable fit always.

Designed to provide world-class performance in a small package, the Moxi Move R makes reconnecting with loved ones easier than ever. 

When thinking about what to include in a hearing instrument, we employ a total user-centric design philosophy that focuses on the entire experience. Aesthetics are essential; we want to have a small, attractive hearing instrument that fits well and is comfortable on the ear. But there is more to that; we use a holistic approach that focuses on the entirety of the wearer experience. We put the user at the core of the development process, ensuring that everybody on the team has the wearer in mind when considering the design and development of the hearing instrument. 

Our structured design thinking process helps us understand how people feel about wearing hearing instruments, and the pain points that they find with them. Are they discrete enough? Do they feel comfortable? Are the controls easy to use? It’s questions like these that have driven our user-centric design philosophy and focussing on these areas allows us to create the most enjoyable and seamless wearing experience. At the end of the day, we strive to ensure our hearing instruments end up on the ear, and not tucked away in a drawer somewhere. A great experience with hearing instruments is what allows people to overcome hearing loss and reconnect with their lives and love more of their daily experiences.

In general, there are two design scenarios. The first is when there is a ground-up build, where there are numerous ways you can approach innovation. A perfect example of this is our award-winning Moxi Now, the world’s smallest wireless hearing aid (at the time, in 2016). The other is when something similar exists, and the objective is to advance that product to the next level, like with the Moxi Move R. In this scenario, the goal was to design a small hearing instrument for wearers that want li-ion rechargeable with the benefits of direct connectivity that come with the SWORD 3.0 chip. 

Moving through the development from first concept to final product can last between 15 and 24 months, depending on the complexity of the work. By using CAD and design software, and precise 3D printing for prototyping, all our design elements are checked upfront, so that we know when we send our products off for tooling, the end design will be as it was intended.

Through years of work, we continue to optimize our development workflow to improve efficiency and ensure a high-quality product. This process requires collaboration between several teams, each working on different parts of the hearing instrument. They work in conjunction with our design team, computer programmers and Audiologists to ensure the overall high-quality experience our users have come to expect.

In the end, our idea is simple, technology should be as easy to use as possible, our wearers should be able to hear better without having to worry about how the instrument fits and works. With the Moxi Move R, we took a product that was loved by many and made improvements to the design to become something that will be loved by even more, by making it smaller without compromising excellent sound performance, connectivity or battery life. 

So, what does it take to make something so small? Just ingenuity, great design, expert engineering, a fantastic platform, and about 15 months work from the passionate, dedicated team at Unitron. All in all, we know you will love the Moxi Move R, as much as we do, because we made it with wearers in mind.