Tala also employs LucidShape, a unique app-based function that allows for the personalization of the instrument's output with frequency/pitch-specific adjustments, enabling the tuning of the device to better suit the user's preferences.

Featuring Bluetooth-compatible wireless streaming, Tala joins the two other Bluetooth Lucid OTC models: the Engage and Engage Rechargeable receiver-in-canal (RIC) hearing aids, which are offered at $600 and $800, respectively. Other Lucid OTC devices include the fio and Elite in-the-ear (ITE) and Enrich and Enrich Pro behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids. The company also makes a line of standard prescription hearing aids for its retail outlets.

As with Lucid Hearing’s premium OTC products, Tala can be upgraded to a custom-programmed prescription hearing aid solution at any of the company’s 500+ locations, which are predominantly Lucid Hearing Centers within Sam's Club stores.

“Lucid Hearing operates on a vertically integrated model, from R&D all the way through to our customer-facing hearing clinics,” says Griffin, “and we’ve intentionally built a technology stack that allows us to seamlessly upgrade a premium OTC hearing aid to a prescription-level solution if at some point the customer wants to take that next step. This is something that is unique to Lucid Hearing and our continuum of OTC and prescription hearing aid products.”

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately 40 million American adults may have hearing loss from various types of noise exposure. In August 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opened the market for OTC hearing devices for individuals with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

Lucid reports that it has made significant investments in the past 5 years to develop hearing aids with pre-set programming for its OTC devices, with programs developed as a result of research done in conjunction with a top audiology research program at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).

For more information, please visit the Lucid Hearing website.