Sydney audiometrist KRYSTAL ALLEN, who has moderate hearing loss, has upgraded to Starkey’s Edge AI hearing aids and fitted the revolutionary new device to many happy patients who are similarly astounded by its features.
As someone who works in the Australian hearing care industry, Mrs Krystal Allen had been watching with interest from afar the impacts of Starkey’s new Edge AI hearing aids after they were launched in the US and Europe.
She was eagerly awaiting their arrival here so she could try them for herself and fit her patients with them. Now this has happened, and she’s been blown away by how they’re performing.
The devices hit the Australian and New Zealand markets in February 2025, launched months sooner than expected, due to the company not wanting to delay benefits to Australasian customers.
Allen, who has moderate hearing loss, had trialled a few other brands from other companies but found the buffer (to ensure consistent audio flow) was running out by the day’s end.
She had originally been wearing Starkey’s Genesis AI, which she says were great – but was then handed Edge AI to try.
“When I put them on, I couldn’t honestly believe it. It was so different from Genesis AI. It’s just made everything easier. I’m not fiddling with the hearing aids, I put them on, leave them on all day and I’m not thinking about my hearing anymore.
“Compared to other manufacturers’ (brands) I’ve tried, it’s just so natural. It’s like a transparent sound, so I can hear clearly and there’s no robotic or obvious notification; it just sounds normal.”
As for everyday use and speech in noise, Edge AI is “brilliant” and doesn’t need adjusting, she adds.
“I can control and change the listening intent and features with the Edge+ Mode on my phone using the My Starkey app which has great user controls,” she says.
“But I’m not having to activate Edge Mode+. I honestly feel like I don’t need to do anything to them – and that’s what I love about them. I just leave them. They know exactly what to do and I can hear well; I have a busy, noisy life, and I love them.”
Allen describes the sound as “clear and natural”. “I can stay focused and I’m not getting that fatigue anymore,” she adds.
Shire Hearing in Sydney, where Allen works, offers hearing aid trials for clients with different brands and levels so they can make informed decisions.
“Time and again, we are seeing more people selecting Starkey based on their experience, and feedback is that it’s natural and easy,” she says. “Clients say, ‘I’m not having to fiddle with them and they’re not beeping at me all the time for different alerts’.”
So far, the practice has fitted Edge AI to many happy clients.
Previously in restaurants Allen tried to sit in certain areas to assist hearing, but “it doesn’t matter where I sit now; Edge AI figures it out”.
Battery life is another big bonus.
“It’s never come up saying ‘battery low’. The RIC RT model has got up to 51 hours of battery life and the mRIC R model which I wear has up to 41 hours. I charge them each night, I don’t let them run out, but it’s reassuring to know that if I have a big day at work and then I had a social night out, I wouldn’t have to hurry home like Cinderella to charge them.”
Balance Assessment Tool feature
Allen also finds Edge AI’s industry-first self-guided Balance Assessment Tool feature interesting and helpful not just for older people. It uses motion sensors and AI to assess balance and potentially identify people at higher risk of falls, encouraging them to seek further balance testing if needed.
“I’m on a bit of a health and fitness journey so I thought it would be good to do the balance assessment and keep track of it as my fitness progresses to see if I can do it quicker and better,” Allen says.
The Balance Assessment Tool feature measures a person’s balance as they do certain exercises, including sitting on a chair and how many ‘sit and stands’ they can do within a certain period. It then tells the user how they rank compared to peers of the same age and gender.
“I’ve also used it in clinic with clients. A lot of people don’t realise how much their balance is impacted by the hearing loss,” Allen adds.
“We do the exercises with them, some of my elderly clients, and if it comes back saying it recommends seeing a doctor as they have a risk of falling, that’s good for opening up those conversations.”
Allen says while Edge AI is discreet, this is not something she worries about as she dresses her hearing aids up with DeafMetal hearing aid earring jewellery including safety chains.
Another bonus is they are waterproof to up to one metre (rechargeable styles only), which is helpful for when she accidentally forgets they are in and pops in the shower, which has happened, or is kayaking with her son.
Swapped to audiometry
It was ironically her son’s mild hearing loss that directed Allen to a career in audiometry. She began working in banking and finance, and spent a decade in a high-level career but didn’t feel she was making a difference to people’s lives.
“I started my career in the UK then relocated to Australia 14 years ago and I was making good money, but I didn’t feel like I was making any difference to the world,” she says.
“My son was in intensive care when he was born in Australia. I was watching the nurses who were literally keeping him alive and I had this overwhelming guilt that I was earning more than them but nothing I was doing really mattered.”
When she returned to the bank after maternity leave, her job was made redundant. “At first I was devastated but I met this amazing professional business coach, Yvonne Cohen, and together we worked on what I could do and we came up with audiometry,” she says.
Allen was unaware she had hearing loss but as her son was born with mild hearing loss she had been taking him to audiologists. “Watching them conduct VROA (Visually Reinforced Orientation Audiometry) was fascinating and one audiologist invited me to the 2018 Audiology Australia conference in Sydney to get some information,” she recalls.
“I hadn’t signed up for study but I listened to the presentations and networking and I was hooked.”
She studied audiometry at TAFE while working for I Hear and moved to Shire Hearing, which has clinics in Cronulla and Engadine, in June 2024.
“I love working for an independent and being able to really choose what’s right for each client rather than being tied to one manufacturer,” she says.
During her studies, Allen discovered she had a conductive hearing loss while doing hearing tests.
“Looking back, I was probably straining, getting tired easily, and on TAFE education days I had to really focus and was having to ask the person next to me, ‘What was that?” she says.
“One day we were testing each other’s hearing and mine came back with a conductive loss, so I was sent off with a GP report for an MRI to confirm there was no tumour. It was interesting, being a student but also going on the patient journey as well,” she says.
Allen’s hearing loss started around the time of her pregnancy and the ENT diagnosed otosclerosis, which her mother also had. Her mother recently wore Starkey’s Evolv AI hearing aids and apart from helping her hearing, they also stopped her vertigo and tinnitus symptoms.
“As my hearing loss progressed into the moderate range, I realised I needed to do something about it, as I was asking people to repeat themselves. It was my son who triggered me to do something. He was getting frustrated,” she says.
Allen started with a Starkey device and has stuck with the brand. “I was very happy with the connectivity; it made things a lot easier.
“I’m so lucky to be working in the hearing industry with a hearing loss because since I’ve joined Rachel Dorman at Shire Hearing, I can access any hearing trial and select the ones I really want to wear,” she says.
“And so far, Edge AI has been the best.”
For more information on Edge AI hearing aids, visit starkeypro.com.au
