Best techy gifts: Customized iPod earpieces
I recently wrote about can't-miss tech gifts. I was really choosy with this piece, focusing narrowly on my absolutely fave picks based on my research and personal experience.
Among my ideas: Custom-molded add-ons for iPod earbuds. Sharp-eyed readers may recall that wrote about these before. At the time, I focused on both Minnesota-based Starkey and Colorado-based Westone Laboratories. Both specialize in the iPod earmolds.
In researching my holiday story, though, I wanted to know if the earpieces would work with Apple Computer's recently redesigned buds as well as its older buds. Westone couldn't give me a straight answer.
Starkey didn't know that the earbuds had been redesigned, either. But, to its credit, the company went into overdrive when I posed my question and researched the matter.
As it turned out, Starkey's earpieces work just as well with the newer iPod earbuds as with the old ones. Maybe that is also the case with the Westone versions. But since the company didn't verify this for me, it got no print coverage.
Fittings for Starkey's customized earpieces can be done at a variety of local ear clinics, by the way. Here's a recently updated list, if you decide not to have your fitting done at the Starkey mother ship in Eden Prairie:
Minnesota Ear, Head & Neck
701 25th Ave., S., # 200
Minneapolis, MN 55454
612/339-2836
Administrator: Sandy Zutz-Wiczek
Expert Hearing & Audiology
18315 Cascade Dr., # 100
Eden Prairie, MN 55347
952/294-4327
Audiologist: Giselle Matsui
Office Manager: Barry (husband) Matsui
Sound Hearing Instruments
7745 2nd Ave. S., # 1
Richfield, MN 55423
612/824-8698
Dispenser: Dale Woodard
Associated Hearing
1655 Beam Ave., # 101
Maplewood, MN 55109
651/777-7837
Dispenser: Cammi Lawless
Hudson Hearing
401 Stageline Rd., # 6
Hudson, WI 54016
715/531-6710
Audiologist: Michelle Drevnick
Advanced Hearing Center
8390 134th St. Ct.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
(serving, primarily, Owatonna)
952/953-4110
Audiologist: Miriam Attias
Hearing Care Specialists
6600 Excelsior Blvd., # 150
St. Louis Park, MN 55426
952/931-9144
Audiologist: Kurt Pfaff
Oakdale Hearing Aid Center
3366 Oakdale Ave. North Suite 150
Robbinsdale,MN 55422
Phone: 763-520-7845
2855 Campus Drive Suite 630
Plymouth, MN 55441
Phone: 763-520-2950
Associated Hearing of St. Paul
393 Dunlap St. North Suite 115
Central Medical Building
St. Paul, MN 55104
Phone: 651-646-2427
Health Partners Inc.
5100 Gamble Drive Suite 100
West Medical Building
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
Phone: 952-595-6441
2500 Como Ave. 2nd Floor
Saint Paul,MN 55108
Phone: 651-999-4639
Advanced Hearing Care
222 East Main St. Suite 108
Anoka, MN 55303
Phone:763-421-4234
Health Partners Inc. Minneapolis
Phone 952-883-6521
Advanced Hearing Care, Anoka
Phone 763-421-4234
Geee..It really looks weird to me. Does it work? It looks kind of uncomfortable putting that in your hear.
Posted by: JJMusic | Friday, February 22, 2008 at 07:45 AM