Westone Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1959 as a small, family-owned company and has since become the largest manufacturer of custom-fitted ear molds in the world. Westone is also one of the largest suppliers of accessories for hearing care professionals. Westone is primarily known as a manufacturer of custom earpieces and as an innovator in the world of hearing health and protection.
The company offers hearing solutions to people with different levels of hearing loss, but their products and services also go beyond that. Westone offers products and services that enhance a person’s hearing experience for their entire life.
In 2020, Westone announced that they would be selling their music division, Westone Audio, to Lucid Audio. Westone kept their Westone Laboratories brand and hearing healthcare product lines. It is still possible to visit the Westone website to see and purchase their products.
Westone announced that the sale of their music division would allow the company to focus more on its core products and services in the hearing healthcare and hearing protection business. Westone Audio is known as a pioneer in the in-ear monitor industry since they started the in-ear monitor boom in the 1980s. That tradition will live on with Lucid Audio.
Westone is known for its high-quality products and services that exist to promote a lifetime of hearing. They protect your hearing experience, increase the effectiveness of hearing healthcare professionals, and support innovation in the hearing healthcare industry. The company refers to itself as “The In-Ear Experts,” and that remains true to this day. While they sold the in-ear monitor company to Lucid Audio, their custom ear molds, ear protection products, audiologist supplies, and military-grade devices continue to make Westone a leader in the hearing healthcare and protection industry.
Westone Hearing Aids Technology
Westone offers a wide range of products that span from supplies helpful to audiologists to custom-fitted ear pieces created based on “ear impressions.” Most of the other companies reviewed on this site focus their technology and research on hearing aids specifically, but Westone does not. Westone manufactures products that directly affect hearing health and leaves the development of actual hearing aids to other companies. Here are some of the features, products, and technologies that Westone offers.
Quality Custom-Fit Earpieces
The first step in producing a quality custom-fit earpiece is the ear impression. An ear impression is a physical replica of your ear that can be obtained by injecting impression material into the ear canal and outer ear. The quality of the finished earpiece will be directly related to the quality of the impression, and Westone ear impression materials are some of the best on the market. There are three primary “families” of impression materials, and Westone produces each of them.
- Vinyl Polysiloxane
- Addition-Cure Silicone
- Methyl Methacrylate Polymer and Monomer
Vinyl Polysiloxane is the most common impression material used today, and Westone offers three different products within this family of materials. They each provide accurate replicas of your ear and dimensionally stable impressions.
Once an impression is made, you can choose the material and color of the earpiece itself. It is important for people to choose the material that is most comfortable in their ears and the color(s) that best match their style.
Westone offers the best acrylic, vinyl, or silicone for a finishing material. In addition, there are more color options in the Westone arsenal than could be mentioned in this article.
Westone also offers a wide array of hearing instrument earpieces. Each of these earpieces will be described below. This is the last step in the custom-fitting process for earpieces. The anatomy of each customer’s ear is different, their preferences are different, and the type of hearing loss they have experienced is unique. Because of this, Westone offers a variety of hearing instrument earpiece styles in an array of finishes and colors.
Westone Hearing Protection
While Westone is known for its in-ear products, they also make products designed to allow customers to protect, enhance, and enjoy their hearing. Whether you spend time in a loud factory, enjoy a good concert, hunt on the weekends, or even just like to listen to music or attend a sporting event, loud noises can negatively affect your hearing. Most people think a single loud noise event is what causes a permanent change in your hearing ability, but it is much more common for hearing damage to occur gradually at a lower noise level. Because of that, Westone has created a line of products called “DefendEar Hearing Protection.” These devices focus on protecting your ears before damage has occurred. Regardless of the environment, Westone offers a product that can protect your hearing health while allowing you to do the things that you love.
The DefendEar line of hearing protection gives you personalized products that are custom-fit for your ears and with features that are effective in your environment. For instance, if you are a hunter, digital hearing protectors can provide situational awareness, hearing protection, and comfort while also saving the environment from the disposable earplugs that hunters commonly use. If you work at a factory or play in a band, there are products that can protect your hearing as well. Westone offers three levels of hearing protection, with number 1 being the strongest and number 3 the weakest.
The levels are as follows:
DefendEar Max
Used for high-noise industrial environments where people are subject to loud noises for extended periods of time.
DefendEar Convertible (closed)
Provides protection between Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) 21 dB and NRR 28 dB depending on the protection level you select for the particular use. Therefore, it is great for an environment with a wide range of noise levels.
DefendEar Lite, DefendEar Convertible (open), DefendEar Convertible Comm
Provides NRR 21 dB of protection but also offers face-to-face communication and situational awareness, which is perfect for hunting and light to medium noise situations.
Audiology Supply Products
Westone offers a comprehensive array of hearing healthcare supplies and audiologist tools. Anything a hearing healthcare professional might need can be found on the Westone website.
They also offer bulk discounts or individual product ordering depending on the size and scope of an audiologist’s practice.
Westone Hearing Instrument Earpieces
As mentioned above, creating custom-fitted hearing instrument earpieces is one of the primary products and services offered by Westone. The Westone website describes hearing healthcare science and the creation of a custom-fitted earpiece as a combination of technical expertise and art.
Westone’s greatest advantage is their talented and experienced technicians who can combine the technical know-how with art and consistency to make a quality earpiece. Westone earpieces can be separated into three types as you will notice below. Each of these types of earpieces will be described in greater detail.
Conventional Earpieces
Conventional earpieces are those that go directly into your ear and have processors that operate inside your ear canal. Conventional earpieces can be found in these style offerings:
Snap Ring: Used for stethoscopes, auditory trainers, and body instruments, a snap ring earpiece connects to something that carries sound from a specific place to your ears.
Skeleton: The skeleton style is very lightweight as the inside is basically cut out leaving only the outer shell. It offers great concealment and comfort, but as your hearing loss gets worse a skeleton style is less likely to work.
Semi-Skeleton: This is a skeleton style with the upper portion of the concha removed. It offers almost as much retention as the skeleton, but it is lighter and can be more comfortable as well.
Canal: The canal is one of the most comfortable and aesthetically pleasing of the conventional earpieces. They only provide enough amplification for patients with mild to moderate hearing loss and even patients with moderate hearing loss sometimes need more.
Canal Lock: The canal lock is basically just the canal style with a locking mechanism to help hold the earpiece in.
Shell: The shell fills most of the ear canal and takes full advantage of the ear’s retention. This type of earpiece is almost exclusively used by patients with profound hearing loss as it takes away virtually all of your natural hearing.
Half Shell: This is basically the shell in half of your ear and is quite similar to the canal style. You use the half-shell style if the canal style does not provide enough retention, but the shell provides too much.
Open-Fit and Slim Tube Earpieces
Open-fit and slim tube earpieces have a noticeable cosmetic and acoustical advantage, which has increased the demand for these types of earpieces. However, many patients are not candidates for these styles because either their hearing loss is too great or because generic ear tips do not fit properly. That is where Westone technology comes in. Their custom-fit earpieces are the solution to either of these issues and have allowed more and more people to experience the advantages of open-fit and slim tube earpieces.
RIC, RITE, and CRT Earpieces
Receiver-in-the-canal (RIC), Receiver-in-the-ear (RITE), and Canal Receiver Technology (CRT) instruments have become increasingly popular due in large part to their sound quality and discreet size.
Many of these types of hearing aids still rely on the Westone quality and technology for the following reasons:
- To provide the necessary gain before feedback
- To help the receiver remain in the canal and not move
- To avoid insertion and removal difficulties while providing increased comfort
Even with these hearing aid styles, Westone custom-fit earpieces remain the leader for RIC, RITE, and CRT earpieces. With these hearing aids, you can choose from a skeleton, canal lock, or canal style.
WeStone Assistive Listening Devices
- Serene CentralAlert CA360
- BC400 Baby Cry Signaler
- Sonic Alert Clock
- Sonic Bomb Clock
- Sonic Shaker Clock
WeStone Hearing Protection Devices
The following is a list and description of the four types of hearing protection devices offered by Westone.
DefendEar Industrial Protection
When it comes to industrial protection, there are a few factors that affect the type of protection required. Industrial environments may expose your ears to very loud noises for an extended period of time, and therefore, ear protection is needed.
At the same time, industrial environments can be dangerous and physically demanding, so it is important to be able to hear machine noises as well as audible warnings from supervisors and co-workers. Westone has protection devices that protect your hearing while also allowing noises to enter either naturally or through radio communication. This provides ear protection while keeping you safe. Some of the technology used includes:
Medical Grade OtoBlast Silicone: Westone’s proprietary premium silicone gives you great protection, durability, and comfort.
Slick Sil AM: This is the latest in anti-microbial technology and the DefendEar industrial products are coated in it. It has been proven to be 99.9% effective at keeping your ears clean and healthy and it will last for the lifetime of your device.
Westone Custom Fit: Experience the benefits of each earpiece being cast and molded to your ear so that it is as effective and comfortable as possible.
DefendEar Firearm Protection
DefendEar firearm protection includes “DefendEar Hunter Passive, “DefendEar Digital Hunter,” and “DefendEar Shooter.” The products designed for hunting take into account the few number of shots that occur along with the need to hear ambient sounds well. The DefendEar Hunter options are custom-fitted for your ears. The DefendEar Shooter, on the other hand, is made for any ear without the need for impressions. You can select from three amplification levels which provide clear communication and the ability to hear ambient sounds.
Recreational Custom Protection
Recreation protection includes anything from swimming and surfing to motorsports and concerts. Even sleeping is included. There are more than 15 offerings in the Recreational protection family, and they can be used for a variety of applications. The DefendEar AquaNot specifically keeps water out of the ear canal, while the DefendEar Surfer protects your ears more from the water-to-wind transition and the negative effects of cold water and air.
The DefendEar Concert is made for concert goers and musicians alike, allowing you to hear music clearly without sacrificing hearing health. DefendEar Sleep has been credited with saving numerous marriages as it allows a person to sleep no matter what noise is going on around them. There are other recreational applications as well, as Westone has made specific features and technology for the different situations you may find yourself in.
Tru Custom Protection
Tru Custom Protection brings together Westone’s filter technology with their custom and universal earpieces so that all you have to do is change a filter to make your earpiece ready for multiple environments. There are quite a few filter and earpiece combinations, but the key is to find the right one for your situation.
Other Products Offered By Westone
Care and Accessories
Westone offers a line of hearing care accessories that can be divided into four specific categories as follows:
- Comfort and Protection
- Ear Lubricants and Drops
- Hearing Care Accessories
- Pediatric Hearing Aid Accessories
Westone is the company that innovates technology and products that hearing healthcare professionals and hearing aid manufacturers use to ensure you have good hearing health. The accessories above can be found on Westone’s website, which also includes everything from disposable earplugs to devices used to safely clean your ears.
Hearing aid batteries
Westone carries almost any disposable hearing aid battery on the market, regardless of what type or model of hearing aid you may be using. They also carry the majority of rechargeable hearing aid batteries along with chargers that will help ensure you never have to be without your device. Duracell, Rayovac, and Energizer are just a few of the battery brands that can be found on the Westone website.
How Hearing Better Leads To Living Better
Hearing health can decrease your stress, lead to better interpersonal relationships, help you perform better at work, reduce the likelihood of depression and irritability, and much more. Westone develops and sells products that do more than simply regain lost hearing ability. Westone takes a whole-life approach to your hearing health, focusing on protection, audiology equipment, and custom-fit earpieces for any hearing loss solution you could need.
Many companies focus solely on hearing aids, but Westone understands that there are ways to prevent hearing loss in the first place.
Many people, out of either necessity or desire, find themselves in situations that can negatively affect their hearing. Whether it is working in a loud factory, attending a favorite concert, or using guns for hunting or at the range, these are all potentially dangerous to your hearing health if you do not take proper precautions.
Westone offers a range of high-end products that protect your hearing while allowing you to still be aware of what is going on around you. They also equip audiologists and hearing aid companies to provide customers with the best products on the market.
The Westone Difference
Westone Laboratories is one of the major driving forces of hearing healthcare both from a technology and engineering perspective. They develop the products that protect your ears, the technology that makes hearing aids work, and the tools that audiologists use to diagnose your hearing issues.
The Westone difference is that they develop products, features, and services that serve people for the entire hearing lifecycle as opposed to just focusing on hearing aids for those already experiencing hearing loss. Westone manufactures products to help maintain hearing health. Their custom-fitted earpieces use the latest silicone and acrylic technology. They develop aesthetically pleasing products for every hearing scenario.
Westone is very specialized in what they do, and for that reason, many people may not have heard of Westone Laboratories or have awareness of what products they offer. The truth is, without Westone, in-ear technology would not be where it is today, and the company appears poised to continue to be innovators in the hearing healthcare industry moving forward.
To know more about Westone products, hearing protection, and hearing aids, ask an audiologist. You can use our Find An Audiologist tool to find an expert near you!
