It sits on a fingertip. It charges overnight. And it is built from a mould of your own ear canal, so nobody else has to know you are wearing it.
In brief
- The Starkey Signature CIC R is the world's smallest custom rechargeable hearing aid.
- Up to 38 hours from a single charge, and waterproof to a depth of one metre.
- Built to a scan or impression of your ear, so it sits deep in the canal and stays hidden.
- It is non-wireless: no Bluetooth streaming and no phone app. That is the trade-off for the size.
- We fit the Signature Series at our Wickersley clinic, and you can hear one before you commit.
Signature Series
Small enough to sit on a fingertip
Starkey has been making custom hearing aids for decades, and the Signature Series is where that experience goes: three completely bespoke styles, each one built to the shape of one particular ear.
The CIC R is the rechargeable one, and it carries a genuine world first. Nobody else has managed to fit a rechargeable cell into a completely-in-canal shell this small.
Why custom makes such a difference
A custom hearing aid starts with a scan or a silicone impression of your ear. The shell is then built to that exact shape, which does two useful things at once: it sits deeper and more securely than anything off the shelf, and it more or less disappears.
There is a practical benefit too. Because the microphone sits inside the ear rather than behind it, the shape of your outer ear still does the job it evolved to do, helping you place where a sound came from before you have even turned your head.
Rechargeable, with nothing to fiddle with
Anyone who has tried to change a tiny battery with cold hands knows why this matters. The CIC R goes into its case at night and comes out with up to 38 hours in it, which is comfortably more than a long day out, a wedding, or a weekend away with one charge in the middle.
The shell is waterproof to a metre as well, so a caught shower or a warm walk is a non-event.
“Only you need to know why you are hearing so much better.”
The honest bit: it is non-wireless
The Signature CIC R has no Bluetooth. There is no streaming from your phone or your television, and no app to adjust it from your pocket. That is not an oversight. A wireless aerial and radio take up room, and room is the one thing a hearing aid this small has not got.
For plenty of people that is a fair swap, and some prefer it: nothing to pair, nothing to update, nothing to go wrong. But if streaming calls or the telly straight into your ears matters to you, say so at the appointment. The Starkey Omega AI CIC is a completely-in-canal aid with the My Starkey app and Auracast built in, and there are rechargeable in-the-canal options in that range too.
Who it suits
The CIC R tends to be the right answer for someone who has put hearing aids off because they did not want them to show, and who would rather not think about batteries. It comes with a choice of receiver strengths, so it covers a wider range of hearing losses than you might expect from something this size.
Two things decide it: what your audiogram looks like, and whether your ear canal has the room to take the shell. Both take a couple of minutes to check at an appointment, and we will tell you straight if it is not the right aid for your ears.
We fit the full Starkey range at Wickersley, so you can weigh the Signature CIC R against the Omega AI styles side by side rather than taking our word for it.
Hear the Signature CIC R for yourself
Book a free hearing assessment and demonstration at our Wickersley clinic. No obligation, and no pressure.
