South Africa marked World Hearing Day on 3 March 2025, an annual awareness day led by the World Health Organisation to emphasise the importance of ear and hearing care. With hearing loss on the rise globally, experts warn that by 2030, over 500 million people will require rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss. Additionally, one billion young people face increased risk due to prolonged exposure to loud sounds from activities such as gaming and listening to music.
Epson began developing Power management integrated circuits (PMICs) for hearing aids in 2016. At the time, most hearing aids used primary (non-rechargeable) batteries. PMICs are primarily responsible for managing power in electronic devices. In recent years, they have also been used to control the charging of secondary (rechargeable) batteries. South Africa has one of the highest rates of hearing impairment globally, with over 9.24 million citizens experiencing some degree of hearing loss according to the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities.
The drawbacks of primary batteries are that the voltage drops over time, they are troublesome to replace, and they require a waterproof battery compartment. To solve these issues, Epson applied its wireless charging technology for use in hearing aids. Epson’s technology has been adopted by multiple hearing aid manufacturers, contributing to the practical application of rechargeable hearing aids and improving their convenience.
The new PMIC, the S1A00210B, uses a smaller coil than its wireless charging predecessor, the S1A00112B, thanks to a higher transfer frequency. The smaller coil means that the size of the hearing aid itself can be reduced. The new PMIC can also store two types of battery charging profiles and manage the number of charging cycles, allowing it to optimize the charging method for batteries with different characteristics or those that have undergone repeated charging. This helps to shorten the charging time and extend battery life. These features promise to significantly improve the convenience for hearing aid users.
The new PMIC also reduces the component count with a newly integrated general-purpose power supply LDO (low-dropout regulator) that eliminates the need for a discrete power IC to supply power to a Bluetooth Low Energy chip or senser chip, which is increasingly being incorporated into hearing aids. Integrating all the necessary power management for small electronic devices (power reception, charging, power supply, battery protection, Flash ROM) into a single chip also simplifies circuit design.
Epson is committed to helping customers further improve the performance of their products and contribute to the wellbeing of people and society by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precise technologies to save energy, save space, and deliver exceptional precision and accuracy.
