RFID Journal Staff asked 11 years ago Would a sensor and a chip with a 10-meter range work?
—Name withheld
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I am unaware of any RFID transponder designed to locate hearing aids. At this stage in the technology's development, there are still some issues involved in tracking a small device like a hearing aid. First, the tag would need to be very small—and the smaller the tag, the shorter the read range. So attaining 10 meters (33 feet) of read range would present a challenge.
Another issue is that you would require a reader to locate tagged items. At present, there are a few companies that produce interrogators able to be linked to an Apple iPhone or an Android phone, but the read distance is fairly short, since you wouldn't want the reader to drain the battery.
As the technology evolves, it will be embedded in a variety of products, and tags and readers (and batteries) will continue to improve. So it might be possible to use the hearing aid's battery to briefly send out a signal (say, once every 20 minutes) with what we call a battery-assisted tag. That would give you a longer read range.
The opportunities for RFID-enabled products are virtually endless.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
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