I just discovered a LiveJournal site called "Hearing-Aid Hacking" which gives great do-it-yourself advice on using assistive listening technologies with hearing aids. It features tips and new technologies from real hearing-aid users, everything from how to work with the direct-audio-input (DAI) connections on your hearings aids (if they have them), to the latest on new Bluetooth technologies (especially for mobile phone users) and on the new bells and whistles that hearing-aid manufacturers seem to constantly announce. Here is the site's mission statement: "For high end users of hearing aids. We're frustrated that we're behind the technology curve and pay huge dollars/pounds/euros for good hearing aids that are unaware of and incompatible with anything resembling recent advances in consumer audio tech. We're willing to blaze our own path because no one will do it for us until they realize there is money in them thar hills." If you are a new or experienced hearing-aid user, there is probably something there for you.
Posted by David on Dec 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Gennum Abandons Hearing-Aid Market With DSP Chip and Headset Spinoffs
Gennum Corp. of Canada, long one of the leading suppliers of digital signal processing (DSP) chips and other technologies to the hearing-aid and headset industries, is abandoning the hearing-aid market with the spinout of its hearing instrument design and manufacturing operations to a private equity group and the sale of its consumer Bluetooth headset business to a consumer electronics company based in Sweden. The Gores Group, LLC, a Southern California-based private equity fund, has purchased the hearing-aid chip business and is backing a management spinout that will be named Sound Design Technologies Ltd. And CellPoint Connect AB, manufacturer of the Flamingo Bluetooth, has acquired the Gennum nXZEN and nX6000 Bluetooth headsets that have won acclaim for their sophisticated DSP-based noise-cancellation technology. Gennum's retreat from the hearing-aid business isn't necessarily bad news for hearing-aid manufactrers depending on its DSP chips, because the equity firm is backing a group of managers already running Gennum's Sound Design hearing-aid business and presumably will help them more sharply focus on hearing-industry customer needs in addition to providing investment capital to further develop their technology.
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Posted by David on Sep 29, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Jawbone Bluetooth Cell Phone Headset Is A Hearing Aid In Disguise
Since its introduction late last hear, the Jawbone earpiece for Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones has seemingly taken the world by storm. It is offered in many major consumer electronics outlets as well as at Apple stores as an iPhone companion, by AT&T Wireless and at Best Buy stores. The secret to its success is not only its outstanding design, but also its cutting-edge technology. Jawbone is actually a hearing-aid in disguise, integrating advanced digital signal processing (DSP) technology to handle speech enhnancement and environmental noise cancellation in much the same ways expensive digital hearing aids help you discriminate speech in a noisy room and moderate background noise even as they perform their primary task of amplifyng sound. Among other things, Jawbone boosts the caller's voice in your ear when environmental noise is loud, and reduces the signal in more quiet surroundings. And, while Jawbone helps you hear the caller's voice better, it also helps you communicate more effectively by eliminating background noise that would hinder the person on the other end from hearing your voice. The Jawbone web site has one of the best demonstrations of noise-cancelling technology with video of a guy speaking to you with Jawbone's noise shield off and then on as a fellow works with a leaf blower in the background. It's worth checking out.
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Posted by David on Sep 15, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
Oticon Integrates Wireless Bluetooth Receiver In New Epoq Hearing Aids
Oticon’s latest new technology is whiz bang, integrating a Bluetooth receiver inside its new Epoq family of hearing aids. Epoq also provides wireless binaural communication between right and left hearing aids to make stereophonic sound more natural. But to me the most exciting innovation is the integrated Bluetooth, which enables mobile phone reception directly by the hearing aids. I get that benefit currently with a pair of Hatis silhouettes which plug directly into my cell phone and hang behind my ears next to my behind-the-ear hearing aids. They work well but require that I be tethered to the phone in addition to taking them on and off and constantly making sure the silhouettes are set properly next to the telecoils in my hearing aids. Getting phone reception directly into the aids through a wireless Bluetooth connection is the holy graille. But the nifty new solution isn’t without its drawbacks.
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Posted by David on Apr 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)
Starkey Adds 'BluPal' Transmitter To Bluetooth Hearing-Assistance Portfolio
Starkey Laboratories, which last year introduced its ELI Bluetooth wireless hearing-aid accessory for wireless connectivity to cellphones, is nearly ready to ship another companion product -- a 'BluPal' wireless Bluetooth microphone transmitter with a range of up to 30 feet that's no bigger than a butane cigarette lighter. Starkey was showing prototypes at the American Academy of Audiology Audiology Now conference, and it's truly a slick product. It's the first Bluetooth-to-hearing-aid microphone transmitter I've seen.
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Posted by David on Apr 16, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)
Hear Now: Introducing 'Elvas,' The Long-Awaited Convergence Of Hearing Aids And Consumer Electronics
Paul Dybala, Ph.D., the editor of both Audiology Online and Healthy Hearing, has filed a wonderful, comprehensive report on the convergence of hearing aids and the wave of consumer earpieces and headsets being marketed by cellphone makers and consumer electronics companies. In 1999, Dr. Dybala was among the first to predict the mainstreaming of ear-level hearing-assistance technology in the form of "Ear-Level Voice-Activated Systems" (ELVAS). Now he is declaring that "Elvas Lives." In an article entitled "Elvas Sightings - Hearing Aid or Headset?," he has provided the most complete and up-to-date list of new earpieces amplifying environmental sound and/or cellphone signals. Among other things, he asks the reader to view each "mystery" product, then answer the question, "hearing aid or headset?" Surprisingly, many of the hearing aids have more attractive designs than the consumer headsets for people without significant hearing loss. I've written about this issue and a number of these products before, including the Gennum Hearphone, the Starkey Bluetooth ELI, and the futuristic designs at the Albert & Victoria Museum's "HearWear" exhibit in London (picture). But Dr. Dybala's report is the most comprehensive I've sen yet. (He has written a similar feature in the March issue of The Hearing Journal which, as Dr. Dybala observes, increasingly looks like more like Wired Magazine than a specialized medical journal).
Posted by David on Apr 4, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Bluetooth Hearing-Aid Products Debut
Starkey Laboratories announced its Bluetooth Eli (Ear-Level Instrument) last week in a news release on the Advance for Audiologists website. So we are starting to see the long-awaited arrival of multiple Bluetooth-enabled hearing-enhancement products, which answers my question in an earlier post on whether and when all the anticipated Bluetooth products would ever make an appearance. The Starkey news release claims it is the "first" Bluetooth product from a hearing-aid company, which I don't think is true, as the Phonak SmartLink Bluetooth product has been out and available for a while. But it does appear to be the smallest Bluetooth-enabled hearing-enhancement product on the market, another claim made by Starkey which is certainly something to brag about. It's a tiny device that fastens to the DAI (direct audio input) connector on your hearing aid. It's got a microphone receiver and transmitter that communicates wirelessly with your Bluetooth-enabled cellular phone, personal communicator, or other device. MicroTech says it allows for hands-free operation for up to two-and-a-half hours at a time. Like the Phonak Smartlink Bluetooth personal communicator, ELI is in the advance guard of products utillizing new communications standards that will bring the hearing-aid industry into the consumer electronics mainstream.
Posted by David on Jul 12, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
Bluetooth Bandwagon Builds Momentum, But Where Are The HOH Products?
Every week it seems we hear of another new product for hard-of-hearing (HOH) consumers utilizing the Bluetooth wireless communications standard. In addition to my post last month on Sound ID, I've recently discovered that Starkey Laboratories, Micro-Tech Hearing Instruments, Sonomax Hearing Healthcare, and Gennum Corp. are also getting into the act. And I'm sure there are more. My only comment on all these efforts is, "Sounds great, guys, but when will we actually see (and hear) the products?" I've said before Bluetooth will be the bridge between the glittery world of consumer electronics and the stodgy old hearing-aid industry. I can't wait to see all the cool new wireless earpieces for cellphones and other applications providing custom hearing enhancement for people with and without hearing loss. But every time I go to the web sites of hearing equipment manufacturers talking about Bluetooth plans, I can't find a product that's actually available. A good example is the announcement in this month's Hearing Review of the world's "smallest audio Bluetooth device," a tiny new transmitter/receiver that marries technology from Micro-Tech and Starkey.
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Posted by David on May 18, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Sound ID Has A Sound Idea
Sound ID is a Silicon Valley start-up that is finally breaking down the barriers between consumer electronics and the hearing aid industry. It is developing a Bluetooth-based product that will make it easier for everyone -- consumers with normal hearing and hearing-impaired people alike -- to understand voices on the other end of their cellphones in noisy environments. The Sound ID Personal Sound System™ will provide a wireless link from Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones to a Sound ID EarModule™ . The earpiece will improve the cellphone signal to make it easier for people with normal hearing to understand. And, for anyone with a hearing impairment, it can be tuned to match the user's particular hearing profile. The founder and CEO of Sound ID is Rodney Perkins, M.D., a famous Silicon Valley otologist and inventor who previously founded ReSound Corporation, which grew rapidly into one of the top seven global hearing aid manufacters and now sells its products under the GN ReSound name as part of GN Great Nordic Corp. By integrating advanced DSP-based hearing-aid hardware and software with the Bluetooth digital communications standard for wireless consumer communications products, Perkins and company are finally crossing the divide between the world of hard-to-use hearing aids and the promised land of easy-to-use consumer audio products.
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Posted by David on Apr 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
