Westone Laboratories Is Developing Hearing Assistance And Protection Products For Consumer Markets

Now that private equity firm CID Capital has made a major investment in Westone Laboratories, watch for the Colorado company turn on the burners with a further expansion of its hearing-assistance products into new consumer markets beyond the hearing-aid industry.

Not that long ago, Westone was little more than a staid maker of ugly but essential custom ear molds for hearing aids.  But in recent years the company has introduced a slew of new products including earpieces for professional musicians, custom earplugs for swimmers, hearing-protection technologies for military and industrial applications, assistive listening products for hard-of-hearing consumers, and more. If you’ve been to AudiologyNOW or one of the other big hearing-aid conventions, you’ve probably enjoyed Westone’s product demonstrations where you can hear live musicians perform as you listen through the same kinds of headphones and custom earpieces professionals use on stage.

Westone CEO Lynn Kehler says the private equity investment will enable the current management team “to rapidly accelerate new product development, aggressively expand distribution and pursue potential acquisition opportunities. We also have a unique opportunity to leverage our extensive hearing healthcare and professional audio music background to offer the same premium quality products and listening experience to the broader consumer earphone market.”

All of which is music to my ears, as I continue to look for examples of companies born in the hearing aid business that are willing to commit management energy and financial capital to delivering great technology and products to a much broader base of consumers. Westone was founded in 1959 and prospered under several generations of Morgan family leadership. But several years ago the family owners named Kehler CEO. A professional manager who had previously been CFO of Westone, Kehler led the expansion drive while seeking a way to provide liquidity for the family. According to the news release from Westone and CID Capital, the investment “will allow the Westone management team to continue to build the company with a new investment partner while allowing members of the family that founded Westone to diversify and pursue personal interests.”

An Indianapolis investment firm with deep Midwest roots, CID Capital takes majority positions in small firms and often helps family-owned companies transition to professional management while providing the financial backing management needs to invest in growth over the long term. While the parties didn’t disclose the size of the investment, the Westone deal appears to be a great marriage of an investor with deep pockets and staying power with a management team committed to a long-term strategy to create new markets with new products and technologies.

Rather than trying to go public or being acquired by a much larger company, staying independent with the backing of an equity partner is a great strategy for success in the hearing-technology business. More innovation is needed and markets need to be created and given time to build, and patient capital is just what the doctor would prescribe for a management team that’s on a roll and only in need of some financial backing to move ahead with its long-term strategy.

All too often a private equity investment foreshadows major negative changes. When the equity firm finances its investment with debt to be repaid through the company’s current cash flow, management often needs to cut overhead dramatically, selling off lower-profit lines of business, and milking the cash-cow profit lines to pay off the debt. With short-term increases in profit margins, the company may increase in value, and the equity firm can make a quick killing by taking the company public or selling off what’s left. But if the company fails to increase in value quickly, the venture can lose market share and gradually waste away. In either case, lines of business with great long-term prospects but low current profits are often simply shuttered and employees with irreplaceable experience cast aside.

But CID Capital appears to be anything but a Wall Street slash-and-burn private equity player. It’s nice to see a private equity deal that rewards family owners for their years of hard work, leaves a strong current management team in place, and provides incentives for a good company to make an even bigger mark on a business that is positioned to drive positive change for an entire industry. Especially when it’s a company doing interesting new things in the hearing assistance business. Let’s keep an eye on Westone Laboratories.

Lantos Technologies' Digital Ear Canal Scanner Eliminates The Need For Manual Earmold Impressions

Lantos Technologies, a Cambridge, Massachusetts startup company working with patented technology developed at MIT, is on a quest for the perfect ear mold fitting.

With $1.6 million in venture capital funding, the company is developing a unique scanner that will create an exact digital image of the inner ear, enabling ear mold manufacturers to produce hearing-aid shells, earphones, and other in-ear devices that provide a perfect custom fit for the wearer.

If Lantos is successful, its product could be a game-changer not only for the hearing-aid industry, but also for makers of a broad array of high-end audio electronics and hearing protection equipment. Perfect-fitting earmolds enabled by the Lantos scanner could pave the way for entirely new consumer products that are currently impractical to bring to bring to market, because the cost of ensuring an accurate fit for every user would be prohibitive.

Audiologists and hearing-aid customers put up with the necessary evil of taking ear mold impressions for hearing aids and other select products only when they must, because there is currently no alternative. Getting a good ear mold is a messy process that involves injecting soft silicone putty into your ear down to within millimeters of your ear drum, leaving it there for several minutes until it starts to dry and harden, and then pulling it out and sending it to an ear mold manufacturer. All the while you keep your fingers crossed, hoping the impression doesn’t have so many flaws that you have to perform the procedure all over again.

The Lantos scanner, on the other hand, inserts a thin, balloon-like membrane into the ear canal, which inflates to the exact shape of the canal. A tiny fiber optic camera inside the balloon takes a digital image of the walls of the ear canal and transmits it into a database, where it can be used by a 3D manufacturing system to create an earmold replicating the exact physical contours of the patient’s ear. The result leaves little to no room for the kind of error that comes with the manual earmold fitting, it is far less invasive and uncomfortable, and the entire scan takes only a minute or two.

Ear molds are necessary for many types of hearing loss requiring more than minimal amplification, because hearing aids require a tight seal to put enough distance between the microphone and speaker to prevent feedback—the annoying whistling that can render a hearing aid inoperable. Good earmold impressions are also necessary for the popular new “invisible hearing aids” that must sit deep enough within the ear canal to be virtually invisible to eliminate the stigma many people still feel is associated with wearing hearing aids.

Because everyone’s ears are different—Lantos CEO Shahid Azim notes that your ear canals are as unique to you as your fingerprints—each earpiece must be custom crafted to the individual. Taking a good physical impression of the ear canal, however, is often a hit-or-miss proposition. In addition to the time required to get a good impression and the discomfort of the procedure, the earpieces based on the molds often come back flawed. Sometimes they don’t extend deep enough into the ear canal, and sometimes they don’t fit at all because the original molds were either distorted when removed from the patient’s ear or did not completely fill the ear or accurately conform to the ear canal when originally taken. In addition to feedback, a bad earmold impression can result in an earpiece that is uncomfortable or which causes irritation, swelling, and even infection.

Why is the Lantos Technologies scanner a potential game changer not only for the hearing aid industry, but for other markets?

• Hearing Aids: For several years, use of hearing-aid earmolds seemed to be on the decline, as improved feedback cancellation lessened the need for a perfect seal and as the new tiny, near-invisible open-fit behind-the-ear hearing aids that don’t require an earmold at all gained market share. But the new “invisible” hearing aids that sit deep within the canal are expected to gain market share and increase the demand for custom earmolds. A perfect fit achieved in a fraction of the time will make these new form factors even more comfortable and popular, encouraging hearing aid developers to integrate more features and functionality into invisible earpieces hidden in the ear canal.
• High-End Audio: Personal in-ear headphones are increasingly are being used by audiophiles for high-fidelity sound, including sophisticated noise-cancelling applications that previously required over-the-ear headphones. However, their market growth has been hindered by the difficulty achieving a perfect in-ear fit, and by the drawbacks of “one-size-fits-all” earpieces that simply don’t fit many users’ ears. An easy-to-administer digital scan that could be transmitted directly to the manufacturer, who could immediately produce a custom earpiece on demand for customers purchasing its high-end in-ear headphones would revolutionize this market segment. If it doesn’t sound like much at first, think of the iconic Apple iPod graphic ads with the wires dangling from the users’ ears. Custom earpieces integrating better sound are the logical next step in this huge market.
• Hearing Protection: Think of the bulky headphones you see on airport runway personnel or workers in other noisy environments. Then think about all the situations where people should be protecting their hearing, but aren’t. Think especially of the soldiers in combat zones, where hearing loss has become the number one disability. The reason more people don’t use hearing protection is that most earplugs and over-the-ear headsets actually prevent you from hearing anything at all—which can be just as dangerous in many work environments. Another reason people don’t use hearing protection is that standard earplugs are often uncomfortable or they simply don’t fit. Custom earpieces can integrate electronics that filter out dangerously loud noise while letting speech and other important audio information through. They are comfortable and actually improve job performance, and safety, rather than hindering it. Every soldier ought to have a digital ear scan done when he or she enlists and be issued a set of custom in-ear hearing protection devices. And, as more wireless communication is integrated into in-ear earpieces, the market demand for and acceptance of hearing protection devices requiring accurate earmold impressions will accelerate.
• Hearing Health: Have you ever suffered from swimmers’ ear, or come home from the beach annoyed for days by water in your ear that won’t drain? Have you ever told yourself you really ought to get a set of ear plugs? Why don’t you? Because they are uncomfortable. If you had an easy way to get a set of custom earplugs, you would probably have a set. Think especially of all the parents out there sending their kids to swimming lessons at the local pool: how many would feel negligent about not protecting their childrens’ ears if they knew that custom swimmers’ earplugs were as easy as getting a quick scan and having perfect-fitting earplugs delivered through the mail?
• Bluetooth Phones: Are you one of the many people who would like to have their mobile phone calls transmitted directly into your ears, but who think that today’s bulky and obtrusive Bluetooth earpieces look dorky or idiotic? What if you could have a tiny invisible earpiece that was so comfortable you could keep it in all day, that transmitted your phone calls into your ear with high-fidelity sound, and which also passed through everyday environmental sound transparently so you could hear normally? An accurate scan and perfect-fitting earpiece would make Bluetooth products with that kind of performance, functionality and ease of use possible.

Those are only a few of the obvious applications that aren’t practical today, but which would be enabled by the perfect earmold fittings Lantos Technologies is seeking with its scanner. Lantos has licensed technology developed by a research team led by Douglas Hart, MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering, that enables quick and extremely accurate scans of small, complex surfaces. Prof. Hart has a proven track record, having developed earlier scanning technology for dental impressions that was subsequently acquired by 3M for $95 million, and is a founder and member of the board of directors of Lantos.

The Lantos scanner is still under development, and there are few details available yet about what it will look like, how it will be sold, and how the digital scans will be archived and managed. It’s a good bet, though, that audiologists and hearing aid companies will line up for it as soon as it’s available. Lantos CEO Azim says the company hopes to be able to demonstrate a prototype of the the product to potential customers sometime this year.

Ear Plugs: The Front Line In Workplace Hearing Protection

Manufacturers of personal hearing protection solutions are missing an opportunity by not raising their voices to be heard in the debate over government regulations limiting noise in the workplace. When two U.S. Senators this week persuaded the U.S. Labor Department to back off from proposed rule changes that would have required large and small companies to more aggressively manage noise levels in the workplace, they put their finger on a critical question: Should the government force companies to limit the overall noise they create, or should government instead simply require companies to provide their employees with effective personal hearing protection?

When the government tells manufacturers to lower overall workplace noise volume, it forces businesses to install expensive sound-dampening systems that can amount to huge capital investments. But when the government simply tells businesses to protect the hearing of their workers in the most effective way possible, the first move is to outfit workers with highly effective (and highly cost-effective) ear plugs, ear muffs, or more sophisticated hearing protection devices that allow them to communicate even as their hearing is protected from over-loud noise.

Unfortunately, government bureaucrats often are more interested in fast but expensive one-size-fits-all solutions than they are in getting up to speed on things like the variety of new personal hearing protection technologies that can do the job better and less expensively. Therefore, if makers of personal hearing protection devices want to increase their market and sales, they should be advocating for sensible hearing-protection rules that require companies to issue the right kind of hearing protection equipment to their employees, over rules that require more expensive investments in overall workplace noise reduction.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, and Sen. Olympia Snow, a Republican from Maine, this week sent a letter to the Secretary of Labor complaining that the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) recent revised interpretation of existing workplace noise regulations would put an unfair burden on small businesses. After receiving the letter, OSHA quickly reversed course and decided to study the matter more, asking for more comments and promising to look into more alternatives before revising the rules. It’s an excellent opportunity now for manufacturers of personal hearing protection devices to weigh into the debate.

The new interpretation OSHA had proposed shifted the emphasis of government regulations from requiring that companies issue personal hearing protection to individual employees toward requiring that companies invest in more expensive workplace noise-reduction systems. But Senators Lieberman and Snow argued that the new interpretation was a dramatic change in direction that would kill job growth and threaten to put many small manufacturers out of business:

OSHA would be overturning established and, to our understanding, effective policy that presently allows businesses to provide their employees with “personal protective equipment” — such as ear plugs and ear muffs that are fitted to the individual employees — if those items are more cost-effective than far broader administrative or engineering controls….These controls could include limiting the amount of time an employee can work in an area with high noise, or installing expensive and disruptive noise-dampening equipment at the employer’s facility….”

The debate over regulating workplace noise and worker hearing protection is a good one to have. I personally believe there is a role for the government to take steps to protect public and private employees from on-the-job injury and disability. And I believe noise-induced hearing loss should qualify as a disability, as it does for military veterans. At the same time, I believe there’s been far too little awareness of the problem of noise-induced hearing loss and the many easy, cost-effective ways it can be prevented. If people knew how preventable hearing loss can be, they would be faster to make the small investments in money and time to ensure the proper protection.

Until recently, the main form of personal hearing protection was ear plugs and ear muffs — but because in many noisy workplaces they made it impossible to communicate, they often weren’t practical. But now there are plenty of intelligent ear pieces that can dampen dangerously loud noise and filter out background noises while improving understanding of speech, even in noisiest environments. There are also numerous wireless communication systems that protect hearing even as they dramatically improve collaboration among teams in noisy workplaces. And the costs of these intelligent devices are coming down all the time.

If government regulators were more aware of this current revolution in hearing protection technology, maybe they would be able to draw up regulations more carefully in ways that truly protect workers’ hearing while eliminating any unnecessary costs of doing business. And that would be good news for the innovators in the hearing protection business who would increase their sales while performing a real service to society.

Etymotic's Electronic Blast Earplugs Win CES Best-Innovation Award

Serious hearing loss is an all-too-common problem besetting U.S. military veterans and is the number-one cause of disability among those soldiers returning from Afghanistan. The problem is all the more tragic because for the most part hearing loss is preventable: a simple, inexpensive set of good earplugs can protect your hearing from the damage caused by even explosions and gunshot blasts. Unfortunately, many of the earplugs available to soldiers today frequently suffer the same fate as hearing aids worn by the rest of us: too often they sit in the drawer, unused. That’s not because soldiers are vain or lazy. The sad truth is that traditional ear plugs are unsafe in combat zones. When you can’t hear your colleagues in a firefight, chain-of-command breaks down pretty quickly, and people can get killed.

What’s needed is intelligent, active hearing protection. A new class of hearing-aid-like devices can dampen too-loud noise and filter out unwanted noise while amplifying and clarifying speech. A number of hearing-technology companies have tackled the challenge of hearing protection for soldiers, and one of them, Etymotic Research, just won a “Best of Innovations” award at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Etymotic’s Electronic Blast PLG Earplugs won a coveted Best of Innovations in Health and Wellness award at a ceremony yesterday. The Etymotic blast earplugs allow normal detection and localization of even the softest sounds, provide optional gain for (only) soft sound, and protect ears from firearms and explosive blast. And they’re not just for soldiers, as hunters and workers in noisy industrial environments can find them equally useful.

Phonak Tests Vuzuvela-Proof Ear Pieces Based On Its Serenity Hearing-Protection Technology

Phonak’s Hear the World initiative got so much attention from its announcement that vuvuzela horns were damaging World Cup attendees’ hearing that the hearing aid company’s product designers sprung into action to adapt Phonak’s popular Serenity industrial hearing-protection products with a new line of consumer devices for fans who need to protect their hearing at stadium events such as major league sports events and rock and roll concerts. Hear the World announced that Phonak customized a new version of its Serenity state-of-the-art hearing protection systems–typically used by helicopter pilots, fire-fighters, industrial staff and security professionals–and sent it to World Cup journalists in Johannesburg, South Africa, to see how well it would filter out the endless drone of the vuvuzela. The noise makers emit sound at an ear-splitting 127 decibels (dB), louder than a lawnmower (90 dB) and chain saw (100 dB). Continuous exposure to noise at more than 85 dB will cause permanent hearing damage, so virtually all fans in a stadium enduring an extended chorus of vuvuzela noise are at serious risk of hearing loss.

Phonak Serenity Ear Pieces Dampen Unsafe Noise With Intelligent Filters And Sound Processor

As more consumers become concerned about noise-induced hearing loss and get used to the idea of have custom molds taken of their ears enabling them to wear custom earpieces that are comfortable and snug, hearing-aid manufacturers see a potentially large consumer market for hearing-protection devices. Phonak’s Serenity system incorporates slick “dynamic hearing protection” technology, with filters embedded in custom ear pieces and wireless connection to a small digital signal processing unit worn around the neck. In its consumer prototype, Phonak developed a special program program for the filters to dampen stadium noise. The work by damping dangerous impulse noise the moment it occurs while passing through any other sounds that are within safe limits — protecting users’ hearing without diminishing their ability to hear safe sounds. It’s high-end industrial technology which, if Phonak can find a mass market, might ultimately be delivered at consumer electronics prices.

Phonak has a large family of hearing-protection and enhancement devices that take advantage of the company’s hearing-aid technologies. The Phonak Primero DPC communication system has all the protection features of the Serenity system but also includes a wireless transmitter and receiver, so it serves as a custom headset as well for industrial workers and military personnel who must do their jobs and communicate effectively in dangerously noisy environments.

Phonak is a great example of a hearing-aid company that got tired of waiting around for the obvious mass market of aging hearing-impaired baby boomers to take off. By all rights, the market for hearing aids and hearing protection should be growing in double digits but for years has been stuck in single-digit range. Phonak is sparking consumer demand on two fronts: by coming up with creative products that it promotes using exciting advertising and clever consumer marketing campaigns, and by raising awareness through initiatives like Hear the World which serve to educate consumers about the need for hearing assistance while at the same time lessening the stigma traditionally associated with wearing hearing aids.

Stadium Noise Makers Can Damage Your Hearing

Phonak’s Hear The World Foundation touched a nerve when it warned World Cup fans of the damage stadium noise can cause to your hearing, especially if you’re in the midst of a chorus of vuvuzela horns. It turns out that, at 127 decibels (dB), a vuvuzela is louder than an air horn. On top of normal cheering in a heated match, the sound can quickly do permanent damage to your hearing. After Hear The World issued its statement, the news of potential hearing loss spread across the media and the web like wildfire — Google the phrase “vuvuzela hearing loss” and you will see 71,000 entries. What’s the best way to prevent hearing loss from noisy stadiums? There’s been talk of banning vuvuzela horns at the World Cup and other sporting events. My preference, though, is to see everyone start using simple ear plugs, which can protect you from all stadium noise at any sporting event, which, vuvuzela or no vuvuzela, often surpasses decibel levels loud enough to cause hearing damage.

The FDA Defines A New Class Of Over-The-Counter Sound Amplifiers

Improvements in technology and performance have enabled a new class of over-the-counter hearing aids and personal sound amplifiers to gather momentum in the global hearing-aid market. A new breed of manufacturers is bypassing traditional distribution channels with products that have the potential to dramatically change the price/performance equation and disrupt the traditional ways hearing-aid manufacturers have done business around the world.

In the U.S., the powerful Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates hearing aids, has given this new class of of devices its blessing with a new name–Personal Sound Amplifier Products (PSAPs)–and a new set of guidelines for consumers who may want to buy and use them. It has also opened the door for a new class of over-the-counter hearing aids, sold directly to the consumer without the assistance of an audiologist.

The new products cost hundreds of dollars, versus the thousands of dollars that most name-brand hearing aids cost today. They are easy to acquire over the internet or through the mail. And they have the potential to start meeting the entry-level requirements of the largest market of consumers who need hearing assistance–the swelling ranks of fifty- and sixty-something baby boomers who are gradually losing some hearing and in need of mild-to-moderate hearing assistance.

Everyone has seen ads for low cost hearing assistance devices on late-night TV or in the back of the Sunday newspaper, but until recently they had little impact on the hearing-aid industry and even less on customers in need of true hearing assistance. Simple amplification doesn’t do the trick for most people who need to hear better in various situations, especially in challenging listening environments such as restaurants and at work. So while these low-cost sound amplifiers promise to solve your hearing problems, they often fail to perform as promised.

Until recently, there was no mistaking personal sound amplifiers for true hearing aids–sophisticated devices that often cost thousands of dollars, but which provide finely tuned correction to hearing impairments. True hearing aids provide digital sound processing tuned to the user’s hearing-loss profile along with features such as directional microphones, feedback cancellation and noise suppression. But as digital signal processors and other components have gotten more powerful and less expensive, it’s become easier to come up with alternatives to traditional hearing aids that do many of the same things just as well at a fraction of the cost.

Now a few manufacturers are taking the plunge with a new class of devices, sold over the counter rather than through audiologists, that look and feel just like the newest open-fit digital hearing aids from established hearing-aid manufacturers. These higher-end sound amplifiers cost several hundred dollars each, versus the cheaper sound amplifiers that often cost well under $100. But they are fully functional digital hearing aids with many features previously found only in high-end hearing aids costing thousands of dollars each.

Walker's Game Ear Personal Sound Amplifier Enhances And Protects Hearing

The FDA spent a long time struggling with how to regulate hearing aids and sound amplifiers. There is no doubt some level of medical oversight is warranted, because if you over-amplify the sound going into your ears, you can damage your hearing. Just ask any physician dealing with a 20-something patient coping with self-inflicted hearing loss from extended iPod over-amplification. For years the FDA has required manufacturers to get its approval for hearing aids designed to rectify hearing loss in patients, to ensure the devices work without doing additional harm. Therefore it classified hearing aids as medical devices that audiologists would need to prescribed and fit for patients with medically diagnosed hearing problems.

But problems arose in accurately defining what kind of hearing assistance device would be a “hearing aid,” and what other kinds of devices could be sold over the counter without a prescription. Because the foundation technology of a hearing aid is so simple–basically a speaker and a microphone–you could call any amplification device a hearing aid. Radio Shack, for instance, for years has sold a two-by-three-inch microphone with amplifier that you can use with a set of cheap plug-in ear buds and hear much better than you could before. It’s the same technology as the body-worn hearing aids worn fifty years ago. But today you would be hard-pressed to define it as a hearing aid subject to regulation by the FDA.

The FDA finally settled on a definition of hearing aids as any devices whose specific purpose is to rectify medically diagnosed hearing impairments, whereas PSAPs, or personal sound amplification products, are devices used to amplify hard-to-hear environmental sounds for people with perfectly normal hearing:

PSAPs are intended to amplify environmental sound for non-hearing impaired consumers. They are not intended to compensate for hearing impairment. Examples of situations in which PSAPs typically are used include hunting (listening for prey), bird watching, listening to lectures with a distant speaker, and listening to soft sounds that would be difficult for normal hearing individuals to hear (e.g., distant conversations, performances). Because PSAPs are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or mitigate disease and do not alter the structure or function of the body, they are not devices as defined in the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. As such, there is no regulatory classification, product code, or definition for these products. Furthermore, there are no requirements for registration of manufacturers and listing of these products with FDA. (From Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff: Regulatory Requirements for Hearing Aid Devices and Personal Sound Amplification Products, Feb. 25, 2009)

Clarifying the definition of hearing-aid devices meeting users’ needs for hearing enhancement rather than hearing correction opens the floodgates for technology and market innovators. For instance, Cabela’s, the hunting and outdoor supply store, sells behind-the-ear and in-the-ear devices developed by Walker’s Game Ear which integrate sophisticated hearing aid technology that enhances as well as protects the hunter’s hearing. It amplifies the slightest sounds of the forest to help the hunter listen for prey, but instantaneously shuts down when a shotgun fires, protecting the hunter from the noise of the blast, which otherwise can seriously damage hearing. Prices for the Walker’s Game Ear products range from under $200 to more than $600.

The FDA has also clarified regulations on the fitting and distribution of hearing aids it has approved for sale. While it very strongly recommends that consumers get a medical evaluation and hearing test before purchasing either a hearing aid or a personal sound amplification product, it allows them to purchase hearing aids without a medical consult if they sign a simple waiver form:

A prospective hearing aid user must provide to the hearing aid dispenser a written statement from a licensed physician that the prospective user has been medically evaluated and is a candidate for a hearing aid. This evaluation must occur within 6 months prior to the date of purchase of the hearing aid. If 18 years of age or older, the prospective user may waive this requirement for medical evaluation provided that the prospective user signs a waiver statement under the conditions outlined in this regulation. (From Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff…)

Credible manufacturers are emerging who offer fully functional digital hearing aids directly to consumers costing hundreds, not thousands, of dollars. Songbird Hearing, utilizing digital signal processing technology originally developed at the famed Sarnoff Labs in New Jersey, has a line of hearing aids available over the internet. Its Flexfit ($179.90) and Ultra ($269.90) hearing aids offer people with mild to moderate hearing loss good sound processing and enough amplification to help hear the TV and get along better at a noisy dinner table, with the Ultra offering high-end features such as feedback cancellation, noise reduction and a button for four “Sound Boost” settings. Its Flexfit Disposable offers 400 hours of hearing for $79.90, at which point you just order another; it’s good for occasional users who will get many months of use out of the device and don’t want to bother replacing batteries. (We’ve just acquired an Ultra and will be reviewing its performance in Hearing Mojo in the near future).

For higher-end users, America Hears offers premium-performance hearing aids at less than half the cost of hearing aids from the leading manufacturers. America Hears hearing aids use top-end digital signal processors, advanced sound processing software, and include all the advanced features high-end hearing-aid users expect. We’ve written about America Hears before and have tested their products, and found them to be as good as the leading name-brand manufacturers. America Hears requires a recent audiogram that’s been administered by an audiologist or certified fitter, but programs the hearing aids at the factory to your unique specifications. It then ships them directly to you along with a programming kit that you can use to fine-tune the aids yourself, or download changes you want from the America Hears audiologists who will make the programming adjustments for you. America Hears hearing aids range from approximately $800 to $1,300 each, well under half the price of comparable products from leading brands.

These products and others like them have the potential to unleash the growth potential of the global hearing-aid market, which has been stuck with single-digit growth over the past decade even as demographic changes would lead you to expect much higher growth rates. Lower costs and better technology and products add up to a disruptive force that has the potential to dramatically change the structure and growth outlook of the global hearing industry.

At Hearing Mojo we intend to follow the markets for over-the-counter hearing aids and personal sound amplifier products as closely as we follow traditional manufacturers’ products. We will look at all the announcements we see and try our best to determine which products come from credible manufacturers with good technology.

Phonak Primero DPD Integrates Hearing Enhancement and Protection

For a long time, the standard in hearing protection for the military, police and workers in noisy industrial environments was little more than a set of ill-fitting ear plugs. But blocking your hearing is often more dangerous than potentially losing it in noisy environments where inability to hear your colleague’s voices or failure to hear warnings of an imminent threat can put you in harm’s way. It’s no surprise, then, that hearing loss among soldiers who don’t wear their earplugs because they don’t feel safe not being able to hear what’s going on around them has become one of the biggest problems for veterans of the Irag war and other conflicts. That’s why it’s gratifying to see hearing-aid manufacturers have finally start applying advanced hearing enhancement and hearing protection technology to the problem of environmental noise. Phonak is the latest manufacturer to come up with an advanced hearing system for people trying to get their jobs done in noisy and dangerous environments, and it integrates some impressive technology.

Phonak Primero DPC Communication System

The new Phonak primero DPC boomless radio headset features “dynamic hearing protection.” Custom ear molds that sit in the user’s ears integrate wireless technology which measures and dampens environmental noise while enhancing speech tones. The sound-dampening completely protects users from load blasts or noise from heavy machinery while enabling them to continue speaking with others over a wireless link. A tiny microphone integrated within the ear jack and an innovative signal processing algorithm pick up the user’s voice from inside the ear canal. This allows the user to be heard by others over the wireless link more clearly than with previous technologies. Designed with teams such as rapid intervention, SWAT, police, emergency and homeland security professionals in mind, the primero DPC system raises the bar of safe radio communications by enabling conversation in noise of up to 115dB with hearing protection guaranteed even when loud ‘impulse’ noises such as shots or crashes occur.

By integrating both hearing enhancement AND protection, Phonak’s new system is leading the charge for a new class of products that put sophisticated hearing aid technology to work in a market for hearing-protection systems that is potentially even larger than the global market for hearing aids.

Super Bowl MVP Brees Puts Son Baylen's Hearing First

Credit Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees and his wife and partner-in-parenting Brittany with the biggest assist of the year for hearing protection advocacy. The feel-good story of the afternoon was when the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback shared a special moment with his year-old son Baylen just before hoisting the Lombardi trophy in front of 70,000 fans and millions of TV viewers. The first question out of many viewers’ mouths was, “What’s with the headphones?” Drew and Brittany let everyone who asked know that the huge hearing-protection headset covering little Baylen’s ears has been standard issue since their son attended his first game at the tender age of three weeks. The New York Times parenting blog captured the moment beautifully, giving both parents an A+ for putting their son’s precious hearing first. Now here’s a question: who was the manufacturer of that hearing-protection headset? I can’t tell the brand or model from the pictures. Whoever it is now has the world’s most valuable product endorsement!

02/11/2010 UPDATE: This just in–a Hearing Mojo reader named bob has identified Peltor as the maker of Baby Baylen’s hearing-protection headset. Inc. Magazine got on the story quickly. Peltor, located in the home town of the Indianapolis Colts, apparently had no idea their Peltor Junior Earmuffs would be getting such a great endorsement. For more on Peltor see our previous story on Peltor’s hearing protection headsets.