Bluetooth

GN ReSound Alera Arrives With A Dose Of Hyperbole, But Wireless Features Set The Bar Higher For Premium Hearing Aids

The wireless features in the new GN ReSound Alera family of hearing aids, which start shipping this week, are very similar to those found in several other high-end hearing aids already announced by other manufacturers. But, taken together, they help set the bar higher for premium hearing aids and assistive listening devices in general. The only question is how much better the new wireless features will make the new hearing aids from GN ReSound and other manufacturers when users start trying them out in the field.

One of the first things you learn in Marketing 101 is that  ”first,” “best” and “only” are some of the strongest words in the English language. So it’s no surprise that in the increasingly competitive hearing-aid industry, manufacturers are starting to use those words more often. GN ReSound’s news release announcing first shipments of the Alera hearing aids is a good example, claiming the company has come up with “the first truly wireless hearing aid with no strings attached.” The news release goes on to announce “a new approach to the way a hearing aid receives sound from devices such as TVs, stereos, cell phones and computers,” claiming that, “for the first time the patient can receive sound directly from the device without cables, wires or the need to wear uncomfortable accessories.”

That’s an exciting claim, except for the fact that, at least two other leading manufacturers that I know of have already announced products delivering very similar benefits by streaming wireless audio directly into their hearing aids. The new Widex Clear 440 family of hearing aids provides wireless streaming of cell phone and television signals directly into the hearing aids, without cables or wires, and the Oticon Streamer has been transmitting Bluetooth signals from a distance of up to 20 inches into hearing aids since its introduction along with the Oticon Epoq family of hearing aids in 2007. So it’s worth a close look at how GN ReSound is the “first” or “only.”

• UPDATE (Aug. 9): According to Karen Sams, a marketing representative for GN ReSound (see her comment at the end of this post), the Alera hearing aids’ proprietary 2.4 GHz transmission scheme eliminates the transmission delay that causes echoing and signal degradation in other wireless hearing aid products. It also transmits over longer distances than other hearing aid manufacturers’ wireless products, with the Alera Unite TV streamer broadcasting directly from your television set into your hearing aids — without requiring a second device worn on the body to relay the signal into your hearing aids. Not requiring an intermediary relay streamer is a real advantage that I’ve only seen with the GN ReSound Alera products. Most wireless hearing-aid products still use near-field magnetic induction, transmitting from the streamer through an  induction loop into the telecoils in your hearing aids. I’ve experienced widely varying results with wireless induction, especially the signal distortions and delays that GN ReSound says it is solving with the Alera wireless products featuring near-field induction technology. So GN ReSound is backing up its claim to be first to deliver new technology with new user benefits.

However, while bragging rights about who is first may be important for a while, at the end of the day the market will vote for “best.” And on that score it’s clear GN ReSound is in a neck-and-neck competition with other makers of premium-brand hearing aids to lead in delivering new wireless features that will substantially improve the experience of hearing-aid users. In the past, the only way to get audio from an MP3 player or your cell phone or your TV was to either plug them directly into a Direct Audio Interface (DAI) shoe, a clumsy connector at the base of your behind-the-ear hearing aid that wires you directly to the device, or else stream the audio through an induction loop you wear around your neck which transmits through the telecoils in your hearing aids. The new technologies from Widex, Oticon and GN ReSound skip that intermediary step with devices that transmit directly into your hearing aids from distances ranging from 20 inches to more than 20 feet.

The Bluetooth phone streamers are small and have enough range to transmit from within your coat pocket; however, as you need to speak as well as listen, you need to fasten the microphone to your lapel (GN ReSound Unite Phone Clip) or hang the device from your neck (Oticon Streamer) or hold it up and speak into it like any cell phone (Widex M-DEX). The TV streamers are more interesting, with the new GN ReSound Alera’s Unite TV Streamer an impressive product that plugs into the TV and transmits TV audio directly into your hearing aids over a distance of up to 7 meters (23 feet).

So I am looking forward to the marketplace voting on which of the new packages of wireless features from high-end hearing-aid manufacturers is best. Most likely, different brands will meet slightly different sets of needs for different users, who will gravitate to the solutions based on whether they are heavy Bluetooth phone users or whether they watch a lot of TV. In any case, the new wireless technologies are setting the bar a notch higher for all makers of high-end hearing aids, where the market soon will be demanding more and better ways of integrating hearing-aid users with all the listening, communication and entertainment environments they encounter.

Peltor Headset Communicates Safely Even In Noisiest Environments

A tree came down in our yard this week prompting a visit from our treeman, Conor Gleeson. Something was different this time: in addition to their usual safety helmets, Conor and his crew each were sporting a pair of bulky two-way communication headphones.

I’ve seen them with hearing protectors in the past, because the noise of a high-speed wood chipper combined with several chain saws running at once can ruin your hearing in no time. But the new gear went way beyond hearing protection. Conor said he’d been saving up for a while and gotten the Rolls Royce of two-way communications and hearing protection systems from 3M’s Aearo Corp.’s Peltor manufacturing subsidiary. Conor showed me how the headset has an external microphone to catch ambient sound, which he can turn on when the machines are off but shut down for hearing protection when he needs it. A two-way radio connection lets him communicate with up to seven of his employees, replacing his more cumbersome previous setup using hand-held walkie talkies. A sturdy boom mike on a 360-degree hinge avoids snags on branches while letting him communicate even when he is climbing. And a Bluetooth connection to his cell phone lets him stay in touch with customers and juggle work schedules with crews at multiple locations. Conor started his company a few years ago and is in his early 30s. So he is not from the macho generation of tree men who eschewed hard hats and other protective gear as unmanly. He says he’s seen too many of his colleagues in their late 40s and early 50s barely able to work because of their hearing disabilities, even though they are perfectly fit otherwise. You can get fully equipped Peltor headsets in the $500 range, although models with fewer bells and whistles cost considerably less.

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.

Jawbone’s success is welcome for two reasons. First, it demonstrates that the convergence of hearing-aid technology with consumer-electronics products and audio products is happening in the way optimists have been predicting for quite a while. Second, it provides the hearing-aid industry with an economic model borrowed from the mass marketers in the consumer electronics industry, where large production volumes rapidly drive prices down. Thus, Jawbone can afford to charge only $119 for its basic product, whereas hearing aids utilizing much of the same technology still retail for ten times that much or more.

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.

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.

The article, by two Micro-Tech developers, introduces the ELI, an “Ear-Level Instrument” that attaches directly to a behind-the-ear hearing aid, maintains a wireless connection to a Bluetooth-enabled cellphone, picks up the user’s voice with a directional microphone and transmits the conversation directly into both the hearing aid and the phone. Because it’s a direct digital connection, it’s free of the interference you sometimes get with analog RF and FM connections. Unfortunately, even though it says the ELI is on the market, the article aparently is in fact a technical pre-announcement of a product that hasn’t been shipped yet, because I can’t find mention of the ELI on either company’s website. If they are going to make the technical announcement, it would be nice to get an update from one or both manufacturers on expected availability.

Another product in the “I-can’t-wait-to-see-it” category is from a collaboration between two Canadian companies, Sonomax and Gennum. Sonomax makes a popular line of high-tech earplugs that can let in sounds you want to hear while damping sounds you don’t. Gennum is working on new Bluetooth electronics that, combined with the Sonomax technology, will result in an earpiece providing sound enhancement for consumers with both normal hearing and mild hearing loss. Sonomax reported in its recent earnings release that the partnership should result in a product coming onto retail store shelves late in 2005.