New Etymotic Earphones For Kids Make It Safe To Listen To iPods, iPhones And Other Apple Products

There’s been a lot of publicity about the damage iPhones, iPods and other MP3 players can do to your kids’ hearing but less about the many solutions. So it’s good to see Etymotic, the Illinois maker of earphones, headsets, high-fidelity ear plugs and other hearing assistance technologies promoting its “Safe-Listening Earphones for Apple products” at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year.

Etymotic’s new ETY*Kids3 earphones, featuring three-button control and a mic designed for use with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, will never exceed safe volumes. Even at the maximum setting on portable players, kids can listen safely for up to four hours per day. And because they provide high-definition sound quality while blocking environmental background noise with a set of snug, sound-blocking eartips, uses don’t complain that the volume is too low.

The new line of products will be available January 30 at BestBuy.com and select Best Buy stores, Amazon.com, Etymotic.com and authorized retailers worldwide. And visitors to CES in Las Vegas can try out the products at Etyotic’s Booth #4014.

ETY*Kids are available in two versions – the ETY*Kids3 headset that works with Apple products, with an MSRP of $79; and the ETY*Kids5 universal earphone that works with any portable device, with an MSRP of $49. The ETY*Kids3 headset will feature AWARENESS! for Etymotic, an app that “listens” to users’ surroundings and mixes any noise louder than normal background sounds directly into the earphones, so kids can hear traffic, announcements or any other important sounds while they are listening.

CES Preview: Will 2012 Be The Year Of The Personal Sound Amplification Product (PSAP)?

As hearing-aid technologies go mainstream, more traditional niche manufacturers are making a leap and attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the monster trade show held in Las Vegas every January that displays the wares of thousands of consumer brands. In 2012, I’ll be looking for examples of new Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAPs), which are just like hearing aids, but sold over the counter without a prescription.

In January 2011 we saw a range of hearing-related companies at the show, including VOXX International (formerly Audiovox) subsidiaries RCA and Acoustic Research, which introduced their own new PSAPs. Hamilton CapTel and TV Ears also got together at CES 2011 to offer a range of assistive listening devices for hard-of-hearing consumers. Traditional hearing-aid manufacturers Starkey Laboratories and Beltone earned CES Innovation Honors for their new products. And Etymotic Research won a 2011 CES Innovation award for new high-tech ear plugs that protect soldiers’ hearing in war zones.

At the January 2012 CES show I am betting we will see more PSAPs. It’s simply too easy a market to enter for mainstream consumer electronics companies. And even if the PSAP remains a niche or specialty product, I expect to see more of them in the big consumer electronics retail chains in 2012, with more news like the October 26 announcement by RCA that its Symphonix PSAP will be available in more than 2,000 Radio Shack stores. So I’d love to hear from any readers who hear about other PSAPs that will be introduced or demonstrated at CES 2012.

TV Ears Aims At Sweet Spot Of Assistive Listening Device (ALD) Market By Bundling TV Amplifier With Captioned Phone and Hearing Aids

George Dennis, the entrepreneur who founded TV Ears in 1998, has plans to address hearing-assistance needs well beyond the company’s initial target market of consumers needing help hearing the TV. This month TV Ears announced its “3D” strategy in which it will bundle different sets of assistive listing devices (ALDs) — including the TV Ears wireless TV amplifier, the Hamilton CapTel i800 captioned telephone, either two hearing aids or two personal sound amplifiers (PSAPs), LACE listening training software, and a Dri-Dock hearing aid dryer — starting at the low-low price of $995.

You’ve probably seen ads for TV Ears, the simple wireless headset that provides nicely amplified audio from your television set. The rig looks a little funny, with the receive hanging below your chin from a set of foam ear buds, but it works. It’s maintained domestic harmony in countless households where the TV no longer has to be turned to maximum volume to compensate for Mom’s or Dad’s hearing loss. And, in an assistive listening device market where more sophisticated transmitters and receivers can run into the many hundreds or even thousands of dollars, TV Ears products start at a very affordable $99.95 USD.

TV Ears has been a big success, with more than a million sold. But that’s only the start. Dennis’s initial vision for TV Ears was to provide a “gateway” for consumers with mild hearing loss, knowing they would be more likely to migrate eventually to additional solutions if they discovered the benefits of hearing assistance with an easy-to-use product that meets a very specific need. Now Dennis has widened the gateway by reselling a product that addresses perhaps the second-biggest complaint of people with mild hearing loss — problems with the phone. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), TV Ears announced a deal with Hamilton CapTel to resell Hamilton’s i800 Captioned Telephone. At the same time, TV Ears has expanded its product set by offering personal sound amplifiers along with open-fit and receiver-in-the-hear hearing aids. Read more

Hamilton CapTel Offers 800i Captioned Telephone With Free TV Ears Thrown In For Only $99

Want to save $600 and get two of the hottest assistive listening devices (ALDs) available? Hamilton Relay’s Hamilton CapTel business unit is making a limited-time offer for its CapTel 800i captioned telephone, bundled with a TV Ears system, for only $99 combined. Hamilton CapTel has been special-offering its $595-list-price 800i captioned telephone system for $99 for a while, and now it is throwing in the highly popular wireless television amplifier from TV Ears for free.

All you have to do is go to the HamiltonCaptel web site’s special-offer landing page, grab the coupon/promo code, click through to distributor Weitbrecht Communications’ (WCI) fulfillment page, put the 800i in your shopping cart, then make sure to enter the coupon code in the “Redeem a discount coupon” space on the shopping cart page — the TV Ears product, which usually retails for $99.95, will appear as a second item in your basket with a discounted price of $0. It takes a few steps, and I don’t know how long the special offer will be available, but if you or anyone you know would benefit from either or both products, it’s a great deal.

Hamilton CapTel and TV Ears got together at the Consumer Electronics Show, where TV Ears returned the compliment by announcing it will bundle the 800i phone with the TV Ears system and a variety of personal sound amplifer products (PSAPs) and entry-level hearing aids. (More on that announcement later). The two companies make a welcome fit for hard-of-hearing consumers looking for cost-effective help with their hearing. TV Ears serves the huge market of people with mild hearing loss, positioning their easy-to-use TV-amplification headset as a “gateway” for those who might later migrate to more powerful assistive listening devices and/or hearing aids.

Hamilton CapTel has been a leader in delivering captioned telephone solutions to consumers, and the 800i is a great product for anyone who has trouble understanding phone conversations. The 800i plugs into a standard Internet connection, which enables you to initiate a free WebCapTel call, and the unit’s LCD displays lets a real-time transcript of the words of the person on the other end of the call while you conduct a regular conversation with the handset over a normal phone line. While Hamilton CapTel usually serves customers with more severe hearing loss, while TV Ears is for people with mild hearing loss, you can envision the same person using both. The 800i product makes the WebCapTel service easy to use, so that people with moderate hearing loss who only have occasional problems with the phone are more likely to use it; and the TV Ears product has enough of a volume boost to be of help even for many regular hearing-aid users with moderate hearing loss.

I plan on trialing both products and will let you know how they work.

Product Review: Amplicom PowerTel 500 Cordless Phone Combines Land-Line Clarity With Wireless Convenience

I have been using the Amplicom PowerTel 500 cordless telephone for a month, and it’s the first cordless handset I’ve tried that works well enough with my hearing aids to combine the superior clarity of a land-line phone with the portable convenience of my wireless cellular phone. It also combines amplification and sound-shaping features for hearing-impaired users with all the top-end features anyone needs on an office or home-business phone, such as caller ID, multiple handsets that communicate internally, conference calling, and an extensive contact database with one-button dialing.

The new phone meets the Telecommunications Industry Association’s TIA-1083 hearing-aid compatibility standard and is among the few amplified phones to offer DECT 6.0 technology, the low-interference frequency that is standard in Europe but only recently being widely adopted in North America. The PowerTel 500 is a cordless handset with hands-free speakerphone, caller ID, and a large two-line illuminated display. It provides amplified volume of up to 50 dB and features a sound-shaping equalizer with five frequency settings. Read more

Amplicom Enters North American Market With PowerTel 500 Amplified Phone For Consumers Who Need Hearing Assistance

Amplicom, the German supplier of amplified telephones and other assistive listening devices (ALDs) for hard-of-hearing consumers, has entered the North American market with first shipments of its family of PowerTel corded and cordless amplified phones. Amplicom USA, based in New York, said the new phones meet the Telecommunications Industry Association’s TIA-1083 hearing-aid compatibility standard and are among the few amplified phones to offer DECT 6.0 technology, the interference-free frequency that is standard in Europe but only recently being widely adopted in North America.

The initial entry in the product line, the PowerTel 500, is a cordless handset with hands-free speakerphone, caller ID, and a large two-line illuminated display. It provides amplified volume of up to 50 dB and offers five frequency settings. Featuring Amplicom’s yourSOUND technology, the PowerTel unit has settings on the PowerTel unit that can be adjusted and set for multiple hearing profiles, enabling each member of the household can switch to his or her own preferred volume and frequency.

Suggested retail for the PowerTel 500 is $139.95. Amplicom also said it will soon start shipping the PowerTel 501, an expandable handset that works with all cordless base PowerTel phones, for $89.95, as well as a series of combination telephone and answering machines. It enters a competitive but by no means crowded market for amplified phones, including other vendors such as Clarity Products and ClearSounds.

Phonak Dynamic Soundfield Technology Turns The Classroom Into A Giant Hearing Aid

Soundfield classroom amplification systems have improved the education and lives of thousands of schoolchildren who otherwise would miss valuable instruction simply because they cannot hear their teachers well enough to understand what they are teaching. Now Phonak has put its vast experience designing hearing aids to use with a next-generation soundfield system featuring a 12-speaker array that reduces echoing and reverberation and automatically adjusts frequency and volume levels to achieve optimum signal-to-noise ratios in changing listening environments.  The new Phonak Dynamic Soundfield system essentially turns the entire classroom into a giant hearing aid that can dramatically improve comprehension and learning. Read more

Hatis Assistive Listening Devices Make Hearing Aids Phone- and iPod-Friendly

To listen to an iPod or communicate successfully on the phone, even on my most powerful amplified phone, I need to hear with both ears. I’ve found the best way to accomplish that trick is with a line of products from Hatis that plug into my iPod and my phones. Read more

Good Design Trumps All Else, Even In The Portable Bed-Shaker Market

OK, I finally bought the bed shaker I was stressing about in a post a few weeks ago. I’d been planning to buy Shake Awake, because several people had recommended it to me. But I went with the Sonic Shaker portable vibrating alarm clock from Sonic Alert instead. Read more

Neckloops For Telecoil-Equipped Hearing Aids Are Cool

When I got my first neckloop two years ago, I marveled at its simplicity and utility. It’s little more than a cord of insulated stereo-speaker wire that I loop around my neck and plug into a microphone or other source. But then, through the miracle of electro-magnetic induction, it transmits pure sound directly into my telecoil-equipped hearing aids. Read more

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