iHEAR Medical announced the launch of the Free @Home iHEARtest campaign, offering consumers the ability to test their hearing for free at home with the “only FDA approved home hearing screener.” The iHEARtest is said to “rapidly profile hearing ability based on guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO).”
Keynsham Hearing centre
“The Free @Home test addresses compromised hearing care during the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic,” said Adnan Shennib, Founder and CEO of iHEAR Medical.
The iHEARtest kit includes “factory calibrated earphones” to ensure accuracy of test results, according to the company. The Free @Home iHEARtest can be ordered online or by phone (1-844-443-2744, Toll-Free) for delivery directly to the customer’s home. Customers pay $9 to cover the cost of two-way shipping and handling, and have 30 days to take the iHEARtest and return it using the provided pre-paid return label and packaging.
Bristol hearing shop
According to iHEAR Medical, the iHEARtest was approved by the FDA following years of clinical research demonstrating safety and accuracy. Additionally, clinical studies under the oversight of an independent Institutional Review Board (IRB) have shown the iHEARtest’s “ease of self-use, accuracy and 96.4% agreement with standard practice audiometry for the assessment of normal versus disabling hearing impairment.”
https://keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Bristol-hearing-aids-.jpg320600adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2020-06-17 10:02:352020-06-17 10:02:35IHear Medical Launches Free @Home Hearing Test
CEVA, Inc (NASDAQ: CEVA), a licensor of wireless connectivity and smart sensing technologies, and Bragi GmbH, a technology company based in Munich, Germany, announced a strategic collaboration to drive a new class of hearable devices where the user experience is “customizable via the industry’s first hearable app store.” Target devices include headsets, hearing aids, True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds, and a host of other smart audio devices for the consumer and the smart home.
According to the companies’ announcement, the partnership takes advantage of the low power, CEVA-BX DSP architecture, along with its LLVM compiler and Eclipse based development tool chain, and Bragi 4, a newly defined operating system (OS) specialized for hearables. In conjunction with Bragi 4 OS, Bragi’s patented commercial app store will “help enable technology partners and experts to offer software apps and services such as voice activation, voice biometric, audio post processing, and music services.” These software packages can be licensed and downloaded directly to devices based on this architecture, allowing individuals to personalize their hearables user experience. CEVA will also offer a range of its value-added software via the Bragi app store, including ClearVox for noise reduction, WhisPro for speech recognition, MotionEngine for sensor fusion, and the SenslinQ framework for contextual awareness.
“Imagine buying headphones that adapt according to the needs of the user. Purchase noise-canceling software just before boarding a plane,” said Nikolaj Hviid, Founder and CEO of Bragi. “Encrypt communication data for sensitive business conversations. Discover that you hear better with voice amplification through try-to-buy offers. On business travel, use your headphones to translate from Chinese into English. Add a feature that alerts someone if your headphones detect you’ve fallen over. The possibilities are endless.”
Through this collaboration, “hearables and other smart audio devices will transform in the same way as the mobile phone industry in the ’00s, by replacing single-purpose feature products with flexible products capable of adapting their functionalities to the users through post-purchase apps and services.”
“Our collaboration with Bragi brings a game-changing approach to the design of hearables and other audio devices, where the user experience can be adapted, instantaneously,” said Moshe Sheier, Vice President of Marketing at CEVA. “Our CEVA-BX audio DSPs, voice processing and motion sensing software, and SenslinQ context-aware framework perfectly complement Bragi’s OS and unique capabilities in providing a direct channel for OEMs and ODMs to offer a customizable user experience to consumers through enhanced software and services.”
For customers wishing to integrate wireless connectivity into their SoC design, CEVA provides Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NB-IoT solutions, including the latest Bluetooth LE Audio standard. Any of these technologies can be seamlessly integrated into a SoC design and linked together with the audio offerings via the SenslinQ framework. For further information, visit: https://www.ceva-dsp.com/product/ceva-senslinq/.
https://keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ceva.jpg400400adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2020-06-08 09:53:552020-06-08 09:58:26CEVA and Bragi Partner on Hearable Devices
ChatableApps announced the launch of “the world’s first universal hearing aid, using neuroscience-led artificial intelligence to enable those suffering from hearing loss to hear one-to-one conversations clearly, using an everyday smartphone and a standard pair of earbuds.”
Hearing loss affects 37.5 million adults in the US* and the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that 466 million** people globally have ‘disabling hearing loss,’ with this expected to reach 900 million by 2050. However, due to the high cost of traditional hearing aids and lack of inclusion in medical insurance, many of those suffering are currently going untreated.
Chatable Hearing Aid (Photo: Business Wire)
Serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who provided early investment in the technology, said: “Chatable is using AI to address growing health care inequality by providing an affordable hearing aid app that helps with conversation.”
Founder and chief scientist at ChatableApps, Dr Andrew Simpson (PhD) has devised a “brand-new way of thinking about AI which reverse engineers the neural processes of the hearing brain and implements them as AI,” according to the company’s announcement.
“Putting an auditory cortex on a smartphone has been a dream for a long time. As far as I know, this is the most advanced real-time AI that has ever gone on a phone,” said Simpson. “It’s been a long road, but our preclinical trials reveal something of a medical breakthrough: A hearing aid that doesn’t need hearing tests and going straight into the hands of people who can’t afford a hearing aid.”
The performance levels Simpson’s approach achieves reportedly “surpass those of a traditional hearing aid when it comes to one-to-one conversation.” The company says this was confirmed in pre-clinical trials where “86% reported that the ChatableApps universal hearing aid was better for conversation than their traditional hearing aid.”
Despite the complex science and AI at work in the app, the company describes its user interface as “simple.” Once downloaded, the user moves two sliders up and down to find their desired balance. The volume boost slider helps enable “clear and loud voice, while the background noise slider removes background noise, allowing users to hear conversations no matter where they are.”
“Our unique ground-up AI makes our universal hearing aid the first app capable of addressing the global hearing epidemic,” said Giles Tongue, ChatableApps CEO. “Following successful preclinical trials, we have decided to launch immediately due to urgent demand from audiologists to help people struggling because of coronavirus. With many unable to lip-read due to face masks or unable to visit a hearing clinic in an emergency, our app provides a lifeline that will help people communicate.”
The ChatableApps Universal Hearing Aid app is available to download now on iOS and Android. The app is free to access, with the option to subscribe to unlock maximum voice amplification and reduction of background noise. The full version is available for $12.99 /monthly, $79.99 /annual.
Starkey hearing aids at the Keynsham hearing centre
Starkey announced that “the world’s first 2.4 GHz custom rechargeable hearing aids” are now available in all configurations and colours.
“We are proud to continue offering industry-leading technology even in this time of disruption,” said Starkey President Brandon Sawalich. “We want to thank our valued partners for their continued business and the opportunity to provide hearing health care to you and your patients. We sincerely appreciate the work you do and are maintaining 98% on-time delivery. How we work is changing, but our mission is the same: to serve our customers better than anyone else.”
To learn more about Starkey’s ground-breaking custom rechargeable hearing aids, please click here.
All Starkey hearing aids are available at the Keynsham hearing centre Somerset
Unitron Wins 2020 Red Dot Product Design Award for Moxi Jump R
Bristol hearing aids
Unitron, a Canadian hearing aid manufacturer, announced that it has won the “Red Dot: Product Design 2020” award for its Moxi Jump R hearing aids. The Moxi Jump R helps provide hearing aid wearers with “easy-to-use technology that automatically adapts to a user’s listening environment.”
The Red Dot Award, which dates to 1955, celebrates “excellence in product design.” This marks the sixth time Unitron has received the Red Dot Award for its inventive hearing instruments.
“To be recognized with this award from a pool of incredible designs is a tremendous honor,” says Sandra Fulton, Unitron Vice President of Global Marketing. “It clearly demonstrates our global leadership in hearing instrument design from the engineering and optimization of features and performance to the final product.”
Launched in 2019, the sound processing system in the Moxi Jump R uses machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, to “automatically recognize, classify, and adjust sounds based on the user’s listening environments.” This includes seven different listening environments that span quiet, conversation in quiet, conversation in noise, and music.
The Moxi Jump R also helps allow users to connect to Apple and Android devices and participate in hands-free phone calls, video calls, and media streaming to both ears. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 24 hours of amplification, or 16 hours of amplification with 8 hours of media streaming.
“Our user-centric design philosophy is based on the premise that our technology should be easy-to-use and provide optimal sound performance to allow people overcoming hearing loss to reconnect with their lives, their loved ones, and everything in between,” said Banham. “The Moxi Jump R makes this possible, combining aesthetics, comfort, and intuitive functionality into one cutting-edge device.”
The Moxi Jump R can be controlled through the Remote Plus app, which allows hearing aid wearers to control volume, adjust balance, and share real-time impressions of their hearing instruments using their smartphones, according to the company. The app also helps enable clients to connect with their hearing care professionals via cloud technology. The Coach feature on the Remote Plus app sends users notifications for when to charge their batteries, clean their devices, usage details, and much more.
“As we shift to a more technologically-savvy consumer base, our products have to provide users with a range of functionality while optimizing sound performance and user experience. The Red Dot award is further recognition that Unitron is leading the way in the hearing health space,” said Banham.
The international Red Dot jury is made up of 40 independent design experts, educators, and industry journalists who review thousands of submissions annually from manufacturers and product designers around the world. Products are evaluated based on quality, performance, degree of innovation, and ecological compatibility.
Award winners will be celebrated at the annual Red Dot award gala, which takes place in the Aalto Theater in Essen, Germany.
https://keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Bristol-hearing-aids.jpg427640adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2020-04-20 17:23:402020-04-20 17:23:40Moxi Jump R
Wearing masks have become common practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. For people who use behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids, however, this may be uncomfortable, according to a blog posting by audiologist Sheri Gostomelsky on the ChicagoNow website.
Gostomelsky suggests several creative solutions to the problem which include putting your hair in a bun and looping the elastic around the bun itself; sewing buttons onto a headband that the mask loops over; creating an extension for the mask, and sewing or purchasing a mask with ties instead of elastic.
To read the posting in its entirely, please click here.Hearing Review also recently published a study by Goldin, Weinstein, and Shiman about how medical masks essentially functioned as a low-pass acoustic filter for speech, attenuating the high frequencies (2000-7000 Hz) spoken by the wearer by 3 to 4 dB for a simple medical mask and close to 12 dB for the N95 masks.
https://keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Bristol-hearing.jpg320640adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2020-04-15 14:05:452020-04-15 14:05:45The Challenge of BTE Hearing Aids with Masks
Starkey Expands Remote Programming Feature to More Hearing Aid Users
In response to the ongoing challenges facing hearing care providers and their patients amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Starkey announced that it has made telehealth technology available to “even more hearing aid users.” Effective immediately, ‘Hearing Care Anywhere’ remote programming is now enabled across all technology tiers of Starkey’s Livio, Livio AI, and Livio Edge AI hearing aids. The change is said to allow more patients to receive care from their homes and gives hearing professionals the ability to conduct appointments despite social distancing.
“This is a very difficult time for the majority of us in the hearing industry,” said Starkey President Brandon Sawalich. “When we developed the Hearing Care Anywhereremote programming feature, we knew it would provide hearing healthcare providers with added convenience and efficiency, but we never imagined the important role it would play in such an unprecedented situation. We are so proud that our relentless dedication to staying on the cutting-edge of hearing technology is helping patients hear better at a time when clear communication is so critical.”
Through this latest update, even patients whose devices were not originally configured for remote programming are now able to access this feature. Using the Thrive app, patients can send requests to their hearing providers, who are then able to make fine-tuning adjustments to optimize hearing aid performance remotely. This new measure enhances patient safety by reducing the need for an in-office visit.
“For many clinics, up to 30% of appointments are for minor adjustments,” said Starkey’s Chief Innovation Officer Dave Fabry, PhD. “In the past, clinicians needed to initiate remote programming via the Inspire software during face-to-face visits. Today, those adjustments can be handled remotely through Hearing Care Anywhere.”
“Since early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to balance the dilemma of protecting our patients while ensuring their hearing devices are performing optimally,” said Terence Limb, AuD, of Kirkland, Wash. “In the past, we didn’t always enable Hearing Care Anywhere in Inspire. This update enables me to continue to engage with patients during this difficult time. Moreover, it will change the way that we can better serve patient needs in the future.”
For more information on these new updates to Hearing Care Anywhere remote programming, please click here.
Source: Starkey
Starkey hearing aids at the Keynsham hearing centre
https://keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Keynsham-hearing.jpg417640adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2020-04-07 13:40:562020-04-07 13:40:56Starkey Expands Remote Programming Feature to More Hearing Aid Users
Today we are looking at something a lot of people have to deal with on a daily and nightly basis. We are talking about Tinnitus.
Below is a link to the BBC News website which shows a musician living with Tinnitus and how he changed the way he dealt with it.
Here at Keynsham hearing we can help you with Tinnitus, but only when the Covid19 is behind us and we are once again open.
Isle of Wight musician fights tinnitus with soundscapes
When musician Rupert Brown developed tinnitus aged 22 he thought his life was completely over.
However, by mixing the noise of his tinnitus with natural sounds and music to create a soundscape, he says he’s reduced the noise he hears.
He’s now helping others on the Isle of Wight where he lives.
Tinnitus is the sensation of hearing a sound in the absence of any external sound. One in eight have persistent tinnitus, according to the British Tinnitus Association.
Somerset Tinnitus therapy
You can see more on Rupert’s story on BBC Inside Out South on BBC iPlayer here.
Phonak announced the launch of the Naída Marvel (M), described as “a fully-connected, multifunctional super-power hearing aid for those with severe-to-profound hearing loss.” Naída Marvel reportedly delivers “rich, powerful sound and directly connects to virtually any Bluetooth device including smartphones, TVs, tablets, PCs, and much more,” according to Phonak. Integrated Marvel 2.0 technology like RogerDirect helps give wearers the flexibility to stream the Roger signal directly into both ears, resulting in almost 10x better-than-normal hearing in noisy situations and over distance.1
Naída M: Power meets connectivity
Naída M is said to be “the world’s first super power hearing aid that directly connects to both iOS and Android, or virtually any other Bluetooth enabled audio device.” It’s also reportedly “the world’s only super-power hearing aid to allow hands-free phone conversations as well as the classification of streamed audio signals.” 2 With Naída M, super power wearers can use their hearing aids like wireless headsets, according to Phonak.
“Since the release of its first power hearing aid in 1978, the Phonak brand has been dedicated to creating powerful hearing solutions that deliver excellent hearing performance,” said Jon Billings, Vice President of Marketing at Phonak. “Now in its sixth generation, Naída M builds on this legacy with award-winning Marvel technology. The result is Naída becoming the most powerful Super Power3 multifunctional hearing solution that allows people with severe-to-profound hearing loss to connect to everyone and everything around them.”
Extending Marvel and increasing accessibility
Per the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss.4 Left untreated, these individuals have extreme difficulty communicating with others, often relying on lip reading and/or sign language.5 One study found the societal costs of this degree of hearing loss in the US alone to be nearly $300,000 over the lifetime of each person, most of this attributed to reduced work productivity.6
Naída M’s combination of power with wireless connectivity was specifically engineered to address the unique communication needs of people with severe forms of hearing loss, Phonak says. According to the company’s announcement, StereoZoom helps to reduce listening effort in noise by 24% versus a non-directional program and even enhances memory recall with 10% more words recalled in noise.7 NaídaMarvel directly connects to Roger microphones to help improve speech understanding in noise and over distance1 while remaining 15% smaller and 14% lighter than previous versions that required an external receiver.
Finally, the myCall-to-Text app helps provide live transcription of phone calls from the other party in more than 80 languages. This is an ideal solution for people who would like to benefit from additional visual captions when using the phone.
Naída Marvel will be available to the public at the end of February through licensed hearing care professionals. For more information, please visit http://www.phonak.com/naidamarvel.
Winneke A, Schulte M, Latzel M. The effect of spatial noise processing in hearing aids on neural correlates of listening and memory effort: An EEG study. 2019. Manuscript in preparation.
Bluetooth® word mark is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such mark by Sonova AG is under license.
Widex announced the launch of the Moment, a device that has “broken new ground by addressing one of the great unsolved challenges in the industry—no matter how good the sound, it still sounds like a hearing aid.”
According to Widex, “hearing aids can sound ‘tinny’ and ‘artificial’—which often prevents their adoption by those with hearing loss—when sound processed in the hearing aid reaches the eardrum a split second later than the sound that travels directly through or around the hearing aid’s ear-tip.”
Widex is reportedly “the first in the industry to eliminate that ‘out of sync’ sound for patients with mild to moderate hearing loss, without sacrificing the trademark Widex natural sound—which already has the lowest time delay compared to competitors.”
According to Lise Henningsen, Global Head of Audiology at Widex, this launch marks a fundamental shift not just for the hearing aid industry, but also for a general consumer public plagued by hearing loss at increasingly young ages.
“To lose your sense of hearing is to lose a fundamental part of yourself, often resulting in increased social isolation, subsequent depression, and other downstream psychological and neurological effects,” she said. “Though the traditional hearing aid has made tremendous strides in areas such as speech intelligibility, active noise cancellation, and more, a key frontier has been left uncharted—until today. Widex Moment doesn’t just allow you to hear better, it restores one’s sense of perfectly natural hearing, as you remember it before any loss occurred.”
The Widex Moment platform achieves this hearing experience by leveraging two distinct signal pathways. The ‘classic’ Widex signal pathway is paired with a second ultra-fast signal pathway that adds extra gearing to the platform, the company says.
The Widex ZeroDelay™ Accelerator reduces the processing delay between microphone and receiver to below 0.5 milliseconds, which Widex says enables the two sound signals to meet at virtually the same time in the eardrum, helping eliminate the artificial sound quality and creating a more natural sound experience. This new sound experience is called Widex PureSound™.
However, though Widex Moment “breaks new ground in the area of sound purity, it doesn’t do so at the expense of other cutting-edge features—such as rechargeability and smart streaming to electronic devices—found in the industry’s most state-of-the-art hearing aids and demanded by tech-savvy consumers.”
Widex Moment has what the company says is “the smallest lithium-ion rechargeable RIC on the market, ensuring that no matter one’s lifestyle users will never miss a moment.” Furthermore, Widex Moment’s smart streaming capabilities are said to offer “robust connectivity to the devices one uses every day (iOS and Android).”
Widex Moment also comes compatible with the SoundSense Learn smartphone app, which leverages AI and machine learning to personalise one’s hearing experience and create hearing programs based on a user’s typical environments—a daily commute, an open-office floor plan, a favourite restaurant, and more.
The app gathers a variety of anonymous data such as how often the user adjusts the volume, which sound presets they most regularly use, and how many custom settings they create. Based on these real-world preferences, a complete personalized listening experience is created for the user. These adjustments and custom settings can then also be shared directly and securely with their hearing care professional, which helps the professional tailor their consultation more and improve their service.
“The future of hearing aids will be unlocked through the combination of perfectly natural sound with the latest in streaming, rechargeability, and customisation—and that’s exactly what we’ve created with Widex Moment,” said Henningsen. “We’re breaking down the hearing aid stigma, across all generations, by equipping users with a way to experience one’s natural hearing, customised for any environment, while enabling connectivity with all of your favorite apps and devices. It’s a seminal moment for not just our hearing aid industry but for the technology industry, in general.”
Widex Moment is available in 13 colours and six different styles and is available for purchase. For more information on WIDEX, click here.
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