Signature - Q2, 2008 - (Page 24)

Bluetooth Technology @ Heart | Q2 ’08 a hearing aid wearer,” he says. “Now I can actually enjoy conversations, and I can carry on full business activity.” McDugle is part of a growing segment of the world’s hearing-impaired population – about 278 million people, according to the World Health Organization – who could benefit from the combination of hearing aids and Bluetooth enabled systems like the Epoq. These systems correct some of the most annoying problems for hearing-impaired cell phone users. “Conventional hearing aids and cell phones used together is problematic, because there is a lot of static, usually from radio interference, which causes a lot of static sound in hearing aids,” explains Crilles Bak Rasmussen, a research and development engineer for Oticon A/S, the Copenhagen, Denmark–based manufacturer of the Oticon Epoq. “Those problems result in many hearing aid users taking off their hearing aids when using cell phones, which means they don’t get the proper amplification. It results in a bad experience.” Bluetooth technology offers the potential to improve speech understanding in noisy environments – without a doubt the top complaint of hearing aid wearers. This issue can be resolved by combining a Bluetooth enabled receiver, used as an input to the hearing aid, with a live signal source from a microphone, says Dr. Jerry Yanz, senior staff audiologist at Starkey Laboratories Inc. The company, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., manufactures hearing aids and systems, including the Bluetooth enabled SoundPort and BluPAL audio systems. The combination of Bluetooth technology and hearing aids is relatively new, but its promise will only grow as the technology matures. There are already several options in this space, including systems from market leaders Oticon, Starkey Labs and Phonak. Each vendor offers hearing-impaired users the ability to employ Bluetooth technology as a way to better use modern-day devices, including Bluetooth enabled cell phones, MP3 players, computers, televisions and PDAs. Manufacturers may approach the technology a bit differently, but most focus on creating binaural sound: Transmitted through two separate channels to produce a stereophonic effect, it’s sound that is similar to normal hearing. Oticon’s Epoq and Epoq Streamer Oticon Epoq audio and activates the appropriate streaming program. What’s more, the Epoq Streamer can be customized to the user’s unique pattern of hearing loss. The system can be fine-tuned to amplify only those frequencies that the user has difficulty hearing. “It’s basically a wireless headphone that sends the same audio channel to both ears – something we call binaural sound – which is pretty important for hearing-impaired people because they really need both ears to understand what’s being said,” Rasmussen explains. Starkey’s Destiny, SoundPort and BluPAL The Oticon Epoq, introduced in April 2007, is based on the company’s Earstream broadband wireless technology, which enables high-speed binaural sound processing by creating a wireless sphere around the user in which two hearing aids can process sound synchronously at very high speeds. Epoq hearing aids, available in three styles, work in concert with the Epoq Streamer, a gateway device worn around the neck or in a pocket that translates a Bluetooth wireless signal, such as that from a cell phone, into an Earstream signal and passes it on to the hearing aids, all without any effort by the user. In addition, users can pair the Epoq Streamer with any Bluetooth enabled device that uses wireless headphones. The gateway device automatically detects the streamed 24 | SIGnature | Bluetooth.org Starkey BluPAL Starkey Labs has taken a slightly different approach. The company was actually the first hearing aid manufacturer to enter the Bluetooth wireless world. Its ELI system helped solve two issues for hearing aid wearers using cell phones: feedback due to the proximity of the phone to the hearing aid microphone, and the high level of electromagnetic interference emitted by cell phones. Although the product was quite successful, Starkey recently retired it because of advancements in its Destiny line of hearing aids and other Bluetooth enabled products in its portfolio. Because feedback is actively canceled in Starkey’s Destiny hearing aids, it’s possible for hearing-impaired users to talk on a cell phone with the same sound quality, comfort and freedom from feedback as people with normal hearing, explains Dave Olson, Starkey’s director of nonclinical products. Starkey also offers another solution that works with its hearing aids. SoundPort, a custom-fitted Bluetooth enabled headset intended for people with normal hearing, allows hearingimpaired users to answer cell phone calls by putting the custom-fitted device right over their Destiny hearing aid. “The hearing aid is in the ear canal, and we take another ear impression right over the top of that hearing aid and make an earpiece of the outer portion of the ear that stacks on top of it,” Olson explains. “It blocks out noise, manages ear-level acoustics and fits into the ear securely and comfortably.” The company’s newest product is BluPAL, which combines a microphone and a Bluetooth wireless transmitter to address the problem of background noise. BluPAL can pick up the live voice of a speaker and send it to the hearing aid through the SoundPort system or another http://www.bluetooth.org

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