Media.Player

Customized Enhanced (CE) Sound

Summary

15-20% OF THE WORLD HAS HEARING LOSS. MORE THAN 75% OF THEM ARE WAITING FOR HELP. CESound™ IS THE ANSWER.

Customized Enhanced Sound, or CESound™ for short, is the only end-to-end software based total solution that runs on smart phones, assesses the user’s hearing health and automatically enhances sound based on the test results. All sounds – phone conversation, music, games, and even face-to-face conversation – are customized to restore the user’s hearing whole. CESound™ provides clinically trialed hearing tests for users to profile their hearing health at their convenience, blends in with modern society, and is priced as an impulse-buy item, addressing all the major features desired by the underserved hearing impaired market.

The 2006 US Census reveals there are 37M (or 17%) self-identified people with hearing loss. In a 2004 report published by the Better Hearing Institute, the hearing impaired will exceed 53M by 2050 – and the projection is already proven to be too conservative using today’s data. The annual financial impact to each hearing loss individual’s household income is calculated to be US$12,000, or over US$1 Billion to the US economy. Yet over 75% of the hearing impaired is living everyday life sub-optimally, waiting for a solution fits their lifestyle and budget.

Beyond this initial target market, CESound™ will move into computers, consumer electronics and phone service providers. We aim to be pervasive and work to assist people’s hearing without them even thinking about it – just like fluoride in our drinking water protecting our dental health. More technical information about the invention:

The invention, a system and method are provided for producing a typically normal hearing experience in a hearing impaired individual, the method including capturing audio hearing characteristics,as an individualized audiological profile, analyzing the individualized audiological profile, producing a processed result and then automatically enhancing output signals to the individual according to the processed result, including individual parameters of frequency, sound level and other properties to complement and address as closely as possible normal hearing. The user may self-administer a hearing test using an apparatus, such as a smartphone. The individualized audiological profile may contain the following: 1) measurements at typically three loudness levels (namely the most comfortable, the uncomfortable, and the minimal audible level) at each audiometric frequency; 2) measurements from a tinnitus test, with tinnitus loudness and pitch; and 3) - a user’s customization settings. Customization settings may include those settings appropriate for or chosen by the user to be implemented in a noisy environment.

The invention recognizes the gap between hearing test results and sound enhancement processes and provides a bridge between the two such that the audio hearing characteristics analyzed according to a proven methodology are the dictating factors of the sound enhancement process resulting in a normal hearing experience.

Application No.

10/MED/366 Principal Inventor: Professor van HASSELT Charles Andrew, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Patent Status: US Patent Pending; International filing still available Licensing Status: Available for licensing

Country/Region

Hong Kong