Starkey Hearing Technologies teamed up with Compass Electronics Solutions (CES) to develop a wireless bridge connecting Bluetooth phones to hearing aids. CES supported design to manufacturing, enabling a hands-free mobile experience for hearing aid users.
Customer Profile
Starkey Hearing Technologies, one of the leaders in advanced hearing technologies, works to make peoples’ lives easier through innovation. The company pioneers audiological research and development efforts and is present in more than 100 markets worldwide.
Challenge
A lot has been accomplished in the field of audiology. Recent years have brought vast improvements to the functionality of modern hearing aids; creating superior levels of audibility, eliminating feedback, increasing wearers’ comfort, and providing stereo streaming capabilities. Bluetooth capability is an important innovation in wireless interfacing for hearing aids to audio sources, such as TV streamers or MP3 players. But even with all of these advancements, patients are still unable to effectively communicate on the phone.
Contemporary hearing aids could not stream directly via Bluetooth to a mobile phone, but rather do so through a secondary streaming relay device which is typically worn around the patients’ neck. This body-worn relay device works as a microphone and must be kept in close proximity to the user’s mouth in order to relay their voice back to the phone. With the proliferation of smartphones and innovations in hearing technology, worn bridge devices are an unnecessary hassle. Starkey Hearing Technologies set out to work on a solution for hearing aid patients that easily integrates into a modern lifestyle. This meant eliminating the need for a body-worn device while boasting superior audibility and affordability. To tackle the challenge, Starkey Hearing Technologies partnered with Compass Electronics Solutions. Our teams of highly skilled designers and engineers helped to bring the unprecedented idea to fruition.
Solution
Together, Compass Electronics Solutions and Starkey Hearing Technologies chose to focus on transforming the body-worn relay device into a mobile transmitter that would wirelessly connect with Bluetooth-enabled smartphones to make communication easier. The solution would require the Starkey Hearing Technologies’ line of wireless hearing aids to act as both the microphone and receiver.
In order to achieve the desired result, CES and Starkey elected to utilize a user-centered design approach to ensure that the end product would meet the functional needs of patients. This approach is founded on an understanding of how the device would be used in the real world. Our team wanted to ensure the solution would rise to meet the everyday needs and challenges of hearing aid patients. During the prototyping stage, use cases were developed to ensure each step of the design phase was motivated by end user needs.
Inviting real patients to participate in the user interface simulations provided vital user feedback. The design concept model was then refined based on insight from user evaluations and reviews with Starkey Hearing Technologies. This user-centered design approach was instrumental in ensuring that all of the needs and goals for the device had been addressed before moving into the development phase.
As leaders in audiological research and technology, Starkey Hearing Technologies provided unmatched expertise that guided our engineers through a highly collaborative development process. To support ease of use by traditional hearing aid patients, the client wanted to revamp the aesthetics of previous devices. The product incorporated similar design aspects, iconography, and ergonomics, with a new integrated touch screen for an intuitive user interface.
The biggest technological hurdle to overcome was developing an antenna solution that provided optimal wireless performance and range. Starkey Hearing Technologies placed a high priority on creating a device that provided superior audibility while maintaining a more compact size than the average smartphone. Therefore, the antenna had to be small in size without compromising sound quality. To achieve this, our team partnered with Roke, a technology consulting firm headquartered in the United Kingdom that specializes in designing antennas and radio communication solutions. Roke was able to successfully meet the objectives, designing an antenna that exceeded the quality and size expectations of the client. Utilizing Compass Electronics Solutions and Roke’s combined expertise, Starkey Hearing Technologies was able to speed the time-to market and better prepare for the certifications required before launch.
Reliable communication between the mobile phone, transmitter device, and the hearing aid itself would also be crucial to the success of the product. Increasing the Bluetooth range of communication would adversely affect battery life, and by extension, the user experience. CES recommended that communication between the mobile phone and the transmitter device occur over the standard 30-foot Bluetooth range. Communication between the transmitter device and the wireless hearing aid, however, would occur over a two-meter range. The two-meter range provided superior audibility without tethering users to their device. The chosen range for communication allows the wearer to conduct mobile phone calls with the transmitter device inhand, in a pocket, or even purse nearby.
Results
The end product, Starkey’s SurfLink® Mobile, provided hearing aid patients with their first ever completely hands-free phone experience. Hearing aid patients that were previously unable to use a smartphone can now use the new device as a transmitter to stream two-way audio between their Bluetooth-enabled smartphone and hearing aids.
Additionally, SurfLink Mobile solves the problem of needing more than one device to communicate effectively in any situation. SurfLink Mobile is a remote microphone, assistive listening device, and hearing aid remote control – all in one. Audio streaming for other Bluetooth-capable devices is also possible, allowing the hearing aids to act as highly customized headphones. This allows wearers to be up to 30 feet from an entertainment device, such as a TV or a radio, and still stream audio wirelessly through their hearing aids.
SurfLink Mobile is available in 17 countries and has opened up the smartphone market to millions of hearing aid patients. Our ongoing partnership has allowed us to continue manufacturing the SurfLink for Starkey Hearing Technologies and the device has remained a successful product for hearing aid patients.
The SurfLink Mobile won a Red Dot Design Product Design Award and was a Consumer Electronics Show Innovations Design & Engineering Award Honoree. SurfLink Mobile was also the recipient of a GOOD DESIGN Award.
