April 2022 Newsletter
In-Person Meetups are Back!
It’s been over two years since we participated in an international tradeshow so it is with particular excitement that we announce our involvement in UK Care Week. This event, including three days of virtual meetups and culminating in a conference and exhibition on the 6th & 7th July at NEC Birmingham, will bring together the care community to address the biggest challenges facing the care sector.
It is a perfect opportunity for us to showcase our newest member of the BeHear assistive hearing family, the BeHear SMARTO, which we will do at our booth (E68) and in our presentation entitled “Increase Care Staff Retention through Better Communication with Residents”.
Register here (entrance is free).
ALSO IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
♦ Last Chance for BeHear SMARTO Pre-order Discount
♦ Is Someone Close to You in Denial About Their Hearing Loss?
♦ Hearing Loops are on the (Google) Map!
♦ BeHear ACCESS Reviewed in Podcast
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Last Chance for SMARTO Pre-order Discount
SMARTO Will Soon Sell at Full Market Price
BeHear SMARTO, soon to be launched commercially, is a very powerful but simple to operate hearing amplifier. Designed to improve comprehension of live conversations, cell phone calls, and TV audio, it can be used by people with moderate-to-severe hearing loss who may be limited by mobility, vision, dexterity, or dementia.
SMARTO can be body-worn, hand-held, or placed on a table. It can be used straight out of the box (its large, colorful buttons make it easy to control volume and bass/treble balance), or customized with a dedicated app to suit the user’s unique hearing needs. Its unique directionality feature allows the user to focus on a specific speaker, or capture important sounds from all directions.
BeHear SMARTO has passed all checks in the pilot run, and we have authorized the completion of commercial production at the factory. We expect to start shipping to pre-order customers by the beginning of June.
If you haven’t placed your pre-order yet, don’t miss this last opportunity to benefit from a 25% discount off the standard price.
This limited offer will expire on May 15, so don’t wait!
Quick Way to Overcome Hearing Loss Denial
Many people are in denial about their age-related hearing loss. Not only is it hard to know what is not being heard, it is much easier to blame others or the environment for hearing difficulties. Sadly, at the end of the day, everybody suffers.
A quick way to determine if you or a loved one might need hearing assistance is by answering the following questions (culled from the ASHA – American Speech-Language-Hearing Association “Self Test for Hearing Loss“):
- Do you have a problem hearing over the phone?
- Do you have trouble understanding when two or more people talk at the same time?
- Do people complain that you turn the TV volume up too high?
- Do you have trouble hearing in noisy places?
- Do many people you talk to seem to mumble or not speak clearly?
If the answer to two or more of these questions is YES then it’s time to do something about it! A quick and inexpensive way is to try a BeHear device. With the integrated hearing assessment it is easy to determine independently just how much amplification is needed to hear (and to experience what it’s like to hear with that customized boost!). Our “Buy & Try” policy gives 30 days to try out the device, risk-free.
Getting help for hearing difficulty is sure to improve relationships, and should be as important as treating your vision. Don’t put it off any longer!
Hearing Loops are on the Map!
Hearing loop systems transmit wireless audio input via a magnetic field to telecoil receivers. These receivers are found in many high-end hearing aids, some dedicated headphones, and in BeHear ACCESS headsets. In a hearing loop system there is no interference, no reverberation, no background noise, just the original signal transmitted directly from the input, whether that is the microphone on a podium, the audio system in a theater, the microphone the cashier is speaking into at the bank, or the music from the concert hall stage. This closed system provides people, especially those with hearing loss, an excellent way to hear voice and audio signals clearly, even in noisy places or when the sound source is far away.
Hearing loop technology is common in Europe and the U.K. and is universally accepted as the international standard for hearing access. Installed base is growing rapidly in the United States as organizations such as HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America) and others press venues to become compliant with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
Did you know that thousands of locations that have hearing loops are now indicated in Google Maps? We just discovered that Google has added the assistive hearing loop attribute that indicates if somewhere, like a movie theater, house of worship, or library, has a sound system that is compatible with hearing devices (like BeHear ACCESS!) which support telecoil transmission.
- If you’re interested in a better hearing experience in public places, use the assistive hearing loop attribute when searching for the location. Then, when you arrive, set your BeHear ACCESS to Telecoil Transparent (for ListenThrough capability) or Telecoil Exclusive (for pure audio) and enjoy!
- If you’re a business owner or manager with a verified Business Profile on Google, you can add attributes to your Business Profile on Search and Maps.
BeHear ACCESS Reviewed in Podcast
Computer and Technology Radio is a long running consumer technology podcast hosted by Marsha Collier and Marc Cohen. In a recent edition the team reviewed BeHear ACCESS Model II. Click here to listen (the review is at minute 38:38).
January 2022 Newsletter
Here’s an Idea for a New Year’s Resolution…
Our first two articles in this January 2022 newsletter describe how individuals have used their personal experiences to improve the quality of life for many people. We hope they inspire you to share your journey to hearing health with others.
Awareness and education about hearing loss are the first steps on the path to a more equitable environment for all, and we would be happy to serve as a platform for you to share your story. Let us resolve together to normalize hearing loss treatment, and support those who need hearing assistance. Do you have an idea? Let us hear it!!!
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
♦ What one woman has achieved for many
♦ “El Deafo”: now an educational and entertaining animated series for children
♦ Bonus features in BeHear ACCESS
♦ New BeHear branding
♦ Great savings on refurbished BeHear PROXY TV watching bundle
To get these newsletters sent directly to your inbox, register here.
“It was easier for me to change the world than it was to lower my standards.”
Janice Lintz wanted her young daughter to experience the full spectrum of culture and mainstream education provided in New York City, despite her hearing loss. While on a visit to London Mrs. Lintz learned that taxi cabs there were outfitted with hearing loops, which allowed those with high end hearing aids to hear conversations clearly.
While popular in Europe, hearing loops were not widely used, even though ADA legislation passed in 1990 mandated assistive listening technologies for public places. Today, thanks to Mrs. Lintz’s efforts, New York City taxi cabs, subway information booths and call boxes, Broadway theaters, museums, and baseball stadiums are on the long list of those who host the induction loop technology. Read more about her efforts, here.
We applaud activists like Janice Lintz for refusing to accept the status quo when it comes to quality of life. We are proud to support Telecoil in our BeHear ACCESS hearing amplifiers.
Animated Adaption of Award-Winning Graphic Novel
Perhaps you are a parent of a child with hearing loss, or an educator wondering how best to integrate that child into the classroom. This animated series, now streaming on Apple TV+, is a great way to educate the uninitiated and normalize behavior surrounding treatment of children with hearing loss. Highly recommended!
3 Hidden Features of BeHear ACCESS
Maybe you have heard about BeHear ACCESS, or even already own one. But did you know about these special features, exclusive to it in the BeHear line?
- SoundFocus™ – Choose your direction of interest (narrow, wide, omni). Important sounds will be amplified based on that input range only. Very helpful when you want to zero-in on your conversation partner, and not the whole room!
- Support for Unilateral Hearing – In the CROS and BiCROS implementation in BeHear ACCESS, sound that reaches the microphones on the non-hearing side is transferred to the speaker in the ear bud of the hearing ear. This function helps people with unilateral hearing to enjoy stereo audio content, such as music, as well.
- Eliminating “Own Voice Echo” – A typical downside of wearing a pair of earbuds is the “occlusion effect”; a perceived echo of your own voice when your ear canal is sealed by the device. A four-step slider in the BeHear app allows you to control how much you hear yourself when wearing the BeHear ACCESS headset.
BeHear is Being Rebranded
Did you notice that our logo has changed? The new design symbolizes the gradual hearing amplification offered in our products, represented by a thickening of the lines in each successive letter:
We are also simplifying our brand hierarchy by phasing out the use of “Wear & Hear” and “W&H”. Instead, our registered trademark “BeHear” will be the brand name for all our hearing enhancement products. As a result, our product names are now: BeHear.ACCESS , BeHear.PROXY, BeHear.SMARTO, etc.
Our slogan “Life Sounds Better” remains as we are still committed to our original mission: to bring affordable, high-quality, self-fit hearing enhancement products to market.
Changes to our Web site and product packaging will happen gradually, over the next few months. Come take a look to see how we are progressing…
Great Savings on BeHear PROXY TV Bundle
Treat yourself to clear, crisp TV dialogue and superb stereo sound with this refurbished* wireless neck speaker and Bluetooth audio transmitter. Your ears will thank you twice: once for fantastic sound and once for keeping them free!
Get a 25% discount when you purchase a refurbished BeHear PROXY with HearLink PLUS.
*Refurbished units are used but cleaned, tested, and fully updated.
Get Big Savings by Acting Today!
These days many people are confined to their homes. Those with hearing loss, especially those aged 65 and older, experience more frustration than ever as they struggle to deal with the following challenges:
Face-to-Face Communication
Being able to communicate with a hearing-impaired person without raising your voice or, from the impaired side, without asking the speaker to talk louder, clearer, etc., may greatly reduce otherwise quickly accelerating stress and mutual antagonism.
Wear & Hear products can help keep the family peace by enhancing and clarifying speech.
Mobile Phone Conversations
Many seniors are prevented from communicating in person with their families and are relying on phone conversations to stay in touch. For those with hearing loss it is more difficult to understand phone speech because they do not have the visual cues afforded by in-person conversation.
Also, phone amplification options and the sound quality of modern phones are limited. The sound options of mobile phones may also not allow suitable personalization.
Wear & Hear products enable phone calls with high quality sound optimized for the user’s specific hearing loss. They can even slow down the voices of fast talkers, making them more intelligible, without asking them to do so.
Watching Television
People are watching more television these days. Being able to comprehend TV dialogue at normal volumes will add to the watcher’s enjoyment, AND be appreciated by other house dwellers / neighbors.
Wear & Hear products work as top-quality TV listening systems with personalized sound.
Alleviating Stress with Music
Stress is a big problem for people confined to a small space. Quiet, calm music is a great relaxation tool when you can hear it as it was meant to be heard. Unfortunately, hearing impaired people are often deprived of this. Listening and enjoying quiet music requires good hearing; otherwise, it either cannot be heard at all, or it is too loud. There is simply no comfortable listening level.
Wear & Hear products allow people to reduce their stress by enhancing audio to suit their unique hearing profile.
Do Yourself a Favor
These days, when staying connected is more important than ever, we’re offering big discounts off our personalized hearing products. Visit our on-line store or contact a local Wear & Hear distributor to benefit today.