July 2018 Newsletter
Tutorial Videos Available
♦ Instructional Videos for BeHear Assistive Hearing Headset Released ♦ iOS Version Release Scheduled ♦ Wear & Hear in the News ♦ Wear & Hear On the Road ♦
To get these newsletters sent directly to your inbox, register here. ♦
BeHear NOW Touted as Hearables Game Changer
Auditory Insight Editor Reviews Wear & Hear Headset
♦ Nancy M. Williams, a hearing health advocate and person with hearing loss, visited Alango at the recent AAA event in Nashville. She writes that BeHear NOW has a “game-changing hearing assessment and revolutionary Easy Listen feature”.
To read the full article, click here.
Review Published in Hearing Aid Know
Geoff Cooling Praises BeHear Now
♦ Geoff Cooling, an Irish hearing aid blogger who has been involved with the hearing aid industry for over ten years, recently received delivery on a Beta version of the BeHear NOW assistive hearing headset. Among other things, he writes “… they delivered amazingly crisp sound across all applications.”
To read the BeHear Now article, click here.
BeHear Now in Technology Today
Product Review About BeHear Now Published
♦ Alan J. Pierce, the editor of Technology Today which provides classroom resources on new and emerging technologies, recently published a review of BeHear Now. The article, entitled “BeHear Now Can Improve Your Hearing”, describes the thinking that led to the inception of the Wear & Hear line of assistive hearing solutions, as well as the main features of the BeHear NOW headset.
To read the BeHear Now article, click here.
BeHear NOW in Hearing Health Magazine
Industry Journal Features BeHear
♦ The Spring 2018 edition of Hearing Health magazine includes an advertorial about BeHear NOW headsets. The article, entitled “Hearing Enhancement, Inspired by Technological Advances”, describes the thinking that led to the inception of the Wear & Hear line of assistive hearing solutions, as well as the main features of the BeHear NOW headset.
To read the BeHear NOW article, click here.
Read the complete Spring 2018 edition of Hearing Health here.
BeHear NOW Reviewed in Podcast
WSRadio.com Computer & Technology Show Reviews BeHear
♦ Marc Cohen, podcaster on the “Computer & Technology” show at WSRadio.com, recently reviewed the BeHear NOW headset. He notes “I can turn down the volume on the TV and increase the volume on the headset”, addressing an issue which is typically a point of contention between viewers of different hearing capabilities.
To listen to the podcast, click the play button below:
Or, click here and scroll down to the second segment. The BeHear NOW review starts at minute 21:55.
May 2018 Newsletter
W&H Line at Audiology Conference
♦ Wear & Hear Line Showcased in International Audiology Event ♦ First Feedback from Backers ♦ Planned Participation in HLAA2018 in Minneapolis ♦
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March 2018 Newsletter
First Newsletter Edition Published
♦ Video clip of BeHear NOW beta user testimonial ♦ Planned participation in #AAA2018 event in Nashville ♦ Mention of Wear & Hear activities in audioXpress article ♦ Announcement of our business development activities in Europe ♦
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User Testimonial for BeHear NOW Assistive Hearing Headset
BeHear NOW Beta Tester Shares Experience
BeHear NOW is a is a multi-functional, high-performance, low-cost alternative to traditional hearing aids. It is a self-tunable, truly personal Bluetooth® headset featuring advanced signal processing with hearing enhancement and assistive listening capabilities.
Prior to officially launching the product to worldwide markets, we have been running focus groups and organizing beta testing programs to make sure that the units are effective, intuitive, and comfortable.
In this video interview, Keith Bookman of Moshav Ya’ad in the Lower Galilee, Israel, describes his experience with traditional hearing aids, and contrasts that with his impressions of the BeHear NOW headset, on his first day, and then again after two weeks of use:
BeHear NOW is scheduled for launch in the United States in April 2018, at the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Launches in other markets will take place later this year.
For more information about BeHear NOW, including pricing and availability, register for our newsletter.
Wear & Hear Line Prepares for European Launch
Alango recruits veteran hearing technology professional to develop sales and distribution channels for its assistive hearing products in Europe
Alango, a leading supplier of voice and audio enhancement technologies for the communication and entertainment markets, has signed a representation agreement with Hans Zwart, a 30+ year veteran of the hearing health industry. According to the agreement Mr. Zwart will create sales and distribution channels on the Continent and in the United Kingdom for Alango’s “Wear & Hear” hearables product line.
Veteran Hearing Professional Brings Market Knowledge and Connections
Mr. Zwart has accumulated more than 30 years’ experience in the hearing health industry, for the most part on an international level. He has held such positions as Marketing & Sales Director of ExSilent BV, a company which developed innovative hearing healthcare products; Managing Director at Varibel Innovations BV, a developer of directional hearing glasses based on digital technology; and Sales Consultant at Otoharmonics LLC, a developer of custom neuroscience-based sound therapy for patients with tinnitus. Furthermore, Mr. Zwart has been trained as an acoustician.
“We are pleased to welcome Mr. Zwart to the Wear & Hear team at Alango,” states Dr. Alexander Goldin, CEO and founder of Alango Technologies, Ltd. “I am confident that his deep understanding of the hearing challenges experienced by over a billion people worldwide, coupled with his connections to leading hearing product distribution channels in Europe, will serve to bring our innovative hearing enhancement solutions to those who need them most.”
“I am honored and motivated to join the Wear & Hear team and share its journey to bring affordable hearing enhancement to all European countries,” states Mr. Zwart. “The ability to improve people’s quality of life with a ground-breaking product will be both rewarding and challenging, and I intend to recruit the most qualified partners to accomplish this task.”
Hearables Line Combines Alango Sound Enhancement Technology with State-of-the-Art Consumer Electronics
The Wear & Hear line of stylish, affordable, always-on, always-connected wearable audio devices (“hearables”) is designed to deliver crystal clear and pleasantly natural customized audio and voice directly to an individual’s ears. The first member of the Wear & Hear product line, BeHear® NOW, is a multi-functional, high-performance, low-cost alternative to traditional hearing aids. It is a self-tunable, truly personal Bluetooth® headset featuring advanced signal processing with hearing enhancement and assistive listening capabilities.
Wear & Hear Availability
BeHear NOW is scheduled for launch in the United States in April 2018, at the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The European launch will take place later this year.
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BeHear is a registered trademark of Alango Technologies, Ltd. in the United States. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
For More Information
Ruth Bridger
Marketing Director of Assistive Products
Alango Technologies, Ltd.
+972 4 8580743 x106
info@WearAndHear.com
www.WearAndHear.com
Calling All Early-Adopters: Back Our Campaign Now to Get an Advance BeHear NOW Unit
We are excited to announce the launch of an Indiegogo campaign to increase awareness and generate feedback for the first member of our “Wear & Hear” assistive products line: BeHear® NOW.
BeHear NOW is a stylish personal hearing product that looks and functions like a Bluetooth stereo headset, but includes fully customizable ambient hearing amplification. It suits people with mild to moderate hearing loss and overcomes the stigma, expense and limited functionality of a traditional hearing aid.
What makes BeHear NOW different from a hearing aid?
- Scope: improves the user’s overall hearing experience when conversing in person or on the phone, watching television, listening to recorded or live music, or just going about daily activities.
- Customization: can be personalized by the user with a convenient, intuitive smartphone application.
- Design: looks and feels like a modern Bluetooth stereo headset.
- Technology: leveraging our company’s 15+ years’ experience developing sound enhancement technologies for consumer electronics devices.
- Sound Quality: much wider frequency range than hearing aids, which are developed for speech enhancement only. Highest quality acoustic components designed for hi-fi music allow efficient reproduction and amplification of sounds from 70Hz up to 12KHz.
Why is BeHear NOW being promoted in an Indiegogo campaign?
We are already far along in the development process, having completed the design and initial production of the product. Local testing is in full swing, and now we are looking for additional feedback from users around the world before we announce general availability this spring. The Indiegogo platform gives us the opportunity to reach out to a wide range of people who can benefit from a customizable, cost-effective, feature-rich hearing enhancement product.
What is the next step?
We’re live on Indiegogo right now. The first 300 backers will receive their BeHear NOW units right after the campaign ends in February. Take a look at the project details and if you’d like to test one out for yourself, or get one for someone you know, don’t wait too long!
Affirmation for Personalized Hearing Products at #AudiologyNOW17
AudiologyNOW!, held this year in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the world’s largest gathering of audiologists. Alango participated in this annual meeting, which includes four days of educational sessions and an expo, by exhibiting and presenting an Industry Update. It was a great opportunity to announce our Wear & Hear line of personalized hearing products in the United States, explore the latest in hearing technology, and network with hearing professionals from around the world.
We were encouraged to hear from visitors to our booth as well as panelists in the conference that PSAPs (Personal Sound Amplification Products) and other assistive listening technologies such as ours are being welcomed by audiologists around the world. These products provide an affordable, stylish, and high performance alternative to hearing aids.
Check out these photos from the event:
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The Alango booth featured sample products from our soon-to-be-released Wear & Hear line of personalized hearing products. -
Hearing SALT is Alango's "Swiss Army Knife" for assistive hearing technology, embodying a personal sound amplifier, Bluetooth headset, remote microphone, TV listening system, Bluetooth intercom, T-coil receiver, and various safety and healthcare features.
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One of the most rewarding opportunities afforded by international meetings is face-to-face conversations with colleagues.
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We were honored to provide an Industry Update at the event, highlighting our concept product "BeHear".
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#AudiologyNOW17 was a great place to meet up with forward-thinking audiologists, such as Brian Taylor (center), editor of Hearing News Watch at HearingHealthMatters.org. He is flanked by Alango CEO Alexander Goldin (left) and Alango audiologist and engineer Suhail Habib Alla (right).
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Our booth was well-positioned between groups that advance the support for U.S. veterans' hearing health.
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180 companies were represented in the expo, demonstrating their goods and services to the more than 800 students who attended the conference.
Voice and Hearing Enhancement Technologies Demonstrated by Alango at CES 2017
Alango Technologies Ltd. (“Alango”), a leading provider of voice and audio enhancement technologies, is presenting selected digital voice and audio enhancement technologies as well as hearing enhancement concept products at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada, an international consumer electronics event.
Alango is demonstrating the following technology solutions this week at CES 2017:
- EasyListen™ – slows down incoming speech in real time thus improving intelligibility of fast talkers, foreign languages, and recorded messages.
- ListenThrough™ – a “smart algorithm” for headphones that allows enjoyment of the music while staying alert to important environmental sounds (e.g., alarm, horn, etc.)
- Voice Enhancement Package (VEP) – a set of software technologies including a multi-microphone beamforming array and echo canceller to enhance far-field speech pick-up and response to “barge-in” commands.
- HearPhones™ – a software reference design transforming a Bluetooth headset or “hearable” into a personal, self-tunable sound amplifier with assistive listening and other capabilities.
- Dual Microphone Smartwatch Speech Enhancement –specially designed to discriminate between speech and noise, even when the user speaks from varying distance/direction from his/her smartwatch.
- MuRefiner™ – a set of audio enhancement technologies that transforms a portable loudspeaker into a good quality soundbar speaker.
- Adaptive Directional Microphone Array – a backbone of voice enhancement for smartphones, tablets, Bluetooth® headsets, hands-free in-car communication and personal sound amplifiers.
Additionally, two concept products in Beta testing under the “Wear and Hear” brand (www.WearAndHear.com) from sister company Alango, Ltd. are featured in the stand: BeHear® and SALT™.
- BeHear is a neckband style Bluetooth headset with external microphones on each earbud enabling binaural hearing enhancement and ListenThrough awareness functionality.
- SALT (Smart Assistive Listening Transceiver) combines all HearPhones functionality with additional features utilizing four low-noise digital microphones, small loudspeaker, motion sensor, vibration motor and telecoil.
Dr. Alexander Golden, Alango founder and CEO, said: “We are pleased to return to CES this year with substantial advancements and additions to our technology portfolio. We remain firm believers that the hearables market is poised for growth, and toward this end have invested significant R&D in our HearPhones™ hearing enhancement technology, as demonstrated in our concept products BeHear and SALT. Our Voice Enhancement Package (“VEP”), which is used in conjunction with voice recognition software to pick-up far-field speech commands for smart home and smartphone use, is being demonstrated in our stand. Our aim is to license our software to organizations that share a common interest of bringing useful and sophisticated voice and audio solutions to the world.”
Visit the Alango stand from Jan. 5-8 at the CES 2017, Sands Expo, Booth 51036.
About Alango Technologies, Ltd.
Alango Technologies Ltd. is a leading developer and licensor of front-end DSP technologies for voice communication and mobile audio. Alango’s worldwide customers include companies of different scale covering a wide product range. Alango technologies can be found in in-car infotainment systems, after market hands-free car kits, navigation systems, mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets, audio conferencing systems, intercoms, assistive listening devices, security and military applications. Further information about Alango can be found at www.alango.com.
Hearing Aid Prices Under Pressure From Consumer Electronics
The consumer electronics industry is encroaching on the hearing aid business, offering products that are far less expensive and available without the involvement of audiologists or other professionals.
So writes Andrew Pollack in an article published on April 20, 2016 in the New York Times, following his visit to AudiologyNOW! 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. The article cites some of the latest trends in the struggle to address the needs of millions of Americans who suffer from hearing impairment but are not electing to purchase hearing aids.
Consumer electronics, such as those in the Wear & Hear line of hearing enhancement and assistive listening products, are poised to fill the void.
Read the full article for details.
Alexander Goldin, founder and chief executive of Alango Technologies, showing off the Smart Assistive Listening Transceiver (SALT) at the Audiology NOW! convention.
(photo credit: David Jolkovski for The New York Times)