Written by: Audiotelligence
AudioTelligence announces Orsana, the first universal assistive listening device
Orsana™ is the first universal assistive listening device designed to help everyone hear clearly in noise – with or without hearing aids. In the past, solutions for hearing in noise have either been traditional hearing aids, which need additional own brand remote microphones to work well in noise, or separate, more generic remote microphones that have to have a wired connection to earbuds. Now for the first time, with Orsana, all consumers can now enhance their ability to hear in noisy environments for the first time by wirelessly connecting to any brand of hearing aids or TWS earbuds that use the latest low-energy, low-latency wireless protocols. All using the same device.
Orsana is a tabletop remote microphone which will leverage the new low energy, low latency codec and which is set to become a key component of the hearing enhancement offering from both hearing aid manufacturers and makers of consumer electronics. The new technology will allow the device to connect wirelessly to hearing aids or to wireless earbuds, with the low latency necessary for face-to-face conversations. Earbud manufacturers are currently developing new products which will harness low energy, low latency codecs, making them ideal partners for Orsana.
Orsana achieves another first by enabling multiple people to connect to a single device, with each connection receiving their own personalised audio stream.
The world of hearing assistance is changing fast: there is no longer a clear distinction between hearing aids as medical devices and True Wireless Stereo earbuds as consumer products. In the USA it is now possible to buy hearing aids over the counter in supermarkets and pharmacies, without prescription or audiology referral. At the same time, the use of wireless earbuds for hearing enhancement is growing in popularity. Orsana offers a radical new solution for hearing aid users who struggle in social situations where traditional options are insufficient. For non-hearing aid users, Orsana caters to the increasing demand for solutions that enable the user to hear in noisy environments, which was identified in recent research by Qualcomm. TWS earbuds are no longer used just for listening to music; hearing enhancement, video and voice calls already account for 36% of daily TWS earbud usage and this percentage is set to grow.
“The new low latency codec is about to create a world of audio where wireless hearing enhancement on different consumer devices, including multiple personalised audio from one device, becomes a reality” said Ken Roberts, CEO of AudioTelligence. “Orsana is an important part of this new world of hearing.”
Orsana is a compact (6 x 6 cm) and portable device which demonstrates the technology and is designed for conversations in noisy environments. It allows users to focus on the people they want to hear while at the same time reducing background noise. Orsana is powered by AudioTelligence’s ground-breaking blind source separation technology, which unlike beamforming or AI, actually separates speech from different sources and allows the user to choose what they listen to. Clean speech is delivered to TWS earbuds or hearing aids.
“We are proud of what Orsana can achieve, but we are not stopping here. Next on our roadmap will be to put this same technology into an earbud charging case, giving consumers an all-in-one device combining earbuds and hearing enhancement”.
“We are proud of what Orsana can achieve,” said Dave Betts, AudioTelligence’s Chief Science Officer “But we are not stopping here. Next on our roadmap will be to put this same technology into an earbud charging case, giving consumers an all-in-one device combining earbuds and hearing enhancement”.
AudioTelligence’s technology, the power behind Orsana, can enable hearing enhancement across a range of consumer devices including earbuds, smartphones and tablets. Orsana offers hearing aid and consumer electronics companies the opportunity to not only evaluate the effectiveness of AudioTelligence’s technology for improving hearing, but also provides them with a reference design that they can use to create and release their own assistive listening devices. These devices can be paired with their TWS earbuds and/or hearing aids, giving them a quick pathway to this growing market.