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Hearing loss

HyperSound speakers can help those hard of hearing

Mike Snider
USA TODAY
The HyperSound Clear audio system that improves sound clarity for those with hearing loss.

Listen up, video game accessory giant Turtle Beach has a special new product hitting the market soon, which offers a potential solution for those with hearing loss.

Its HyperSound Clear audio system directionally beams crisp, clear sound in a manner that only those in the sweet spot can hear it.

The product, a controller module and a pair of thin-filmed reflecting speakers, can be used with standard TV speakers or a home theater setup and only the person at the HyperSound sweet spot hears the beamed 3-D-like sound.  "You don’t even hear the HyperSound unless you are sitting in that spot," Turtle Beach CEO Juergen Stark said. "If you sit in that seat you are able to get a significant benefit in your ability to understand the vocals in the TV program or the music or whatever."

HyperSound Clear isn't cheap, priced at $1,500, when it becomes available later this fall. But it's priced less than that of hearing aids and the effect could be priceless to those experiencing hearing loss. "People have told us they haven’t heard this well in ten years, even with their hearing aids in," Stark said.

He saw the technology two years ago and decided that Turtle Beach, which is best known for specialty video game headphones, should purchase HyperSound's parent company Parametric Sound in 2014. "I was completely blown away," Stark said. "It's well-known to put audio into an ultrasound beam but no one had got it working."

HyperSound's thin speakers don't work like traditional speakers. "Where a typical speaker is like a light bulb, this is like a flashlight," Stark said. "The trick in the science is injecting the audio into the ultrasound beam."

Turtle Beach has received approval from the Food & Drug Administration to market HyperSound for those with hearing loss. That's a condition that as many as one in five Americans have – and one-third of those over 65. "That's a huge market," Stark said.

The company has partnered with American Hearing Aid Associates and several other hearing health organizations in preparation for the launch of the product. As many as 4,000 audiology offices will have HyperSound systems for patients to test, Stark said.

Some test units have already been deployed in audiology offices, as well as in homes of company family and friends.

The technology has already been used in retail display kiosks for video game blockbuster Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. That application allows customers to hear video game audio when they approach the display but to not distract other shoppers throughout the store.

Eventually, Turtle Beach could market a lower-priced consumer model or use the technology in soundbar speakers, Stark said.

Journalist Sean Morrison, who writes for online pop culture site Fangirl, can attest to HyperSound's quality.  He is deaf in his right ear and saw a HyperSound demonstration at this summer's Electronic Entertainment Expo.

"To be honest, I didn't expect Hypersound to work," he said. "I've never been able to hear out of my right ear other than with headset devices that mimic implants, and because I've played contact sports for most of my life, a cochlear implant would've been dangerous, not to mention expensive. Picking up on sound out of that ear was incredible. I've never experienced anything like it."

While he may not be able to afford the product initially, he wrote, "this tech excites me. It’s a sign of medical advances to come, straight from the gaming and entertainment world."

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider

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