This is Part II in a series of brief articles exploring the convergence of ear-level communication devices and hearing instruments.
Ear physician and entrepreneur, Rodney Perkins, founded Sound ID in 2000. The California-based company has introduced the PSS, or Personal Sound System, an ear-level technology that offers connectivity to various Bluetooth devices as well as providing amplification of environmental sounds.
The PSS is available in three models: the Professional version, Sound Flavors and Sound Mate. The Professional and Sound Flavors devices offer four modes: Phone mode, CompanionLink mode, One2One mode and Amplification mode. The Sound Mate offers the same features minus the amplification mode.
The PSS systems all communicate wirelessly with Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. In the CompanionLink mode, a small wireless microphone that is worn, by a spouse for example, communicates with the EarModule. The direct audio signal from the remote microphone aids communication in noisy environments by reducing the signal-to-noise ratio. To take this one step further, if two people are wearing EarModules (with the embedded microphone) they have the ability to communicate wirelessly at a distance or in difficult to communicate environments, restaurants are notoriously challenging.
Both the Professional and SoundFlavors versions allow for environmental amplification, as well. So if the user has a mild degree of hearing loss they could switch into the Amplification mode to give their ears a bit of a boost.
The Sound ID devices also perform some very “hearing instrument-like” processing of sound. The company claims it’s proprietary technology “compensates for auditory distortions resulting from background noise”. Sound ID believes the technology it has been developing is the first to function at the crossroads of communications, medical technology and entertainment. As far as multi-purpose ear-level devices, the PSS offers one more path to communicate more effectively through multiple modes of operation.