Tackling the 'cocktail party problem'

Ian Bolland caught up with Ori Goren, CEO and Tami Harel, director of clinical research and chief audiologist, from Nuance Hearing to discuss how its solutions aim to address the cocktail party problem.

The cocktail party problem is when people find it hard to understand others in crowded spaces because background noise can override the sound of participants in a conversation. The company was founded by two well-known Israeli entrepreneurs – Zohar and Yehuda Zisapel.

Nuance Hearing has now launched the Voice Selector Converse in the UK, a directional microphone to address the cocktail party problem which Goren believes has unmatched performance compared to other similar products on the market.

The difference between Nuance’s technology and that of a hearing aid to address this issue, is the use of directional microphones.

Tamil Harel explains: “One of the best ways to improve speech intelligibility in noise is to use directional microphones. So, we can know which direction the speech is coming from and which direction the noise is coming from and separate the two.

“What the Voice Selector Converse offers is an array of eight microphones that are designed to capture sound for all directions to achieve a superior signal-to-noise ratio.”

The company’s algorithms allow a specific focus on noise coming from one direction and limit the sound from elsewhere, while enabling the person operating the device to select where they wish to hear because of the eight microphones at their disposal – rather than with a device with two microphones which are operating quite closely together.

The device can also operate automatically and follow the dominant speaker in conversation.

Goren explains that this device doesn’t mean that the users wouldn’t benefit or use hearing aids, but that the Voice Selector Converse is primarily for those who are trying to attain better hearing in crowded places, or do not need to always use a hearing aid. A situational device for a situational problem. He also said the device could pick up sound from up to five metres away.

The device uses low latency neckband style earphones which, Goren admits, aren’t discrete, but as he says, the aim was to solve the problem above anything else.

“Air pods and the like are great, but they are expensive, and people tend to lose them. Also, this is not a normal Bluetooth device, which would create a very annoying latency or delay between the reality and what you hear in your ears because it takes one tenth of a second until arrives. We have achieved a very high quality of audio using the neckband with a very sophisticated and very fast Bluetooth to allow a very low latency as well as comfort while using the device.

“Standard Bluetooth latency is over 120-130 milliseconds. But our tech only has a latency of 40 milliseconds. It was originally developed for gamers who need very low latency when they want to use wireless headphones. We are using this special protocol to achieve a good experience.”

Accompanying the two pieces of hardware is an app that allows users to test their hearing and allow the user to control the device.

Harel explains: “If I'm sitting at a table and I want to capture the voices of people sitting far away from me, I can move the device, using the app to manually change location of the speaker I want to listen to. It is a situational device, to help solve a situational problem to exert less effort in understanding speech in noisy environments.”