Interview: GN Hearing on designing the hearing aids of the future
GN Hearing recently unveiled ReSound LiNX Quattro, a hearing aid that uses advanced technology to improve sound. It also comes with streaming and cloud-based features that allow for remote device fine-tuning. In addition, the firm has announced a technology partnership with Google. MTI’s Dave Gray spoke to Pär Thuresson, GN Hearing’s senior vice president, global R&D, about the development and manufacturing of its latest launch, as well as that major new partnership.
DG: What were the driving factors behind the new product?
PT: We had a long wish list of technological advancements to lift our users’ quality of life. But above all there were two factors driving ReSound LiNX Quattro: sound quality and rechargeability. Regarding rechargeability, we wanted to set the bar extremely high and create the world’s most advanced solution in this field. When it comes to sound quality, we wanted to give users a whole new experience with layers of sound to come closer to natural hearing. We needed a new chip and battery solution to reach these goals.
DG: What are the design challenges for products like this?
PT: Basically, our general challenge is that every change has an effect on everything else in the hearing aid. So when we added new and better microphones on the hardware side and more advanced algorithms on the software side to enhance the quality of sound, then this raises the need for a new and stronger chip. A chip that didn’t exist before we developed it. Superior sound quality is in line with our mission and long term commitment to improve people’s lives by continuous investments in audio research and chip set design.
DG: And what about manufacturing challenges?
PT: We generally always want to have as much computer power in a hearing aid as possible, but we want to make the hearing aid smaller and smaller. This is a challenge that we have overcome with our expertise in miniaturisation – making every component as small as possible without compromising our great sound quality.
DG: How is material choice affected by the application’s requirements?
PT: Let me give you an example. We use advanced circuit boards that most people will recognise in a normal flat shape. But looking at our very small hearing aids, it is obvious that you can’t fit a circuit board into one of those. So essentially, we have mastered the art of circuit board “origami”, overcoming the extreme challenge of the copper circuits normally not working when they are bent.
DG: Tell me more about your partnership with Google? What does it mean for users?
PT: GN Hearing and Google have announced a new technology partnership to enable a full spectrum of direct streaming from Android phones and tablets to hearing aids. GN Hearing is expected to be the first company to support the new technology. We can’t go into details of the specific talks that led to our two companies joining forces. But it is obvious that both companies could see a huge benefit for users if we could solve this challenge. We are proud that Google chose to partner up with us.