Alango is a well-established supplier of voice and audio enhancement technologies for the communication and entertainment markets, with millions of products from established brands deployed in the market since its foundation in 2002. Alango's new BeHear Now solution is a personal hearing product that combines the functionality of a customizable hearing aid, Bluetooth stereo headset and assistive listing device. Part of the company's Wear & Hear Line that leverages Alango's latest technologies and innovations, BeHear Now includes sound personalization algorithms, multi-microphone processing that cancels ambient noise and improves intelligibility, and the ability to dynamically modify or even slow down incoming speech in real time without distortion to increase comprehension.
Designed to look like standard wireless Bluetooth earphones, the BeHear solution supports full spectrum reproduction for live or Bluetooth streamed music, while allowing the user to stay aware of its surroundings, passing through important sounds. The solution also allows the user to adjust the level of transparency, without compromising the music quality (ListenThrough).
An integrated mobile app includes a self-administered hearing test that automatically generates a personalized profile for each user, adapting to a variety of environments. The user profiles can be fine-tuned in real time and in real usage scenarios to achieve the best results.
Most impressive and truly unique to the industry is the integration of Alango's unique EasyListen processing that slows down incoming speech in real time, improving the intelligibility of “fast-talk” and foreign language. The algorithm is able to analyze incoming speech in order to detect voice and pauses, and automatically compensate the processing delay, slowing down for the most critical words and sentences, while quickly catching up to the real time signal whenever possible. Useful for assistive listening, the real time processing algorithm can also be applied in voice translation applications.
Alango also perfected unique audio processing algorithms, including MuRefiner, a set of audio post-processing technologies designed to elevate the user's listening experience through the optimization of stereo, spectral and bass enhancement according to environmental conditions; and Sound Effect Normalization, improving speech intelligibility in movies and TV programs by deemphasizing background sounds and music.
In order to introduce those solutions to market, Alango created the Wear & Hear Line of assistive listening products, which will be introduced starting with the BeHear Now Bluetooth headset, powered by Alango Technologies. The solution will be promoted as a multi-functional, high-performance, low-cost alternative to traditional hearing aids.
Launch schedule
In preparation for the launch, Alango recruited Hans Zwart, a veteran of the hearing health industry, trained as an acoustician, to develop sales and distribution channels in Europe. Mr. Zwart has accumulated more than 30 years’ experience in the hearing health industry, for the most part on an international level. He has held positions as Marketing & Sales Director of ExSilent BV, a company which developed innovative hearing healthcare products; Managing Director at Varibel Innovations BV, a developer of directional hearing glasses based on digital technology; and Sales Consultant at Otoharmonics LLC, a developer of custom neuroscience-based sound therapy for patients with tinnitus.
“We are pleased to welcome Mr. Zwart to the Wear & Hear team at Alango,” states Dr. Alexander Goldin, CEO and founder of Alango Technologies, Ltd. “I am confident that his deep understanding of the hearing challenges experienced by over a billion people worldwide, coupled with his connections to leading hearing product distribution channels in Europe, will serve to bring our innovative hearing enhancement solutions to those who need them most.”
“I am honored and motivated to join the Wear & Hear team and share its journey to bring affordable hearing enhancement to all European countries,” states Mr. Zwart. “The ability to improve people’s quality of life with a ground-breaking product will be both rewarding and challenging, and I intend to recruit the most qualified partners to accomplish this task.”
The BeHear Now headset is scheduled for launch in the United States in April 2018, at the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The European launch will take place later this year.
Alango licenses its DSP technologies to manufacturers, including the latest Speech Recognition and Voice Enhancement Packages, designed to improve far-field speech recognition performance using advanced echo cancellation and beamforming techniques. The company demonstrated the latest generation of those technologies at CES 2018 and at MW C2018, showing a 4-microphone platform for a voice-controlled Smart Speaker, and also a 6-microphone TV-based linear microphone array.
More information regarding the Wear & Hear solutions is available on the website www.WearAndHear.com or by email.
www.alango.com
