AudioTelligence unveils world-first universal assistive listening device

Cambridge company AudioTelligence has harnessed Bluetooth to create a new listening device that dramatically improves life for the hard of hearing.

Orsana is being marketed as the first universal assistive listening device designed to help everyone hear clearly in noise – with or without hearing aids.

Past solutions have either been traditional hearing aids, which require additional own brand remote microphones to work well through the clatter, or separate and more generic remote microphones that need a wired connection to earbuds.

For the first time, consumers will be able to add additional hearing enhancement to any brand of Bluetooth Low Energy enabled hearing aids, or simply enhance their ability to hear in noise by connecting wirelessly to earbuds – all using the same device.

Orsana is a tabletop remote microphone designed to leverage the new Bluetooth Low Energy, low latency codec and which is set to become a key component of the hearing enhancement offering from both hearing aid manufacturers and makers of consumer electronics.

The new Bluetooth technology will allow the device to connect wirelessly to BLE-enabled hearing aids or to wireless earbuds with the low latency necessary for face-to-face conversations.

Earbud manufacturers are currently developing new products which will harness BLE Low Latency and make them ideal partners for Orsana.

In another first, Orsana will be able to combine with BLE’s broadcast capability (Auracast). Auracast will enable several people to connect to one device; with the addition of Orsana, everyone using that device can have their own personalised audio stream.

As AudioTelligence points out, the world of hearing assistance is changing fast: there is no longer a clear distinction between hearing aids as medical devices and True Wireless Stereo earbuds as consumer products.

In the US, for example, it is now possible to buy hearing aids over the counter in supermarkets and pharmacies without prescription or audiology referral. At the same time, the use of wireless earbuds for hearing enhancement is growing in popularity.

AudioTelligence says Orsana offers a radical new solution – identified in recent research by Qualcomm – for hearing aid users who struggle in social situations where traditional options are insufficient.

TWS earbuds are no longer used just for listening to music; hearing enhancement, video and voice calls already account for 36 per cent of daily TWS earbud usage and this percentage is set to grow.

Ken Roberts, CEO of AudioTelligence, says: “The new BLE low latency codec is about to create a world of audio where wireless hearing enhancement on different consumer devices, including multiple personalised audio from one device, becomes a reality. Orsana is an important part of this new world of hearing.”

Orsana is a compact (6 x 6 cm) and portable device which allows users to focus on the people they want to hear while reducing background noise. It is powered by AudioTelligence’s ground-breaking blind source separation technology which, unlike beamforming or AI, actually separates speech from different sources and allows the user to choose what they listen to. Clean speech is delivered to BLE earbuds or hearing aids.

Dave Betts, AudioTelligence’s Chief Science Officer, said: “We are proud of what Orsana can achieve but we are not stopping here. Next on our roadmap will be to put this same technology into an earbud charging case, giving consumers an all-in-one device combining earbuds and hearing enhancement.”

AudioTelligence’s technology is available on a royalty licensing basis.