virtual webinars for our customers to help them better understand new challenges stemming from the pandemic. We covered many topics, including applying for Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans, using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), keeping patients and employees safe, accessing curbside and telehealth services, and best practice methods to safely provide essential hearing healthcare services during the pandemic. Starkey partnered with Eden Prairie-based Lakeview Industries to assist with assembling face shields for first responders and healthcare workers. “Disruptive Innovation” and the Pandemic People with hearing loss experience significant communication challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Face masks attenuate sound, making it nearly impossible to read lips or see facial expressions. Social distancing guidelines double or triple the usual distance for conversations, compromising lipreading and reducing speech audibility. Online chats for work or socializing have poor sound quality. Furthermore, hearing aid users often find that face mask ear loops become tangled with hearing aids worn behind the ears. Many people gained a greater appreciation for the essential role hearing plays in connecting with others. With these concerns in mind, we adapted our offerings to best serve our customers. After hearing from Livio Edge AI users that “Edge Mode” provided significant benefits when they encounter individuals wearing face masks and using social distancing, we optimized our product for the current environment. We went back into the laboratory, measured the impact of different medical-grade, fabric, and transparent masks, and further adapted “Edge Mode for Masks” to optimize speech audibility for hearing aid users during these most challenging times. By putting the power of AI at the patient’s fingertips, we provided innovation for a use case that had not existed just months earlier.
In January 2020, we launched the industry’s first custom in-the-ear, rechargeable 2.4 GHz device that enabled direct connection with a smartphone or tablet. Unlike hearing aids that fit behind the wearer’s ear, custom devices remain securely in place when the hearing aid wearer is placing or removing face masks throughout the day. The rechargeable battery provides over 19 hours of battery life, even when streaming Zoom or Teams calls for hours a day. Finally, Starkey quickly adapted our fitting software in response to practitioner requests to expand our telehealth capabilities. This group wanted to include both real-time (synchronous) and “store- and-forward” (asynchronous) services to enable remote hearing aid programming and fine-tune without requiring face-to-face clinical visits for minor adjustments. The combination of these three innovations led to a significant recovery in the second half of 2020, with Livio Edge AI becoming our most successful product in history. Renewed interest in custom devices has resulted in the highest increase in completely in-the-ear devices in decades. Compared to previous years, the use of telehealth quadrupled in 2020, and many clinicians adopted remote fine-tuning as part of ongoing clinical practice. There is no silver lining from COVID-19, but necessity was the mother of innovation for Starkey. As Nietzsche (Friedrich, not Ray) said, “He who has a why can bear almost any how.” Last year was a testament to that statement. Starkey’s purpose since our founding is to build caring products that connect people through better hearing. Our mission is to serve our customers better than anyone else. In conjunction with professional expertise, our technology delivers optimal benefits for those with hearing loss. Our vision is to lead the world in hearing health and wellness for patient-driven care.
Livio Edge AI
With Livio Edge AI, the power of artificial intelligence is at your fingertips, giving you never-before-possible sound performance in the most challenging listening environments. Choose from a standard rechargeable style — or the world’s first custom rechargeable hearing aid — and give yourself the edge you deserve!
18 | The Innovators
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