Men all ears as health technology gets hearing

From: Tamworth Northern Daily Leader, Australia - Jun 16, 2004

A REVOLUTIONARY hearing aid was just one of a number of new technological exhibits on show at the Men's Health Expo in Tamworth yesterday to coincide with Men's Health Week.

The hearing aid allows the person wearing it to focus on a specific conversation more clearly while drowning out any other noises in the room.

It has been designed to select the best speech over noise using parallel processing through a new concept called syncro.

Spokesman James Battersby for Oticon , which manufactures the hearing aid, said already the revolutionary device was a big hit in Australia after only being launched three weeks ago.

"We're getting a great response from the clarity of this hearing aid," Mr Battersby said.

"This new hearing aid enables someone to hold a conversation in a noisy room and still allow them to hear what another person is saying across the room.

"It's design has been created by using artificial intelligence and allows the wearer to cancel out up to four different noises simultaneously."

He said the device, because of its adaptive directional microphone allowed the wearer to hear things more clearly.

It wasn't only the hearing aid which impressed those attending the week-long expo with various exhibits featuring brochures and professionals discussing mental, physical and sexual health issues.

The Men's Health Expo is being held at the Tamworth Community Centre in Darling St until Sunday.

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