hi there welcome back to value hearing's youtube channel, i'm emma i'm a clinical audiologist
and today's video is actually not going to be about a hearing aid as such but actually about
a new hearing aid technology that's being developed so it is in fact a smartphone app
that i'm speaking off and it's called chatable and it was released earlier this year and we've gotten
quite excited about it here at value hearing because it's a super flexible app and i looks
like it will actually cover part of the market in audiology that hasn't been well looked after or
until recently not very well looked after so it's also extremely unique in the way that it works as
well so quite different from anything else that's available with the hearing aid manufacturers and
the phone manufacturers in terms of helping people hear speech in background noise and from distances
so it's like i said a smartphone app it will work on any smartphone and essentially what it is it's
an app that will allow you to reduce background noise and enhance speech so one of the classic
examples would be if you were out in a very noisy cafe or restaurant with a good friend and you
wanted to hear them you can pop the phone down in front of your friend point the phone microphone at
them and use the chattable app to reduce the noise and control the level of speech from that person
and it's a really simple looking app but it's actually a really complex technology so it's
using a combination of artificial intelligence and a lot of research from neuroscience to support it
and essentially what it's doing is it's allowing you to remove all the noise from the signal and
just hear the speech so it's actually recording very very fast this speaker and then replaying
that into your ears without that noise so pretty phenomenal in what it's doing and like i said
very different to what everyone else is doing so what everyone else is doing with their
technology generally is they're allowing you to put the phone down on the table and use it
as a remote microphone or what i call a third ear so you would still put the phone in front of your
friend at the table but you're not getting any of that artificial intelligence happening where it's
reducing the noise and giving you a lot of control over the volume of this speech so that is where
this is really really unique and definitely by far superior in my opinion so far anyway
so this will be great for our clients who have a hearing loss and have hearing aids
but are reporting that in certain situations such as out with a friend in background noise or
listening to the television or listening to people over a distance of up to about 10 meters that the
app can step in and augment what the hearing aids are already doing so these are people who perhaps
have a severe signal to noise ratio hearing loss so they have a hearing loss but they also have
great difficulty understanding speech and noise it may be people who have not been able to afford
the most sophisticated technology you know they've had to go for something more basic
due to their budget and that doesn't necessarily cover their needs as much as it would ideally
and that's where this app can step in and again augment the hearing aid so in theory actually
saving potentially thousands or hundreds of dollars and allowing the client to access features
and support that you would usually only see in a premium hearing aid so very very cool to be able
to offer that at such a low cost option as well so the other area of the market that i feel will
really benefit from the chattable app and it's a huge area that is generally under serviced or
underserved and it's those people that do perhaps have a diagnosable hearing loss maybe it's mild
or perhaps they just feel that they only notice their hearing loss a few hours a week a few hours
a day whatever it is they don't feel that it's a big enough problem for them to spend thousands
of dollars on and that's where the chattable app could be really really good so they could use this
it's a subscription you actually get a certain amount of minutes for free each month to try it
out and then they can use it for that few hours a day or a week to enhance their hearing and help
them hear in the noise or over distance or on the tv and then perhaps in the future if they
feel that they're now ready to hear that well or hear better more of the hours of the day so
have traditional amplification that you can wear all the time where you don't
need your phone involved then they can transfer over to traditional amplification over the years
and they can still use the chattable app with the hearing aids so that's the area of the market that
i think will really enjoy chattable look we do have other people that are definitely in
a position where they have a diagnosable hearing loss and perhaps as an audiologist we feel that it
certainly is a problem that they should treat with a thousand or several thousand dollar solution
but some clients are just not psychologically ready and that's completely fine and they come
in they see us it's usually maybe a doctor or a member of the family that's pushed them to come
but they and themselves they're just not ready to wear a hearing aid or they're just not ready
to hear better yet um certainly not all the hours of the waking day so this is again where chattable
app will be brilliant we'll be able to say look you're not ready for hearing aids but why don't
you try this use this to help you hear on the tv or use this to help you hear when you're
out with your partner in background noise and then when they do become psychologically ready
for hearing aids if they do then they will come and see us again in the coming years
and again the chattable app can still be their friend can still be used with the hearing aids
so with the chattable app you use it with either headphones that are wired or earphones that are
wired that works really well definitely can use it with the apple airpod pros
that works really really well in fact that is what is recommended if you want
a wireless solution that isn't a hearing aid then that is certainly what chattable recommend
but also you can use it with your made for iphone hearing aids so if you've already got the hearing
aids check to see if they're made for iphone and then you can certainly use the chattable
app very comfortably if you have hearing aids that use bluetooth classic or made for android
it may not work as well we have found that in a lot of cases there's too much of a delay
so what this means is that you're looking at someone in the restaurant or on the tv but what
you're hearing in your ears is a second or two behind what you're saying which the research shows
doesn't really matter so much if you've got a more severe to profound loss but if you've got the more
mild to moderate hearing loss then you will certainly notice that difference so essentially
at the moment although i'm sure it will continue to improve as chattable grows and grows
they are best used with made for iphone hearing aids or you or cochlear implants for that matter
or with air pods if you don't have a hearing aid or wired earphones or headphones
and there are some others we'll mention in the description below that are actually recommended by
chattable so the app itself looks really really simple you've got two sliders the one on the left
will allow you to control the volume of the speech that you're listening to and the volume slider on
the right is actually controlling the volume of the background noise so you can completely remove
the background noise or you can lie some of it in it's up to you but it is really really simple and
easy to use so there you go that's my take and valley hearings take on the chattable app we'll
definitely make another video in some time maybe in a few months to let you know how the clients
that are trying it are going and what we think of it and if you've got any questions about chattable
please leave a little comment in the section below if you've got any feedback or suggestions of other
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