(upbeat music)
- Hey everybody, David and David here
from PayetteForward.com and UpPhone.com,
and in this video we're going to talk
about Cochlear and the Kanso® 2 Sound Processor.
- I'm a hearing person, David is a hearing person.
And too often, we take our connection
to the world through sound for granted.
Cochlear's new product, the Kanso 2 Sound Processor,
is really a miracle of technology.
Because why shouldn't people expect the same innovations
in their medical devices that they do
with their other technology,
like their iPhone® or Android™ smartphone?
And Cochlear has done an amazing job here
of bringing all these different technologies together.
- The Kanso 2 Sound Processor
is the first off-the-ear cochlear implant sound processor
with direct smartphone connectivity.
That means you can directly stream music, calls,
or entertainment from the device.
This sound processor was made with the latest
and most advanced technology to help you
experience clear sound, even in challenging environments.
Its Dual Microphone and a Smartsound iQ with SCAN technology
helps you focus on the sounds you want to hear,
like conversations and music.
We'd like to bring in Greg White.
He is a cochlear implant recipient,
and is currently using the Kanso 2 Sound Processor.
- He's also a Cochlear employee,
because the Kanso 2 Sound Processor isn't even out yet.
But he's been using it for several months now
and he's here to tell us all about it.
Hi Greg, welcome!
Would you tell us a little bit about your life before you got your first cochlear implant?
- Sure, so long story short.
My parents found out I had a hearing loss
at eight months old.
And I had failed a newborn hearing screening,
which was not standard at the time.
Fast forward after going and getting fitted
with hearing aids.
But at that age,
I went on to Oral Deaf school
to learn how to hear and speak
with just hearing aids.
And in 2003 or so,
we really started looking more aggressively
at cochlear implants.
Because I was exhausted all the time, with
just hearing aids —
just my head constantly on a swivel,
trying to read lips and keep up with the conversation.
And my speech, as good as it was at the time,
I still wasn't hearing those S sounds or T sounds.
So I wasn't able to enunciate as well,
those words, for example, like "stop".
So fast forward, get the cochlear implant,
and I remember driving home after the day we were activated,
which is when they turned on the implant,
and I pulled up to a stoplight with my mom
and I just hear this clicking sound.
I'm like, "Mom what's that sound?"
She's like, "That's the turn signal.
You never heard that before."
I get home, I walk inside.
I hear the dogs running down the stairs
with the dog tags jangling.
Hadn't heard that before.
Their nails clicking on the hardwood floors.
Hadn't heard that either.
So as you can imagine,
for how well I was doing with my hearing aids before,
the leap to make decision to get a cochlear implant
was absolutely life changing.
And in a way it made my life a little easier.
If a hearing aid is zero, how far up the scale is a cochlear implant?
What's the difference?
It's so different for every person.
Let me just preface that.
Everyone's experience with a cochlear implant is different.
But the reality is
a hearing aid is trying to amplify
sounds using a broken system.
It's like your ear is no longer working.
What the cochlear implant is doing
is basically bypassing the damaged parts of the ear
and delivering sound directly to that hearing nerve.
So with that in mind,
it's really, I guess an analogy I'm thinking of is
you're going from a world where you're watching TV
in black and white
to watching a TV that is in color.
But in addition to being in color,
you also understand the world around you
and what they're saying.
Because you get the added benefit of subtitles, for example.
As a hearing person, not something I can really, I think,
ever truly imagine what it must have been like
to come from where you were to where you are today
But I think it is like a miracle of technology.
So what we really want to touch on now, I think, is
the Kanso 2 Sound Processor.
Obviously that wasn't your first sound processor
because the Kanso 2 sound processor hasn't been released yet, right?
Yes. This is actually my seventh processor.
I've been very fortunate to basically try
or use every single one,
since I was first implanted.
Our previous generation sound processor, the Nucleus 7
has all the features of direct connectivity,
rechargeable batteries all of that.
And what's really cool about the Kanso 2
is we've basically taken all those same great features
and benefits and putting it into one small package
that can be worn off-the-ear.
What are your favorite features about the Kanso 2 processor?
My favorite feature with the Kanso 2 Sound Processor
is definitely the direct connectivity.
Being able to have a call with you guys right now,
but you're all directly from my processor.
Listening to music directly through my processor, podcasts,
And of course the the ability
to control my sound processor settings
using my smartphone as well.
So are you an iPhone guy or an Android guy?
Personally, I'm an iPhone guy, but don't crucify me for it.
I won't; well, we're iPhone guys too.
But I understand the Kanso 2 also works with Android phones.
I know that there was a partnership, right, between Cochlear and Apple®?
How good is the integration with your iPhone?
Honestly, I've been very impressed by it.
It's pretty seamless.
Under your settings, I believe you guys even have it,
there's a setting for hearing devices.
And that's where you would go and pair your processor.
So, personally I credit,
I think Apple has done a really nice job
of making sure they have those accessibility features
available for hearing impaired individuals,
whether they're wearing Made-For-iPhone hearing aids
or cochlear devices.
We're big fans of Apple's accessibility features, too.
There's a lot in there. - A ton.
How do you use the Nucleus Smart App
to personalize your device?
Cause I understand that you can create different environments?
Yep. So within the app, I've got a few different things.
One, I can change the program that I'm using
with my processor.
And the program is really what is
set up by you and your audiologist,
but there's a feature in there called SCAN,
which essentially automates my hearing
to fit the environment.
And then there's another program I have available
that, it’s just a more basic program.
There's also a feature called ForwardFocus,
which allows you to basically cut out the sound behind you
so you can focus on the person in front of you
in a noisy restaurant, for example.
The app allows you to change volume,
input volume and programs, as I mentioned,
as well as the ability to
initiate streaming with your wireless devices.
So there's a [True Wireless™] Mini Mic wireless device,
which is what I call an extendable ear, a TV streamer,
where I can hear directly from the TV into my ears,
and,
that's really the bulk of it
with the wireless accessories.
There's also a hearing tracker,
which essentially tracks your time and speech
throughout the day.
So you can make sure you're hearing as much as you can
with your processor.
And there is also, haven't had to use it yet,
but it is a Find my Processor feature
in the event that I lose my Kanso 2
or it falls off.
So, tell me a little bit about what's that automatic transition like,
and how has that improved your experience based on the old processors?
Yeah. So with SCAN,
let's say I'm driving in the car.
You guys merge onto the highway.
You know it's a noisy world out there.
What's nice about SCAN is it helps compress
that road noise down so I can hear more of what matters,
AKA my wife sitting
in the passenger seat talking to me or even the radio.
SCAN also makes it easy if I walk into a coffee shop
where it's super noisy,
it helps bring that noise level down a bit
and try to enhance the speech based on who I'm talking to.
So it's really
in a way,
and this is not an
official 'Cochlear' term by any means,
but I almost feel like SCAN is one step more,
or one step towards mimicking the way
people with natural hearing kind of automatically make
that adjustment with their hearing
to hear their best in the environment.
I know that from personal experience with my parents that
the different sound environments; the noisier restaurant environments
can be particularly challenging, even for people with even moderate hearing loss.
It's amazing the amount of processing power that it must take
technically for this device to be able to process
and do all that stuff in real time.
Absolutely.
It's amazing what other engineers can do.
What would you say to someone on the fence right now
about getting a cochlear implant or the Kanso 2 Sound Processor?
For someone deciding on getting a Kanso 2 Sound Processor,
you've never heard anything like it,
in that it's something truly off-the-ear,
it's truly smart,
and it directly integrates with your lifestyle
so that you can just get on with your day
and focus on living, versus focusing on your hearing loss.
We're having a perfectly natural conversation right now,
and I would have absolutely no idea that you had any hearing loss at all
because it's invisible, and
obviously you can understand everything I'm saying perfectly.
It's awesome!
Yep. And I have to say I credit my parents,
all my teachers growing up,
doctors, surgeons, audiologists,
but most importantly the technology.
I just want to thank Greg. Thank you so much for
being with us today, and for telling us about
the Kanso 2 Sound Processor.
Take care.
- Once again, we'd like to thank Greg White for sitting down
and talking to us about the Kanso 2 Sound Processor.
You can learn more about this sound processor
by clicking the link in the description.
It'll take you right to Cochlear's website;
learn everything you need to know.
Thank you so much for watching this video.
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