Speaker 1: Hello, my name is Terry Lim. I'm an audiologist at Evergreen Speech and Hearing Clinic, and I've been receiving some requests to produce a video to show the new devices called the Whisper AI. This is a brand new device. It's actually only now being released, but we had the benefit, or the privilege rather, to participate in the beta study for the last couple of months, so we've had a chance to kind of get a feel for what this hearing aid is capable of. So, the Whisper, why is it different? Well, traditional hearing aids relied on processors in the device itself to be able to take sound in, manipulate the sound according to your hearing loss, and then deliver it into your ear. What Whisper does different is that in addition to the device on the ear, you have a brain that you carry with you. The brain actually has five additional processors and a very large battery that allow it to do some high-level manipulation of the sound and actually use some very sophisticated AI algorithms to sort through the signals and deliver a much more clean and precise and prioritized signal to the patient. It knows that you want to hear people, and in fact, over time, it can even improve on that. But what also makes the Whisper different is how they're delivering the system. One of the issues that people run into with hearing aids is that they're a costly investment. They're important, but they require a significant outlay as you move forward. With the Whisper, what they chose to do was create it as a subscription-based system where you would simply pay monthly for access to the technology. And during that time, then, you would be allowed the latest upgrades, both technologically through the sound processing and the computer programming, but also over time with the hardware, so that you were continuously improving as technology moves forward. So how does the Whisper sound different? Well, with the additional processing capabilities, the hearing aids are able to communicate more effectively one to another and spatially arrange the environment so that it sounds more normal and natural. The effect is, rather than having access to the sounds around you, there's a sense of immersion in the sounds around you. By understanding where the sounds are coming from, your brain is able to triangulate and listen to the desired speaker and ignore the undesired speaker. In a restaurant, in a social gathering, you're able to then relax and enjoy the conversations without having this overwhelming sort of sense of noise. So what are patients experiencing? It's remarkable, actually. Consistently, when I put this device on patients, the first expression they have is, wow, because of that expression or full access to the sounds around them. As they go out into the environments, they're struck by the combination of increased audibility. You can hear the birds, you can hear the sounds off in the distance, the streets, or the sounds around you, but you're not overpowered by them. In other words, again, you're immersed in this sound experience and able to separate out those sounds that you want to hear, but ignore those sounds you don't want to hear. I had a patient just a day or two ago who actually had never worn hearing aids. This was an adult male and he had lived through most of his life with a pretty severe hearing loss, so much so that his family had encouraged him that he should come in and try something. Well, he went home with the device just on a trial period, just to see what it would be like and really provide the benefit that he wanted. When he came back a week later, his wife was beside herself, just excited to talk about the experience. She even shared that his son, who had lived with him for his life with his hearing loss, he had never experienced his father without the hearing loss, was actually in tears by the end of the evening because he was able to share in conversations with him where he had never been able to before. Again, this is a new device, so is everything perfect at this point? No. There are issues as we move through the testing and development that we're running into. Some of the streaming issues they had early on, they were able to resolve quite rapidly. They're looking forward to the ability to do upgrades more conveniently through your own phone. Carrying a physical device is not necessarily what everyone wants to do, but the good news is that it is a system that's growing with you. As the technology and the data improves, the devices will shrink. The technology will continue to get better in terms of hearing improvements. Also, it's important to remember that the hearing aids will function like any other hearing aid, even without the brain. If you're going for a walk or you're going to be in a steady state environment where you don't choose to carry the device, it's okay. It'll still work. So how did Whisper do with their first entree into the hearing aid industry? I'd say pretty well. The use of sophisticated AI has produced a hearing aid that has tremendous depth perception and spatial perception that allows for really clear, distinct hearing without being overwhelmed by the background noise. The other thing they've done is provided an opportunity for patients to access high-end technology at a relatively low and affordable month-to-month fee, rather than having to come up with a very large sum to cover the costs. That's going to give the technology much more access to the general public, which is always a good thing. So if you're curious about the system and would like more detailed information, you can actually hear direct from the source. We've invited one of the developers from Whisper to come out and have a webinar with our patients. It's going to be on February 18th at noon. If you'd like to participate in that, please give our office a call. The information will be provided at the end of the video. If you have additional questions about whether or not this system would be suitable for you, please let us know. Our audiologists will be happy to sit down with you and show you what it can do, and we're even offering take-home demonstrations if that's something you think would be helpful. So, thanks for listening and have a great day.