Latest Study Prove Speech-in-Noise Training Works!

Abstract

We investigated training-related improvements in listening in noise and the biological mechanisms mediating these improvements. Training-related malleability was examined using a program that incorporates cognitively based listening exercises to improve speech-in-noise perception.

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Gerry Kearby, In Memoriam

Neurotone is sad to mark the death of its founder and CEO, Gerry Kearby.

Gerald “Gerry” Kearby, founder of Neurotone Inc and Liquid Audio Inc, dies in auto accident on Aug 6, 2012. Neurotone vows to continue his vision. Mr. Kearby was visionary pioneer of auditory rehabilitation and digital music distribution.

Gerald Wayne Kearby (June 22, 1947 – August 6, 2012) was a visionary and entrepreneur who rose to prominence during the late 1990s. He worked predominantly with music, hearing loss rehabilitation and audio-related electronics and software companies.

He was co-founder and CEO of Neurotone, Inc. In that position he lead the development and marketing of auditory rehabilitation software to assist the hard of hearing. The company will continue to market and develop the LACE (Listening and Communication Enhancement) and Hearbot assistive listening product lines. He worked closely with Vint Cerf of Google, Inc to develop the Hearbot Assistive Listening product.

“Gerry was one of those too-rare people who are utterly committed to their work and the people who might benefit from it. I am one of those beneficiaries and I will cherish my time with Gerry, his team mates and his work on LACE and the Hearbot. Gone from our midst too soon, he will nonetheless be with us and with me, especially, in the system he designed and built for my benefit.” Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer

Prior to this he was co-founder, CEO and President of Liquid Audio, Inc.
In that position, he testified before the US Congress regarding digital music distribution. He was instrumental in advancing digital distribution of music while protecting the rights of musicians. At Liquid Audio he also drove development of digital audio watermarking technology since acquired and used by Microsoft. Liquid Audio was funded by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and had its IPO in 1999. At its peak, Liquid Audio had a market capitalization close to $1 billion.

“In early 1996 my partners and I went to The Plant in Sausalito to hear a pitch from Gerry Kearby. In 1996 only 20 million Americans had access to the Internet, so I am pretty sure we had a time believing Gerry’s vision of what music today would be on the Internet. We funded Liquid Audio because we believed in Gerry; a passionate, smart, bold yet humble entrepreneur. His intellectual stamina was never hidden by his burly façade.
He loved the music industry and that kept him moving forward in the challenging early years of the Internet. He cared deeply about everyone; his family, his friends and his employees. Gerry was the real deal and there is no doubt his vision pioneered the online music industry we know today.” Ann Winblad, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Prior to Liquid Audio, Kearby was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Studer Editech Corporation, a professional audio recording division of the Studer Revox company. Mr. Kearby created some of the earliest versions of digital audio workstation product families working with many colleagues. Studer Revox purchased Mr. Kearby’s previous company Integrated Media Systems in late 1989.

Neurotone co-founder Mr. Rob Modeste will be assuming Mr. Kearby’s duties at Neurotone.

“I have been Gerry’s friend and business partner for 33 years. This is a devastating personal and professional loss but Gerry was a fighter and we will continue his spirit by continuing to move forward with his vision for Neurotone.” Mr. Rob Modeste

Mr. Kearby died on August 6, 2012 in Pescadero, CA as the result of an automobile accident.

Information regarding a memorial will be available at the website:
www.gerrykearby.com

Information regarding Neurotone, Inc. can be found at:
www.neurotone.com

Additional Neurotone contacts
Mr. Rob Modeste (650) 241-4589
Mr. Bill Woods (650) 241-0066
info@neurotone.com

New Release: LACE Online With Sycle.net Integration

Clinics can easily dispense and track LACE Online training data from within their Sycle account.

Neurotone, makers of LACE®, the leading auditory training program, is proud to announce the integration of LACE Online into Sycle.net, the industry’s leading hearing care practice management system. Sycle users, who elect to add LACE training to their subscription, can provide training for any and all patients seen in a subscribing month.

Sycle facilitates the creation of LACE® Online programs directly from within the clinic interface; providing clinicians with real-time patient compliance data including global reporting mechanisms within its database for all patients. LACE Online auditory training can be completed in just eleven 20-minute training sessions. Training includes QuickSIN testing, speech in in noise, rapid speaker, competing speaker training and word memory exercises found in the computer application.

LACE Online assists busy practitioners by offering the benefits of auditory training in a simple-to-use web application that can be accessed on any computer, tablet or smart phone. Users can start their training on a home computer, move to an iPad or Android tablet and even train on iPhone or Android phones. All training records are saved in the cloud and viewable by the Sycle clinician.

Clinicians can dispense LACE Online access codes directly from their Sycle account, receive training data for each patient and use this information to counsel patients on their performance. Clinician time needed to dispense LACE Online is less than two minutes.
Hearing Mojo raved:

“Now that Neurotone has put the LACE training program Online, there is no excuse not to use it. LACE is a proven method of training your brain to better understand speech in challenging listening environments. Now that it’s directly accessible on the web, with an attractive retail price, it may be the easiest and least expensive investment you’ll ever make to achieve better hearing”.

Neurotone provides Auditory Training Software and web applications for Audiologists, Dispensers and University training programs. Over 80,000 users have increased their communication capabilities by up to 40% in independent clinical trials.

Contact:

Bill Woods or John McMahon
Neurotone
650-241-0066
bwoods@neurotone.com
jmcmahon@neurotone.com

Video: 72 % of Teenagers Experienced Reduced Hearing Ability After Attending Concert

Do you and your loved ones bring ear plugs to concerts? A new study by the House Research Institute says that 72 % of Teenagers Experienced Reduced Hearing Ability After Attending Concert.

“Teenagers need to understand a single exposure to loud noise either from a concert or personal listening device can lead to hearing loss,” said M. Jennifer Derebery, MD, lead author and physician at the House Clinic. “With multiple exposures to noise over 85 decibels, the tiny hair cells may stop functioning and the hearing loss may be permanent.”

Video: Binaural Hearing and Listening

Here’s a great video by the Hearing Care Blog on Binaural Hearing and Listening

The brain retrains itself to filter out unnecessary noise while picking up the sounds of your dinner companion without having to turn your head so your hearing aid is pointing directly at the speaker. This not only improves your ability to listen in background noise, but you will no longer have to strain to hear.

New Video: LACE Training a key to hearing better in noise

This is a must-see video for everyone!

Dr. Sandra Vandenhoff, the founder of HEARa and an audiologist with severe to profound hearing loss, has just produced this excellent video regarding the need for Aural Rehabilitation.

In addition to being a Doctor of Audiology and a cochlear implant recipient, Dr. Vandenhoff provides LACE Coaching services for individuals who wish to improve their ability to understand speech in noise.

Hearing Aid Know Reviews LACE Online

Check out this post regarding our latest product release: LACE Online

I think the release of the web-based version will make it easier for people to try LACE and get the benefit from it – it’s compatible with iPad and other mobile devices so you can train wherever you are. And being a bit of a nerd myself, it’s good to see them using HTML5 rather than Flash.

For more information regarding LACE Online, contact us today!

Hearing Mojo Reviews LACE Online

Check out this great review of our latest product release: LACE Online

LACE Online makes it a lot easier to access auditory training than earlier versions, which came on DVDs and CD-ROMs, and it performs extremely well. One of the challenges of a highly interactive online site with a lot of audio and video is to deliver response times fast enough to keep up with the user’s pace through the program. LACE Online met all my expectations for immediate response times, not only with my high-bandwidth fiber connection to my desktop, but also when I used the much slower 3G wireless data connection with my iPad2 (LACE Online doesn’t depend on Flash, so all the videos run beautifully on the iPad).

 
Click Here To Read The Review
 
For more information regarding LACE Online, contact us today!

Independent study of the effectiveness of LACE

A recent independent study of the effectiveness of LACE training has been published in the journal, Cerebral Cortex (Song, et al, 2011). In this study the authors describe behavioral improvements on speech in noise measures, and, for the first time, changes in neurophysiologic responses in participants that completed the LACE training.

More about the study:
Participants were normal hearing young adults, all of whom were proficient in the English language, but half of the participants were non-native speakers of English. Participants were randomly assigned to the training group, or to a control group. Both groups completed baseline testing that included the QuickSIN, HINT and auditory brainstem responses. The training group completed the LACE protocol and showed significant improvements on the LACE training tasks, the QuickSIN and the HINT. These participants also showed enhancements in the neurophysiologic representation of pitch cues in the presence of background noise. The control group did not show changes on any measures. This study is the first to show that short-term training with naturalistic stimuli, like those used in LACE, can improve the neural representation of speech cues that are critical for understanding speech in noise.

When discussing the study the authors contend: “…change in perception and neurophysiology likely resulted from the way in which LACE integrates cognitive factors into its auditory training exercises.” The authors stress the importance of LACE’s unique approach of integrating sensory and cognitive training to improve listening in difficult environments.

At Neurotone we are very pleased to see independent studies like these and wanted to share with you the latest support for using LACE in your practice.

Dig Deeper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21799207
http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/brainvolts/publications.php
Direct link to full study – PDF file

Better Hearing Institute Aural Education Article

Check out the newest aural education article for consumers at the Better Hearing Institute. Dr. Robert W. Sweetow, Professor of Otolaryngology, University of California, San Francisco has created a patient counseling article which helps the consumer understand why training the brain to listen is so important in optimizing the hearing aid experience.

The Better Hearing Institute (BHI) is a not-for-profit corporation that educates the public about the neglected problem of hearing loss and what can be done about it. Learn More