Time to read: 12 minutes
A 'hearing aid' app for your smartphone that helps you hear and understand speech better in background noise.
Emma discusses a new Smartphone app, ChatableApps, and how it can be used to help you hear conversations better in noise (or in quiet) - with or without hearing aids. We find ChatableApps works best for Made for iPhone hearing devices.
Other hearing devices that use Classic Bluetooth or are Made for Android tend to result in a slight sound delay but Chatable are working on this.
Watch the video or read the transcript below:
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.
It is in fact, a smartphone app that I’m speaking of 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 it 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.
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.
Ideal for café or restaurant dining
One of the classic examples would be if you were out in a very noisy café 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 Chatable app to reduce the noise and control the level of speech from that person.
It's a really simple looking app but it's actually a really complex technology. It's using a combination of artificial intelligence and a lot of research from neuroscience to support it. 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 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. 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. That is where this (Chatable) is really really unique and definitely by far superior, in my opinion so far anyway.
Added support for hearing aid wearers
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 metres, that the
app can step in and augment what the hearing aids are already doing.
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.
Low cost subscription
Very, very cool to be able to offer that at such a low cost option as well.
The other area of the market that I feel will really benefit from the Chatable 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 Chatable app could be really, really good.
(Chatable is) 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.
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. They can transfer over to traditional amplification over the years and can still use the Chatable app with the hearing aids, so that's the area of the market that I think will really enjoy Chatable.
Good for people 'not quite ready' for hearing aids
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. 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 in themselves they're just not ready to wear a hearing aid, or they're just not ready to hear better yet - certainly not all the hours of the waking day.
So, this is again where the Chatable 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 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 Chatable app can still be their friend can still be used with the hearing aids.
Works with headphones and earphones
So with the Chatable 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 Chatable 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 Chatable 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. 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 essentially, at the moment, although I'm sure it will continue to improve as Chatable grows and grows.
They are best used with made for iPhone hearing aids 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 Chatable.
Simple to use
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 let some of it in - it's up to you but it is really, really simple and easy to use.
There you go, that's my take and Value Hearing’s take on the Chatable 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. If you've got any questions about Chatable, please leave a little comment in the section below.
We find ChatableApps works best for Made for iPhone hearing devices. Other hearing devices that use Classic Bluetooth or are Made for Android tend to result in a slight sound delay but Chatable are working on this.
For those using headphones rather than hearing aids, Chatable recommend:
Bluetooth : Apple AirPods Pros
Wired in-ear: Bose QuietComfort 20
Bone Conduction: AfterShockz
For a more technical review, check out: https://www.valuehearing.com.au/news/review-chatable-universal-hearing-aid-app
