Interview with Jerry Ruzicka, President, Starkey Laboratories

Topic: Destiny 1600 and Integrated Real Ear.

Dr. Paul Dybala: Hello, everyone. This is Dr. Paul Dybala with Audiology Online. Today I'm talking with Jerry Ruzicka from Starkey Laboratories on the new Destiny 1600. Jerry and I are speaking via phone; I'm in my home office in Dallas, Jerry, where are you calling from at this moment?

Jerry Ruzicka: I'm actually in the San Francisco Airport, because I've been out visiting Brent Edwards at our Starkey Hearing Research Center in Berkeley.

Dybala: Brent does some great work, I would encourage our readers to see what is going on at the SHRC by visiting www.starkeyresearch.com. Jerry, thanks for taking time to have this interview with me today. Before we get to talking about the new Destiny product, I'd like for you to just give a little background about yourself.

Ruzicka: Well, I'm a 30-year veteran of the industry. I originally started with Telex when Telex was making hearing aids back in a little town called Glencoe, Minnesota.

I've been with Starkey for about 30 years now, and have been president since 1998. My background is really in manufacturing; I call myself a manufacturing guy. During my tenure here, I've had the opportunity to guide the company in its technical and technology development. I'm very proud of the conversion that we've been able to make to really establish Starkey as a technically-directed company.

Dybala: I agree. Starkey released the Destiny line last year at the Audiology NOW! Convention, and this year you expanded on the Destiny and also released the next version of the Inspire operating system to program the Destiny.

When you released the Inspire OS and the Destiny product last year, you also integrated a fitting module to the programming software that you called Surround Town. I thought this was great because you actually enabled the hearing care professional to set up a virtual environment for the patient in the office while listening with their hearing aids. Now with launch of Destiny 1600, you actually have an integrated real-ear measurement, which I think is an amazing feature. Could you talk more about that?

Ruzicka: Well, we believe that application of real-ear measurement to the fitting process is important. Although real ear systems have been in place for a number of years, many people don't use them routinely in the fitting process because of either the cost of the equipment or convenience.

The precision of the fitting with real ear changes the outcome dramatically. We looked at the nFusion architecture, and because it is a very flexible and powerful architecture, we were able to determine that we had the capability of providing the control signals, as well as the measurements systems, and use the hearing aid itself as the real-ear system.

The clinicians will note that when they use this they will be able to see some dramatic differences between the traditional simulated response and the actual real-ear response. By being able to capture that actual patient data, they will have a much improved initial fitting. We believe that the satisfaction level associated is going to grow dramatically.

Dybala: It is my understanding that with this new feature, professionals are able to get real-ear data and an automated initial fitting in less than two minutes. That's impressive!

Ruzicka: Within Inspire OS, we provide a routine called Auto Path. Auto Path actually just guides the clinician through the fitting process. We say it takes about 90 seconds.

Dybala: Wow.

Ruzicka: Our Inspire software actually provides you with virtual images of placement of the probe tube. It alerts you to remove the probe tube, initializes the active feedback intercept, the feedback canceller, and sets the baseline measurement used for the self diagnostics of the hearing aid. It takes you through the entire process in about 90 seconds, so it's very efficient and easy to use.

Dybala: Can you describe the physical setup?

Ruzicka: If you can visualize it, it's basically a probe tube that plugs right into the microphone of the hearing aid, and then you place the probe tube alongside the canal of the instrument or through the vent. The hearing aid has the capability of producing all the control signals and measuring all the outputs just like in any other real ear system.

Dybala: Mueller (2006) mentioned that about one third of professionals use real ear most of the time, the second third use them some of the time and the third remaining never or seldom use real ear. I think this is a great feature you have enabled with Destiny 1600 and it will have a positive impact for the professional and the patient.

You also have some really clever things to help the patient use and maintain the hearing aid. I know when I was fitting hearing aids, there were some basic questions patients always asked, such as, "How often do you change the battery? How do you know that the hearing aid is working properly? How do you know what program you're in?" These have been addressed in the Destiny 1600 with voice based indicators, a self-check tool, and there's also a reminder feature. Could you tell us more about those?

Ruzicka: Well, we've looked at how people use indicator tones in their instruments today, and patients are confused by the tones. They sometimes confuse the tones with feedback. So they're not very intuitive.

So we decided again, with our nFusion architecture, that we had the capability of actually providing voice signals. And in fact, if the battery is low, the hearing aid will tell the patient, "Battery low."

We have a choice of 17 different languages that are available that can be programmed, and a variety of male and female voices; everything from American English, British English, to Japanese and Chinese. We provide not only a wide variety of languages to be used, but the level of presentation can be programmed for the patient.

This is just a very effective measure to allow people to know not only when to change their battery, but the clinician can also program a reminder of when they want the patient to come back for a service appointment.

Dybala: Interesting.

Ruzicka: Also, the reminder feature is programmable. It could be one week, one month, three months, six months. But the internal clock of the instrument will then alert the patient to make an appointment. We've taken the desire to let people know when performance needs to be addressed, and, literally, the hearing aid is the first thing that will talk to the patient in a variety of situations.

The other new feature is that the Destiny 1600 now has the ability to tell the patient when it needs service.

Dybala: That's the Self Check tool?

Ruzicka: Yes, and it can be performed in one of two ways. As part of the Auto Path fitting process, one of the last things the software will do is set a baseline measurement. The baseline measurement is really a measurement targeted at checking the microphone, the receiver, and the circuit. Once that baseline measurement is set, the clinician can either check it by viewing it with the software and running the routine, or the patient can check it.

It's a real simple procedure. They open and close the battery doors three times. That signals the hearing aid to go into a self-check mode. It takes less than a minute, and it checks the microphone, receiver, and the circuit against the baseline measurement. If it notes any anomaly, it will tell them to schedule maintenance.

It's extremely effective. If you think about it, sometimes when the patient comes in and they have a problem with their instrument, the clinician may not know the exact problem.

Dybala: Yes, I am sure many of us have had patients come into the clinic saying, "Well, either my hearing has gotten worse or my hearing aid is not working as well as it used to."

Ruzicka: With the Destiny 1600, you eliminate some of that confusion because you or the patient can check the hearing aid. If the hearing aid gives a positive sign that everything is performing correctly, you know that the hearing aid itself is not defective.

And as for the patient, you can avoid costly repairs, because you can schedule maintenance before you have a hard failure. Things like wax and debris that get in the way of performance can be addressed before they become a problem.

Those were some of the design goals to make the hearing aid an intelligent device. And as a result, we were able to allow the hearing aid to test itself. We've brought that utility to the Destiny 1600. Plus, this is just the start. Once we see how the market responds to this feature there are some really interesting things we can do in the future with this.

Dybala: I wanted to mention, too, that this Destiny has a full line of styles. It is available in everything from behind-the-ear to completely-in-the-canal.

It is also fully featured with technology such as Active Feedback Intercept, which does an excellent job in eliminating feedback, directional microphones, and environment detection. So while Jerry and I are focusing on a few features today, the Destiny 1600 is a top-of-the-line device.

[Airline announcement comes over phone calling for flights]

Well Jerry, it sounds like, from the background, that you may be getting ready to get on your plane!

Ruzicka: I think they're calling me, you're right.

Dybala: Once again, I wanted to say thanks for talking with me today, and we'll be looking for great things to come from Starkey in the future.

Ruzicka: All right, Paul. I appreciate it. Thanks for the time.

Dybala: You bet.

References

Mueller, H.G. (2006). Probe-mic measurements: Hearing aid fitting's most neglected element. The Hearing Journal, 58(10), 21-22, 24, 26, 28, 30.



About the Destiny Hearing System

Starkey's Destiny hearing aid series includes the Destiny 200, 400, 800, 1200 and 1600 and is available in behind-the-ear, on-the-ear, in-the-ear, in-the-canal, and completely-in-the-canal models. The Destiny hearing system line is based on Starkey's nFusion technology which leverages the power of nanoscience—science at the molecular level—to pack more features than ever into each Destiny hearing aid and to activate those features automatically. As a result, Destiny hearing aids are the only hearing aids to offer three specific features that address users' most common complaints: Active Feedback Intercept, which gets rid of that annoying whistling sound often associated with wearing hearing aids; Directional Speech Detector, which with its laser-like focus lets users hear exactly what they want to hear, even in extremely noisy situations; and Acoustic Signature, which automatically and instantaneously adjusts for and switches to different listening environments, making it nearly biological in its response. With these features, Destiny hearing aids offer users the most natural and powerful hearing of any hearing aid available today. To learn more about Destiny and Inspire OS, visit www.StarkeynFusion.com.

About Starkey Laboratories

Privately held Starkey Laboratories, Inc. is a hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn. The company is recognized for its innovative design, development, and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. Founded in 1967, Starkey currently has more than 4,000 employees and facilities in 18 countries. Divisions operating under the Starkey Laboratories family of companies include Audibel, Micro-Tech, NuEar, and Starkey. For more information, visit www.starkey.com or the Starkey Web Channel on Audiology Online at /channels/starkey.asp