Interview with Jerry Ruzicka, President, Starkey Laboratories

Zon hearing instrument series

Paul Dybala: Hello everyone, this is Paul Dybala with AudiologyOnline, and today I'm speaking with Jerry Ruzicka from Starkey Laboratories. They have a brand new receiver-in-the-ear product, or RIC, called Zon. Jerry's been kind enough to take the time to sit down and speak with me about it.

First of all, before we jump into the product, Jerry, thanks a lot for taking the time to be here today.

Jerry Ruzicka: Hello Paul, it's fun to be with you and talk about a new product that's created a lot of excitement in a short time. I look forward to discussing it.

Dybala: The first thing I wanted to get into was the work that went into the evidence-based approach Starkey used to design Zon, which is a new receiver-in-the-canal hearing aid. Tell us about this process.

Ruzicka: Well, the process starts with recruiting people who, obviously, were wearing hearing aids and were experienced users because we know that experienced users are very discriminating in their beliefs regarding hearing aids.

Dybala: Sure.

Ruzicka: Initially we wanted to get a feel for the things that they liked and the things that they didn't like. We paid attention to every minute detail. What we quickly found was that people are very concerned about the comfort of the device, how it is positioned and feels on the ear, as well as the handling of the device- how they access the controls, how to change the battery.

So they shared their experiences with us, and from that input we were able to come up with some real priorities in terms of what the design intention or what the design language should represent.

Dybala: I know that you then took this information to industrial designers of various things such as Bluetooth headsets. Tell us about how they took information from the consumers and then moved toward the final design.

Ruzicka: We summarized the information we learned from our consumer focus groups, and in working with our industrial design partners, created a series of concepts.

We started off with about a dozen different concepts that we believe reflected some of the guidance that we received from consumers, as well as hearing professionals, and then we compared them. We paired that group down to a smaller number and called those the final design candidates.

We then went back and conducted additional focus groups with the final candidates. We were presenting the items in terms of design language to see if we were getting close to a design that had physical appeal, the size that consumers were looking for, and the handling concepts that were most desirable. Based on how the focus groups scored each design, we came back and further evaluated the results and picked "the winner."

After we were satisfied that we had the size and the shape that we were looking for, we concentrated our efforts on what we call the color matte finish. That's really a fancy description for the colors that people prefer. We knew we could learn a lot from working with colorists, hair stylists, and people in the cosmetics industry to see how they approach matching either skin tones or hair tones.

We developed a variety of colors that are designed to blend with the skin as well as the hair. The color palette we have is very unique. It's nothing like anything we've done before. From that we worked to create some specific paints that would help us achieve the color palette that our focus groups preferred.

Dybala: So, did you have to create unique colors that weren't available before? Or were you able to select from a palette that was already there?

Ruzicka: No, we created unique colors. Everything we have is actually very specific, very unique to this product. Again, it was designed to either complement the hair tones or the skin tone of the patient.

Dybala: It's interesting that you went outside the industry to the cosmetics industry to get the right colors.

From your research with consumer groups, did you find that people wanted something that blends in instead of something that stands out? Because we're seeing some colors that stand out now in other hearing aids.

Ruzicka: You know the theme that we soon arrived at was that our people wanted something that looks great in the hand and really is invisible on the ear. They weren't attracted by real loud colors;they were really attracted by more of the earth tones and again, colors that matched their hair.

So, we've got six basic colors that we use with Zon. Once you see them, you'll notice that they're all very unique, but they all blend in nicely with your facial features or skin and hair tones.


Dybala: A lot of work went into the design and the color of Zon, but there's obviously also a lot of powerful technology inside the device. It was my understanding, based on the research that you do, that professionals are looking for a hearing instrument with a high level of technology.

Could you give us a quick overview about the chip as well as the operating system?

Ruzicka: Well, if you look at what we consider to be state-of-the-art hearing aids, they're based on open architecture systems. Open architecture systems are really similar in comparison to how desktop computing works today. If you look at a desktop computer, you presumably have Intel inside, as Intel is the leader. If you look at what we have with Zon and our other family of products, our basic platform is called nFusion - that's our hardware - and it's an open architecture system.

On the computer side, you have an operating system, which manages all the programs. That might be Windows or Vista, it could be Leopard, if you're a Mac user. With Zon, the operating system is called BluWave™.

We focused on the development of the operating system, and our goal with that is to achieve a consistent high level of performance. That high level of performance is realized in the programs that BluWave executes, such as programs for cancelling feedback called Active Feedback Intercept, or our Acoustic Signature for our noise management, or our directional microphone system as well as our power management system.

So our philosophy is really one that's based on the capability to upgrade our fundamental hardware, which will always be an open architecture system. But, it's the operating system for the hearing aid that is really guiding performance advances.

Dybala: If I understand this correctly, because you are software-based with BluWave, you can quickly add new features and new programs on this system. Correct?

Ruzicka: We can. And we're very much research-driven;we have a research facility in Berkeley, California. We're constantly looking for opportunities to improve performance on a variety of levels. Once we've quantified something and decide the technology is ready to be implemented within a hearing aid, we can do that through a software process where we don't have to be captive to a hardware change.

For decades, the speed of innovation within the industry was limited by the capacity of the integrated circuit, which was a fixed platform. By using an open architecture system, we can implement changes at a very rapid pace, so we can do things annually now that might have taken years to accomplish in the past.

Dybala: Sure. Well, let's get into some of the specific features of Zon. I know that Starkey set out to be best-in-class for a receiver-in-the-canal device so you benchmarked Zon's features with other receiver-in-the-canal products.

Could you give us a quick overview of Zon's features, and what your benchmark research showed?

Ruzicka: Well, internally, our philosophy is really one of evidence-based design. So, whenever we test our products, we look to test against the best of our industry. Feedback cancellation is something that we've really established as being the benchmark when we introduced Destiny. We wanted to improve on that in terms of overall feedback cancellation as well as within this class - and what we've been able to achieve with Zon is up to a 20 dB of added stable gain.



If you look at the data that we've produced, you'll see that we're significantly better than anything out there. But in addition to having 20 dB of added stable gain, the bandwidth of this device is quite broad compared to the traditional receiver-in-the-canal aids that are out there today.

Dybala: Excellent. And as I recall, you did something similar with directionality, correct?

Ruzicka: Absolutely. We carefully designed our directional system. We wanted to achieve a couple of things: we wanted to have a very high value in terms of directivity index, and we wanted to have a very quiet system. A lot of the directional systems that are used today generate microphone noise that tends to dominate in quiet environments, and can be very distracting.

We call our directional system Directional Speech Detector. It's very quiet. This is also an adaptive system where it turns on automatically when it recognizes the thresholds within the environment. We achieve a directivity of 5.76 dB, and the theoretical maximum is 6 dB. So, we're very comfortable and confident that we've been able to beat the best in class by 1.5-2.0 dB. That's phenomenal performance.

Dybala: I wanted to talk about a few other features today as well. Not only are you building these best-in-class features, but you're continuing to move forward a lot of great technology that came first with the Destiny like integrated real-ear. I know Starkey has released some new data in this area. Could you tell us a little bit about what your research has found?

Ruzicka: One reason why a lot of people haven't done real-ear is because they believe it's a cumbersome process. By integrating it within the hearing aid, we've really streamlined it so it's very easy to do. So then, there's the question of how accurate it is.

You know, we're driven by evidence-based designs. We benchmark our performance against the best systems out there, and what we find is that we're very accurate- plus or minus 3 dB - and our data is very repeatable. So, we're very comfortable that what you see once you've run the real-ear measurement through Zon is something you can rely upon.

Dybala: I also wanted to touch on Zon's self-check system. Could you talk about how that works, how it's set up in the office, and then how the patient is able to use it?

Ruzicka: Well, there are two ways to do it. One, if you're the clinician you can actually activate the system and it will go through and perform a baseline measurement. Once you fit the hearing aid for the first time, it will always go back to that baseline measurement as the reference point. It's really checking the microphone, the receiver, and the circuit. If it detects that one of the three are not performing relative to the baseline measurement, it gives the alert to the patient, again, or the clinician, that the hearing aid needs some type of maintenance or some type of attention.

How many people have worked with a patient who comes in and says, "Well, I don't think my hearing aid is working right," as their only descriptive complaint?

Dybala: [laughs] Absolutely.

Ruzicka: So, what happens? You plug it in and you read it, and it reads fine. Well, it might read fine, but it still might mean that a transducer has been damaged. The self-check capability can let the patient check it himself. They simply open and close the battery door three times, which signals the device to run a little diagnostic program. And from that diagnostic program, which takes just a few seconds, it will then say that it's good, or to schedule maintenance. And if it says, "Schedule maintenance," it's because it's detected that there's something that isn't operating at 100% efficiency relative to the baseline measurement.

If the patient then goes to see their clinician, they can plug it into our software and it will tell them exactly which component might be suspect. It takes some of the mystery out of, "How's my device working?"

The clinician also has the ability to not only use voice indicators to change between memory or alert the patient that the battery needs to be changed, but they can also program in a reminder if they want to see them in two weeks or two months. The hearing aid at that time will, again, tell the patient to call for an appointment or schedule maintenance.

Dybala: So, you're saying that you could do several different increments of time;it could be two days, two weeks, etc.

Ruzicka: Yes. You can program the internal clock to when you want that alert to be signaled to the patient, and it will tell them to schedule maintenance.

Dybala: Excellent. Well, Jerry, I think the last thing I wanted to bring up was that this hearing is water resistant, more so than previous products, correct?

Ruzicka: This hearing aid is 100% waterproof.

Dybala: Ah.

Ruzicka: We incorporated this into the design process, and we called it Hydra-shield®. With our Hydra-shield® process you can throw this hearing aid in a bucket of water and pull it out, and it works. You could throw it in a bucket of water overnight and it will work.

Dybala: Really?

Ruzicka: Yes. One of our design objectives, in addition to comfort and handling, was to create something that was very robust and that had some water resistance and corrosion protection. We really outdid ourselves, and it really is 100% waterproof. I think, again, it gets at something that people worry about. You know, "What if I wear my hearing aid in the shower? What if I'm in a hostile climate, what will happen?" Well, the answer is that nothing will happen;it will perform just brilliantly.

Dybala: I distinctly remember a previous patient of mine that Zon would have been ideal for, because he liked to play tennis. He said he needed to hear the way that the ball hit the ground, or the way that the ball sounded when he hit it with his racket, because it gave him an aural indicator of how well he hit it. But there were always moisture issues. I had given him the tried-and-true drying agent, and he was really religious about using that, but how great would it have been to say from the start, "Don't worry about it. Just play your tennis."

Ruzicka: Yes, the hearing aids would work. Arnold Palmer, who was a Destiny user, absolutely would support what you just said. He said that once he got his Destiny hearing aids it made a difference in his golf game, in the confidence of his swing, because of the way he could hear the impact on the ball. I think you're correct, and I think having a device that gives people the comfort to wear it in all environments and all situations, is just a good feature. And that's something that we were able to accomplish even more so with Zon.

Dybala: Sure. What is kind of exciting is that for so long we focused only on understanding speech and noise, and now technology is getting to the point where we're able to also get down to these smaller issues, compared to speech, that are still really important to patients.

Ruzicka: Well, I think, if we want to serve the patients the best we can, we simply have to be able to address everything. And combining all those incremental features can really be a significant step forward for patients.

Dybala: Great. Well, Jerry, thanks again. We have been talking about Starkey's new receiver-in-the-canal device, Zon. If anyone needs additional information about Starkey, you can go to Starkey's website at www.starkey.com. For more information about Zon, you can also visit Zonhearingaids.com

In addition, we always have the Starkey Web Channel here at Audiology Online, so you can see all the latest things happening with Starkey.

Again Jerry, thanks for your time. I'm sure we'll be talking to you soon about more great things coming from Starkey Labs!

Ruzicka: Absolutely. Thanks, Paul.


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 25 countries. Divisions operating under the Starkey Laboratories family of companies include Audibel, Micro-Tech, NuEar and Starkey.