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Got an MP3 player or a hearing aid? Or perhaps a communications headset you use while on a factory floor — or the battlefield? Robert Oliveira has some tips for you.
They're soft, fit perfectly in your ear canal and let through the sounds you want to hear while blocking surrounding noise, be it a roaring engine or obnoxious fellow traveler. When inserted properly, they can eliminate the irritating whistle of hearing-aid feedback.
Just about everywhere there's a need to couple an audio device to the ear, Oliveira sees opportunities for his company's soft foam tips.
"It makes sense,'' he says. "When you stick the foam in your ear, it holds out unwanted sound and the hole lets you send in wanted sound."
Oliveira, who has a doctorate in biochemistry from Iowa State University, has 16 issued or pending U.S. patents for products related to the ear canal.
He worked at 3M for 18 years, developing products in biochemical diagnostics and disposable surgical products.
With other 3M scientists, he came up with the underlying technology for the tips, which utilizes foam that compresses and then expands.
Traditionally custom-molded hard shells have been used to fit hearing aids to users' ears. They take about a week to make and cost $50 to $60, Oliveira says.
"We thought that did not make sense,'' he says, adding that a good seal is hard to achieve with hard plastic because ear canals change shape over time and even as people talk and eat.
He saw a fix in the foam 3M used in noise-reducing ear plugs.
"We realized that if it keeps sound out, it'd keep sound in if you could deliver it through the foam," says Oliveira.
He came up with a soft foam tip that would work with a hearing aid. But hearing aid manufacturers responded coolly to the idea.
For one thing, back in the '80s, the industry was focused on providing common components in hearing aids and custom-fitted hard plastic hearing aids. The soft tips did not fit with that model. In addition, hearing aid manufacturers were suspicious about the motives of 3M, then a rival hearing-aid manufacturer.
But Oliveira was convinced the tips had great potential. He bought the rights to the patents from 3M and founded Hearing Components in 1990.
At this point, revenues are under $10 million, with 80 percent related to hearing aids and 20 percent connected to military applications.
With inexpensive adaptors, Hearing Components' soft "Comply" tips will fit any behind-the-ear hearing aid, says Oliveira. But such models only account for about 26 percent of the U.S. market.
Hearing Components' strategy is to license its technology to manufacturers of in-the-ear hearing aids and noise-reducing earphones so that they will mate with Hearing Components' snap-on soft tips, which compress and then expand to fit users' ears.
"It's a nice little business (now), but it has the chance to be a very substantial business if we can get them to embrace our technology,'' says Oliveira.
His company is aiming to get the hearing aid industry's big players, such as GN ReSound, Siemens and Starkey, to incorporate Hearing Components' technology into their in-the-ear aids.
GN ReSound is already providing audiologists with demo and loaner in-the-ear aids that use the tips.
These days, hearing aid manufacturers are focused more on the electronics inside a hearing aid than its outside shell, Oliveira says. As a result, he expects there'll be growing interest among manufacturers in his firm's foam tips.
About 30 million Americans have a hearing loss but only about 6 million have hearing aids, he says. They forgo hearing aids because of vanity or the cost. Digital hearing aids generally cost $2,000 to $2,500 per ear.
The development of an inexpensive basic "hearing booster" or "assistive listening device" for early or mild hearing loss could give a boost to his business. Hearing Components' tips could provide a quick way to fit the devices to users' ears, making them the audio equivalent of off-the-shelf reading glasses.
The foam tips have many uses beyond hearing aids, says Oliveira.
The soft tips are already incorporated into communications headsets used by some general aviation pilots, as well as all crew members on U.S. Army helicopters deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
This summer, Comply tips will make their debut on one manufacturer's earphones for MP3 players and other audio devices. As he flies about the country, Oliveira tries out a prototype on fellow travelers. It's better than the earphones that come with an iPod, he argues.
"I'm relentless,'' he says impishly.
What's to keep competitors from producing knock-offs of the tips?
Patents, for sure, says Oliveira. The company has 13 issued patents; the oldest has three years of life left.
The manufacture of the tips, done in Oakdale, is highly automated. Hearing Components has more than $1 million invested in production equipment. Just two or three people are needed to oversee it.
Oliveira is eyeing the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department as a proving ground for the Comply tips. Last year, the VA provided vets with 315,000 custom in-the-ear hearing aids. Meanwhile, it repaired 225,000 hearing aids.
Oliveira is mapping out a pilot program in which vets would be fitted with in-the-ear hearing aids using his soft tips.
"I'm all pumped,'' he says, anticipating that hundreds of thousands of potential customers could soon be hearing about his tips and using them.
By Martin J. Moylon, Pioneer Press
They're soft, fit perfectly in your ear canal and let through the sounds you want to hear while blocking surrounding noise, be it a roaring engine or obnoxious fellow traveler. When inserted properly, they can eliminate the irritating whistle of hearing-aid feedback.
Just about everywhere there's a need to couple an audio device to the ear, Oliveira sees opportunities for his company's soft foam tips.
"It makes sense,'' he says. "When you stick the foam in your ear, it holds out unwanted sound and the hole lets you send in wanted sound."
Oliveira, who has a doctorate in biochemistry from Iowa State University, has 16 issued or pending U.S. patents for products related to the ear canal.
He worked at 3M for 18 years, developing products in biochemical diagnostics and disposable surgical products.
With other 3M scientists, he came up with the underlying technology for the tips, which utilizes foam that compresses and then expands.
Traditionally custom-molded hard shells have been used to fit hearing aids to users' ears. They take about a week to make and cost $50 to $60, Oliveira says.
"We thought that did not make sense,'' he says, adding that a good seal is hard to achieve with hard plastic because ear canals change shape over time and even as people talk and eat.
He saw a fix in the foam 3M used in noise-reducing ear plugs.
"We realized that if it keeps sound out, it'd keep sound in if you could deliver it through the foam," says Oliveira.
He came up with a soft foam tip that would work with a hearing aid. But hearing aid manufacturers responded coolly to the idea.
For one thing, back in the '80s, the industry was focused on providing common components in hearing aids and custom-fitted hard plastic hearing aids. The soft tips did not fit with that model. In addition, hearing aid manufacturers were suspicious about the motives of 3M, then a rival hearing-aid manufacturer.
But Oliveira was convinced the tips had great potential. He bought the rights to the patents from 3M and founded Hearing Components in 1990.
At this point, revenues are under $10 million, with 80 percent related to hearing aids and 20 percent connected to military applications.
With inexpensive adaptors, Hearing Components' soft "Comply" tips will fit any behind-the-ear hearing aid, says Oliveira. But such models only account for about 26 percent of the U.S. market.
Hearing Components' strategy is to license its technology to manufacturers of in-the-ear hearing aids and noise-reducing earphones so that they will mate with Hearing Components' snap-on soft tips, which compress and then expand to fit users' ears.
"It's a nice little business (now), but it has the chance to be a very substantial business if we can get them to embrace our technology,'' says Oliveira.
His company is aiming to get the hearing aid industry's big players, such as GN ReSound, Siemens and Starkey, to incorporate Hearing Components' technology into their in-the-ear aids.
GN ReSound is already providing audiologists with demo and loaner in-the-ear aids that use the tips.
These days, hearing aid manufacturers are focused more on the electronics inside a hearing aid than its outside shell, Oliveira says. As a result, he expects there'll be growing interest among manufacturers in his firm's foam tips.
About 30 million Americans have a hearing loss but only about 6 million have hearing aids, he says. They forgo hearing aids because of vanity or the cost. Digital hearing aids generally cost $2,000 to $2,500 per ear.
The development of an inexpensive basic "hearing booster" or "assistive listening device" for early or mild hearing loss could give a boost to his business. Hearing Components' tips could provide a quick way to fit the devices to users' ears, making them the audio equivalent of off-the-shelf reading glasses.
The foam tips have many uses beyond hearing aids, says Oliveira.
The soft tips are already incorporated into communications headsets used by some general aviation pilots, as well as all crew members on U.S. Army helicopters deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
This summer, Comply tips will make their debut on one manufacturer's earphones for MP3 players and other audio devices. As he flies about the country, Oliveira tries out a prototype on fellow travelers. It's better than the earphones that come with an iPod, he argues.
"I'm relentless,'' he says impishly.
What's to keep competitors from producing knock-offs of the tips?
Patents, for sure, says Oliveira. The company has 13 issued patents; the oldest has three years of life left.
The manufacture of the tips, done in Oakdale, is highly automated. Hearing Components has more than $1 million invested in production equipment. Just two or three people are needed to oversee it.
Oliveira is eyeing the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department as a proving ground for the Comply tips. Last year, the VA provided vets with 315,000 custom in-the-ear hearing aids. Meanwhile, it repaired 225,000 hearing aids.
Oliveira is mapping out a pilot program in which vets would be fitted with in-the-ear hearing aids using his soft tips.
"I'm all pumped,'' he says, anticipating that hundreds of thousands of potential customers could soon be hearing about his tips and using them.
By Martin J. Moylon, Pioneer Press