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GN ReSound probably is one of the largest Twin Cities companies you've never heard of.
Some 610 employees work within an unassuming gray monolith in Bloomington formerly occupied by computer disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology Inc. They make, refine and market hearing devices.
Five years ago, the Danish-owned company employed just 125 locally.
The growth was largely attributable to the introduction two years ago of the company's ReSoundAIR digital hearing device. Designed for people with high-frequency hearing loss, the device purportedly eliminates occlusion, a phenomenon in which wearers' voices sound distorted. "It sounds like my head is in a bucket," is a common complaint, company officials say.
"It's a really neat little mini hearing device," said Richard Jackson, GN ReSound's president.
The digital device divides sound into 14 adjustable frequency bands, which closely mimic the function of the human ear. The instrument is hard for others to detect, too -- a popular feature for those who might feel self-conscious about wearing a hearing aid.
Unlike traditional devices that plug directly into the ear canal, ReSoundAIR's circuitry is clipped behind the ear and attached to the canal with close-to-invisible tubing.
The device has won seven international design awards, including the French design prize Janus and the Danish Design Prize. The company sells several hundred of the products every day.
The company's local plant where the device is made is also deceptive in appearance --at least from the outside. The company spent several million dollars in recent years to renovate the 120,000-square-foot building's interior, replete with blonde wood, a large atrium and an open layout -- a nod, perhaps, to the company's Danish roots. Even then, Jackson said, the local operation is bursting at the seams and managers will have to contemplate how to physically accommodate the company's growth in the future.
Each hearing device shipped to destinations in North America is custom-made at the Bloomington facility, a process that entails repeated refinements -- by hand -- to the tiny devices. But company officials say the assembly line is evolving toward one that embraces computerized design.
Currently, an audiologist takes a physical mold of the patient's ear in order to fit the hearing device. In the future, doctors will be able to scan an impression of a patient's ear canal and e-mail it directly to the factory.
GN ReSound is owned by GN Great Nordic, a publicly held company based in Copenhagen with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion. The Bloomington-based division serving North America reported sales of $477 million in 2004.
GN ReSound's sales are growing at an annual rate of 15 percent, which company officials claim outpaces the hearing-device industry's sluggish 3 to 5 percent rate. The company is the world's No. 3 hearing-aid manufacturer with 16 percent of the world market, behind Siemens and Oticon.
Beyond the introduction of ReSoundAIR and other products, such as its Canta line, the company would seem to have demographics in its favor for continued growth as the nation's baby boomers age.
According to the Better Hearing Institute, 28 million people in the United States experience hearing loss -- roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population. And fewer than 20 percent of them have sought treatment or obtained hearing aids.
Another product line called ReSound Metrix is expected to be launched this year with what company officials say will have greater quality and functionality.
Already, the company has an engaging, albeit unofficial, spokeswoman, for the Metrix product: Miss America, Deidre Downs, who has been hearing-impaired since childhood.
By Janet Moore
Some 610 employees work within an unassuming gray monolith in Bloomington formerly occupied by computer disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology Inc. They make, refine and market hearing devices.
Five years ago, the Danish-owned company employed just 125 locally.
The growth was largely attributable to the introduction two years ago of the company's ReSoundAIR digital hearing device. Designed for people with high-frequency hearing loss, the device purportedly eliminates occlusion, a phenomenon in which wearers' voices sound distorted. "It sounds like my head is in a bucket," is a common complaint, company officials say.
"It's a really neat little mini hearing device," said Richard Jackson, GN ReSound's president.
The digital device divides sound into 14 adjustable frequency bands, which closely mimic the function of the human ear. The instrument is hard for others to detect, too -- a popular feature for those who might feel self-conscious about wearing a hearing aid.
Unlike traditional devices that plug directly into the ear canal, ReSoundAIR's circuitry is clipped behind the ear and attached to the canal with close-to-invisible tubing.
The device has won seven international design awards, including the French design prize Janus and the Danish Design Prize. The company sells several hundred of the products every day.
The company's local plant where the device is made is also deceptive in appearance --at least from the outside. The company spent several million dollars in recent years to renovate the 120,000-square-foot building's interior, replete with blonde wood, a large atrium and an open layout -- a nod, perhaps, to the company's Danish roots. Even then, Jackson said, the local operation is bursting at the seams and managers will have to contemplate how to physically accommodate the company's growth in the future.
Each hearing device shipped to destinations in North America is custom-made at the Bloomington facility, a process that entails repeated refinements -- by hand -- to the tiny devices. But company officials say the assembly line is evolving toward one that embraces computerized design.
Currently, an audiologist takes a physical mold of the patient's ear in order to fit the hearing device. In the future, doctors will be able to scan an impression of a patient's ear canal and e-mail it directly to the factory.
GN ReSound is owned by GN Great Nordic, a publicly held company based in Copenhagen with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion. The Bloomington-based division serving North America reported sales of $477 million in 2004.
GN ReSound's sales are growing at an annual rate of 15 percent, which company officials claim outpaces the hearing-device industry's sluggish 3 to 5 percent rate. The company is the world's No. 3 hearing-aid manufacturer with 16 percent of the world market, behind Siemens and Oticon.
Beyond the introduction of ReSoundAIR and other products, such as its Canta line, the company would seem to have demographics in its favor for continued growth as the nation's baby boomers age.
According to the Better Hearing Institute, 28 million people in the United States experience hearing loss -- roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population. And fewer than 20 percent of them have sought treatment or obtained hearing aids.
Another product line called ReSound Metrix is expected to be launched this year with what company officials say will have greater quality and functionality.
Already, the company has an engaging, albeit unofficial, spokeswoman, for the Metrix product: Miss America, Deidre Downs, who has been hearing-impaired since childhood.
By Janet Moore