PERTH, Western Australia – Nuheara Limited (Company), Australia’s only ASX listed consumer wearables technology company and a leader in assistive audio, announced today that it is exploring collaborations to investigate evidence based research on how IQbuds™ and its related technology can potentially benefit children and adults who have concentration and auditory processing difficulties such as Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
The Company is awaiting final ethical approval from a leading Australian university on two research studies involving IQbuds™ to trial with children and adults who have such challenges.
As the Company developed its Super Intelligent Noise Cancellation (SINC™) technology and demonstrated IQbuds™ to thousands of people during 2016, it gained first hand insights into wider applications for IQbuds™ beyond its core business. Through these demonstrations and beta testing, Nuheara has seen promising results in the positive effect on young children and adults who have a range of concentration and auditory processing challenges.
Commenting on the research developments, Nuheara CEO Justin Miller said “Since we delivered our first wearable IQbuds prototype 12 months ago, we have seen first hand how IQBuds™ SINC™ technology can help people on this spectrum more easily access the world around them and allow them to personally customize how they hear the world for their comfort level. This experience now includes children with Auditory Processing Disorder using IQbuds in the classroom, to benefit concentration by reducing the distraction of background noise while enhancing their ability to focus on what they need to focus on. While the results are still anecdotal, the initial responses are very encouraging.”
Figure 1: Diagnosed with APD, student Kai Green aged 8, utilising his IQbuds™ in the classroom.
“Incredibly, we are now seeing IQbuds used to help solve life changing problems by people of all ages between 8 and 80”
“We understand individuals and families who experience challenges such as Auditory Processing Disorder are often presented with recommendations based on false hopes and unrealized results. This is why we are committed to completing pilot studies and developing research projects to validate the positive impact of assistive audio on people with concentration and hearing related challenges and more importantly, support an evidence based approach to quantify what we have witnessed first hand through these demonstrations and deployments. Incredibly, we are now seeing IQbuds used to help solve life changing problems by people of all ages between 8 and 80.” said Justin Miller.
It is estimated that approximately 10% of the population suffer from a range of concentration and auditory disorders, and still, the true prevalence of these disorders is not known. However, in the case of APD, it is estimated to affect up to 3% of all children and it is known to affect more boys than girls.
Auditory Processing Disorder is a hearing disorder in which the ears process sound normally but the hearing centres and circuits of the brain don’t correctly process incoming information. This can affect understanding, especially in challenging listening situations such as in the presence of other distracting sound, or when listening to complex information or instructions. APD is thus often referred to as a hearing problem in which “the brain can’t hear”. Interestingly, twice as many people have challenges with processing sound than are hearing impaired.
Justin Miller said “We started Nuheara with a vision to change peoples lives, in particular people who struggled to hear what they want to hear in the world around them. This applied not only to people with slight hearing loss but also to people with good hearing who wanted to control their audio experience in this ever increasingly noisy world. This remains our core mission and we continue to execute on this plan, but we couldn’t walk away from the real potential to change the lives of this broader group of people struggling with concentration and auditory processing disorders.”
Contacts
Australia
Justin Miller
CEO and Managing Director
+61 8 6555 9999
[email protected]
USA
David Cannington
Executive Director
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
+1?415?497?4754
[email protected]
About Nuheara
Nuheara is an innovative audio Wearables company. It has developed proprietary hardware and software to deliver multi-functional intelligent hearing technology that augments a user’s hearing and facilitates cable free connection to smart devices. With Nuheara’s IQbuds™, consumers are able to augment their hearing according to their personal hearing preferences and connect hands free with their voice enabled smart devices. Nuheara’s mission is to improve people’s lives by allowing them to seamlessly listen, communicate and connect to their physical and digital world. Learn more about Nuheara: www.nuheara.com.
