MONTEREY, Calif — Beltone held its 2008 Annual Meeting at the Monterey Conference Center from May 29th-31st. The annual meeting, themed “Live, Laugh, Learn.” was attended by more than 700 members of the US and Canadian Beltone network, as well as international guests representing over 20 countries. Each year hearing care practitioners from around the world gather at Beltone’s Annual Meeting to share ideas, participate in educational seminars on new technologies, and learn about the company’s newest digital products and services.

Beltone North America President Todd Murray congratulated all of the company’s network members for their remarkable achievements. Performance awards were presented to top practitioners from its offices throughout the US, Canada and internationally. Beltone presented its  President’s Cup award to Dan and Jean Fletcher of Southgate, Mich, for their exceptional patient care, community involvement, and professional business practices.

The highlight of this year’s meeting was the introduction of Beltone Reach™ with Automatic Smart Beam Steering™, a new technology designed to automatically adjust the width of the directional beam based on the location of the noise source. Reach also offers new Monitored Directionality™, which helps patients hear sounds that they want to focus on and monitor sounds from other directions. 

In addition, the new automatic Smart Beam Steering works with the Speech Spotter™, which automatically initiates the directionality when speech signals are challenged by noise sources competing for attention. In this way, the instrument automatically zooms in to focus on speech and switches back to omni-directional mode when directionality is no longer needed.  The result for the user is a truly hands-free experience, according to the company. 

Beltone Reach is available in both standard and high-power configurations with various choices to make fitting options extremely flexible.  Users can choose from Receiver-in-Ear (RIE), Behind-the-Ear (BTE) or In-the-Ear (ITE).  Color choices enable further personalization, allowing users to match hair color or shape.   

About Beltone Electronics. Founded in 1940, Chicago-based Beltone Electronics is part of the GN Hearing Care Group, utilizing advanced technology to produce hearing instruments sold in the United States, Canada and over 40 countries worldwide. According to the company, it provides outstanding service and support in over 1400 offices in North America, and Beltone remains the most trusted brand for quality products and care among its patients and adults aged 50 and older.

SOURCE: Beltone Electronics