The Hearing Review recently spoke with Rick Pimentel, president and COO of Phonic Ear Inc, Petaluma, Calif, about a variety of industry topics.

What is your company’s niche within the hearing industry?
We are unique in that we essentially created our niche 35 years ago. We pioneered the development and use of wireless FM systems for hearing-impaired children in the classroom. We have since broadened our markets and now Phonic Ear offers a wide variety of assistive listening solutions for classrooms, businesses and personal users. For classrooms and personal users we have multi-channel systems, body-worn systems, ear-level systems, and soundfield systems. We also offer a variety of assistive listening solutions for businesses, such as movie theaters, museums, and much more.

How do you utilize new technology in your product development?
The first step is to understand the needs of users, parents, hearing care professionals, and businesses, then determine how we can use technology to meet those needs. We create or utilize any new technology that we feel will deliver the features our customers demand. In the Lexis FM system, for example, we utilized an advanced microphone design and digital signal processing to deliver superior sound and incredible directionality, greatly enhancing the user’s ability to separate the voices they need to hear from the noise they don’t.

What challenging issues does the hearing industry face?
Awareness and distribution. In both the educational and dispensing sectors, we are working to create more awareness about the benefits of wireless FM systems. For example, in the educational market we are expanding the use of wireless amplification beyond students with severe-to-profound hearing loss to kids with Central Auditory Processing disorders, ADHD, and more. In the dispensing markets, we are advocating the benefits of wireless FM systems for hearing aid wearers who have difficulty in a variety of environments, such as restaurants, social events, or even at home. Dispensing professionals are critical in promoting the benefits of FM to adult users.