Killion, Mead C.

The Companion Mics® (CMICS™) by Etymotic Research, and more recently by the author’ company MCK Audio, have frequently demonstrated a 10–20 dB improvement in SNR in noisy groups and restaurants for up to four talkers, each of whom wears a CMIC wireless microphone unit on the collar or held near the chin. Until recently, however, the listener would need to wear an earphone. (Experimentally, two ears listening to the same signal provide only a 2 dB advantage.) The disadvantage was that the hearing aid audiologist would have to say: “If you have trouble in noise, take off your hearing aids and put on these earphones.” While waiting for the incorporation of Bluetooth circuits, two other successful alternates have been introduced. The first is an open-ear HearHook© sound tube which hooks over the ear and delivers sound near the earcanal, which is also near the microphone of a hearing aid. The second is the use of a neckloop connected to the CMIC, with the hearing aid switched to “tcoil” mode. An amplified tcoil HHearbud with built-in hum filter allows that use even when electrical hum interference is present.