Interview with Gora Ganguli Vice President & General Manager, Hearing Instrument Products, GENNUM CORPORATION
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Topic: The Future of Hearing Devices...Closer than you think!
BECK: Hi Gora. It's a pleasure to speak with you again. Can you tell me a little about yourself please? Where did you go to school and how long have you been with Gennum?
GANGULI: Thanks Doug. I have an engineering degree and a masters in business administration, both from McGill University. I worked for about seven years for IBM, in their microelectronic division, and I've been at Gennum for the last five years.
BECK: I think many of the readers know the name "Gennum," but perhaps you can tell us a little about GENNUM and what do they do?
GANGULI: Sure Doug. Gennum is a semi-conductor products company, we manufacture semi-conductor products for a variety of markets. We make chief components for video routers to recondition their signals to high quality levels and we also work in the data communications market, transporting signals from one place to another in the world of data. We provide a chip that reconditions signals while moving through the internet at very high speeds. And as you know, we're in the hearing instruments business too. My area is the Hearing Instrument Product Division, which is approximately 40% of the total Gennum Company business. We've been in the hearing business for the last 32 years.
BECK: Gora, can you address where we are and where we're going as providers of technology for hearing impaired people?
GANGULI: I think we're capable of very powerful hardware platforms. Audiologists and researchers can and soon will develop very sophisticated ways of addressing hearing problems in terms of adaptive systems that protect and respond to the acoustic environment in a much more sophisticated way than previous generation products.
BECK: You specified "hardware," but I think many of us look to technological and processing improvements and changes via software?
GANGULI: Well yes, typically that's how people do think. But, we have a new hardware platform coming out probably towards the end of this year, with many more circuits in the same size package, as the chip available today.
BECK: What would more chips in a smaller package do, that we can't do today?
GANGULI: Well.... basically this change provides more horsepower.
BECK: "More" as in doubling the power?
GANGULI: We're looking at 6-8 times more power than the current chip.
BECK: And does that mean 6-8 times the ability to process information in a given time frame?
GANGULI: Yes, that's right. What we currently offer the patient is somewhat of a trade off between purpose, capability and battery power potential. But we're really going to rev up the "capability" side of the equation, and the result should be impressive. Someone in the industry said that in the first few years of "digitalization" of hearing aids, we've basically made digital versions of analog units. Which is essentially true, and that made sense as the starting point, but we're ready to explore the capability of digital technology in its' own right, and that has not happened yet!
BECK: I agree. I've heard that claim before and it appears to be true, but I wonder -- Can you give me some insight as to what adding more horsepower to digital circuits would allow?
GANGULI: It vastly increases the amount of software code that's running, and the more codes you run, the more sophisticated your program is. Designers can increase the amount of codes now, but it burns up a lot of energy and depletes resources.
BECK: Do you anticipate video capabilities being integrated with hearing technology, and if so, what might that application look like?
GANGULI: I think something like a convergence is happening. We identified that years ago as a probable goal, and in the mainstream world of multi-media, audio, music and telephones -- it's happening. Another major initiative is the "wireless" movement and finding ways to use that technology to help hearing impaired people who already have a hearing device in their ear! In other words, because they already have a device in their ear, why not use that device to bring audio, CDs, DVDs, AM/FM and telephone conversations into that same device?
BECK: This is very exciting, and it has the appearance of potentially opening the "personal sound system" flood gates for hearing impaired and normal-hearing people. I believe what you're saying is that basically anyone, a consumer, or a patient would have an ear impression taken and a custom made "ear piece" would be created for them, fitting perfectly and matching their skin color and texture, and then inside of the ear piece is where the magic would reside. Not only would there be a special circuit inside the ear piece that hearing healthcare professionals could program for amplification purposes, but within that device, you would have audio capabilities for DVD, MP3, CD, television, television, movies, cell phone, AM/FM and just about any other technology that transmits or transfers sound!
GANGULI: That's right. That's exactly what we're talking about here. I don't think we're talking years of development time either, I think it's coming next year. The digital technology we're working on is going to make that happen in a timeframe that is probably going to surprise a lot of people. At the recent AAA in Salt Lake City, we launched a combination telephone headset-hearing aid for hearing impaired people who are cell phone headset users. We're also developing and bringing to market, in 2005, an ultra-low power wireless technology that will work off traditional hearing aid batteries and will consume power in the same way as traditional hearing aids but will provide additional audio functions to feed audio and telephone signals into your hearing device.
BECK: So people wearing hearing aids could communicate through that new device via cell phones, CD, AM-FM or whatever?
GANGULI: Right, exactly.
BECK: And so somebody wearing a hearing aid can use your little black box as an interface between their hearing aid and their cell phone?
GANGULI: That's right, and it will be commercially available early next year.
BECK: That is amazing.
GANGULI: Yes, it really is. And the second application is similar to what's available today in the world of wireless FM systems it'll allow the feeding of audio directly into the hearing aid in schools and other areas and the quality of the audio would be much higher and implementation costs are much lower with wireless digital technology, and there is less interference with the wireless digital signal too.
BECK: So we're really talking about using digital as digital, rather than creating digital versions of analog technologies.
GANGULI: Yes, that's correct. The third application has even more applicability, and a lot of promise but it's in the early stage of development. Basically the idea is that instead of two independent hearing aids, one on the left and one on the right, and they don't communicate with each other at all....the idea is to have them wirelessly connected, actually communicating with each other. You can move audio heard from one hearing aid to the other side, and you can transfer data from one to the other, and you can do some very clever and creative things in the world of directionality.
BECK: Would you be able to program phase relationships?
GANGULI: Yes. This will really change the way hearing aids work, and it will change the wearer's experience with hearing aids too. So in essence, what we've done is designed a wireless technology specifically for the size constraints of hearing instruments, and we're addressing this issue not just as a communication problem to be solved, but also as a lifestyle product, something to enhance quality of life. So we're pretty excited about it.
BECK: It really is an amazing step forward. When you think about all the sound production products, and the ability to wirelessly connect them to your hearing aids - wow!
GANGULI: It really gets back to the idea of what the additional horsepower allows, as we discussed earlier. Imagine an individual wearing a device in their ear, and they want to make a cell phone call. All they'll need to do is say "dial," and then the name if the person they want to call and the voice recognition dials. The microphone is in the earpiece and the software will reside in the ear device once we have the horsepower to do that, and the ear device communicates with the cell phone.
BECK: That's amazing.
GANGULI: I think our vision of what technology will enable in the hearing aid market is quite different than the status quo.
BECK: Thanks Gora. It is a pleasure to speak with you.
GANGULI: Thank you too Doug. It's been fun for me to share these ideas with you, and I hope to see you soon.
For more information on GENNUM, CLICK HERE.
GANGULI: Thanks Doug. I have an engineering degree and a masters in business administration, both from McGill University. I worked for about seven years for IBM, in their microelectronic division, and I've been at Gennum for the last five years.
BECK: I think many of the readers know the name "Gennum," but perhaps you can tell us a little about GENNUM and what do they do?
GANGULI: Sure Doug. Gennum is a semi-conductor products company, we manufacture semi-conductor products for a variety of markets. We make chief components for video routers to recondition their signals to high quality levels and we also work in the data communications market, transporting signals from one place to another in the world of data. We provide a chip that reconditions signals while moving through the internet at very high speeds. And as you know, we're in the hearing instruments business too. My area is the Hearing Instrument Product Division, which is approximately 40% of the total Gennum Company business. We've been in the hearing business for the last 32 years.
BECK: Gora, can you address where we are and where we're going as providers of technology for hearing impaired people?
GANGULI: I think we're capable of very powerful hardware platforms. Audiologists and researchers can and soon will develop very sophisticated ways of addressing hearing problems in terms of adaptive systems that protect and respond to the acoustic environment in a much more sophisticated way than previous generation products.
BECK: You specified "hardware," but I think many of us look to technological and processing improvements and changes via software?
GANGULI: Well yes, typically that's how people do think. But, we have a new hardware platform coming out probably towards the end of this year, with many more circuits in the same size package, as the chip available today.
BECK: What would more chips in a smaller package do, that we can't do today?
GANGULI: Well.... basically this change provides more horsepower.
BECK: "More" as in doubling the power?
GANGULI: We're looking at 6-8 times more power than the current chip.
BECK: And does that mean 6-8 times the ability to process information in a given time frame?
GANGULI: Yes, that's right. What we currently offer the patient is somewhat of a trade off between purpose, capability and battery power potential. But we're really going to rev up the "capability" side of the equation, and the result should be impressive. Someone in the industry said that in the first few years of "digitalization" of hearing aids, we've basically made digital versions of analog units. Which is essentially true, and that made sense as the starting point, but we're ready to explore the capability of digital technology in its' own right, and that has not happened yet!
BECK: I agree. I've heard that claim before and it appears to be true, but I wonder -- Can you give me some insight as to what adding more horsepower to digital circuits would allow?
GANGULI: It vastly increases the amount of software code that's running, and the more codes you run, the more sophisticated your program is. Designers can increase the amount of codes now, but it burns up a lot of energy and depletes resources.
BECK: Do you anticipate video capabilities being integrated with hearing technology, and if so, what might that application look like?
GANGULI: I think something like a convergence is happening. We identified that years ago as a probable goal, and in the mainstream world of multi-media, audio, music and telephones -- it's happening. Another major initiative is the "wireless" movement and finding ways to use that technology to help hearing impaired people who already have a hearing device in their ear! In other words, because they already have a device in their ear, why not use that device to bring audio, CDs, DVDs, AM/FM and telephone conversations into that same device?
BECK: This is very exciting, and it has the appearance of potentially opening the "personal sound system" flood gates for hearing impaired and normal-hearing people. I believe what you're saying is that basically anyone, a consumer, or a patient would have an ear impression taken and a custom made "ear piece" would be created for them, fitting perfectly and matching their skin color and texture, and then inside of the ear piece is where the magic would reside. Not only would there be a special circuit inside the ear piece that hearing healthcare professionals could program for amplification purposes, but within that device, you would have audio capabilities for DVD, MP3, CD, television, television, movies, cell phone, AM/FM and just about any other technology that transmits or transfers sound!
GANGULI: That's right. That's exactly what we're talking about here. I don't think we're talking years of development time either, I think it's coming next year. The digital technology we're working on is going to make that happen in a timeframe that is probably going to surprise a lot of people. At the recent AAA in Salt Lake City, we launched a combination telephone headset-hearing aid for hearing impaired people who are cell phone headset users. We're also developing and bringing to market, in 2005, an ultra-low power wireless technology that will work off traditional hearing aid batteries and will consume power in the same way as traditional hearing aids but will provide additional audio functions to feed audio and telephone signals into your hearing device.
BECK: So people wearing hearing aids could communicate through that new device via cell phones, CD, AM-FM or whatever?
GANGULI: Right, exactly.
BECK: And so somebody wearing a hearing aid can use your little black box as an interface between their hearing aid and their cell phone?
GANGULI: That's right, and it will be commercially available early next year.
BECK: That is amazing.
GANGULI: Yes, it really is. And the second application is similar to what's available today in the world of wireless FM systems it'll allow the feeding of audio directly into the hearing aid in schools and other areas and the quality of the audio would be much higher and implementation costs are much lower with wireless digital technology, and there is less interference with the wireless digital signal too.
BECK: So we're really talking about using digital as digital, rather than creating digital versions of analog technologies.
GANGULI: Yes, that's correct. The third application has even more applicability, and a lot of promise but it's in the early stage of development. Basically the idea is that instead of two independent hearing aids, one on the left and one on the right, and they don't communicate with each other at all....the idea is to have them wirelessly connected, actually communicating with each other. You can move audio heard from one hearing aid to the other side, and you can transfer data from one to the other, and you can do some very clever and creative things in the world of directionality.
BECK: Would you be able to program phase relationships?
GANGULI: Yes. This will really change the way hearing aids work, and it will change the wearer's experience with hearing aids too. So in essence, what we've done is designed a wireless technology specifically for the size constraints of hearing instruments, and we're addressing this issue not just as a communication problem to be solved, but also as a lifestyle product, something to enhance quality of life. So we're pretty excited about it.
BECK: It really is an amazing step forward. When you think about all the sound production products, and the ability to wirelessly connect them to your hearing aids - wow!
GANGULI: It really gets back to the idea of what the additional horsepower allows, as we discussed earlier. Imagine an individual wearing a device in their ear, and they want to make a cell phone call. All they'll need to do is say "dial," and then the name if the person they want to call and the voice recognition dials. The microphone is in the earpiece and the software will reside in the ear device once we have the horsepower to do that, and the ear device communicates with the cell phone.
BECK: That's amazing.
GANGULI: I think our vision of what technology will enable in the hearing aid market is quite different than the status quo.
BECK: Thanks Gora. It is a pleasure to speak with you.
GANGULI: Thank you too Doug. It's been fun for me to share these ideas with you, and I hope to see you soon.
For more information on GENNUM, CLICK HERE.
