Interview with Todd Schneider Senior Director of Medical & Wireless Products, AMI Semiconductor
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Topic: MultiLevel Simultaneous Digital Signal Processing
Beck: Good morning Todd. I know you've been in the industry for a while, would you please review a little of your professional bio for me?
Schneider Sure. My undergraduate and master's degrees are both in electrical engineering with an emphasis in digital signal processing, from the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario. My master's was completed in 1991.
Beck: And did you go straight into the hearing aid industry upon graduation?
Schneider No, I went to the University of Western Ontario and did research there for four years on the electroacoustic analysis of hearing aids. After that, approximately 1996 or so, I went to Unitron, a Canadian hearing aid manufacturer, and was part of the group that spun-off to found Dspfactory. Dspfactory was acquired by AMI Semiconductor in November of 2004, and that's where I am currently.
Beck: OK, thanks Todd. What can you tell me about the new chips and circuits you're working on, and how they relate to the hearing aid industry?
Schneider We've been working on the successor to our Toccata Plus™ and Orela™ 4500 platforms. We are also working to get our products deployed into some new areas such as the new wireless SmartLink SX™ assistive listening device (ALD) from Phonak. This is a device that employs our digital signal processor (DSP), along with Phonak's RF technology to implement advanced FM features, remote control and a Bluetooth® link for mobile phone use. It has tremendous flexibility and really takes FM systems to the next level.
Beck: So you're taking an existing FM system, and adding the DSP processor, to accomplish what in particular?
Schneider In the SmartLink SX™ Phonak uses AMI Semiconductor's DSP processor to implement directional processing, noise reduction and voice enhancement. These are just some of the things that you can do with our DSP technology. You can also use it to implement adaptive feedback reduction, data logging (for adaptive fitting schemes) and advanced dynamic range compression schemes.
Beck: And I suspect some of these same improvements and developments can be used in digital hearing aid circuits, too?
Schneider Exactly right. Our chips manage increased processing demands and increase the overall abilities of sophisticated digital hearing aids. In fact, we're one of the major suppliers of open platform DSP technologies for the hearing aid industry, we supply the "digital guts."
Beck: And then the hearing aid manufacturer writes their own program for the signal processors you supply?
Schneider That's the idea. We supply the open platform to the OEM market and our customers supply the software. It's been a big change for the industry - moving from expressing intellectual property in software on an open platform instead of in silicon, as some companies still do by making their own chips. Some hearing aid companies still manufacture their own chips because they feel it provides benefit. However, some of these same companies use our devices too.
Beck: And since your products are open platform, they can be thought of as "universal digital guts" upon which the hearing aid circuit is written?
Schneider Yes, that might be a good way to think of it. The hearing aid user sees, or rather hears, the signal processing algorithm that has been expressed in software on AMI Semiconductor's DSP by the hearing aid manufacturer. Of course, the hearing aid manufacturer has to select the hardware platform and for hearing aids, this means a specialized DSP platform, like our DSP, that meets the demanding size, power, fidelity, and latency requirements of the hearing aid application.
Beck: And as you work with a multitude of hearing aid companies in high technology applications, can you tell me what "new" applications are coming "down the pike" in the next year or two?
Schneider Well, that's hard to describe, but I'll try. In terms of DSP processing, we're going to see more emphasis on subband adaptive schemes for noise reduction and feedback reduction. There are also some novel dynamic range compression schemes out there that are just becoming widely deployed. RF and in particular digital RF are now in their infancy and these will open up new possibilities like audio streaming and perhaps collaborative processing, where two hearing aids will communicate with each other using ear-to-ear communications. Finally, there are "smart" hearing aids, where the hearing aid adapts the fit or identifies and adapts to various types of environments over time. At AMIS, we're working to design the hardware platforms and provide the software tools that will allow hearing aid manufacturers to deliver on the promise of these processing schemes in the future.
Beck: Frankly, the technology is staggering, and it allows the hearing aid manufacturers to produce products that really fulfill the "digital promise." In other words, we're past the point where the word "digital" is the impressive issue! We're seeing the culmination of some amazing processing abilities and the facilitation of interwoven digital technologies applied directly to sound processing and hearing aid technology.
Schneider That's the idea. We're doing things now that we only dreamt of doing four of five years ago. We've helped to put the hearing aid industry onto the "technology curve" that you see in other high-technology markets and we're now starting to reap the benefits of this. There's much more to come.
Beck: And I believe your circuits are already impacting "high-end" hearing aids available on the market today?
Schneider Yes, they're readily available.
Beck: So the discussion and debate about open versus closed platforms, from some six or eight years ago, is pretty much a non-issue?
Schneider Yes, that's pretty much a done deal across most of the industry. I believe the open platform has proven itself to be vastly more flexible and capable. Our particular spin on the open platform, a reconfigurable application specific standard processor (ASSP) with two main processor cores, has now been adopted by companies like Intel and AMD in their quest for lower power PCs. Properly done, this approach also requires less memory so we can also reduce chip size, which is key for hearing aids.
Beck: Aside from power and size, are there other advantages to the "open" approach?
Schneider In the hearing aid industry, the end-user really cares about functionality, price, reliability, and quality. If the OEM can use the same chip across their entire hearing aid line, while writing different software applications for various products, you'll get more bang for the buck through better economies of scale. In addition, you can update your software quickly and efficiently to incorporate changes, rather than continuing to design and develop proprietary chips, which can already handle more challenges than the software currently delivers.
Beck: OK, let me switch topics....One thing you and I spoke about a little while ago was streaming audio. Can you tell me how that might be incorporated into hearing aid technology?
Schneider With digital streaming audio, you can have audio signals delivered from a sound source into a hearing aid via wireless transmission, perhaps Bluetooth or a less power hungry wireless system, like a proprietary RF link. So the sound source could be a portable microphone, the Internet, a DVD or CD player, or really any sound source at all. We've implemented this already for Bluetooth headsets and we look forward to working with our OEM customers in the hearing aid industry to bring low-power RF technology to the broader hearing aid market.
Beck: And the SmartLink SXM from Phonak already has a proprietary RF link - doesn't it?
Schneider Yes, Phonak is a company that has done some pioneering work in this area.
Beck: Todd, this really is fascinating, thanks for your time this morning.
Schneider Thank you, Doug. It's been nice speaking with you.
For more information on AMI Semiconductor, www.amis.com.
For more information on Phonak, www.phonak.com.
Schneider Sure. My undergraduate and master's degrees are both in electrical engineering with an emphasis in digital signal processing, from the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario. My master's was completed in 1991.
Beck: And did you go straight into the hearing aid industry upon graduation?
Schneider No, I went to the University of Western Ontario and did research there for four years on the electroacoustic analysis of hearing aids. After that, approximately 1996 or so, I went to Unitron, a Canadian hearing aid manufacturer, and was part of the group that spun-off to found Dspfactory. Dspfactory was acquired by AMI Semiconductor in November of 2004, and that's where I am currently.
Beck: OK, thanks Todd. What can you tell me about the new chips and circuits you're working on, and how they relate to the hearing aid industry?
Schneider We've been working on the successor to our Toccata Plus™ and Orela™ 4500 platforms. We are also working to get our products deployed into some new areas such as the new wireless SmartLink SX™ assistive listening device (ALD) from Phonak. This is a device that employs our digital signal processor (DSP), along with Phonak's RF technology to implement advanced FM features, remote control and a Bluetooth® link for mobile phone use. It has tremendous flexibility and really takes FM systems to the next level.
Beck: So you're taking an existing FM system, and adding the DSP processor, to accomplish what in particular?
Schneider In the SmartLink SX™ Phonak uses AMI Semiconductor's DSP processor to implement directional processing, noise reduction and voice enhancement. These are just some of the things that you can do with our DSP technology. You can also use it to implement adaptive feedback reduction, data logging (for adaptive fitting schemes) and advanced dynamic range compression schemes.
Beck: And I suspect some of these same improvements and developments can be used in digital hearing aid circuits, too?
Schneider Exactly right. Our chips manage increased processing demands and increase the overall abilities of sophisticated digital hearing aids. In fact, we're one of the major suppliers of open platform DSP technologies for the hearing aid industry, we supply the "digital guts."
Beck: And then the hearing aid manufacturer writes their own program for the signal processors you supply?
Schneider That's the idea. We supply the open platform to the OEM market and our customers supply the software. It's been a big change for the industry - moving from expressing intellectual property in software on an open platform instead of in silicon, as some companies still do by making their own chips. Some hearing aid companies still manufacture their own chips because they feel it provides benefit. However, some of these same companies use our devices too.
Beck: And since your products are open platform, they can be thought of as "universal digital guts" upon which the hearing aid circuit is written?
Schneider Yes, that might be a good way to think of it. The hearing aid user sees, or rather hears, the signal processing algorithm that has been expressed in software on AMI Semiconductor's DSP by the hearing aid manufacturer. Of course, the hearing aid manufacturer has to select the hardware platform and for hearing aids, this means a specialized DSP platform, like our DSP, that meets the demanding size, power, fidelity, and latency requirements of the hearing aid application.
Beck: And as you work with a multitude of hearing aid companies in high technology applications, can you tell me what "new" applications are coming "down the pike" in the next year or two?
Schneider Well, that's hard to describe, but I'll try. In terms of DSP processing, we're going to see more emphasis on subband adaptive schemes for noise reduction and feedback reduction. There are also some novel dynamic range compression schemes out there that are just becoming widely deployed. RF and in particular digital RF are now in their infancy and these will open up new possibilities like audio streaming and perhaps collaborative processing, where two hearing aids will communicate with each other using ear-to-ear communications. Finally, there are "smart" hearing aids, where the hearing aid adapts the fit or identifies and adapts to various types of environments over time. At AMIS, we're working to design the hardware platforms and provide the software tools that will allow hearing aid manufacturers to deliver on the promise of these processing schemes in the future.
Beck: Frankly, the technology is staggering, and it allows the hearing aid manufacturers to produce products that really fulfill the "digital promise." In other words, we're past the point where the word "digital" is the impressive issue! We're seeing the culmination of some amazing processing abilities and the facilitation of interwoven digital technologies applied directly to sound processing and hearing aid technology.
Schneider That's the idea. We're doing things now that we only dreamt of doing four of five years ago. We've helped to put the hearing aid industry onto the "technology curve" that you see in other high-technology markets and we're now starting to reap the benefits of this. There's much more to come.
Beck: And I believe your circuits are already impacting "high-end" hearing aids available on the market today?
Schneider Yes, they're readily available.
Beck: So the discussion and debate about open versus closed platforms, from some six or eight years ago, is pretty much a non-issue?
Schneider Yes, that's pretty much a done deal across most of the industry. I believe the open platform has proven itself to be vastly more flexible and capable. Our particular spin on the open platform, a reconfigurable application specific standard processor (ASSP) with two main processor cores, has now been adopted by companies like Intel and AMD in their quest for lower power PCs. Properly done, this approach also requires less memory so we can also reduce chip size, which is key for hearing aids.
Beck: Aside from power and size, are there other advantages to the "open" approach?
Schneider In the hearing aid industry, the end-user really cares about functionality, price, reliability, and quality. If the OEM can use the same chip across their entire hearing aid line, while writing different software applications for various products, you'll get more bang for the buck through better economies of scale. In addition, you can update your software quickly and efficiently to incorporate changes, rather than continuing to design and develop proprietary chips, which can already handle more challenges than the software currently delivers.
Beck: OK, let me switch topics....One thing you and I spoke about a little while ago was streaming audio. Can you tell me how that might be incorporated into hearing aid technology?
Schneider With digital streaming audio, you can have audio signals delivered from a sound source into a hearing aid via wireless transmission, perhaps Bluetooth or a less power hungry wireless system, like a proprietary RF link. So the sound source could be a portable microphone, the Internet, a DVD or CD player, or really any sound source at all. We've implemented this already for Bluetooth headsets and we look forward to working with our OEM customers in the hearing aid industry to bring low-power RF technology to the broader hearing aid market.
Beck: And the SmartLink SXM from Phonak already has a proprietary RF link - doesn't it?
Schneider Yes, Phonak is a company that has done some pioneering work in this area.
Beck: Todd, this really is fascinating, thanks for your time this morning.
Schneider Thank you, Doug. It's been nice speaking with you.
For more information on AMI Semiconductor, www.amis.com.
For more information on Phonak, www.phonak.com.
