Sam Westover, Chairman and CEO of the Salt Lake City-based company, said the company’s reorganization and streamlining of its product lines has results in lower costs and stronger product offerings, including a new mid-range version of the Sonic Innovations Velocity family of hearing aids introduced in the fourth quarter.

“Our businesses have attractive growth prospects that have been encumbered by the level of debt the parent company is carrying,” said Kent Hussey, Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum Brands. “We do not believe there is any current need – and we have no current plans – to make any significant operating changes to our three business units, which have been profitable and have generated positive cash flow, and are meaningful competitors in their respective industries.” However, current shareholders of Spectrum Brands stand to lose much if not all their investment as settlements are made with creditors.

When I first started viewing last nights broadcast, it pretty quickly appeared to me that the advocacy efforts by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) in 2008 paid off, with more advertisers bothering to caption their ads in the 2009 telecast than inlast year’s. After a disappointing number of advertisers failed to caption their ads in 2008, a group from NAD met with the NFL and persuaded the league to work with NBC to encourage advertisers to use captions. The NFL and NBC told the NAD they did, by sending a letter to all advertisers to encourage them to caption their ads. But imagine my surprise when on the telecast I watched last night, neither the NFL or NBC, in their promotions for their own shows, used any closed captions at all.

In past years, Captions.com has tallied the number of Super Bowl ads that had closed-captioning, and I’m hoping they do again this year. Every year the marketing community ranks the ads for creativity and impact, but I like to spread the word on which advertisers go into that year’s Super Bowl Closed Captioning Hall of Shame. As Captions.com points out on its site, the incremental cost of adding captions to an ad is negligible. It’s not the cost but the inconvenience of meeting the needs of a small, hearing-impaired slice of the demographic that leads to the negligence. That’s why in addition to spreading the word on the malefactors, I always like to call for a boycott of the brands that fail to caption their ads.

First on the 2009 list for me will be the NFL and NBC. Their statement to the NAD advocates that they sent a letter to their advertisers encouraging them to caption their ads is suspicious, given that, at least on the broadcast I viewed, neither the NFL and NBC, in their promotions for their own shows, used any closed captions at all. The ads for NBC’s new shows looked fun and funny, but who knows what they said. It made me a lot less interested in ever watching them. And the NFL’s promotions for its league network and its future public broadcasts were even harder to figure without captions. Finally, to add a little insult to the injury, during the first ten minutes of the game itself the captions I got were pure gobbledygook. For all those reasons, I’m nominating both NBC and NFL to the Super Bowl Closed Captioning Hall of Shame for the remainder of 2009. And for an honorable mention I nominate all the producers of the many movies advertised on the Super Bowl. As best I could tell, none of them captioned their ads either.

Try to do better next year, guys.

Solving the power-drain problem has been a major issue in integrating wireless technology into hearing aids tiny enough to fit in or behind the user’s ear, leading to an intense push by semiconductor makers to provide smaller processors chips requiring less battery power. “Working with a leading semiconductor player such as NXP has enabled Phonak to rapidly develop this new chip for our hearing systems”, said Hans Leysieffer, Phonak’s Vice President of R&D. “Combining cutting edge technology and expertise in ultra low power embedded software architecture enables Phonak to offer unparalleled hearing performance for hearing system wearers.”

The CORE platform still requires the user to wear a receiver around the neck that communicates with the hearing aids, and to operate the wireless system with a hand-held controller. But higher-performance radio chips that draw less power and take up less space will enable higher performing and easier to use solutions that eliminate many of the design limitations that have slowed user acceptance.

The solution features an iCom communications interface module worn around the neck, which enables:

* Wireless connection of Audéo YES to a wide variety of external devices
* Hands-free, binaural telephoning
* Stereo audio streaming via bluetooth or audiojack
* FM availability with just one FM receiver
* EasyAudio and EasyBluetooth programs automatically activated and separately
fine-tuneable for optimized phone usage and audio streaming

It also requires a handheld myPilot device providing wireless control and status information, enabling:

* Remote control over program and volume of Audéo YES, including separate left/right
adjustments
* ZoomControl access for user-controlled, focused listening in any direction
* Read-out of system status, including battery status, current program and volume levels
* Convenient time/date and alarm functions
* Full-color display
* Customizable program names and icons for easy program identification
* Two attractive color options, high-tech gray or white

The Audeo YES hearing aids also deliver improved sound processing, including the new Phonak SoundRecover technology that With shifts signals at high frequencies where most people experience hearing loss, replicating the sounds at lower frequencies more easily heard by the user.

“With the complete upgrading of our Audiology Center, we have acquired the latest technology available to the hearing healthcare industry, including the Stealth Audiometer and Real-Ear Measurement System developed and manufactured by MedRx-USA,” said Henry C. Smith, CEO and founder of America Hears. “We are taking the hearing aid fitting process to a higher level by measuring the effectiveness of the hearing instrument in real-world situations, enabling constant improvements in the user’s hearing experience.”

No other manufacturer of premium digital hearing aids fully supports both retail and online customers. “America Hears is the only ‘clicks-and-mortar’ hearing-aid company,” Smith said. “The same audiologists serving our walk-in retail clients also directly support America Hears’ online customers through telephone support, email, and online chat, so we deliver the same high quality of service to all our customers no matter where they may be located.”

America Hears manufactures and sells directly to the end user a full range of premium digital hearing-aid models, ranging from traditional custom hearing aids to the latest “open-ear” or “open-fit” hearing aids that are small, light, and nearly invisible. All America Hears hearing aids can be bundled with Virtual Office™, the company’s unique combination of software and hardware that enables the hearing instruments to be programmed either by the owner, or the audiologists and hearing instrument specialists at America Hears’ Customer Service Center. Virtual Office™ includes the software, Freedom Programmer and cables used to connect the user’s hearing aids to any personal computer. Once connected, the owner can make the adjustments or the adjustments can be created in consultation with the Customer Service Center and downloaded over the internet directly into the hearing aids.

Better yet, unlike many other makers of amplified phones, who seem to be satisfied in offering the basic plain-vanilla handset with an amplified signal and little else, Clarity Products loaded the C4230 with all the bells and whistles heavy users expect at both the office and at home. It features dual speaker phones, with caller ID, call waiting, and a 40-name-and-number memory; it has a digital answering machine with variable-speed playback and remote access; the handset’s generously spaced buttons are backlit, making dialing easy; and its white, high-contrast LED screen is bright and easy to read. The handset’s contoured shape makes it comfortable and easy to hold, and its concave earpiece creates an acoustic chamber that provides clear sound while blocking ambient noise. The base station is handsome with an intuitive user interface and supports up to three handsets.

The special features for hard-of-hearing users put the C4230 in the top of its class. It is hearing-aid-compatible, with digital 5.8GHz transmission providing interference-free sound. It provides up to 50 decibels of amplification controlled by the user; Clarity’s proprietary Digital Clarity Power (DCP) sound-shaping technology is integrated; and there are four DCP tone settings provide a customized listening experience. The result is calls that are not only louder, but clearer and easier to understand than most other cordless phones. There are also bright visual ringers in the handset and a base flash to signal incoming calls for people who can’t hear a normal ring.

Last but not least, it has a sleek, high-tech design that doesn’t shout out “don’t use me unless you’re old, infirm or have a disability” as many amplified phones seem to do.