1. FinalInnovation
Proposal
ting™
: a new audio solution
InnovationSpace 2007

2. 2

3. ting™
: a new audio solution
InnovationSpace 2007
4Sight Design
3

4. TableofContents
6 Intro
8 Product Concept
16 Communications Strategy
28 Marketing & Business Plan
42 Engineering
48 Conclusion
51 Appendix
4

5. 5

6. Introduction
4Sight is an interdisciplinary design team comprised of four indi-
viduals with different educational and professional backgrounds.
These backgrounds include Visual Communications Design,
Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, and Marketing.
The design team was assembled through the InnovationSpace
program in order to create a product that will solve a problem for
the aging baby boomer demographic. 4Sight has used the diverse
expertise of its individual members in order to create a product
plan that is well designed from every aspect.
Jesualdo Romo
Visual Communications Design
David Colombo
Industrial Design
Michael Munroe
Mechanical Engineering
Scott Patten
Marketing
6

7. The ting product system is differentiated from the rest of the
hearing aid market in several key ways. The first of these is
the performance of the device. By offering psychoacoustic
sound filtering, ting will be the only hearing aid on the market
that can change modes to hear only the specific sounds that
a user has the desire to hear, such as human voices or music.
In addition to this innovative feature, ting will also offer
integrated Bluetooth and ANT technology for cell phone use
through the device, as well as an mp3 player inside the device.
Ting will offer the rarity of rechargeable batteries which will
use inductive charging for the most simple and easy to use
power setup offered in the hearing aid market. The package
will consist of two ear buds, a small pendant to adjust settings,
a charging dock for both the pendant and the ear buds, an
ultrasonic cleaning device, and a solution that will be used in
the cleaning device for the ear buds. This whole package will
retail for between $300 and $375 which is $500 to $3,000 less
than the current competition. In addition to having the best
price on the market, ting will be appealing to the baby boomer
generation because it is a technologically innovative “lifestyle
device”, not just a hearing aid.
The problem that the 4Sight team set out to address was the
number of hearing impaired elderly people in the United States
who do not have an assistive hearing device. Less than 25%
of all Americans with hearing impairments do not currently
own an assistive hearing device. In most cases, this is about
the consumer’s perception of the look, performance, and social
implications of the current hearing aid products available. These
current products are simply not filling the needs of the consum-
ers for one reason or another. 4Sight’s product design concept,
ting, set out to solve this problem by offering a hearing device
that is more appealing to the baby boomer generation and will
reduce the stigma attached to owning a hearing aid.
4Sight’s work in the InnovationSpace program has been spon-
sored by the Intel Corporation. Intel has recently been creating
innovative solutions for the healthcare industry in order to aid
the aging baby boomer population. The ting product design
concept is intended to further extend Intel’s success in the
healthcare market while changing the lives of millions of hearing
impaired individuals worldwide.
There are roughly 32 million people in the United States who
currently suffer from hearing loss. With the large popula-
tion of baby boomers nearing retirement age, this number is
expected to increase dramatically. This target market of baby
boomers will not simply be looking for a hearing aid. The baby
boomer generation is active, technologically savvy, and social.
This generation takes pride in their independence, knowledge,
and their enthusiastic pursuit of happiness. Their need for
products that will extend or enhance their life will dominate
their spending habits over the coming decades. ting is a perfect
product for these consumers, as it will not only fill a need
that will enhance their quality of life; it will also fit into their
lifestyle like no other device has the ability to.
7

8. ProductConcept
Product Design
Sophisticated simplicity was the name we gave to our design
language. This meant simple yet beatiful form for both product
as well as graphics. For the product, this began with not only
the form, but the interface. The following pages illustrate the
simplicity and versatility our product offers the boomer genera-
tion. We believe strongly that our product offers lifestyle
enhancement possibilities.
8

9. 9

10. User Experience Storyboards
Nothing is simpler than just showing the
possibilities ting offers our customers.
The following drawings are an attempt to
convey exactly those possibilities ting
was designed for.
MP3/Radio Cell phone General hearing
When pulling down on the pendant
the user will have tactile (click),
visual (color) and audio (ear piece) response
as an indication of function.
“cell phone”pendant10

11. The earpiece will provide a
variation of sizes and styles.
Styles will range from geometric
to organic forms.
bendable material
this systems contains a
behind the ear and in the
ear hearing solution
The mic swivels down to turn the
device on and control volume.
rubber earbud
earpiece sysytem 11

12. The charging base allows both the pendant
and earpieces to be charged inductively
An LED will indicate when the pendant is charging
and when it is fully charged
charger
12

13. ting™
will accommodate active lifestyles with
the help of a comfortable arm band that doubles
as a wristband. The controls are easily accessible
and at a glance the user can see which mode they
are in with the help of color indicators.
velcro
armband
13

14. Orthographic Dimensions
To better understand the specific dimensions of our product,
we present the data. The following images show the
exact dimensions of each of the components of our system.
Front
Top
Side
Pendant
.75“
19 mm
2.75“
69.63 mm
.69“
17.50 mm
pendant14

15. charger earpiece 15

16. Communication
StrategyMaterials
Design Language:
Sophisticated Simplicity
When approaching the development of the visual language of
ting, it quickly became important that we take our audience’s
intelligence into consideration. Simplicity and sophistication are
at the core of their values. It is also important that we consider
the importance of the community and family aspect our product
helps bring to their daily lives.
16

17. Color
A key aspect of our color choices was not only brand
differentiation, but also differentiation in the approach with
which we communicate with our audience. Too often we found
cold colors being used to market similar products to our
audience blacks and blues and purples. We decided we needed
a warmer approach and a touch of freshness in our color palette.
m=60, y=90
c=50, y=19
c=25, y=100
k=20
Typeface
Following the theme “sophisticated simplicity” we found
two typefaces that fit the description perfectly. Both
Avenir Light and Optima Roman fit the criteria we set forth.
Both elegant and simple typefaces speak directly to the
human focus our product has.
Avenir Light (at 80k):
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Optima Roman (at 80k):
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
17

18. Inspirational: Words & Images
Defining the message we want to convey to our audience
becomes much easier when we can show what we mean.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I have
some specific words that came to mind when I thought of
who we were designing for.
confidence
family
friendships
fun
intelligence
modern
style
18

19. 19

20. Brand Benchmarking:
Audio Industries Competitors
A thorough analysis of our competitors’ brands was conducted
to understand the language being used currently amongst
the leaders in both the hearing aid and headphones industries.
The benchmark gave us many conclusions that led us to
better understand how our product and brand can stand out
from the established brands of today.
Amongst these conclusions were common cool color palettes
using many purples and blues.
We also found a very wide range of logo designs from the strong
corporate image to the ‘as seen on TV’ thrifty image.
Hearing Aid Industry Competitors
Brand Benchmarking
Strengths:Logo: Website: Weaknesses:
clean, positive &
dynamic
not simple, mixed type
too soft? purple?
clean, friendly &
simple
not too distinctive or
unique
self-explanatory &
value
very “as seen on TV!” look.
looks cheap even though it
doesn’t have to
easily recognizable
inviting look & it’s clean
perception of
“expensive product”
neutral, simple &
mature colors
brand may be
too broad across different
products and services
approachable &
people focused
too bland
is it recognizable?
simple, strong focus
on the people
inconsistent
bold, simple &
clean
too literal (logo)
makes sense,
professional & positive
people first!
simple solid
20

21. Headphone Industry Competitors
Brand Benchmarking
Strengths:Logo: Website: Weaknesses:
The logo is simple and
bold. The major strength
of the brand is the
reputation BOSE has with
the quality of its products.
BOSE is synonimous with
quality.
What may be one of its few
weaknesses is that it tends
to be on the expensive side
most of the time & because
of this many potential
customers might never
consider BOSE even though
they know it equals quality.
Very recognizable name in
the pc audio business.
Also has a significant
prescence in headphone
sector.
It is not as iconic an image
mark or even a brand image
as iconic or strong as either
BOSE or SONY.
Short and simple
name/logo. Clean
presentation. Well known
in the headphone
business.
This name may not be held
in as high regard as BOSE
or SONY. However, on the
low end of the price range
for headphones, Koss is
one of the best there is.
Simple, bold and known
worldwide. Usually SONY
means the best in the
industry.
Has taken some flack as of
late because of faulty first
generation playstation
systems, but the brand is
still one of the strongest in
the broad consumer
electronics business
Cool blue. It speaks
directly to the audiophiles
that it serves. Relax with
our quality products. Very
clean professional
appearance.
Like BOSE, the award
winning quality and usually
high price may turn away
those looking for a more
affordable brand.
21

22. Trend Map:
Aesthetic research on color / logo / form
of portable media players in the last 30 years.
The trend map was a useful research tool we tapped
into to inform us of color and form trends as they
happened over the years and are still happening today.
Some of the data discovered from the trend map
was the constant use of metallic colors as well as
black. Also, a trend we see starting to gain momentum
nowadays is the resurgence of warm and bright colors.
22

23. 1980
productbrandcolor
1990 20102000
trend mapping: evolution of portable audio devices & their brands
1980 1990 20102000
23

24. Brand Identity:
Visual and Verbal Elements
The following represents the end result of defining what the
ting™
brand means to 4sight, and what we hope it means to our
customers. It is an image that speaks to a sophisticated
simplicity that offers quality and substance. It is an intelligent
image for an intelligent audience. We believe the simplicity
speaks directly to the desires of our customers. beyond sound™
means bringing back what you had with proper healthy
sound. It is a simple promise that goes with honesty
and a commitment to quality.
With the brand recognition and trust that Intel wields,
new smart marketing initiatives will result in strong
reception to the product.
24

25. Brand Descriptor
ting™
is a new approach to the hearing aid market. The focus
is on comfort and performance. How can we offer a well
designed product that reduces the stigma of hearing aid users?
Smart design, sharp marketing and clever engineering.
Nomenclature
When discussing the product, it will be referred to as ting
(not ‘the ting’ or ‘ting hearing aid’). It is simple and easy
to remember while reflecting its function. Also, we must keep
in mind that we are offering a new and exciting ‘audio solution’
not a hearing aid. This is all in the effort to encourage more
potential users and their children to see ting as something new
and different from anything else in the market today.
Voice/Tone
Intelligent articulate language will be used in all marketing
material. Our audience needs to be treated as an intelligent one.
We want them to understand that we respect them and want
to offer them a quality product to benefit their daily life. Repect,
humility and honesty need to be the approach with which we
communicate to our target audience.
25

26. Media Options:
Illustrations & Timeline
After researching the most common media outlets baby boomers
depend on for their information consumption, we found
AARP Magazine (American Association of Retired Persons)
to be the most widely circulated magazine today. With over 22
million issues in circulation every time they go to press,
this is a very valuable resource to get exposure with the people
who most need our services.
Another very valuable resource is The New York Times
Sunday edition. It reaches over 1.6 million viewers
every sunday. These are the very same intelligent boomers
that would best benefit from the quality of our product.
I believe ting has changed the
way I look at life. It has
allowed me to hear things like
I have not been able to in
years. My husband and I can
enjoy quiet conversation again.
Our music sounds as clear
as when I first heard it. I would
say I’ve had more than just
sound returned to my life. I now
have the pleasure of hearing
life like it was meant to be heard
once again.
- Nancy Park
beyond sound™
clarity with
illustration of a print ad to run in AARP
26

27. I believe ting has changed the
way I look at life. It has
allowed me to hear things like
I have not been able to in
years. My husband and I can
enjoy quiet conversation again.
Our music sounds as clear
as when I first heard it. I would
say I’ve had more than just
sound returned to my life. I now
have the pleasure of hearing
life like it was meant to be heard.
- Nancy Park
clarity with
beyond sound™
illustration of a print ad to run in The New York Times Sunday edition
2008 2009 2010
roll out first print ads
for AARP
bring out product
to market
roll out ads for
The New York Times Sunday
27

28. Marketing&Business
PlanMaterials
Viable Business Model
The ting™
product line will be a separate venture financed
by Intel Corporation while co-branding with other companies
that can add value to the ting brand. The product line
will be seamlessly integrated into the current Intel brand,
while also maintaining its own identity and operations.
Many of the R&D expenses will be covered by the Intel Cor-
poration, but should not exceed a total of $2 million at any
time.The other expenses, such as manufacturing, advertising, and
distribution, will be split between Intel and the other companies
that it chooses to co-brand with. The product will begin to
be advertised in early 2009, and released to the public in mid
2009. Market research has already been performed by the
4Sight Design Team, who has conducted a full situational analysis,
laid out strategies and tactics, created a consumer behavior
model, and stated the mission and objectives of the ting™
brand.
For this product to be successful, research and development must
continue to be extensive and innovative, and the product must
gain the support of organizations such as the FDA, the NIDCD,
and any other relevant leaders in the industry. Our group
strongly believes in the viability and potential of the ting™
product
system, and feels strongly about our goal of delivering a
life-changing hearing solution to anyone in need of one.
28

29. Situation Analysis
The hearing aid industry has a great deal of potential for sales.
The ting will be the first product of its kind which has
hearing aid capabilities as well as other features that will appeal to
customers. By creating a differentiated product, it is
reasonable to expect to gain a fair portion of the market share.
Since the hearing aid business is a $500 million per year
business, even a small portion of the market share will deliver
large profits. In addition to the current market for hearing
aids, the ting will be able to reduce the stigma that many of
the hearing impaired elderly have, creating a new market-
place for those who would otherwise not use a hearing aid. By
making the already large market for hearing aids even
larger, there is a great deal of potential for sales volume. Volume
can also be expected due to the fact that there really is not a
hearing aid on the market targeting extreme cost leadership.
Creating a product that is the least expensive on the market which
still delivers quality should prove to be profitable instantly.
The hearing loss population has grown to 31.5 million as of
2005. The new user rate of hearing loss instruments has
also increased to 39%. The number of hearing instruments
purchased in 2004 was 12.5 million and the number of
people who own hearing instruments is 7.38 million. Also, in
2004, 86% of hearing instrument owners adopted binaural
hearing instruments. The consumer’s annual expenditure on
hearing aids is approximately $500 million, according to
an October 2003 issue of American Demographics. The ave-
rage cost of a hearing aid in 2004 was $2,300. This number has
decreased since 2004, because internet stores have become a
larger player in the market, and can offer discounted prices.
In terms of technological innovations that are affecting the
hearing aid market, the most recent and relevant include
the rechargeable hearing aid, cochlear implants, invisible hearing
aids, and hearing aids that can fit entirely inside the ear canal.
The invention of rechargeable hearing aids is a major development,
due to the difficulty and frequency associated with changing
a hearing aid battery. By only using one battery for a much longer
lifespan of a hearing aid, it increases the convenience and function-
ality of any hearing aid that uses the technology. Another major
development is cochlear implants, which stimulate the auditory nerve,
in order to help regain lost hearing capabilities. This technology
has already helped tens of thousands of people with severe hearing loss
to hear again, and this number should increase rapidly. There is
currently an implant being developed that uses light instead of elec-
trodes to bypass the damaged portions of inner ear and stimulate
the auditory nerve directly. This technology is largely still in research
stages with a lot of work being conducted by the NIDCD. Another
of the newest innovations in the hearing instrument field has
been an “invisible” hearing aid that is surgically inserted under the
skin behind the ear that has been developed by Envoy Medical (and is
pending FDA approval and said to be out by next summer). The
last major innovation that is currently affecting the hearing aid mar-
ket is the recent release of the HearPod Micro. This is one of the
smallest hearing aids, and it fits completely in the ear canal and is
designed to be used for open fittings, which eliminates the ba-
rrel sound that is common in many hearing aids. This theme of
hearing aids becoming increasingly smaller will most likely continue,
until all hearing aids will fit entirely inside the ear canal.
29

30. Technology is advancing quickly and the focus on comfort
and style of hearing aids is increasing. For the product design
concept, this means that to be competitive in this market, it is
important to have the most unique and desirable product. While
each of the major hearing aid companies will pretty much keep
pace with each other in terms of technological advances, this
product needs to differentiate itself from these hearing aid com-
panies by going after a different market and offering different
features for a different price.
A trend in hearing aid technology that is important to watch is
the size of hearing aids. The HearPod, which fits entirely in the
ear canal, is a product whose success should be watched closely,
to understand how consumers react to hearing aids as they
become smaller. This same concept goes for the invisible hearing
aid that can be implanted into the ear.
The fact that hearing aids will become rechargeable is another
trend that must be monitored. It can be assumed that in the next
5 years or less, all hearing aids will come with this technology.
For this product concept, it is essential that it has a long battery
life and a rechargeable battery.
Competitors
The key competitors who are already in the market are: Starkey
Laboratories, GN Resound (a Denmark company, sold to Phonak
in 2006 for $2.6 billion), Miracle Ear, Oticon, Widex, Phonak,
Siemens, and Sonic Innovations. One competitor that seems to
stand out from the rest of the field is HearPod, who has revo-
lutionized the hearing aid industry since its founding in 2005.
Hearpod offers high quality and visually appealing hearing aids
at low cost through their website.
30

31. Barriers
The barriers to entry for these other potential competitors and
leaders in the industry are the high fixed costs and research that
it takes to create a hearing aid product. Most of the current hear-
ing aid models on the market have custom technology that has to
be engineered so small to fit inside an ear that it makes both the
fixed and per unit costs extremely high. Not only is it costly for
a company to come up with new hearing aid technologies, it is
also costly to manufacture something that requires many custom
components.
As far as barriers to entry for head to head competition on a
product like the ting, the technology will not be a large factor.
Since we will be using no custom parts, other companies can
imitate the technology by taking the same off-the-shelf parts that
are used to make the ting. However, the ting does have features
that will most likely be patentable:
Design patents: On the fly neural network
encoding implementation device separate from the
hearing aid with battery and chips
Utility patents: Psychoacoustic filtering
Dual one dimensional sound cancellation
While the technology itself may be off-the-shelf and replicable, if
these patents are obtained, it will offer the ting a significant sus-
tained competitive advantage for many years. The patented tech-
nologies will be a key in the competitive advantage for the ting
and are a crucial element of the future success of the product.
The strategies of current and potential competitors are mostly
focused around increasingly advanced technology and consis-
tently high prices. Most hearing aids cost between $1,800 and
$2,500. The lowest priced hearing aid on the market as of 2007
is the open-fitting Hearpod Micro at $695 per ear. Most of the
other technological advances deal with more channels, better
sound filtering, and hearing aids becoming smaller. Some of
the most popular hearing aids are those that fit in the ear canal
and are not as visible to people around the user. Rechargeable
hearing aids are also one of the most important developments in
the hearing aid world right now because it eliminates the issue of
battery cost for hearing aids. Most hearing aid users will spend
between $30 and $50 per year just for the batteries for hearing
aids. Most hearing aids are currently sold through doctors, retail
centers, websites, and specialty stores.
Implications
The way that most of the current hearing aid companies are
developing and pricing their products creates somewhat of a
niche market for a low priced hearing aid. HearPod has gained
market share by being the “low cost” solution with hearing aids
priced at about $700. If the ting is able to offer a hearing aid at
the price of $200-300, while offering other popular features to
go along with it, it could attract a great number of buyers in this
competitive market.
31

32. Mission Statement and Objectives
Beyond Sound
“Beyond Sound” expresses not only the highest quality of hearing
that the ting delivers, but also the lifestyle change that the device will
make by reconnecting its users with the world around them.
Business Scope Definition
The ting product line concept is in the business of providing hearing
solutions to those who desire assistance. This includes offering hear-
ing impaired customers the ability to hear more effectively and have a
higher level of communication with those around them with a device
that is integrated with the other devices that fit their lifestyle. Ting
will also provide a higher level of hearing capability to those who are
not hearing impaired but desire an optimal quality of sound for their
technological needs. As a result of the business that the ting product
will operate in, the goals of the product are to reduce the stigma and
discomfort that go along with hearing loss, give consumers a product
that fits their lifestyle, and deliver the highest quality of sound in
terms of both music and communication with others.
Potential Customers
The primary customer will be the hearing impaired population who is
seeking a solution. This customer will most likely be aging or elderly,
but may also be a younger consumer with a hearing impairment. The
ideal consumers will consider themselves technologically competent
and will be looking for an attractive product to help reduce the stigma
attached to hearing aid use.
The secondary consumer will be the audiophile and technologically
savvy consumers without hearing loss. This consumer will be one who
is extremely technologically educated and savvy. Headphones will be
a high-involvement purchase for this consumer and they will spend a
great deal of time researching the product in the pre-purchase stage.
They will be interested in the ting line because of the psychoacoustic
filtering and the pure, filtered sound capabilities. This consumer
will be interested in using the headphones for computer games, other
computer sounds, music, or digital video.
For younger consumers with hearing loss, or the technologically savvy
audiophiles, a different marketing plan will most likely be neces-
sary, directed at the performance and function of the hearing aid, as
opposed to the lifestyle change associated with it. This plan will be
created in the future to go with the succession and logical progression
of the ting product line. There will either be a separate marketing
plan for the same product, or a product that follows the ting which
has features that are targeted more toward the younger demographic
as well as their needs and tastes.
32

33. Potential Partnerships
The most desirable partnerships for this product would be with a
company that is already established in the consumer audio market
such as Apple. By co-branding with a company such as Apple, who
has enjoyed a great deal of success in consumer electronics, the ting
could enjoy instant credibility and exposure simply because it is the
newest product introduced by a popular company that has continu-
ously made quality electronics in the past. By licensing the product
through Apple, the ting could enjoy the distribution and marketing
networks that Apple uses, as well as other sales and distribution strat-
egies of its own, such as marketing through audiologists.
Another partnership that could be effective and profitable would be
one with a company such as Johnson & Johnson to license the clean-
ing solution that will be used in the cleaning device for the ting. By
having an established company such as Johnson & Johnson license a
“ting-certified” cleaning solution, it would add value to the overall
product line by showing that every aspect of the ting is produced and
distributed by high quality companies with expertise in their field.
This would also add immediate credibility and trust to the cleaning
process for the ting and make it more desirable than other hearing
aids which did not have the same high standards.
33

34. Objectives and Standards
Financial
There are roughly 78 million baby boomers, which means that 7.8
million will suffer from hearing loss. Of those 7.8 million, less than
1.8 million actually own a hearing aid. Of the remaining 5.8 million
people with hearing loss, nearly all of them cite cost, looks, comfort
and performance as their reasons for not owning a hearing assistance
device. The goal of the ting is to reduce the cost of a hearing aid,
reduce the stigma attached to wearing one, and deliver the highest
quality sound in a comfortable device. In doing so, the ting will target
the roughly 5.8 million hearing impaired boomers who have not
purchased a device in the past. If the ting is purchased by 40% of this
population, that will be a total sales of nearly 2.5 million units. This
is absolutely a reasonable goal. The ting can also be expected to gain
at least 10-20% of the market of those who currently own a hearing
aid due to its unique and favorable features. This would add another
180,000-360,000 units for a total of over 2.7 million units sold.
Managment and Options
The management and organization structure will be a crucial compo-
nent to the success of the ting product line. Since there will likely be
multiple joint ventures, it is important that a strong organizational
foundation is set up to begin with so that everything runs smoothly for
the life of the product.
For the co-branding of the product itself, Intel should maintain the
ownership of the product and all of its extensions. Both Intel and the
company that will be co-branding with them (such as Apple) will
contribute a pre-determined amount of employees including engineers,
graphic designers, salespeople, marketing personnel, managers, supply
chain managers, and purchasers to the project, creating a ting team.
The companies will also work out a contract for the sharing of costs and
profits so that both companies are contributing to the project and ben-
efiting from the project in a fair and mutually beneficial fashion. All of
the employees will essentially work for the ting project, regardless of the
organization that they are from. By uniting people from both corpora-
tions and sharing the common goals and spirit of the ting project, the
employees should have less trouble assimilating into one team.
The ting product line will be set up in a new building which will be the
headquarters of the ting brand. The most logical place for this head-
quarters, where the planning, design, new product development, sales,
service and management will occur is somewhere in California, where it
is not too far from both the Intel (Santa Clara) and Apple (Cupertino)
corporate headquarters (less than 8 miles between them).
34

35. For the licensing of the cleaning solution that will go into the
cleaning dock, a company such as Johnson & Johnson, or another
company that has similar experience in the sales of cleaning
solutions should be used. In this case, it would be better not to create
a joint-venture type of branch, and just to have the partner company
produce the product on their own, license it as “ting-certified”, and
give a share of the profits for this cleaning solution to the ting parent
company. This will be more beneficial for Intel since they do not have
the expertise in products such as cleaning solutions. They will not
have to put any capital (human or financial) into the project, and will
still receive revenues from the sales of the cleaning solution.
The employees for this project will all be of the company that is
licensing the cleaning solution, and it will be their responsibility
to make, market, distribute and service the cleaning solution.
This will be done at the facilities that are owned and operated
by this partner company.
People
Engineers will be responsible for creating the prototypes as well as the
other future versions of the ting, as well as the charging station, the
cleaning station, and any accessories or customizable components that
are added in the future.
The employees responsible for assembly will be responsible for meet-
ing the standards of taking all of the off the shelf components and
putting them together into a functioning ting that is ready to be pur-
chased by the user. The assembly crew will also be responsible for put-
ting the packaging together and inserting the ting into the packaging.
The shipping crew will be responsible for addressing and sending the
ting products to the outlets that have purchased them wholesale (most
likely stores such as Circuit City, Best Buy, Costco, Pharmacies, etc).
The marketing personnel will be responsible for securing contracts
with the end vendors of the products. They will be making direct sales
to the purchasers for the companies that will be selling them retail.
These end retailers also include audiologists that will be selling the
ting to their hearing impaired patients. A great deal of the marketing
to the end resellers will be done through trade shows, trade maga-
zines, and websites that are used by audiologists and resellers.
The industrial design employees will be responsible for working with
the engineers to ensure that every ting product that is made in the
future (later versions of the earphones, charging stations, cleaning sta-
tions, and accessories) meet all criteria of consumer desirability.
35

36. Marketing and Sales Standards
Goals
Familiarize at least 80% of all people with hearing impairments with ting™
.
Make the ting a recognizable product in every region in the United States
through media such as Radio, Television, Print Ads (see Appendix for
sample), Websites, and Public Displays.
Make sales of a ting device to at least 40% of the hearing impaired market
that is not currently using a hearing aid.
Many of the people that purchase ting™
will not be people that have
purchased a hearing aid in the past, but users who are purchasing for the
first time. According to a study by Prince Market Research in 2006,
the majority of hearing impaired baby boomers who do not wear a hearing aid
cite cost or lack of insurance coverage as the reason. Since this
hearing aid is less expensive than the rest of the market, ting™
can expect
to enjoy much higher volumes from those who have not purchased a
hearing aid in the past.
Makes sales of ting™
at least 20% of the 1.8 million current hearing aid users.
Time Period
The ting V1 should have a prototype completed by May, 2008.
Marketing for the product will begin in January of 2009.
The ting V1 package should be tested, refined, and made ready for its
public release by June, 2009.
The ting V2 package should be in the early stages of design by Janu-
ary, 2010. This will give the market enough time to find any problems
with the ting V1 and report them back to the company.
36

37. Consumer Behavior Model
Dissatisfaction
The dissatisfaction begins when the consumer begins to realize
that they have a hearing impairment of some sort. The consumer’s
day to day communication with family and friends becomes more
difficult. It becomes harder to hear specific sounds in loud public
environments. Electronic devices such as television or radio must
be turned up louder for a comfortable understanding. Friends
or family may alert the consumer by mentioning the problem.
Consumer feels more and more disconnected from their every day
environment because of this communication barrier
Rejection
After the dissatisfaction is first noticed, the consumer either does
not want to admit to their hearing problem or does not accept
that their hearing is a problem in the first place. As a result, the
consumer does not consider or research solutions for hearing prob-
lems. The consumer may reject anything with the label of hearing
aid, or anything that does not reduce stigma attached to hearing
loss because of their self-consciousness and dissatisfaction with
their hearing abilities.
Dissatisfaction Rejection
External Search Internal Search
Pre-Purchase Alternative EvaluationPost-Purchase Evluation
Purchase & Consumption
37

38. External Information Processing
Many baby boomers will search for their information through the fol-
lowing media sources.
Internet
Television
Word of Mouth
Magazines
By using the internet, consumers will find out about the ting through
the ting audio website. They will also find the product advertised
through banner ads on sites such as AARP and CNN. Ting can also
utilize email blasts to targeted consumer groups in order to get the
word of the product line out through the internet.
Baby boomers have grown up with television and watch a great variety
of television programs. They will find out about ting through television
commercials targeted at the most popular shows and news stations.
The consumers will also find out about ting through shows such as
reviews of products, talk shows, or other shows that present innovative
products.
The ting product line will also reach consumers by word of mouth.
While this is hard to specifically create for the company, many con-
sumers like to spread word to friends of their particular age about prod-
ucts that they are loyal to. Ideas such as a referral bonus, discussion
boards on the internet, and hearing aid forums will give baby boomer
consumers a chance to spread the word about ting to their peers.
38

39. One of the most important media that the ting will be advertised
through will be magazines via print ads. Print ads should be published
in magazines and publications that are commonly read by the target
consumer. Examples of these magazines include Fortune, AARP, and
various travel or leisure magazines. For an example of the type of
print advertisement that would be placed in one of these magazines,
see the appendix.
The search for information phase in the consumer behavior model
may likely be unintentional, as the consumer could come across ad-
vertisements while viewing magazines, websites or television programs
that they would normally be watching. The information that they
process through this external search is all subjected to the bias and
personal opinions of the consumer. As the information is gathered
(externally) and processed (internally), it begins to be stored in their
short term memory as opinions of the product. As this information
is processed, the need and possibility for a hearing solution becomes
larger in their mind. This need recognition increases the chance that
the ting will be purchased.
Internal Search
As the information that is processed by the consumer becomes more
recognizable in short term memory, they will perform an internal
search to be sure that what they have learned from their external
search aligns with their internal needs and desires. Their external
opinions in regard to the following will be subjected to their internal
needs assessment for each of the features:
Anticipated product performance
Anticipated feeling generated from using product
Anticipated value added by product
The consumer will make their own assessment of what their exact
needs are for a hearing solution and decide that they are indeed going
to purchase some type of hearing assistance device. The consumer will
subject their own personal opinion on purchasing a hearing device to
their environmental influences. As a result, they will decide if their
need for a hearing aid fits with their:
Culture
Social Class
Personal Influences
Family
Ego/Pride Issues
Situation
The conclusions that the consumer comes up with about the value
that a hearing solution would bring to their life will change their
original thoughts in short term memory and positively alter their
perception of the ting audio device.
39

40. Pre-purchase Alternative Evaluation
When the consumer has decided that they will be purchasing an audio
device such as the ting, they will perform a head to head comparison of
all of the features of the ting and the features of the other hearing aids
or audio solutions on the market such as:
High end hearing aids such as Phonak, GN Resound, etc.
Lower end hearing aids such as the Hearpod
Cochlear Implants
No device at all
The consumer will compare attributes such as price, additional func-
tions on top of hearing, visibility when in use, and ease of use. Ease of
use for a hearing aid includes the difficulty of cleaning the hearing aid,
charging the battery, inserting and removing the hearing aid, and any-
thing else that the user will encounter in everyday use. The consumer
will also assess the alternatives in terms of company reputation, visual
appeal, quality of engineering and technologies, projected product life,
size, comfort, availability, and service that is provided by the manufac-
turer or retailer. The consumer will either decide that the ting audio
solution is the best value for their needs and will decide that they want
to purchase the product, or decide that a different product is what they
are looking for and re-evaluate the ting after they have had an experi-
ence with another product.
Purchase and Consumption
After evaluating the alternatives and deciding that the ting is the cor-
rect product, the customer begins the purchase and consumption phase
of the model. The consumer will purchase the product through an
electronics retail store, pharmacy, website, catalog, or audiologist. The
consumer will then take the product with them to their audiologist to
have it tuned to their exact hearing needs. The consumer will maintain
a relationship with this audiologist for new programs, updates or main-
tenance that is needed. The consumer will download programs and
functions for their ting through various websites and software develop-
ers including the ting website itself. The consumer will continue to use
the product until it is broken beyond repair, or they decide to purchase
a newer version. The consumer will either send the product back to
the manufacturer for recycling and reuse, or discard of the product in
another fashion.
40

41. Post-Purchase Evaluation
After the consumer has had enough time using their ting to form more
judgments about it, they will once again compare it to the other prod-
ucts on the market that could have been purchased as alternatives. The
consumer will once again assess the ting and other alternatives based on
the criteria used in the Pre-Purchase Evaluation. The consumer will de-
cide if they have made the correct decision in purchasing this product,
or if they will purchase a different product the next time that they need
to. The consumer will store these opinions in their memory for the next
time that they are in the market for a hearing solution. The ting brand
will be largely affected by the opinions formed in the post-purchase
evaluation, because not only will the customer have a strong opinion
about it, but in an age where baby boomers are highly likely to use the
internet, they will share their opinion of the ting with other potential
users through chat rooms, discussion boards, blogs, and other internet
communication forums.
41

42. 42
Engineering
Product Concept
Although it is highly unlikely that any hearing aide manufacturer is
considering implementation of these technologies, ting™
is a remarkable,
and still a feasible idea. The ting™
architecture is the enabling idea that
allows the hearing aide to be effectively invisible, and to have this very
high performance envelope, while also having a low production cost. The
neural networks required to perform human vocal apparatus parametri-
zation and optimal phoneme matching were documented. The hardware
including a potential synaptic block improvement were also presented and
evaluated. The ideas for the technologies envisioned in ting™
, described
elsewhere, are both possible and state of the art for hearing aid science.

43. Description PN Qty Cost Line Total
Speaker 01 2 0.10 0.20
Microphone 02 2 0.10 0.20
Size 10 (earpiece) Battery 03 2 1.50 3.00
MMirf (wireless) Board 04 2 10.00 20.00
Earpiece Enclosure 05 2 0.25 0.50
Transciever (see MMirf) 04 1 10.00 10.00
Processor (CPC2106) 06 1 7.00 7.00
Main Board 07 1 1.00 1.00
Main Battery 08 1 3.00 3.00
Pendant Enclosure 09 1 1.00 1.00
45.90Grand total
Bill of Materials
Ting is disturbingly cost effective to produce at $44 per
system. Current cheapest hearing aides are $300 per ear
while expensive ones are $2000 per ear. The profit margin,
if its set at cheapest sales price in the market is at least
93% and an arithmetic ROI of 12.6.
43

44. Monetary Cost
Pareto Chart
50
0
45
40
30
20
15
10
5
Microphone
WirelessBoard
EarTransceiver
Processor
EarBattery
MainBattery
MainBoard
PendantEnclosure
EarpieceEnclosure
Speaker
Individual
Cumulative
35
25
44

45. Okala Social Advantages
Reduce Stigma
·Low profile earpieces pendant
Increase quality of life
·Less “separation from people”
·Hearing in when “out” = high value
Increase work social performance
·Hear instructions from the boss
·Speaker, and Conversation are clearly differentiable
Okala Ecological Advantages
Rechargeable 1.9% battery costs
Lower earpiece battery use
·Longer life before recharge
·Fewer recharges = longer time before battery is
no longer rechargeable
Power source flexibility lowers overall cost in energy
·Adaptor to connect to a (commercial, off the shelf)
C.O.T.S./Supermarket solar systems
new PCB: core (cellulose binder) soluble and recyclable
100% base zero landfill waste
Recycling buyback program
100% base electronic recyclability
new Solder = Conductive “epoxy”
Recyclable HDPE base for Cu, is wrapped around core
Cu recycled using electro-less process (not electricity)
45

46. Okala Impact Factor Assessment
Pareto Chart
40%
0%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
100%
0%
80%
20%
10%
90%
60%
70%
50%
40%
30%
ComponentContribution
CumulativeSum
EarpieceCircuitBoard
EarpieceSpeaker
PendantBoard
DockBoard
EarpieceBattery
DockWiring
PendantBattery
PendantEnclosure
DockEnclosure
EarpieceEnclosure
EarpieceMagnet
Individual
Cumulative
46

47. Assembly Process Item Line Total
RoHS 25.06
RoHS 41.00
RoHS
1.50
Copper 2.31
Alkaline
Injection Mold 1.25
0.04412
Okala Impact Factor Assessment
Name Title Material
Earpiece
Pendant
Dock
Earpiece
Dock
Pendant
Pendant
Dock
Earpiece
Earpiece
Earpiece
Circuit Board
Board
Board
Battery
Wiring
Battery
Enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure
Magnet
Speaker
Earpiece Circuit Board
Pendant Board
Dock Board
Earpiece Battery
Dock Wiring
Pendant Battery
Pendant Enclosure
Dock Enclosure
Earpiece Enclosure
Earpiece Magnet
Earpiece Speaker
Cum. Pct.Percent
Injection Mold
Injection Mold
see attachment #1
Modified Core
Modified Core(0.1 oz)
Alkaline
Secondar LDPE (1.8)
Ferrite (1.8g)
Modified Core(0.1 oz)
1.50
1.25
0.0011
0.00
41.00
50.12
41.00
41.00
3.00
2.31
1.50
1.25
1.25
0.08824
0.0022
0.00
35.42
28.97
2.12
28.97
1.63
1.06
0.88
0.88
0.06
0.00
0.00
35.42
64.39
93.36
95.48
97.11
98.17
99.05
99.94
100.00
100.00
100.00
141.52Grand Total
47

48. Conclusion
It is a rare occasion when an opportunity like the ting presents
itself. This product package not only has the opportunity to
acquire a large percentage of the market and generate huge prof-
its, but it also has the chance to improve the lives of millions of
people. This lifestyle changing device will offer capabilities and
benefits that no other product on the market has ever been able
to. This product will have a significant impact simply because of
the need it fulfills, not to mention the revolutionary technology
and performance that it will offer. 4sight has created a profile
of the baby boomer demographic and found a serious need for
a new product concept. Not only have we discovered this space
in the market, but we have also created the ideal product to
fulfill this need for a hearing aid product that will reduce the
stigma and improve the life of its users. This product has been
designed from phase 1 with the needs of the user in mind. The
significant market share that the product has potential to obtain
came as a result of this user centered design. With help from the
Intel Corporation, as well as other companies that will be used
for co-branding, this product will reach millions at a low price,
and change their ability to socialize and enjoy life every day.
The hearing aid market has been in desperate need of a product
to minimize the stigma of owning a hearing aid and offer more
benefits than simply improving the ability to hear sounds. Now,
the hearing aid market will have ting.
48

49. 49

50. 50

51. Appendix
“ting™
is Possible”
By Michael Munroe
51

52. ting™
is possible
By Michael Munroe
Team 4Sight
InnovationSpace, Spring 2007
Arizona State University
Introduction
The premise of the “Ting” project is a high performance, low cost, nearly
invisible, audio solution, integrating psychoacoustic voice amplification, and
dual one-dimensional noise cancellation. The prince study (ref) indicates
that 75% of baby boomers needing hearing aides do not use them, primarily
because from cost, performance, and stigma reasons – “Ting” is meant address
these. It is necessary to show that the technology to perform the desired
functions exists, is implementable in the envisioned platform at a reasonable
cost, and can be meaningfully validated.
Damper(2001) describes the origin, implementation, and performance of the
NetTALK and NetSPEAK programs. In his work Damper describes how a total of
180 properly trained neurons is required to generate a phoneme recognition that is
at least 93.7% accurate to an expert in phonetic acoustics. Text can be considered
an optimal compression of speech, an a much tougher problem than phoneme
generator system characterization. A maximum set for phoneme characterization is
therefore the NetSPEAK neural network number of adjustable parameters, degree
of recurrence in the network, and network connectivity.
Kahrs and Brandenburg (1998) clearly describe an optimal form for speech
characterization, and contrast it with the difficulty of optimizing digital music
characterization. Their work also documents a method for empirical sound quality
validation (pp. 30).
Fakhraie and Smith (1997) give a FPGA implementation that might significantly
reduce the complexity of the network required to perform the speaker vocal
characterization. This is complemented well by the Omondi and Rajapakse (2006)
computer performance data from which low-node count network performance can
be extrapolated with little error to be on the order of 19 kilohertz system perfor-
52

53. mance. Using the work of Gelfand (2004) it can be concluded that the
minimum throughput needed to have realtime characterization of one
speakers speech is on the order of 100 Hz. This leaves an overperfor-
mace factor of 190.
The data supports that the unique “Ting” architecture can
plausibly support real, proved characterizing neural networks that
allow high fidelity vocal system characterization. This characterization
can then be reconstructed, with the phoneme recognition, to provide
very high fidelity speech reconstructions in realtime. Implementa-
tion of a Principle Component Analysis of source sound from the
microphones in the earpieces and pendant, possible using a MUSIC
algorithm, could also radically improve the performance of the “Ting”
system.
Upper Limit on Model Size
Chou and Juang (2003) assert that the Neural Network “is now
established as a modern class of design methodology for achieving high
performance speech pattern recognizers. (pp. 116)
According to Damper (2001) NetTALK is a neural network program
that translates ASCII text into sound. It generates phonemes (pixels of
speech) that are correct pronunciations 93.7% and correctly pro-
nounced words 64.8% of the time (pp. ). The backpropagation trained
neural network that drove NetTALK had seven character inputs or
203 neurons, a hidden layer of 120 neurons, and an output layer of 26
units (pp. 12). The number of free parameters of the model is therefore
around 28,000 (pp.13). The inputs were ASCII characters, and the
outputs were the phonemes, and their stresses (pp. 13,29).
NetSPEAK was meant to be a re-implementation and extension of NetTALK
(pp. 15). NetSPEAK had a denser input set, so its input layer was only 77 input
neurons. Its hidden layer was 77 neurons, and its output layer was the same 26
neurons (pp. 15). The number of adjustable parameters is only around 7,000 (pp.
16). Similar neural networks provide good performance (pp. 16).
Optimal Speech Characterization
Kahrs and Brandenburg (1998) describe the Perceptual Audio Quality Measure
(PAQM) and its use in measurement of quality of music and speech codecs. Their
empirical metrology is based on average hearing, instead of listeners with hearing
loss, but the method is sound, and applicable to listeners with hearing loss (pp.
1-37).
Brandenburg (1998) beautifully articulates the differences between voice process-
ing and music processing. Apparently audio compression based on the “transfer
function” of a human vocal tract is highly efficient. The very clear description, in
the authors own words follows:
In source coding the emphasis is on removal of redundancy.
The signal is coded using its statistical properties. In the case of
speech coding a model of the vocal tract is used to define the possible
signals that can be generated in the vocal tract. This leads to the
transmission of parameters describing the actual speech signal along
with some residual information. In this way very high compression
ratios can be achieved.
For generic audio coding, this approach leads to very limited
success [Johnston and Brandenburg, 1992]. The reason for this is
that music signals have no predefined method of generation. In fact,
every conceivable digital signal may (and probably will by somebody)
be called music and sent to a D/A converter. Therefore, classical
source coding is not a viable approach to generic coding of high
quality (music) audio signals.
53

54. 54 Implementation in FPGA or CMOS
Fakhraie and Smith (1997) demonstrate that a “fully quadratic
synaptic block can be equivalent to (2N+1) neurons with linear
synapses in an N-dimensional function approximation problem”
(pp. 153). For a the NetSPEAK application, assuming that it
has linear transfer functions (unknown), this style of logic block
might potentially reduce the number of free parameters from
around 7000 to around 3500. With constant input and output layer
densities, this accounts for an interior layer of only 24 neurons.
Omondi and Rajapakse (2006) describe a hardware implemen-
tation of a Neural network, called an FPNN, that is built to replace
a large Multilayer Perceptron, or MLP, whose implementation is
solely for multi-band speech recognition (pp. 113). The MLP
is similar in topology to NetTALK in that it has 240 inputs, 50 to
100 neurons in the hidden layer, and 39 outputs. The average
free parameters of the model are therefore around 21,000. The
performance of this model is significantly less than the NetTALK
because as a perceptron is has no back-propagation. A back-propagation
network that has the same function will have simpler layout.
The parsing models therefore exist, and some initial exploration
into implementation in CMOS has been performed.
Osmondi and Rajapakse (2006) benchmarked the performance of a Pentium 4
(1.8 Ghz) in simulating neural networks (pp. 192). The values on their charts
giving update rates of 3500 kilo-node updates per second on a 1024 node network
could be used to infer that on a 129 node network it could support 2.4 Giga-node
interconnects per second, or an effective realtime throughput sample rate of
approximately 20 kilohertz.
Next Steps
Effective implementation requires that the NetTALK and NetSPEAK networks
be deconstructed, and used for phoneme detection in sound. It also requires that
current neural network implementations of human vocal apparatus parameter
characterizations be deconstructed, and implemented in parallel with the pho-
neme detection.
The MUSIC algorithm should be investigated as a pre-processor to improve the
quality of the total neural network by improving the input signal to noise ration.
This can allow directionalization of speech and association with a single speaker,
and then enabling the wearer to experience that auditory spatial perception by
appropriately imposing the directionalization on the sound amplitudes in the
earpieces.
The MUSIC algorithm, in combination with the binaural/wireless hearing aides
can also provide very clean dual 1-dimensional noise cancellation in a way that
cleanly approaches a true 3-dimensional noise cancellation.

55. 55Bibliography
Chou. W., Juang, B. (2003) Pattern Recognition in Speech and Language Processing.
New York: CRC Press
Damper, R. (Ed.). (2001). Data Driven Techniques in Speech Synthesis.
Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Fakhraie, S. Smith, K. (1997) VLSI – Compatible Implementations for Artificial Neural Networks.
Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Gelfand, S. (2004) HEARING: An introduction to psychological and physiological acoustics (4th ed.).
New York: Marcel Decker
Kahrs, M. Brandenburg, K. (Eds.). (1998) Applications of Digital Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics.
Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Omondi, A., Rajapakse, J. (Eds.) (2006) FPGA Implementations of Neural Networks.
Nethernlands: Springer.

56. 56

57. 57

58. beyond sound™