"Play Ball!" The Uses for Hearing Aids Continue to Expand

It was a revelation.

Looking back, I sometimes experience events that make me feel that way.
Perhaps it's a strange omen, or something like the resolution of foreshadowing in my life.

That day, too, I was shouting at the top of my lungs on the field.

"Play ball!"

I am a Sharp employee, but that is just my secret identity.
On weekends, I transform into a softball umpire.

When my children were in elementary school, they joined a local softball team.
As I helped out as a "dad umpire," it gradually became fun, and I ended up getting certified as an official umpire who can officiate in official games.

Now my children are in college and no longer play softball, but that doesn't matter anymore.
I enjoyed umpiring so much that I even obtained a Class 1 Umpire certification, which allows me to officiate in the Japan Softball League and national tournaments.

And so, I head out eagerly on weekends, thinking, "Today is a game for an adult team, tomorrow is for a boys' and girls' team," and
"Strike!" "Out!"
I call out with enthusiasm.

I was umpiring that day, too.

Suddenly, my eyes caught a long-time acquaintance who had come to watch the game.

That person is someone I have known and been indebted to for many years, and when I asked later, I learned they had been using a hearing aid for some time.

"I didn't know..."

The small surprise dissipated immediately, but perhaps it remained in my heart somehow, as it would bubble up and then vanish again at random moments even after I returned home.

—A few weeks later.

I am beckoned by my boss at the office.

"Do you have a moment?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"I want you to leave your current team and join a new project."

Why don't you work on hearing aids?

It was a sudden, unexpected internal transfer.
Nevertheless, the word "hearing aid" struck a chord with me.

It might sound dramatic, but that is truly what I thought.
I honestly felt that seeing hearing aids that day and having them linger in my mind all this time was a revelation.

And then I remembered my grandfather.

When I was a child, my family of seven lived together: my grandparents, my parents, and us three children.
My grandfather was quite hard of hearing.
However, for some reason, he found my voice the easiest to hear among the family.
I was always by his side, speaking loudly into his ear to convey what the family was saying.

Being praised by my grandfather made me feel proud as a child, thinking that I was "being useful."

This is probably a common story.
But the fact that I had a grandfather who was hard of hearing also felt like a mysterious twist of fate.

Yes. It's fate.

Until then, I was on the development team for Sharp's first 5G flagship smartphone.
5G increases communication speeds, which makes the device get very hot.
So, the team and I created a new, unprecedented heat management mechanism, announced it as a product, and had just high-fived each other, thinking, "We did it!"

The work of developing cutting-edge smartphones was incredibly interesting and fun.

However, being able to take on the challenge of a new project like hearing aids was an opportunity for someone involved in manufacturing.
It was an opportunity given to me to solve problems in the world through technology and support people in need.

When I take off my softball umpire uniform, I am a serious Sharp employee through and through.
Even if I cannot save the whole world, I might be able to save someone like my grandfather.

I joined the development project for the "Medical Listening Plug".

By that time, the project had already started, a mock-up (full-scale model) had been made, and the general shape had been decided with the idea of "let's go with this design."

The development product was being advanced by a small team of elite members. Instead of clearly dividing who was in charge of which area, we all shared our opinions, discussed things like "wouldn't it be better to do it this way?", and solidified the specifications.
Decision-making is incredibly fast, and because everyone can share the strategy and challenges, the speed at which we move toward our goals is on a different level.

My mission was to organize the various opinions coming from the team and the company while advancing development, and to distill them into the final form that says, "This is the Medical Listening Plug!"

"Medical Listening Plug" features a stylish design that doesn't look like a hearing aid, while also pursuing high performance, quality, and safety.

Furthermore, it was necessary to devise ways to clearly communicate fitting methods and how to use the hearing aids.

Text, words,
color,
shape,
pictures,
video—let's make sure it gets across.

Let's change the color of the ear tips by size so that sizes can be confirmed remotely via chat or verbally.

Let's add a small bump to one side of the hearing aid so that left and right can be distinguished by touch. Let's make the app button that connects directly to the fitter stand out so that people will use it more and more.

Nowadays, some people even learn how to make sushi on YouTube and become sushi chefs. I also worked hard to create several YouTube videos showing how to use the "Medical Listening Plug".

If you'd like, even people who haven't purchased the hearing aids can freely download and view the "COCORO LISTENING" app. Of course, you can't use most of the functions without connecting to the device, but I want you to feel free to play around with it, like pressing the orange fitter button or moving the volume adjustment slider.

There are still many other small details. None of them are particularly smart; they are honest, straightforward methods. Even so, I decided to do whatever I could to protect the value of "remote."

Regarding fitting, which is the key to hearing aids, we gathered professional fitters and prepared tools and an environment to bring out their full potential.

Because...

I want to lower the hurdles for hearing aids. I want to widen the entrance. I want to create a world where more people can use hearing aids with ease.

And, although I am not hearing impaired,

I understand a little of the pain of not being able to hear.

I am "blind" in my left eye. I lost my sight in it due to an injury when I was four years old.

Even though I couldn't see out of my left eye, I was loved by my grandfather and family, went to school, got a job, got married, had children, and became a softball umpire. I think I have lived a happy life.

But I know the pain and frustration of there being things you cannot do or dreams that won't come true, no matter how hard you try.

That's why I thought. When I was asked to join the hearing aid project, I strongly felt, "
This is fate."

I've never heard it directly, but perhaps my boss assigned me to this project thinking I would be able to understand the feelings of those with hearing loss. Even so, I believed it was fate at that time.

For a long time, I had wanted to do work that would help people struggling with physical challenges.
Leaving smartphone development to step into the new category of medical devices felt like a chance that had come to me, as someone who understands the pain of "not being able to" do things.

For mild to moderate hearing loss, we can use our technology to provide support so that things are at least a little better than they are now.
We can use our technology to address the areas that are lacking.

We envisioned a finished product, thinking, "If we make a product like this and can achieve this kind of fitting, people will be able to use it in these situations."
That is how we completed the fully remote-fitting "Medical Listening Plug".

Oh, how limited our imagination was.

"You use it in places like that!?"

"Medical Listening Plug" After the launch, our expectations were greatly exceeded in a good way.

As a member of the development team, I have opportunities to speak directly with customers to provide support.

Through this, I learned that it is being used not only in the offices and homes we anticipated, but also in unexpected places.

There were people using it in rice paddies

It was surprising.
I had wrongly assumed that because there are few people in fields, there would be no inconvenience even without a hearing aid.
If it's a farm where many staff members work, hearing aids are even more necessary.
As expected, you never know until you ask.
It was a valuable lesson.

There were also people using it at construction sites

Hearing a human voice amidst that clatter-clatter and rumble-rumble is a Herculean task.
I want to do something to help them.
They probably use mobile phones a lot on site, too.
"With the "Medical Listening Plug," you can talk hands-free even when a call comes in, so it should definitely be useful."

There were also people using it in university lecture halls

Even if the professor uses a microphone, do the students use their natural voices?
If it's a student who speaks as loudly as a cheerleader, that's one thing, but for students who mumble because they lack confidence... for the professor's sake, I wish they would speak from the gut.

Of course, it's also very popular with office workers

The earphones refer to the streaming mode that allows you to listen to music and video audio from your smartphone.
Since I previously received a seal of approval from a customer who is a high-end earphone enthusiast, I would be very happy if this person is also enjoying them.

◇

When they say they are there to listen, could it be a meeting with subordinates?
A boss who is a good listener is surely trusted.
I also want to master active listening so I can listen to my customers' stories properly.

◇

I see.
I had only ever thought that window seats were hell in the summer because of the sun, but is there also a difference in how noise is heard?
That's helpful information.
I'll share this with the fitter.

◇

I would like them to use them at home as well to prevent hearing loss, but I also take off my mask, glasses, watch, and tie and jump into the bathtub as soon as I get home, so I understand the desire to just be yourself.

Pinpointing a specific scene

In rice fields, at construction sites, at universities, and at the office.
The "Medical Listening Plug" was being used in places we never imagined, far exceeding our expectations.

Also, as I listened to their stories, I realized that rather than wearing them all the time while awake, they prioritize being able to hear clearly in specific situations.

This trend was particularly strong among customers who were interested in remote fitting and purchased hearing aids for the first time.

In that case, I think the "Medical Listening Plug"'s "Scene Selection" will surely be useful.
You can set scenes to match various usage environments, and since you can choose from 10 scenes, you can switch between them on the spot.

Perhaps they are easily leaping over the scenes we envisioned and are being used by all sorts of people in all sorts of places.

A sommelier might be nodding deeply at a customer's order that was previously hard to hear over the background music, and serving them by saying, "Here is a recommended wine."

A greengrocer might be asked, "How do you cook that vegetable?" and, ignoring the hustle and bustle of the shopping street, reply, "It's best eaten raw."

This is just an imagination that reveals my own gluttony, but if the "Medical Listening Plug" could help, even just a little or in a very specific way, those who have never used hearing aids and usually think, "I have trouble hearing" or "conversations are difficult," how happy that would make me.

Even veterans who own many hearing aids

I found that there are quite a few people who keep searching for a hearing aid that suits them, thinking, "This isn't it, that isn't it either."

In fact, among the customers who purchased the "Medical Listening Plug" when it was first released, there are several who are sensitive to new things and have tried various hearing aids.

"I've used this product."
"I've tried this product too."
"Compared to those, Sharp's hearing aid is just as good."

When I heard that, I felt truly grateful.
Even if you launch a product with confidence in its quality, a developer's fragile heart is always anxious about whether it will be accepted by those who actually use it.
When connoisseurs tell me it is "just as good," the fog in my heart clears away instantly.

Moreover, it seems you cannot simply say that expensive products are better.
I am sure what matters is how well that hearing aid improves hearing in the scenes that are important to that person.

That is precisely why there is a question at stake.

The quality of the fitting.

From the very beginning of development, we had strong allies as advisors.
They were seasoned fitters who had been fitting hearing aids in person for years.

Some hold certifications as speech-language-hearing therapists or certified hearing aid technicians, and later came to perform fittings at the COCORO LISTENING Service Center.
We sought the cooperation of such professional fitters.

The hearing check data from customers is sent to the COCORO LISTENING Service Center via an app.
The fitters use PCs to adjust the "way of hearing" to suit the customer based on that data.

The proprietary "PC software for fitters" from Sharp that we use at that time is packed with the wishes of these seasoned fitters—over and over again!

How can we make the fitting more precise?
Can we speed it up?
Since they are pros among pros who have used various hearing aid adjustment software until now, they must have thought, "Let's use this opportunity to create the ideal software! Heh heh," and they didn't compromise at all.
Once it came to that, I had no choice but to follow them silently.

We worked on it right up until the release, and the PC software was completed.
Even if it is never seen by the customers, it is filled with the passionate feelings of the fitters.

Furthermore, it is not just the fitters who support the customers.
I, as part of the development team, handled inquiries that the fitters couldn't answer in customer support.

However, since it is remote, I cannot see or understand what the customer has in their hands.
The difficulty of providing support in that state is immense.
I am sure everyone at customer service centers for all products in the world feels the same way.
I want to shake their hands firmly.

Among these, inquiries like "My hearing aid won't connect to my smartphone via Bluetooth" are where I, as a former smartphone developer, get to show my stuff.

First, I ask the customer what kind of smartphone they are using.

The variety of smartphone models is enough to make one dizzy. Who on earth created so many different products?
I want them to reflect on that. (Laughs)

After getting the smartphone model from the customer, I slowly hang up the phone, stand up from my seat, and walk briskly toward the department that develops smartphones.
Once I arrive, I search through a mountain of inventory for the closest possible model.
I then bring it back to my desk, and finally, I am ready to talk to the customer.

Now that I understand the trends in inquiries, the COCORO LISTENING Service Center can handle almost everything.
Even so, I continue to provide direct support for difficult cases.

It was only after hearing from customers who purchased them that I learned, "People use them like that!"

If the design of the "Medical Listening Plug", or its use in combination with a smartphone, is expanding into previously unimagined ways of use, I am happy, but that is not all.
Customers are finding new ways to use them and are helping our products grow.

"Natural Pink" was the same.

That gentle color we added was born from customer feedback.

When I held a free trial session after the release of Natural Pink, one woman came to the store and said to me:

I am grateful that she remembered and waited for the new color like that, and I bow deeply in my heart.

When the first Matte Black model was released, customers encouraged us too.
From Hokkaido, from Okinawa, from big cities, and from rural towns, many people sent us their voices of joy.

"Can you hear better now? That's great! I'm so happy too. Thank you so much for calling to thank us."

Every time I expressed my gratitude like that on the phone, my heart warmed with the "greatest happiness as a developer," being able to share in the joy with the customer.
I'm a crybaby, so my eyes get a bit watery, but since I'm at the office, I pretend to wipe away sweat.

Surely, that revelation on the day I first saw a hearing aid was a precursor to such happy days coming.

"Play ball!"

That day when I loudly declared the start of the softball game led to this very day.

The day I learned I couldn't see out of my left eye, the days I spoke loudly into my grandfather's ear, and the days I spent immersed in smartphone development—they all led here.
They led to a single path.

Sometimes, I'll take off my umpire uniform, show my face as a Sharp employee, and walk my own path so that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow is better than today.

With the "Medical Listening Plug" in my hand.

Now, play ball.
A new game is about to begin.

・The product page for the Medical Listening Plug ishere

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