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Interview with Achin Bhowmik | Starkey's Chief Technology Officer & Executive VP of Engineering - YouTube
Channel: Doctor Cliff, AuD
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in this video I'm interviewing Starkey
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Hearing technologies chief technology
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officer and executive vice president of
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engineering HM bhowmick so you can get
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an inside look at just how techie the
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hearing aid industry really is coming up
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[Music]
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hi guys dr. cliff here I actually have
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the chief technology officer from
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Starkey here at chin bhowmick thank you
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dr. Bowman for taking time to speak with
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me today basically I want to really know
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if it's more fun working at Starkey or
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if it was more fun working at Intel okay
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so first it's great to meet you did not
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really person really liked your video
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and the energy to our community back of
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that question I think so I spent 17
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years at Intel and the last part of that
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job was a role leadership role of
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perceptual computing so I was vice
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president of perceptual computing retail
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which is the domain of sensing and
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artificial intelligence our idea was to
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build technologies that enable computers
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and machines how smart and so we're not
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talking about like our laptops that
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we're working with we're talking about
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things way beyond that too so think of
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whole host of devices even your lab do
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mobile phones and laptops why do you
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need to put in a password to login you
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should be able just look at the device
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and it recognize employee agree so it
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required advances in AI to recognize you
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but then extend this discussion further
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smart cameras cameras that should know
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the occupants of the home so if somebody
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breaks in who's not welcome it should
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alert you I don't recognize somebody
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who's at home so smart cameras robots
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and drones that would navigate by
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themselves to cars that would drive by
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themselves so that was the domain that I
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was working right so like technology
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that eventually becomes smarter than us
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and eventually takes us all down and
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it's also it's helping us today how it
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stays that way
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right yeah yeah and for Intel you look
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at Intel traditionally was a company
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focused on providing processors for PCs
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and then server servers in the data
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centers okay but my focus was on well
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can we evolve
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processor technology along with sensors
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and machine learning to bring about this
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new array of smarter and more
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intelligent machines right and I think
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that that translates really well to your
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role now at Starkey I mean I don't think
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it's any secret that store P has really
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tried to push this let's use artificial
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intelligence inside of the hearing
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technology and then do things more than
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just focus on hearing so well how long
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have you been with Starkey now so I
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joined in the summer of 2017 so it's
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been more than two and a half years now
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and that exactly that is exactly why I
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came to stock in forgot to tell you
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honestly when I got contacted by Starkey
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recruiters it was a plain and simple no
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I'm not interested
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why would I did he retain it I was
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having a lot of fun at yeah it's one of
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the best companies on the planet I was
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having a lot of fun a lot of good
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friends there and my team I was leading
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a team of more than 1400 people around
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the wall developing breakthrough
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technologies I had no reason to look
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around for jobs or you know go look my
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friends would rotate around and the TV
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fears that entailed an Apple Google
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Facebook I spent 17 years there and when
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this opportunity came about and I spent
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two months interacting with Starkey
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executives to understand the opportunity
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most important conversations with mr.
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Bill Austin okay and it turns out it's a
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long story sided to cut it short but it
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turns out I knew about his work way back
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in my graduate school no kidding so
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there was 17 years before I got this
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call from the recruiter when I wrote a
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little white paper comparing and
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contrasting public companies from
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private companies particularly
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passionate founders who start those
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companies and some decide to go public
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and some step up private right so I
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picked two companies that were public in
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public Intel and Microsoft okay and on
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the private front it was both I was a
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bit official amar Bose and be lost him
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okay ray and but then I had nothing to
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do it mr. Osteen until I got this call
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and after saying no that evening as I
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was driving back home Starkey mmm is
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that mr. Austin's really I call back the
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recruiter and asked him is this bill
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Austin Starkey and he said yeah would
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you like to talk to him so that's how
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the conversation started and when I came
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visited this was not a forum
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this was a discussion and a love between
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the two of us and he was saying explain
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to me what are you doing with AI and
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then he said I'm gonna tell you about my
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work at the end he said I can create a
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playground for you right where you are
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working on same technologies but instead
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of making smart machines you're helping
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people live better lives right so I
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didn't know I had it in me I was right
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creative emotional appeal for me right
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well you've been a busy guy then if it's
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only been a couple of years since you've
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been with Starkey because you guys just
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announced I mean a year ago
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you know the Livio AI came out which was
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groundbreaking technology incorporating
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motion sensors into the hearing aids to
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accomplish things more than just helping
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someone hear better but now we're
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talking fall detection and actual you
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know engagement and movement you know
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from a perspective of getting people
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more socially active getting people more
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physically active to improve their
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overall health and so now you guys just
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today announced the Livio edge AI and
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the custom product that is actually
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rechargeable so how long did it take you
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guys to work to develop that stuff yeah
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so I have hard comments like they're
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moving at Silicon Valley pacer right
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from the from the even before I joined
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we had through the discussions with miss
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Hearst in the vision became already
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clear the what I share today about our
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vision of using technology such as AI to
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improve the sound quality and experience
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of hearing but then go beyond in what we
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call health table make the device while
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you're wearing it to be continuous
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monitor and tracker for your health and
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make this a gateway to information and
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become your personal assistant this
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vision was clarified right about before
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I was joining uh-huh and after that it
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was the good old engineering right and
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we beefed up our teams we created new
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expertise hiring new talent Brandon
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mentioned this morning about our
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establishment of an advanced R&D center
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in Tel Aviv Israel Platinum is set of
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talent that has never been in the
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hearing aid industry because we are
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planning to do things that have never
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well here's the problem for me my job is
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to take this complex stuff and break it
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down to simple forms but now you guys
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are starting to branch out into areas
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that aren't necessarily my area of
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expertise
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and I think it's great though I mean
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we're all eventually going to adapt to
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this being the new norm I think is not
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just focusing on the hearing side by
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focusing on the total health of the
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individual in general one thing I want
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you to touch base a little bit more on
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is the actual custom product side of
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this with recharge ability and from what
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I understand that custom product is
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gonna have a lot of the AI benefits that
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we had with the Livio AI behind the ear
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device right but in fact the most common
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question that I was getting from
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customers for the last year after the
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introduction of Livio is when is this
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going to be custom and could that be
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rechargeable that was it could it
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connect to the phones that and by the
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way to that about why should be getting
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it do all of these things this morning I
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give the example of how phones right we
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used to think phones are just folks
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these just make phone calls that's it
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right look at the phone is your GPS
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phone is your camera that phone is your
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fitness tracker the phone has become
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your device one device in your life you
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cannot live without so I think it's such
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a waste of real estate if your hearing
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aid is only a flipping sound right it
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should do that as the primary job right
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a very very good job at that it protects
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you but if he's sitting there why would
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it not measure your temperature why
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would it not track your physical
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activity why would it not is a sound
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processing device why did not tell me
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how much social engagement have I had
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you saw all of the detrimental impact of
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loneliness and lack of social engagement
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to overall him and help yeah there is no
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other device that I can think of which
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is always with you and it's always
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classifying sound and machine learning
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so we can just I think it's obvious
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particularly talk about fault detection
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yeah people are spending you know the
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collectively people spend billions of
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dollars in medical emergency systems I
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know I just saw those numbers and it is
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billions of dollars per year just based
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off of the medical care for individuals
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who have fallen and then of course
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people actually die from falling yes and
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I'll tell you what's something else so I
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teach at Stanford I manage I'm professor
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with Stanford School of Medicine one of
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the preeminent experts on human motion
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is dr. Scott Delp and what are you
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saying is that there is no way that any
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other sensory near the parts of the body
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would have
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the same exaggerated response than your
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head and we have two of the sensor so
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the reason we are getting better fall
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detection then your traditional phone
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sensors is because one the head is
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pivoting around your waist right
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exaggerated movement and the head
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doesn't behave badly it doesn't flail
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around unlike your wrist right or your
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neck on sensor and we have two of them
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so it's looking for false positives and
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false negatives simply put if I detect
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fall if one of the AI systems
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engineering a detects fall it's asking
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the other one hey I think I fell did you
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so we can do this double check and
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reduce the false positives and false
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negative the thing that a lot of my not
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my patients but my patients children you
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know who go in with them to their
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appointments they they love the aspect
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of the hearing aids connecting directly
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with the phone for phone calls because
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you know I call mom and she never
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answers and it's really because she just
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you know can't either get to the phone
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in time or can't you know hear the phone
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and incorporating that technology with
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hearing aids to where you can call and
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directly have it go to the hearing
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devices itself is great but this is kind
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of like another step up for those
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individuals who are concerned that their
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parents you know might fall and then be
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able to actually go and and either seek
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help for them or actually go check on
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them there's no peace of mind all the
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relatives to have the device so it would
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be a peace of mind and for the same
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reasons we have video monitors for
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watching home right so you don't have to
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worry about mom falling down hurting
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herself right or or sitting idle all day
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right disconnected from social
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engagement being lonely and now you can
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even track that side of it without
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having to fall right so you can actually
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track that if you're the the child of
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someone who has hearing aids or the
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parent of someone who has hearing is you
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can actually track and see what their
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usage time is whether engagement scores
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are so this is fantastic this morning we
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announced our tribe can application
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absolutely caregiver now to benefit from
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that's right that's right and I think
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that that's I think that's a terrific
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route to go you guys are definitely
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thinking about this in a way that not
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many other companies are thinking about
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it and so I think your jobs pretty
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exciting here going forward in fact you
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know I know you guys so you guys just
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released this stuff I already know that
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you're in your kitchen like trying to
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the next great thing when it comes
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to hearing technology but I can't
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imagine you're ready to share that cuz
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you just shared with us you know earth
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breaking you know earth shattering
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material this morning which I'm excited
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to get my hands on those devices and
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actually check them out myself and the
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only thing I'll tell you is yes you're
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totally right I mean the technology I
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think that we're barely scratching the
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surface of what's possible in terms of
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you know I have all these conversations
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with customers this is an event where I
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get a lot of feedback when I know what
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the complaints are the engineer inside
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is concocting the solutions for it I
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think the I mentioned this morning about
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infusing AI in every aspect of the
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product from the sound processing to
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tracking health to becoming your own
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very personal assistant and second
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questions reminding of medication we are
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just barely scratching the surface of
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how much we can do with the device
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that's in your ear right any very
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exciting future you said the ear is even
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better spot than the wrist yes I have
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all the same I should say here is not
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the new list right it is where do you
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measure temperature of the body not on
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their right wrist and we get much better
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biometrics data yeah and we can deliver
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information it's a personal
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communication device to manage your
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brain States the fascinating stuff right
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absolutely I think you might have one of
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the most interesting jobs in America to
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be quite honest extremely happy and
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privileged that's also particularly the
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technology that we do today I am I can
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proudly say this helps people live
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better lives absolutely that's why I
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left I think that's why we all do it
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because and you can see it and and you
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can see it and it in providers are the
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ones who are kind of on the front lines
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of seeing that but it doesn't take a lot
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for you guys to kind of catch wind of
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all of the amazing stuff that's
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happening with these individuals who who
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have hearing loss and eventually who I
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truly believe this who don't have
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hearing loss and are gonna want to use
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this technology in the future so that
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that's that's the biggest opportunity
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for this industry collectively yeah
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removing the stigma from the hearing
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aids and all of these designs that we
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have now with really cool-looking device
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yeah I mean I think I think the stigma
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is going away already I mean no one
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reaches out to me saying like oh you
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know
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I really want to wear hearing devices
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but they're just not cool or they they
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make me feel like people just aren't
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thinking that way anymore and I think
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that it's it's companies like Starkey
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who are developing these products that
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allow you to do more things with them
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that's really fighting through that so I
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really appreciate that side of it from
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you guys thank you very much
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excellent well thanks for taking time
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with me today I'm sure this won't be the
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last time that we ever chat guys if you
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want to check out more information you
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want to see more interviews just make
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sure you to go to dr. cliff AUD comm hi
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guys I hope you liked the interview if
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you have any questions leave them in the
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calm
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