CRI听力:Innovative In-ear Headsets "a Big Help" for Military Personnel

The in-ear headsets can turn vibrations from jawbones into sound and cancel external noise, so that a speaker can be heard even when standing beside very loud noises, such as near a roaring jet engine or a loud explosion on a battlefield.

Lars Hojgard Hansen, President and CEO of the manufacturer Invisio, says a number of technologies have been combined in the production.

"First of all, we have a very unique microphone that we use for voice pick up in very difficult environments. It uses a vibration centre as opposed to a normal microphone in front of your mouth so it's a bone conduction technology that we use for voice pick-up and we pair that with very advanced hearing protection for both continuous noise and also for impulse noise. So the user will get a system where he has very good hearing protection in concert with very good communication possibilities, but also retains situational awareness and can hear everything that is going on in the environment."

Invisio headsets can protect a soldier's ears by bringing loud noises like explosions or gun shots down to a safer level.

A user who wants to hear something from a greater distance can opt to increase the volume up to five times.

Hansen also suggested that these headsets could help relevant organizations save a large sum of expenses spent in dealing with hearing loss issue among military personnel.

"A lot of money is now being invested into new radio communications systems and this is needed to have a more efficient and reliable communication between the users. On the other hand, this will save many public organizations a lot of money because they can now protect people and don't have to spend the money on paying compensation, buying hearing aids and sending people in pension because of hearing damages. So this is on one hand, it enhances the performance of the user but it also saves money from not having these hearing damages."

The products have been sold to British and U.S military forces and will be used by French security forces at the Euro 2016 football championship this summer.

Recent orders from NATO countries have helped to contribute to a 14 percent increase in sales last year to 230 million crowns, or 28 million U.S. dollars.

Invisio is now planning to expand outside its main markets in Europe and North America, to selected countries in Asia, the Middle East and South America.

The share price of the 17-year-old now-Swedish firm soared 500 percent in 2015, and the current market for its products is estimated at nearly 500 million U.S. dollars.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.