• Hong
  Kong scientists applied 5G beamforming technology to
  develop revolutionary hearing aids, effectively reducing noise by 90%.
• Won
  the “Most Popular Invention Star” award

 

HONG
KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 December 2020 – On November 21st, the 3-day 24th National
Exhibition of Inventions — Belt & Road and the BRICS Skills Development and
Technology Innovation Competition concluded in Foshan, China ¹.A group of inventions and innovation projects and leading talents who
made outstanding contributions to technology and industrial progress and
to enhance social welfare were awarded. Hong Kong scientist Mr. Cheung Yat Yiu (Danny) used 5G beamforming technology to
develop a revolutionary hearing aid that effectively reduces noise by 90% and
won the “Most Popular Invention Star” award.

 

In
the past decade or so, the number of hearing-impaired people in Hong Kong has
been increasing. According to the report “Persons with Disabilities and
Chronic Diseases in Hong Kong”², the majority of people with
hearing difficulties are elderly people over 70 years old. Therefore, the
increase in the number of hearing- impaired people is related to the increase
in the number of elderly people with an aging population. According to figures
from the World Health Organization (WHO), one in three elderly persons aged 65
or above has hearing loss³. Weak hearing can lead to falling and
emotional instability. The risk of accidents is also high. The problem should
not be ignored.

Dr.
Joannie Yu, audiologist, calls for public’s attention on elderly hearing
problem and to take positive steps. She suggested that we should consult
audiological professional advice when hearing loss symptoms arises. However, to
date, only less than 17% people with hearing loss will wear hearing aids. Even
they choose to wear them, the function of the past hearing aids is not perfect.
In addition to amplifying the voice, it will also amplify the noise. The sound
the user hears may be noisy, or it may make the user suffer from noise nuisance
and it is difficult to wear it for a long time.

It is for this reason that Hong Kong scientist Mr. Cheung Yat Yiu (Danny) established the
EasyHear Hearing Centre⁴.  EasyHear is the world’s first company
successfully that applied 5G beamforming technology to hearing aids. The technology has significantly improved signal-to-noise
ratio which overcome the annoying loud noise problem that plagues traditional
hearing aids. This breakthrough has brought
noise cancellation to a new era with superb 90% noise reduction. Users can hear
high clarity speech even in noisy environment. Hearing impaired
people can rebuild communication and listen clearly with this ground-breaking
patented technology.

The
24th National Exhibition of Inventions — Belt & Road and BRICS Skills
Development & Technology Innovation Competition

Themed
on “Invention and Innovation, Mutual Benefit and Win-win”, the 24th
National Exhibition of Inventions — Belt & Road and BRICS Skills
Development & Technology Innovation Competition was jointly organized by
China Association of Inventions, the BRICS Business Council, Department of
Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, and Guangdong Provincial
Association for Science and Technology. The total exhibition area was more than
40,000 square meters. The Exhibition lasted for three days and attracted more
than 5,000 exhibitors from 800 enterprises, schools and research
institutions from China with about 2,195 inventions were exhibited. The
National Exhibition of Inventions had contributed to developing the
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Global Science and Technology
Innovation Center.

 

Source of information

1. http://www.cainet.org.cn/cms/Article/view?article_id=256
   http://www.cainet.org.cn/cms/view/2332.html

2. The report “Persons with
Disabilities and Chronic Diseases in Hong Kong” http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/fd.jsp?file=B71501FB2015XXXXB0100.pdf&product_id=FA100059&lang=3. 2./ 

3. Deafness and hearing
loss Fact sheet, WHO, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs300/en/

4. https://easyhear.com.hk/