Latest / Starkey Sound Bites: Hearing Aids, Tinnitus, and Hearing Healthcare / Starkey Genesis AI Goes Global feat. Jeff Geigel

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Starkey Genesis AI Goes Global feat. Jeff Geigel · Starkey Sound Bites: Hearing Aids, Tinnitus, and Hearing Healthcare

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Starkey Soundbites.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Dave Fabry, Starkey's Chief Hearing Health Officer and host of the podcast.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: October is a special month for us here at Starkey.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is the annual meeting, not only Oktoberfest, but we go to the country where Oktoberfest takes place, Germany.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: What used to be known as the German Congress, now is appropriately the European Congress, or OIHA, as the Europeans say.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And Jeff Geigel, as our chief commercial officer, is here to talk a little bit about what the significance of this annual meeting that has taken place for many years.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I know I've lost track of how many times I've attended OIHA, and I'm sure you've been a comparable amount, having been an industry veteran and friend for many years now.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Jeff, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, I've been trying to get on your dance card for a long time.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a busy guy.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're very busy.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of competition for my calendar.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: There is.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh while I say I have a uh a voice for radio, you have a head for radio, but we're gonna go ahead and do this on YouTube as well as perfect podcast channels.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: We'll try to keep this clean.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's try.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let's not let's not have unrealistic expectations.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Jeff, it it's sincerely it's been a pleasure uh being a colleague, uh sometimes a competitor to you over these years.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: But uh but now I've got the same team very long time.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very long time.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Very long time.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Longer than neither of us cares to admit.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: But so let's talk about uh uh OIHA, uh the European Congress.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: What's the significance of this meeting in in your role at Starkey now, uh, where you're responsible for uh the sales and the commercial and and and uh sales uh around the world, uh uh no matter where we're talking about, which market.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, a lot of times people think, well, we're proud of our U.S.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: heritage, and and we're we're not an American company making hearing aids only for the American market, uh, and and really looking at that impact around the world.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're the ideal person to sit in this seat.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you, Dave.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, thank you for inviting me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a really pleasure being here.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I I'm really excited about um the opportunity that we have in going to Europe again to display Starkey, our products.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: But also what I'm excited about is an opportunity for us to engage with our partners, our employees, our customers.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: We've had a lot of significant growth in Europe over the last, I would say, five years.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Starkey has transformed itself in Europe.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: We are now recognized as probably one of the more significant players in some of the key markets, such as France and Germany.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And for us to go to the UA conference um really allows us to even go deeper and really explain to the people our story.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, we're based here in the US, we're not based here in Europe.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: All of our competitors are based there in Europe, so they always have the opportunity to tell their story at a much more closer proximity.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: We in the US get to tell our story much more frequently in the US, but when we go to U-Haot, it really allows us to continue to deepen the story around our products, uh the story around our company, and really how you know we're very different than our competitors, and the people in Europe really respect that.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why not only our employees, but the partnerships that we've developed in Europe in terms of our customer base really is a reason why we've grown so much.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And they've really adopted our story, not only from a product side, but from a culture side, from a company side, where we really put the patient first and the provider first.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in Europe, as it's a very well-professional developed market, they really appreciate that from Starkey, that we really put the patient first.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that we do is with the patient first in mind.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: They they love hearing the stories that our owners are still involved in seeing patients every day.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's just a very cool story to say because it's the truth.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you, working for the competitors, um, you as well in the past, this is a very special place.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: So telling that story doesn't get old, it gets us excited, and going into sharing that over there in Europe just allows us to continue to solidify those partnerships with our with our customers, but more importantly, and which I'm very excited about with our employees, because our employees take the opportunity to go to this conference.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's an opportunity for us to celebrate the moment that Starkey is on a growth trajectory, we're investing in our future, and people feel that.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So going over there to continue to tell that story in Europe just solidifies our market position.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know you're a huge sports fan.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a Canadian, you like to think that that's where they invented hockey, but it's really Minnesota and Wisconsin.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: But but um, you know, using the metaphor of that, uh, OIHA is an away game for us.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: But we travel on the road pretty well.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And increasingly, I would say, dating back to 2018, when we first began to talk about and launch Livio AI in the market, uh, it was really under the direction of Brendan Swalic and Achin Bomek to sort of think differently and really think beyond just fitting a pair of ears and worried about uh matching real ear targets.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: We're thinking about the overall health and welfare of the patient and thinking about hearing care being health care.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think among a sea of sameness, we sort of started to plant a flag in 2018 saying that we're we're patient-driven and that we wanted to provide our partners, dispensers, audiologists around the world with the latest technology to importantly provide improved sound quality and speech intelligibility, but also connecting to that patient in terms of his or her journey to hearing and overall health and wellness.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what I keep hearing around the world.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: The OEHA is a great example when we go there of hearing them say we're doing and thinking differently and really leading in that area compared with our competitors.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and they don't just feel it with words, right?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: They see it through our product, they see it through our people, but they also see it through our investments.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: We've over the last five years have invested, you know, in uh from our production management, from our people leadership.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: We've invested in the marketplaces in Europe.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And people see that, customers see that.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just not words that they hear us say, they see our actions there.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of, you know, speaking through actions, developing those partnerships, and they're seeing that wow, okay, these this is an American-based organization that's a global company, and they believe in our market, and they're not competing with us because we also make some strategic decisions there in Europe that we are going to put a high focus of attention and investments in the professional community.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and we've been rewarded by by the growth that we've had there and our continued uh solidification in the marketplace in Europe.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So going there just allows us to continue to build on those relationships.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I get excited every year I go because it's an opportunity for us to re-engage, you know, to reconnect.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and also we we we get to have a a lot of fun.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, we're a fun place to work at.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: People see that as well.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And no, there's something to be said.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like people like to be close to people that like having fun.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we we we like having fun as well.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and uh the EU this year is gonna be in Nuremberg.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: It kind of goes uh through a number of different um cities, usually vacillates between two or three in Germany.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it is a great opportunity to see colleagues, friends meet new uh uh partners and new entrants.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's sort of fun, uh a concentrated way, a very intense, compressed way to get a snapshot of the market in Europe.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: I a lot of people, you know, the American market uh is the largest in the world uh in terms of its average selling price and in terms of the units, but people forget that the the European Union market as a collective is larger than than in the US.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you put Canada and the US together, we're still smaller than EU.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, the other the other sobering statistic for those of us who've been at this a while is that this year I think we'll worldwide probably 21 million hearing aids will likely be sole give or take.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um there's 466 million people with hearing loss.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you get busy because you still have a lot of work to do in those different markets to increase adoption rate and and to work as a coordinated and well-oiled machine around the world.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we've just you know we launched Genesis in the US.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: We just now launched it in in Europe.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: UHA gives us an opportunity also to, you know, to which we've done, we're celebrating it at UHA, and and people are excited the fact that we did celebrate that at UHA.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So now we see that that celebration paying dividends, they see that they see those investments in our product again in our people, and they go, this is something very special around the world, right?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we launched Genesis in Canada, we launched Genesis in Europe, and now what we're seeing is people really are starting to appreciate all the things that they've been reading about, some of the things that have been happening here in the US.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because we launched in the US first, there's always regulatory timetables that we have to hit, so there's always a little bit of a lag outside of the US.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I have to tell you, some of the some of the responses that we've been getting in Canada and Europe about the adoption of this technology, it's it's been impressive.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been doing this now for 25 years.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've worked at competitors, and I have never seen in the history of my professional career the level of rapid response of wow, yeah, this is an incredible product, like I've seen with Genesis AI.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's across all the markets in Europe now, it's across Canada, and now the next phase of it will be going into uh the Asian countries and and the rest of what I call the rest of the world, post-Europe and Canada.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited for all of our partners in those marketplaces as well, because they also want to have the experience of this technology because they've been reading all of the incredible marketplace responses in the US, and they're going, when can I get my hand on this technology?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's transformative.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're seeing transformative responses where people have not had the best of experience with their previous technology, obviously from other people except Starkey.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: But but we are a product company.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we speak through our actions about products and people, and it starts at the again at the at the patient-centric level.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that we can do that and demonstrate that we're serious about that by showing through the performance of our Genesis AI speaks volume that we stand behind of our patient first approach.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm really excited for the European customers.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: There, I'm getting emails every day from our European leaders talking about how it's transforming their partnerships with their customers, transforming lives of patients every day.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and again, uh as you can see, I have a lot of enthusiasm around what I'm seeing in the marketplace with Genesis AI, and I I can't wait for it to be global, which will happen in in uh 2024 as we roll it out for the rest of the world.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I have to tell you that um it's uh the response that we got at Uha for Genesis AI was was beyond expectations.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you know, with Genesis AI, we talk about a new beginning and and uh the differentiating features, and we really talk about it really as technology for all.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that doesn't mean it's one size fits all.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Can you talk a little bit about some of the differences around the world?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: What's some of the feedback in those markets where we have launched that has been the differentiating difference beyond the people and the support and our culture?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: You talk about that, but technology-wise, give me an example of some of the types of feedback and differences across some of those global markets that really again require a person like you with the industry experience sitting in these roles, not only talking, but listening at what those markets are saying uh what what they want.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you I you you're just getting you're just getting excited by that question, Dave, because like I said, I've been doing this for a very long time, and patient satisfaction has always been a little bit of an industry challenge where you know it used to be probably sitting in the 70s, and now we're sitting up close in the 90s, and uh our satisfaction rate with our products is probably above that, and I just see it.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so to answer your question specifically, what I've seen around our products is you know, speech and noise and sound processing is at the base of what we do, right?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons why people don't have the experience that they thought they would have with any hearing device was I'm still having a hard time understanding speech and noise.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm amazed to see with Genesis AI is in all of our markets, US, Canada, and Europe right now, is the uh feedback that I'm getting from the markets, from the people, is that people that were hesitant because they didn't really have a positive experience with previous technology are adopting this at a very, very fast rate.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Their immediate uh response to that wow, and it's very hard to describe scientifically, right?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because every brain is different and we all hear differently.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has their own hearing system that's specifically to them.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: The ability for our product to immediately gain that adoption, which is the key, that first that first minute when that's spontaneous user acceptance.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Spontaneous, I have never seen anything like that.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think you know, you're right.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: The the top drivers of expectations from people with hearing loss about hearing aid technology include that audibility for speech, performance, sound quality, and intelligibility and noise, preventing loudness, discomfort, and then one that often gets the short shrift is spatial awareness.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: And and what I hear as somebody that is still fitting patients is that that soft sounds beyond speech, speech, soft speech, and other soft sounds are audible in a way that is natural and pleasing and and provides a moment of delight for patients right out of the gate.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're the devices are quiet, and then I think really importantly, they're not only detecting that a sound is present, but they're able to locate where those sounds occur.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that is so important because that that instantaneous user experience is so critical for that professional-to-patient engagement, right?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because that professional wants to have that level of satisfaction from the patient because they're their number one fan.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And to see that the one connection that we have between all the markets, uh Canada, US, you notice I put Canada first, right?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm French Canadian, so I mean, but uh Canada, the US, and all of our European countries and partners, the one thing right now, all the markets that we've launched is we're getting patient, patient feedback and comments of I've never heard so naturally before.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's from previous users of other products.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: New users are going.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: What's the biggest issue that we have that we cross our fingers with new users?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going to hang on to these and go on into their journey and respect that this is going to take time?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm impressed about is the acceleration of how people, the new users, are going, this is really helping me in a very quick way.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because it takes time.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: It takes time, right?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Readapting.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: You don't hear with your ears, they're providing input to the brain.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: But that that that we we're closing the cycle of adoption for new users.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that is for me the one of the biggest wins that I'm seeing across all the markets.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: One other thing I want to talk about is you know, I've got the CIC, the wireless CICs.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in some markets, this is really um one of the more desirable form factors.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it's certainly a hallmark of our history since Mr.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Austin founded the company as small custom solutions that provide cosmetic uh uh benefits as well as performance benefits, that these are wireless.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um what markets would you say are those key markets where small size and connectivity are prized among almost everything else?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I I think so let's let's split those in two.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, let's split those in three.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think that all markets have their own level of reality, and a lot of it is determined by the different demographics that we serve.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: So what we're seeing is in the, I would say, the uh ledger of older patients, we're seeing the focus of dexterity and cognitivity.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So keeping things simple, and that's the beautiful thing about Genesis AI is there's so much scalability to adopt to that patient age.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we see that.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then you see more of the active wearer where they want to have that robustness and in um uh connectivity and streaming and activity.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: They want something small, but they want something robust, right?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: They want something that I'm I'm very active, I need to hear all the time, and and I I want to wear my device all the time.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And what we're seeing, which is very interesting, we're seeing a lot of adoption in our mini-ricks, which is something that that's a little bit new to our marketplace, right?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we're the only mini rick that actually offers a mini receiver and a canal with a sensor, lifestyle sensor, that allows it really to push the helpable features of our product, which for that active user.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say that in that middle-age category, so it's less of a marketplace, it's more of an age category.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: But then you have the markets that have a value to the size of small where the ergonomics and the cosmetics and those some of the younger population that have a little bit of that cosmetic appeal to them.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a segment, I would say, that's regionally real here in the US, you know, like your New Yorks and your Californias.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: You see it everywhere, but I mean, you you have marketplaces that are a little more sensitive to cosmetics.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: In Canada, you you have a a little bit of uh of a CIC market, but not as big.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then Europe, it's really not big.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that the French market is a little overweighted on on the small.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what they're most impressed with is that they have very high patient volumes.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is the second part I wanted to get into.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: They all have very high patient volumes.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um now we everyone will claim they have high patient volumes, but in a lot of markets that that their schedules are are really they're really busy.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um and one of the biggest benefit, which I find is one of the stories that are not being told enough right now about this product, and I'm one of them that's really propagating it, is we're not only bringing patient benefit, we're bringing professional benefit because the level of accuracy that we're getting with our best fit option, when professionals are choosing to going through the best fit-fitting process, they are so pleased on how they can get such an accurate fitting so fast, increases the level of productivity for themselves, a level of accuracy.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: It and it because no one really wants to be there more than what they have to as a patient, right?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: You you when you go to uh any kind of ancillary professional, you're you want to go, you want to get your care, you you you want you want to add done.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: You want to add value with every encounter.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: But you don't want to some older patients that I had when I was uh you know, full-time clinic, I felt like this was one of their social engagements for the week.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they were coming in and they wanted interaction, and we have to respect and honor that.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: But in increasingly, as we transition to younger active patients, uh baby boomers like you and me.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm a boomer, you're not.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm Generation X.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Those younger patients, they want to know they can get you if they need you for something serious, but they don't want to go in any more than they need to.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you talk about four clicks from the box to first fit.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it you know, obviously that's just the starting pistol.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to have an opportunity to adjust beyond it, but that's a great starting pistol.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you have just think about it, you have what uh what I'm what I'm really happy about is that we've we've listened to the patient and we've listened to the professional.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very intuitive app, very intuitive instructions to get the patient to engage with their product from streaming to listening environments to listening to the professional from keeping it things very intuitive at the professional level as well.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is all the feedback that we're getting in the marketplaces.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, as we go across the world in the markets.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has a little bit of a different flavor to their markets.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Europe is very developed.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: They've been doing this for a very long time.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: They've been in the professional delivery of care.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: The US has gone through its journey, like Canada, over the last 30, 40, 50 years of, I would say, industry development, you know, uh from um from more training into professional development.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Europe is a very mature market, whereas the first, what I'm excited about is we're seeing in a lot of the emerging markets the consumers and the patient wanting and asking for professional intervention.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's always been a little bit of the Wild West in some of those emerging markets 10 years ago.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: If I look back 10 years, it was not as, and I and I don't want to be disparaging to some of those emerging markets, but it wasn't as organized, right?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: There was certain people that offered certain services, others you you you'd go to a place where there was no necessary professional intervention to get care.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and now what we're seeing in markets like India, China, Africa, you're you're seeing continents, continents, but like in China, right?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's an emerging business being developed of professional intervention.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: In India, we're seeing at a very rapid rate.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Which is really intriguing because, as you say, in North America and specifically in the U.S., um many people have been, let's say, anxious uh about the impact of over-the-counter where providing that additional opportunity for a patient to start their journey to hearing health is where where does the professional fit in?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And they're worried that OTC is going to cut out their role.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: You're what you're telling me is in international markets we're seeing the exact opposite, where there's a recognition of the role of the professional in some of those markets where they've been more uh OTC or direct uh sale, they're recognizing the value of the professional.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's the it's the opposite of what the concern among some here.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been concerned about the impact of OTC other than just providing a new lane, a new channel for people so that we increase the adoption.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to meet the patient where they are, meet the consumer where they are.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: But it's interesting you say that in some of these international markets that you've just identified, the recognition of the role of the professional should be there should be light bulbs going off for people listening that this isn't a concern, this is an opportunity.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: But but it's it's driven.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, let the record show that that I wasn't referring to Africa as a country, it was referring to as a continent.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but China and India specifically, because they're they're large, they're large developing markets, um, that it's consumer driven.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: The consumer is asking for professional touches.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And 10 years ago, that wasn't necessarily as much as the case, right?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're seeing it being developed.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about it because it fits a lot into our philosophy, right?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Where that patient first approach, if there is some kind of professional intervention, you're gonna get probably the best patient outcome.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not probably, most likely the best patient outcome, because it's a very complicated journey, especially with today's devices, right?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and what I'm excited about, even though it's a complicated journey, we found a way to listen to the professional, to listen to the patient, and we've simplified the best possible outcome for both of those journeys.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that that for me, with the emerging markets and the development of professional intervention, I'm really excited about our future here at Starkey.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited about the future development of our product portfolio because we're just gonna continue to make everything better from this baseline on.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we did a great job from Livio to Evolve to Genesis AI, but I'm also excited about all the investments we're making in the future because Starkey is in investment mode.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to continue to build our roots in all markets internationally, because a lot of the times people think, well, Starkey is a US company.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're not, we are a global company, we are investing heavily in our international presence, and that that that excites me because I I'm my my role is to make sure that we get as many products, as many ears as possible that has the Starkey name associated to it.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and we're on a great growth trajectory.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, I mean, I think the standpoint of um looking at the opportunities that we have in front of us in the very near future, um, for those uh people who are listening from international markets on this call and they're they're waiting to get their hands on Genesis AI.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: If they're practitioners, um, you know, stay tuned because as you said, 2024, we'll hope to have this rolled out uh in the universe.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um I want to dovetail a little bit on what you said about the practitioner benefits in terms of the way we're using um SmartFit uh uh 2.0 with the the new uh SnapFit uh receivers, where they recognize left and right the size, the power.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all of those things are intended to streamline and create efficiencies where we created this new ProFit software by uh consulting with practitioners uh in the U.S.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: and getting input from those partners around the world to streamline that process.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: But then also you alluded to the patient and the end user and those patient-driven advances.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the areas that in working with patients that I want to point out for those who are waiting to get their hands on this technology, edge mode is a perfect example of something that's an easy user interface.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can tap, you can touch in the app, or you can choose just to use the automated processing that goes throughout the day providing optimal speech intelligibility and sound quality.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: But what we've seen for those listening who haven't yet got their hands on this is edge mode is now in many cases used and preferred by patients in lieu of manual programs because they can go in and customize to a challenging listening environment.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we're finding that edge mode is now one of our most utilized features by patients in those markets where it's launched.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: And the other feature that I'm really personally invested in, um, because it's been a favorite of mine for a while, is self-check, um enabling the patient and the end user to run a diagnostic on their hearing aids every day using the app, and just know that all systems are go.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Wax isn't a problem, moisture, the durability and the reliability we're designing to make these devices waterproof and as bulletproof as possible.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, is whether you're in India uh in the heat uh in the summer in Delhi, uh, whether you're in uh uh the cold market like Minnesota in the winter, we want these devices to work every day, all day in every market where we're dispensing.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about that.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I didn't want to interrupt you because I think you were really into that, into describing the two layers of from a from a technology standpoint, from our RICs and Mini RICs, is that, you know, the the the what I call the RIC BTE mini RIC market is around 90, it's it's 85, 90 percent of the market, right?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um custom is very important, and it's it's it's where where we we really have a strong foothold because we are we are the best at it.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we it's it's part of our DNA.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: But getting back into Genesis AI and the in what I call the standard products, which is Rick, mini ricks, and BTEs, what I what I am excited the most about, the mechanical part of Genesis AI, is that we've gone beyond anybody else.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I've been doing this for 25 years, and I've been working at other manufacturers, and I have to tell you that I have never seen the level of investments in terms of quality and reliability that we've had at Genesis AI.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that cannot be under said and underestimated because at the end of the day, one of one of the biggest challenges that we've all had as an industry in especially in some of those international markets, where there's a high level of humidity and there's a high level of there's just a high level of water presence.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: That reliability part has been a big problem.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to tell you with Genesis AI, that mechanical reliability, the robustness around the Snapfit uh process that we establish, which I'm not sure we're supposed to say about you know, our strategic uses of Kevlar, right?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: People don't talk about that, but this is something that's very uh unique to us, which allows us to make our product very reliable.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: The way that we've the way that we've made our product waterproof, uh, and we can say that, you know, um it really allows us to enter with confidence in those marketplaces that we know has a high level of humidity.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I'm also excited about is that the level of reliability that we have, not only from you know, we talk about the sound performance of the product, yeah, but at the end of the day, people hold the product, they see the product, they feel the product.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: It really has to have that level of quality and reliability.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Genesis AI provides that to us.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: No question.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the last thing I want to mention on that technical side, whether it's reliability, whether it's the technology for sound quality and speech intelligibility, battery life.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: In a lot of these markets around the world, rechargeability has sort of been a rapid transformation.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: You talked about the transformative element of this Genesis AI product.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're setting the bar with up to 51 hours out of the RIC RT product on a single charge in those markets where rechargeability is increasingly important.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is truly a differentiating advantage as well.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: That goes table stakes are sound quality, speech intelligibility.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: But then we want to design this so that we take range anxiety and battery life anxiety in a rechargeable platform off the table so that people don't even have to worry about it now and three, four years down the road when they're using the devices.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Have you heard feedback in those markets already on the differentiation of the battery life on those who choose rechargeability?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Look, people that embrace the technology of let's say our RICS from a professional patient standpoint, they're looking for incredible sound quality, they're looking for reliability and quality, they're looking for streaming quality because they they do they they're very active with that with that streaming.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: With streaming comes battery life, right?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the feedback that we're getting in the marketplace is like there's nothing like this in the else in the in the market.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: We can tell a patient with confidence that they can be an active wear of this product without having the battery life part of the equation of concern.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really a first because once you start active streaming, there's always a concern of battery life issues, right?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Where where am I, you know, in the battery life.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have that with Genesis AI.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: So a professional can explain to a patient that you can use this effectively as an active wear without having to worry about worry about battery life.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's part, you know, part of what I'm saying that we we really listen to the patient, the professional, and every layer of feature and benefit that this product provides, and we've designed it with really them in mind.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's that's what makes this really exciting.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I appreciate your coming on today to talk a little bit from your global view, unique in our organization.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm really glad we're playing for the same team because uh it was uh uh challenging competing against the years.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh you know, it it just with your team that you have in the uh U.S.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: and in the international market, we got a great team.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's where it starts.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I got I got the privilege to work with incredible, crick, incredible commercial organization.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, everyone, everyone is Starkey.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: We really we really have quality uh leaders, quality people, uh, quality managers, but our our commercial team, I I put them up against anybody with that, they really care.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: They really care what they do, and they really care making a difference, and that's very special.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it starts at the top, you know, it starts with our ownership, our leadership with Brandon, and it really allows us to to do our jobs to really make a difference everywhere that we go.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you do it every day.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: For our listeners, uh, I want to thank you for listening to this episode of Starkey Soundbites.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you liked it, please like and subscribe, share with your friends your networks.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're in a country that doesn't yet have access to Genesis AI, stay tuned.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, we've enticed you with some of the clinician and patient benefits that you'll have when you get this technology.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you're uh someone who has hearing loss, and um uh ask for Genesis AI by name.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: It truly is uh a new beginning for this company uh and something that will provide you with outstanding sound quality, speech intelligibility in every uh situation that you can subject them to.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um, if uh you have ideas as to other topics or other people that we should bring on this podcast, please submit those at soundbites at Starkey.com.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Send us an email.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: And Jeff, I can't tell you how much it was fun to finally get you on the podcast.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know, this was great, a lot of fun.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I really enjoyed the discussion as I enjoyed you.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for sharing your insights and your vision and also for your hard work to help increase adoption, like you said, one year or two years at a time.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: But uh but we appreciate your efforts.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Dave.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was a really it was a treat.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.