INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS

Welcome to HEAR LLC, your partner in creating innovative engineering solutions.

Innovative Engineering Solutions for Your Business

TEST SERVICES

HEAR LLC includes a testing arm of the company that performs various product testing and custom experimental design and testing. Contact us for a quote.

PRODUCT TESTING

HEAR LLC's scientists have conducted hundreds of spectral attenuation tests to support the EPA-required labeling of hearing protection devices for the NRR and associated attenuation values, over a period of 30 years. The company is positioned to provide these and other tests associated with hearing protection device performance. Over and above the provision of ANSI-standardized tests (e.g., ANSI S3.19-1974, ANSI S12.6-2016, ANSI S12.42-2010), HEAR LLC's scientists have vast experience in developing custom experimental designs for evaluation of specific product performance issues. Particular specialities include the evaluation of auditory situation awareness impacts of hearing protectors, speech intelligibility with HPDs and communications headsets, and user comfort perceptions.

HEAR LLC can provide 3 options to establish a comprehensive, flexible real-ear attenuation at threshold (REAT) test system for hearing protection testing. This HEAR LLC REAT test system is intended to enable a customer to efficiently and inexpensively perform their own in-house NRR and spectral attenuation testing, in support of product development efforts as well as the NRR and spectral attenuation data that is required for product labeling by the EPA.

Version 1: Complete Hardware and Software System with installation into a customer’s reverberation chamber, comprising a turn-key system with full calibration at customer's facility. (If a reverberation chamber is needed, one can be provided for an additional fee.)

Version 2: Hardware and Software, comprising a turn-key operating system, with setup and calibration on-site provided by customer.

Version 3: Software package alone, intended to be integrated by customer on-site to control an existing audio hardware system. This Version may be most beneficial for those customers who have experience with audio equipment and its calibration, or who have an existing REAT test system for which the control software needs to be replaced with more modern control and recording software.

CUSTOM EXPERIMENTS

HEAR LLC works with clients to design and conduct custom in-field and in-laboratory human factors experiments to test prototype or production products in realistic environments. Head-to-head product comparisons can be provided, on both objective performance metrics as well as user preference and comfort metrics.

Consulting and Advisory Services

We offer consulting and advisory services to help clients optimize their engineering processes and operations. Our experts provide valuable insights and recommendations to enhance productivity and reduce costs.

EXPERT WITNESS

Forensics and Litigation

HEAR LLC provides research, consultation and testimony assistance to litigants who require expertise that HEAR’s principals cover, which includes hearing, acoustics, ergonomics, noise annoyance, warning signals and patent issues. One of HEAR LLC's principals (Dr. John Casali) is an experienced expert witness with involvement in over 50 court cases and public hearings to date, on many issues involving human factors engineering, human hearing and acoustics. He has supported case work in all levels of the U.S. court system, as well as in arbitrations and public hearings. Dr. Kichol Lee and Dr. John Keady are both experienced in background research and testing to support litigation. Dr. Lee primarily provides expertise in acoustical and audiometric tests, while Dr. Keady performs a wide range of product performance tests as well as intellectual property research in support of patent prosecution actions and litigation.

HEAR’s litigation and forensic expertise has been applied to:

Civil tort cases involving:

• Products Liability

• Premises Liability
• Property Zoning

Intellectual Property cases involving:
• Patent Infringement
  • Patent Invalidation
  • Inter Partes and Ex Partes Reviews in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
  • International Trade Commission Cases

Criminal cases involving:
• Human Factors issues, especially those of a human hearing or acoustics nature

Public Hearings involving:
  • Property Zoning Issues
  • Ordinance Development (e.g., noise ordinances)
  • Conditional Use Permits
  • EPA Product Noise Labeling Standards Promulgation

DESIGN SERVICES

HEAR LLC provides design services, including the design and fabrication of prototype eartips, earplugs, and earphones, as well as other devices. In addition to design and prototype fabrication services, including rapid prototyping, HEAR LLC can also provide patent protection assistance with each design, including drafting, filing and prosecution of patent applications. Dr. Keady is particularly experienced in earphone and eartip design, prototyping and testing, and in addition to having two PhDs in the sciences (physics, computational acoustics), he also is a Registered Patent Attorney with several hundred awarded patents to his name on a variety of technologies. Drs. Casali and Lee are both experts in human factors as well as acoustical testing of devices both with test fixtures and human subjects, enabling quick refinements of designs. Dr. Casali has been awarded patents for various inventions in hearing protection, hearing-assistive devices, in-vehicular signals, and power wheelchairs, including two patents having been commercially developed. He also has consulted on several corporate product designs in different fields of use, with respect to human factors and acoustical considerations. Dr. Lee has extensive experience in the development of both hardware and software for complex systems, including a REAT test system for hearing protector attenuation, and together with Dr. Casali, a portable loudspeaker array-based system for aural training of soldiers and law enforcement for auditory situation awareness. Additionally, Drs Lee and Keady have extensive software prototyping experience that can be used to develop prototype software is various languages and platforms (e.g., C, C++, MatLab). Below are graphics of samples of devices developed by HEAR’s team:

INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS