Several weeks ago I complained that Clarity Products hadn’t adequately explained the enhanced Digital Clarity Power (DCP) technology it was promoting as the latest and greatest innovation for its cordless and amplified telephones. Clarity was quick to answer my questions with comments on the blog post. And now on their website they’ve unveiled the technical background information they promised. DCP uses a digital signal processing chip and sophisticated algorithms borrowed similar to those found in hearing aids to improve the performance of its amplified phones.
DCP has three main features: Multiband Compression, Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Noise Reduction. Multiband compression uses proprietary algorithms to determine what incoming sound is the human voice, then provides more amplification to the voice signals while suppressing other sounds. Acoustic echo cancellation elminates the feedback that happens when amplified signals from the speaker are picked up by the microphone. And noise reduction reduces the hiss, static and background noise found on many connections, which amplified phones often exacerbate. The technology is featured in the company’s new amplified Clarity Professional C2210 corded desktop phone and in its new amplified cordless portable phone, the Clarity Professional 4205. Other than the new cordless and corded amplified phones from ClearSounds, I haven’t seen any other manufacturers delivering such advanced technology in full-featured office phones for hard-of-hearing consumers. In addition to its updated website, Clarity Products has been turning on the public relations machine. This past week, BusinessWeek magazine featured the Plantronics subsidiary and its new DCP technology in a major feature article.