ANAHEIM, CA – Sensaphonics’ 3D-ME is designed for the hearing impaired. The “ME” stands for Music Enhancement. 3D-ME is based on the Active Ambient technology that the company uses for its 3D AARO in-ear monitor system. Sensaphonics says the 3D-ME can compensate for most common hearing deficits, bringing full-range music back into the lives of musicians and music-lovers alike.
More details from Sensaphonics (www.sensaphonics.com):
“For musicians, hearing aids are simply not acceptable on stage,” explains Dr. Michael Santucci, Sensaphonics president. “In everything from frequency response to compression, they are optimized for speech intelligibility, and actually eliminate the high and low frequencies that make music so exciting. The 3D-ME takes the same monitoring technology we developed for touring rock stars and expands it to meet the needs of those with hearing impairment.”
3D-ME is poised to be a game-changer. By pairing the full-range capture of the 3D AARO in-ear system with complementary products like DSP, EQ, and mixers, Sensaphonics has created an alternative that can bring back the excitement of music, both on stage and in one’s living room.
Early adopters of 3D-ME are nothing short of ecstatic at being able to reclaim the hearing they thought they had lost: “The 3D-ME has made me completely euphoric about my music again,” reports David Zamos of Kent, Ohio.
Chicago folk musician Joe Kilroy says, “I’m hearing things like I never did before. Right from the start, I was amazed at how much more music I was hearing. When I tried the monitors with my banjo, it was a little bittersweet: How much of this was I missing my whole life?”
The centerpiece is the 3D AARO, a custom in-ear monitor system with Active Ambient™ technology. This creates full isolation from unwanted sound while capturing full-range room ambience with full, accurate directionality, allowing the user to blend direct and ambient audio captured by the embedded binaural microphones. The ambient sound is sent to an outboard processor, where the response is adjusted to compensate for the user’s specific hearing loss before being returned to the earphones as full-range, radiant stereo.
“Customer reaction to the 3D-ME has been phenomenal,” notes Michael Santucci. “It’s almost like they are hearing music for the first time. We’ve had nothing but thanks and compliments from everyone who has tried it.”
The Sensaphonics 3D-ME is available in a variety of configurations, customized to the user’s particular needs. System pricing starts at $2,600 retail. For more information, visit www.sensaphonics.com/3d
At NAMM 2015, along with 3D-ME, Sensaphonics also featured the 3D-CROS, which addresses the more profound issue of unilateral deafness. As with the 3D-ME, the 3D-CROS makes uses of 3D Active Ambient technology.
“These new systems demonstrate the power of Active Ambient technology,” said Santucci. “Our focus has always been on musician hearing health, something that few if any other in-ear manufacturers can claim. We deliver amazing audio, and we do it safely. The goal is to provide longer careers and better quality of life for musicians and sound engineers.”
3D-ME is a Music Enhancement system designed to bring full-range, high fidelity music monitoring to hearing impaired musicians. By routing the natural ambience from the 3D AARO earphones through the system’s Microphone Output function, outboard gear can now be used to precisely compensate for lost frequency response and gain via EQ, compression, and gain structure. 3D-ME is perfect for musicians who work on small stages without benefit of a dedicated monitor engineer, and can work the same magic in home listening environments.
The 3D CROS is an even more specialized system, designed for musicians with full unilateral (one-sided) hearing loss. This system brings back the “missing side of the room” by taking the ambience captured by the microphone embedded in the 3D ambient earphone, then routing it to the user’s hearing ear along with the rest of the mix. The name, CROS, is a technical term meaning “Cross-lateral Routing Of Signal.”
The Active Ambient technology platform, embodied in the second-generation 3D AARO system, uses embedded earphone microphones and proprietary analog electronics to add full-range, user-controlled ambience to the monitor mix with no added latency. The 3D AARO system’s bodypack mixer also provides a Bass Boost switch for the overall response and a stereo Microphone Outputs port to enable further control of stage ambience.
“The new features on the 3D AARO system have really created some amazing possibilities for our customers, and 3D-ME is a great example,” says Santucci. “By leveraging the 3D AARO system, we can literally bring full-range hearing back to those who need it most – musicians who have been damaged through years of loud stages and unsafe monitoring.
“Bringing music back to musicians is what we’re all about,” says Santucci. “Customer reaction to both the 3D-ME and 3D CROS has been phenomenal. It’s almost like they are hearing music for the first time. We’ve had nothing but thanks and compliments from everyone who has tried it.”
Sensaphonics will be offering live show specials and live demos of the 3D AARO in Booth 6952, located in Hall A, at the Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, January 22-25, 2015.
System pricing for 3D AARO starts at $2,000, and is available in a variety of configurations, including 3D-ME and 3D CROS. For more information, visit www.sensaphonics.com or call toll-free at 1-877-848-1714.
Sensaphonics 3D CROS brings dimension back to the music of Derrick Simpson
Sensaphonics’ 3D CROS has been a game-changer for musicians like session musician/composer/synthesist/keyboardist Derrick Simpson.
Simpson has years of touring experience with such artists as Dixie Chicks, David Gilmour and Celine Dion. He does his studio session work through his company, Atmosphericsync. He has managed to have a prolific professional career despite the fact that he can only hear in one ear.
For most musicians, this deficit would be a huge barrier to success, making it nearly impossible to perform. But for Derrick Simpson, coping with hearing loss has been a way of life. “I have been deaf in my right ear since about the age of six,” he says. “It was caused by a virus, and I was fortunate that my left ear was unaffected. But I never knew what I was missing until working with Sensaphonics.”
After years working with custom floor monitors and conventional in-ear monitors, Simpson and his tech, Jens Klingenberg, decided to try something different. “I had spoken to Michael Santucci about the 3D-CROS,” says Derrick. “but frankly, I couldn’t conceive of how smoothly it would work. And because I have only one ear and it’s how I make my living, I have always been very protective of my hearing. But I was so frustrated with my old IEMs, I knew I had to do something.”
The 3D CROS is customized version of the 3D AARO, Sensaphonics’ patented Active Ambient IEM system. The ambient audio picked up by microphones embedded in both 3D earpieces is all routed to the user’s healthy ear, allowing the musician to once again hear the full stage. To create the 3D CROS, Sensaphonics technicians modify the circuit board in the 3D AARO bodypack mixer to re-route both the left and right ambient audio signals to one side – in Derrick Simpson’s case, the left.
“The 3D CROS is the most remarkable thing I have ever encountered. The sound quality is great, and to suddenly have the ability to hear directionally is just an amazing change for me,” says Simpson. “I knew on a technical level that I was missing the spatial relationships, but I never had an opportunity to actually experience, from a practical standpoint, just how rich the environment could be. It was a real eye opener – or I guess I should say ear opener.”
Simpson’s first experience with the finished product happened right outside the Sensaphonics offices. “I was on the sidewalk wearing the 3D CROS, and there was this burst of audio information coming at me. A truck came down the street from my right – my deaf ear – and I turned to see it coming. It sounds so simple, but that had never happened to me before. It’s something that people just take for granted – hear a sound, turn and look in that direction. But for me, it was astonishing.”
Musically, Simpson’s experience was even more impressive. “I was afraid that hearing all this complex information through a single earpiece would be sensory overload, but it wasn’t compromised or garbled,” he recounts. “There’s a psychoacoustic effect where the spatial relationship of the sounds is preserved, so you feel as if you’re hearing from your deaf ear. To suddenly have that perspective is just remarkable.”
The 3D CROS allows Derrick Simpson to hear more effectively across a wide range of situations, including playing in rock bands, conducting an orchestra, and working in the studio. He recently acquired an acoustic grand piano for the studio, and described using his 3D CROS system as an integral part of his selection process.
He also finds that the system helps when programming his stereo Mini-Moog synth. “I built some stereo synthesizer patches using the ambience output on the 3D bodypack, which I can use to hear the modulation changes,” he says. “So if I want a warm, sweeping sound to go from one side of the audience to the other, I can hear and control all that now, because the 3D actually lets me hear it the same way the audience will.”
With the dramatic change that the 3D CROS has made in his life, Derrick Simpson wants to spread the word to other musicians who have lost hearing on one side. “I know there are a lot of musicians with unilateral hearing loss who are just not out of the closet yet, because they fear it may diminish their ability to get work,” he says. “To them I would say, ‘you have got to try the 3D CROS system. Get ready to hear the half of the world you’ve been missing.’ You will be amazed!”
