Now here’s something rather different: the Faller Oskar ‘speech enhancer’. Its purpose is to make dialogue clearer for ageing ears.
Like it or not, our hearing deteriorates as we get older. Beyond a certain age — which varies somewhat from person to person — the decline can accelerate. Speech in television programmes, films and other content can then become increasingly difficult to distinguish from background sounds, making listening a tiring experience.
The Faller Oskar (Faller is a sub-brand of Germany’s Sonoro) offers a simple solution. The device, which looks remarkably like a trendy portable speaker, features an HDMI ARC input, among other things. Inside, you’ll find two multicore DSPs, along with two 5-watt speakers and their associated amplification, capable of delivering a clearly audible output.
Speech model
However, it’s the DSPs that provide the ‘magic’. According to the manufacturer, these processors run a speech model trained on more than 600,000 hours of audio material. The result is improved speech intelligibility in real time, hence the description ‘speech enhancer’. There are four enhancement settings to choose from: low, medium, pronounced and maximum. Meanwhile, ‘annoying’ background music, sound effects and other distractions are pushed into the background, with a maximum reduction of around 30 dB, according to the manufacturer. There’s also a music mode and a dedicated news mode. In addition, dynamic range limiting is provided, while weaker input signals can receive a 10 dB boost.
Besides the aforementioned HDMI ARC connection, an optical input is available too. In fact, it’s a four-way optical input, which, according to the manufacturer, should ensure compatibility with virtually any television.
The price, incidentally, is quite reasonable at €269. And thanks to the built-in rechargeable battery, which provides up to 20 hours of playback on a full charge, you can simply take the Oskar over to the sofa and settle down for some comfortable listening.