Press Release
JAL Conducts Trial of COMUOON for Improving Customer Service at Counters
TOKYO December 18, 2014: Japan Airlines (JAL) decided to start a month-long trial of using table-top hearing support device, named “COMUOON,” to improve its customer service at JAL Plaza Yurakucho, Tokyo, starting January 2015.
COMUOON is a high-performance micro speaker unit which produces sounds or voices that even a moderate hearing-impaired people can hear without using a hearing aid.
This innovative table-top hearing support device was developed by UNIVERSAL SOUND DESIGN Inc. (USD), which won the Grand Prix in the Fukuoka Global Venture Awards 2014 (*1). This is the first time that the airline conducts this trial for its customer service.
(*1) For more details, please visit http://fukuoka-global.ventures/
JAL is committed to “Embracing New Challenges”, and is striving to implement the latest in modern technology and new ideas to provide customers with a more convenient travel experience.
COMUOONplaced on a counter at JAL Plaza and a staff wearing a pin microphone
COMUOON creates sound from the speaker’s side to assist conversation with hearing-impaired people.
About COMUOON
Traditionally, a hearing-impaired people would normally use a hearing aid to improve his or her hearing. COMUOON is a table-top conversation support device which creates sound from the speaker’s side that is easy for a hearing-impaired person to hear.
The product does not electronically equalize the acoustic pressure of the frequency range of consonant sounds (1000Hz～8000Hz), which are difficult for hearing-impaired people to pick up, but instead secures the directivity of the sound while increasing clarity through a cocoon-shaped speaker developed by USD. By inhibiting reflection of sound on walls, COMUOON will enable a moderate hearing-impaired person with 70dB hearing loss to improve his or her hearing without wearing a hearing aid. (*2)
(*2) There are individual differences.
At the 115th Meeting of ORL Society of Japan held from May 14 to 17, 2014, an otorhinolaryngology team from Kyushu University, Faculty of Medical Sciences reported that use of COMUOON was effective in communicating when treating hearing-impaired outpatients. COMUOON also won the 2014 Good Design Award BEST 1000 and the Good Design Monozukuri Design Award sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.
20141218 JAL Conducts Trial of COMUOON for Improving Customer Service At Counters.pdf
