Bob Howard
Inventor/Executive

May 4, 2009

Dear Mr. Smith and the Team at America Hears Inc.,

I am a retired scientist who holds over a hundred patents, and I am one of the founders of the computer industry with a long entrepreneurial career during which I started or acquired forty-seven successful companies. I am also someone who has battled hearing loss for over a twenty-year period, using more than fifteen different sets of hearing aids. These were purchased from professional audiologists, at a total cost of more than $50,000. Each time, what was sold to me was represented as the latest innovation, far superior than any previous hearing aid, able tbr the first time to address background noise and all other problems associated with such equipment. All of these promises have never lived up to their expectations for me.

Since I'm a scientist, I was able to partially overcome the background noise problem by adapting a $30 device from Radio Shack that was simply a small box with two stereo microphones and an amplifier that transmits audio signals to a simple ear-bud headset through a six-foot connecting wire. With this, the gadget could be placed at the center of the conference or dinner table. closer to the people who are speaking, making the conversation more easily distinguishable from the background noise. This simple device was better than anything else that! was able to purchase anywhere in the world, until Henry Smith of America Hears supplied me with some extraordinary technology.

It's astonishing to me that this America Hears hearing aid has accomplished something that no prior hearing aid has managed. For the first time in many years, I'm able to hear conversations in all sorts of noisy environments, without the use of my Radio Shack device (which, of course, does not fit in the ear, looks obtrusive, and can be used only when you are seated). Additionally, the second most annoying problem with my previous hearing aids has been feedback, the all-too-familiar loud whistling noise, because the microphone and speaker are so close together. The adjustments that an audiologist normally makes in his attempt to find a compromising average program usually seem to work in his office, but rarely in many other environments. My America Hears hearing aid has virtually no feedback whistling even though my hearing has diminished to the point that the amount of amplification of sound necessary for my special speakers is probably at the highest possible level.

America Hears is so vastly superior to any other hearing aid at any price whatsoever, that, if I were a bit younger I would buy a partnership with Henry Smith, since it will surely become one of the premier suppliers of hearing aids to the world. I am absolutely convinced that there are no devices nearly as good on the market, nor will there be in the near future - unless they are made by Henry Smith.

Sincerely,
Robert Howard