Skip to main content

How Zvox soundbars use advanced tech to help the hard of hearing enjoy TV again

These speakers sound clear to the hard of hearing. Here's how that's possible

Zvox Soundbars
ZVOX Audio
Promotional image for Tech For Change. Person standing on solar panel looking at sunset.
This story is part of Tech for Change: an ongoing series in which we shine a spotlight on positive uses of technology, and showcase how they're helping to make the world a better place.

When Tom Hannaher designed and sold his first soundbar, he had no idea that his biggest fans would be the hard of hearing.

It was 2003, and he had just started a small audio company called Zvox after years of working at Cambridge Soundworks in Boston. Aiming to create a small form-factor, great-sounding speaker to pair with TVs, Hannaher’s new company had built a rectangular speaker to place below TVs. It would eventually become recognized by industry experts as the first commercially successful soundbar.

Recommended Videos

People didn’t care about surround sound or bass … they just couldn’t understand what was being said on TV.

Building the first successful product in a now-expansive product category is a massive achievement, and much of the success is owed to the fact that Zvox’s model was designed to replicate higher-end systems with dedicated speakers.

The original Zvox soundbar had a center speaker explicitly designed for vocal dialogue, mirroring discrete home theater speaker setups, meaning that the voices on screen rise above other sound effects from a particular show or film when reproduced on the Zvox soundbar.

ZVOX 315
The original Zvox soundbar, the Zvox 315. Image used with permission by copyright holder

After some slow sales in the beginning (understandable given how new the product category was) those with hearing issues – mostly elderly buyers — caught wind of this little speaker that made their favorite TV shows easier to understand.

“Early on, we realized that what we were selling as a home theater system, people were purchasing as a dialogue clarification system,” says Hannaher. “People didn’t care about surround sound or bass … they just couldn’t understand what was being said on TV.”

Hannaher and his company had tapped into an unanticipated market and they did everything they could to keep it. The team of engineers and developers spent the intervening years working on making both hardware and software improvements to their soundbars, creating what they call the AccuVoice feature for those who are hard of hearing or want maximum clarity from the on-screen dialogue.

“It’s really a crazy combination of good,” he says, “… we built a hearing aid into a loudspeaker.”

AccuVoice technology, which has since been patented by the company, is able to manipulate the dialogue signal from a speaker without changing the background sounds in any given scene. This means the hearing impaired can turn up the dialogue without turning up the background noise, revolutionizing the way people with hearing loss can experience TV and film programming.

ZVOX AccuVoice Demo Clip

For Hannaher, the decision to focus his company on improving the listening lives of the hearing impaired has personal context. His father was in the artillery in World War II, and by the time he was 60, he was really hard of hearing. When his father was older, he put quality speakers on every TV he owned, which allowed him to turn down the volume from what he described as “marriage-breaking” volume.

The response to AccuVoice from buyers has been spectacular — beyond what Hannaher ever expected when originally launching his company to create great-sounding, compact home theater speakers. After all, Zvox is providing listeners with a quality-of-life improvement that goes beyond a simple audio upgrade.

Zvox is aiming to help those with hearing loss using the same technology in its AccuVoice soundbars.

“We got this handwritten letter, sent by snail mail, [from a senior citizen] and it talked about how he got his Zvox system, hooked it up, sat down and watched a movie with his wife. He turned to look at his wife and she was crying. He said, ‘What’s the matter?’ and she said, ‘Nothing’s the matter. I just took out my hearing aids and I can still hear what they’re saying!’”

“We understood for the first time how it can feel to make a product that … solves a problem,” Hannaher adds. “It’s way more fun to sell that than to sell a subwoofer that goes down to 28Hz.”

ZVOX's AccuVoice AV205
Zvox’s AccuVoice AV205 Speaker can be fine tuned to the hearing impairment of an individual. ZVOX Audio

In the intervening period, Zvox has expanded upon its life-improving ambitions by developing and selling its own hearing aids for significantly below average pricing, aiming to help those with mild to moderate hearing loss with the same technology it developed for its AccuVoice soundbars. With the introduction of the Hearing Aid Act, which was signed into law in 2017 and will go into effect by August of 2020, Zvox will be allowed to sell outside of licensed clinics, making it even easier to get corrective technology for those with mild to moderate hearing loss.

Feedback on the hearing aids (which are only sold directly from the company’s website until the law goes into effect) has been stellar so far — the company even got a letter from a retired ENT doctor in Florida complimenting them on their product.

“We thought that was very cool,” Hannaher chuckles.

The company has also recently launched its first pair of headphones, the AccuVoice AV50, a noise-canceling headphone designed to help listeners hear TV and podcast dialogue more clearly.

After over a decade making products that appeal to the hard of hearing, Zvox has made a name for itself in an especially important market, but that doesn’t mean the company wants to see the need for products for the hard of hearing grow.

During our conversation, Hannahar talks about how he wishes more people were aware of the dangers and causes of hearing loss, and hopes that more people will consider lowering volume (and wearing earplugs at concerts) to avoid it.

“One of our engineers has been wearing [earplugs] for years now,” he says, “And his ears, when he turns my age, are going to be in way better shape than mine.”

Parker Hall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
Mixx Revival 55 suitcase record player is cute, colorful, and perfect for newbs
The Mixx Revival 55 suitcase record player.

You don't need to be an audiophile to get into the charm of vinyl records, and you certainly don't need to go bankrupt doing it. The notion is something that UK audio makers Mixx is banking on with its new Revival 55, a retro-styled all-in-one record player in a suitcase the company unveiled today that's perfect for vinyl newcomers or casual spinners, and costs an easy $100.

The compact record player is all about retro style, coming in black, cream, green, pink, and turquoise pastel colors, all wrapped in a protective PU (polyurethane) leather. Its chrome-plated buckles add some extra nostalgia to the design, and snap the lid shut making it easy to tote the diminutive player around.

Read more
How we test turntables and record players
The Audio-Technica AT-LP70X turntable.

Compared to a lot of other devices that Digital Trends reviews on a regular basis, testing out the newest and best turntables can be capricious. While modern turntables have become much more user-friendly and plug-and-play compared to your dad's old-school deck, many still have delicate moving parts that often require assembly and fine-tuning, which can make the review process tricky, but also a lot of fun. There's also a bigger range of turntables available now than ever before -- some are well worth the money, some are not, and we don't want you to waste your hard-earned cash on the latter.

From tonearms, headshells, and cartridges to plinths, platters, and styluses (styli?), here's how we put a turntable to the test.
In the box

Read more
Grammy 2025 song and album winners to listen to in Dolby Atmos
A record player on the front of the Grammys poster.

Awards season is a great time to reflect on the previous year and either catch up on what we might have missed, or re-appreciate something that's fallen out of our regular listening playlist. (It's also a time to say "Hell, yeah!" to winners that take the opportunity to speak out against injustices within the industry. Way to be, Chappell Roan.) Many of the well-deserving songs and albums are available in a Dolby Atmos mix -- still waiting for Cowboy Carter to show up with the Atmos badge on any streaming service, though. Here are some of Sunday's award winning music that can be found in Dolby Atmos through Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal.
Not Like Us -- Kendrick Lamar
On the surface, it might not feel like a diss track would be an award contender, but when its by Kendrick Lamar, voters take notice. And rightly so. The track took home all five awards it was nominated for -- Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video. The Atmos mix isn't a huge departure from the stereo mix, mostly expanding the soundscape and giving more space for the sonic elements with more reverb while keeping everything primarily in the front channels.
Short n' Sweet -- Sabrina Carpenter
Both Sabrina Carpenter's album Short n' Sweet and the single Espresso picked up awards at the Grammy's last weekend -- Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance, respectively. The entire album is available in Atmos, and much of it takes advantage of Atmos (I particularly like the opening piano lick in the final track, Don't Smile, that nicely captures the in-room sound of the piano hammers and string resonance in the rear height channels). Award-winner Espresso, a fun pop bop, throws elements into unexpected areas that support the fun playfulness of the music and lyrics.

In addition to Sabrina Carpenter's version of Espresso, the Espresso (Mark Ronson x FNZ Working Late Remix) also won for Best Remix and is available in Dolby Atmos as well.
Chappell Roan

Read more