For those with hearing impairment, life presents enough daily challenges—the simple pleasure of enjoying movies and television shows at home should not be one of them. Hearing aids, while providing immense help in everyday conversation, notoriously diminish background noise (such as televisions), leaving wearers no option but to crank up the TV volume to levels obnoxious to anyone but them.  Realizing a void in the market, award-winning entrepreneur George Dennis founded TV Ears, a Spring Valley-based company dedicated to improving the quality of life of the hearing impaired.

The company’s flagship product is a simple earbud device, wirelessly connected to a television transmitter and designed for use with or without existing hearing aids.  Voice clarifying circuitry, the technology that distinguishes the product from wireless headphones and other such devices, amplifies dialogue over soundtrack, allowing for a clear, crisp sound that blocks out distractions without distracting others. Other products, such as wireless speakers, hearing aid kits and specialty televisions are also available, but the company’s namesake is the product that has propelled TV Ears into the international arena with recent expansions in Europe and Japan.

Stateside, TV Ears products are sold on the web, over the phone, and in retail establishments such as Radio Shack, Costco and CVS Pharmacies. The company receives a significant portion of business from audiologist recommendations, such as the Abbott Hearing Center in San Carlos. Julie Long, owner and hearing instrument specialist at Abbott, said that TV Ears is a cost-effective way to hear TV clearly for a large spectrum of hearing loss. And dealing with a local company has its benefits, she said, including personal support and “above and beyond” levels of customer service.  Plus, “I can run down there in a pinch,” said Long, saving her the hassle of dealing with distant alternative suppliers.

TV Ears saved something else entirely for San Diego senior Robert Delisle. “I call it my wife-saver,” said Delisle, describing how the product allows him and his wife to watch TV in peace. “I’m not a bother anymore,” he said. Delisle was unaware that TV Ears’ headquarters was located just miles from his home, but when informed, he seemed pleased. “That’s fantastic—good for them,” he said.

While seniors are certainly a target demographic for the company, Dennis emphasized that hearing impairment can affect any age group. “Most clients are from age 55 to 105,” Dennis said, “but in recent years, the average age has gone down.”

Nevertheless, it seems almost serendipitous that TV Ears’ emergence in the market has coincided with a wave of Baby Boomers hitting retirement age. Every day, technology is working to solve the world’s problems, and every day, more and more people are in need of solutions to age-related hearing loss. But while opportunities to innovate abound around the globe, it’s not every day that a local company is internationally known for its innovative products.

TV Ears’ promotional efforts have been aided by appearances in several prestigious ranking lists, such as Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 5,000” list, the Deloitte Technology Fast 500T list and the San Diego Business Journal’s “Fastest-Growing Privately Held Company” list in 2009. Additionally, Dennis has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including the Fox Business Channel, BizSanDiego, NBC San Diego, the New York Post, the Hearing Health Journal and many more.

Dennis, a San Diego transplant originally from Syracuse, NY, said he chose Southern California as a new home base for—of course—the weather, but selected Spring Valley as the company’s headquarters because of its close proximity to his employees’ homes. And while Spring Valley might not have, at this time, any significant claim to international fame, TV Ears can certainly be considered a contender.