Security Forces at Euro 2016 Football to use high tech military grade headsets
Invisio, a Swedish-based high-tech headset is set to be used by the French security forces at the Euro 2016 football championship this summer.
According to a report by Reuter, Invisio’s headsets are already sold to U.S. and British military forces. The in-ear product turns vibrations from jawbones into sound and cancels external noise so that a speaker can be heard clearly even when standing close to a running jet engine or a loud explosion on a battlefield.
Invisio headsets can protect a soldier’s ears by bringing loud noises such as explosions or gun shots down to safer levels. A user who wants to hear something from a greater distance can opt to increase the volume by up to five times.
Hearing loss is a major problem for military personnel and the U.S government has said it pays more than one billion dollars each year for hearing aids and compensation to war veterans with hearing impairments.
Invisio, whose share price soared 500 percent last year, achieved a breakthrough at the end of 2013 when the U.S. military placed orders as part of a modernization drive. Now, Invisio plans to expand outside its main markets in Europe and North America to selected countries in Asia, the Middle East and South America.
Invisio was founded in 1999 in Copenhagen, which became an audio technology hub after Denmark decided to subsidise the sector in the 1960s. Several of the world’s largest makers of hearing aids are based in Denmark.
The now-Swedish company employs about 40 people and is one of a number of high-tech firms which have grown out of the Nordic region to compete on a global stage.
Invisio, which estimates the current market for its products at about 4 billion Swedish crowns ($492 million), has carved a niche for itself where more old-fashioned products such as earplugs or construction-site ear protectors are often used.
This year, Invisio won an order from French security forces, which will use the equipment at the Euro 2016 starting in June. ($1 = 8.1253 Swedish crowns)
(Excerpts from Reuters)
