Westone is an American manufacturer of custom earpieces for the hearing

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

market,

hearing protection A hearing protection device, also known as a HPD, is an ear protection device worn in or over the ears while exposed to hazardous noise and provide hearing protection to help prevent noise-induced hearing loss. HPDs reduce the level of the no ...

products, custom communications earpieces, clinical and

audiological Audiology (from Latin , "to hear"; and from Greek , '' -logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing variou ...

supplies, musicians hearing protection and in-ear monitors for professional musicians and audiophiles.

History

Westone Laboratories, Inc. was established in 1959 by Ron Morgan, Sr. outside of

Divide, Colorado Divide is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Teller County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Divide post ...

, USA. The company was later headed by Ron Morgan's son, Randy Morgan. It is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado and currently led by Jason Lockwood, President and CEO. Westone Music Products invented the first in-ear musicians' monitor. The company originally designed and manufactured the E1 and E5 for

Shure Shure Incorporated is an American audio products corporation. It was founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois, in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a consumer and professional audio-electronics manufacturer of mi ...

, another manufacturer of audio equipment. Westone also co-developed and manufactured the early

Ultimate Ears Ultimate Ears is an American custom in-ear monitor (IEM), Wireless speaker, speaker, and earphone manufacturer based in Irvine, California, Irvine and Newark, California, United States. The custom in-ear monitor company was founded by Mindy and ...

brand by Jerry Harvey, and custom-fitted in-ear musicians’ monitors. Westone was purchased by HealthEdge Investment Partners in 2017. In 2020, Westone's music division, Westone Audio was purchased by Lucid Audio.

Products

The company's earpieces are used for hearing healthcare, recreation, industrial and military applications. Its core business is custom earpieces for hearing healthcare (i.e., used in conjunction with hearing aids), but it also caters to the professional musician and audiophile market.

Earphones and in-ear musicians' monitors

Westone Audio manufactures both custom-fit and universal-fit products for personal listening for consumers, in-ear musicians’ monitors for professional musicians and audiophiles, as well as hearing protection for musicians and concert goers. Westone Audio currently has five different product families of in-ear musicians’ monitors and earphones: the Universal Series (UM Pro 10, UM Pro 20, UM Pro 30, UM Pro 50) in-ear musicians’ monitors, the W Series (W10, W10, W30, W40, W50, W60) earphones for personal listening, the custom Elite Series (ES10, ES20, ES30, ES50, ES60), the custom Consumer Recreational (CR10), custom Musician's monitors (AC10 and AC20) and custom earpieces (Style #7 and UM56) for adapting to universal-fit earbuds and earphones. The single driver UM Pro 10, dual driver UM Pro 20, triple driver UM Pro 30, and 5 driver UM Pro 50 are designed to provide frequency efficiencies using a universal-fit for on-stage monitoring. While the W10, W20, W30, W40, W50, and W60 also provide a universal-fit, they are specifically designed for the personal listener. The Elite Series, namely the ES10, ES20, ES30, ES50, and ES60 are custom fit earphones and in-ear musicians’ monitors. This line was originally targeted to provide custom-fit in-ear musicians’ monitors for professional musicians for on-stage monitoring. Custom fit is an upgrade in personal listening and in-ear musicians’ monitors. Custom-fit designs fit the shape of the ear and

ear canal The ear canal (external acoustic meatus, external auditory meatus, EAM) is a pathway running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The adult human ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about in length and in diameter. Struc ...

. Headphones typically are noise cancellation products, providing background noise in addition to the music/sound the headphone drivers deliver. Custom-fit products isolate external noise and sound by creating a seal, which aims to enhance the sound quality delivered, and to provide a better sound performance level than

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

and

ear buds Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

. {, class="wikitable" style="margin:left;" !bgcolor="gray", Earpieces !bgcolor="gray", Descriptions , - , - , Style 49 , Typically considered hearing protection, this product is designed for the wearer to hear accurately, but at a safer volume. The design fits into the ear canal with a 9, 15, or 25 dB filter. , - , Style #7 , Also known as Westone iCustoms M This product is designed for a custom-fit with standard earbuds. , - , UM 56 , This product allows UM product line users to upgrade their universal-fit to a custom-fit. These earpieces are canal-style similar to the size of a universal tip. , -

References

External links

Westone Main Web Site

Westone Music Products

Westone Hearing Health Care Products

Westone DefendEar Hearing Protection Device Products

Westone Military Products

Westone Music Blog

Interview with Randy Morgan, former President of Westone Laboratories Inc.

Bill Palmer for iProng reviewing earphones industry
iProng / Beatweek Magazine. Music equipment manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States 1959 establishments in Colorado Electronics companies established in 1959