Why I Built Voice Control Into Our Smart Sauna (It Started with My Dad)

by Erik Johnson, CEO, High Tech Health

My father spent nearly a decade working alongside me at High Tech Health before he retired. Those years shaped how I think about product design.

In retirement, he developed macular degeneration. Over time, it took most of his sight.

He’s adapted with the same quiet determination he’s always had. But watching someone you love work harder just to do things most people don’t think twice about — it changes how you see your work.

The Question That Shaped the Transcend

When we started developing the Transcend Smart Sauna, I kept coming back to a simple question: can someone use this without being able to see the controls?

Most sauna controls aren’t built with that in mind. Touchscreens. Small text. Menus you navigate by looking. For someone with low vision, that friction isn’t inconvenient. It’s a barrier.

So we built voice control into the Transcend from the ground up. Not as a checkbox — as a genuine accessibility solution.

You can set the temperature, program a session, and start the sauna entirely by voice. No buttons to find, no screen to squint at. Say what you want and the sauna does it.

For my father, that means he can use it independently. On his schedule. Without asking for help. For someone whose independence has narrowed over the years, that’s not a small thing.

What the Transcend Actually Is

The voice control is what made this personal. But the Transcend is a far infrared sauna first.

It uses our Ideal Spectrum heaters — all-metal construction, tuned to the wavelengths where far infrared is absorbed most efficiently in the body. Not carbon fiber, not ceramic. Metal, because it performs better and lasts longer. Independent calorimetry testing shows our heater architecture delivers 34% more effective heat transfer than competing panel designs.

EMF levels are third-party verified: 0.089 V/m electric field, 0.40 mG magnetic field at the seating position. We publish those numbers because we want you to verify them yourself.

The wood is solid poplar throughout — hypoallergenic, with minimal VOC off-gassing even at full session temperature. Because what you breathe during a session matters as much as the heat itself.

The smart features — voice control, app connectivity, programmable sessions — are layered on top of that foundation. The technology is meant to make accessing the health benefits easier. That’s the point of it. Not the technology itself.

More Than a Gift

This Father’s Day, I’m giving my dad a Transcend Smart Sauna.

He worked here long enough to know what went into building it. The heater research. The years of EMF testing. The arguments over wood sourcing and construction details that most customers never see. He was here when we were figuring out how to build things right.

So when he sits in that sauna, he knows exactly what he’s sitting in. And I know he knows.

He got me into engineering. He worked alongside me for a decade. Then, facing limitations he didn’t ask for, he kept showing up with the same patience and focus. That’s what built this company. That’s what I was thinking about when we were building the Transcend.

For the Dads Who Pushed You

If your father is someone who shaped the way you work — who encouraged the curiosity that eventually became a career — this is a way to show it back. A sauna that runs on his terms, with technology that doesn’t ask more from him than it should.

Far infrared has real research behind it for pain relief, cardiovascular support, and sleep. Built right, with low EMF and non-toxic materials, it’s something you’d want in your own home. Worth giving to someone who’s earned it.

Explore the Transcend Smart Sauna or talk to our team — 1-800-794-5355. We’re happy to walk you through whether it’s the right fit.

The best in infrared Sauna therapy