Interview with Margaret Bandkau, VP Business Operations, Bernafon US
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Topic: Spira Flex - The First Universal Open Fitting Solution
Dr. Paul Dybala: Hello everybody, this is Dr. Paul Dybala with Audiology Online and today I am interviewing Margaret Bandkau from Bernafon US, and we are talking about SPIRA flex, which is the first universal sound tube system. Margaret, I do want to say thanks for coming on Audiology Online and spending some time talk with me and our members. Margaret Bandkau: Thank you, Paul.
Dybala: Well, before we get into SPIRA flex, Margaret, I was wondering if you would give me a little bit about your professional background?
Bandkau: I would be happy to. My background started off in audiology like many of us do. I have been in the industry, I must admit, over 20 years now and that has been a mix of working with a hearing aid manufacturer and/or simultaneously consulting and setting up private practice offices for other audiologists and/or running my own private practice dispensing office along the way. Other than my Masters in audiology, I do have a two-year business degree which I am currently finishing out into an MBA, specializing in global business.
Dybala: What do you do for Bernafon?
Bandkau: Specifically at Bernafon, as Vice President of Business Operations, it seems to be a little bit of everything. [laughter] Which means that on the back-side for our customer base, anything that has to do with product launches, running the business operation, the inside sales and customer service and audiology tech support team, training support. Whatever is needed from the back-side so that our customers are supported properly on the outside is what I am responsible for.
Dybala: Wow, well, it sounds like with your audiology background and your business background you are kind of the jack of all trades. It sounds like you have a lot on your plate too. It's one of those good/bad things I guess. [laugher]
Bandkau: Absolutely, and it is good because it is a challenge and you get to stay in the thick of it. You get to talk to a lot of people, mainly customers across the country who have a lot of different experiences, and pull all that information together so that hopefully we are providing good information to everybody when they do call.
Dybala: BTEs are such a large part of the market now and this includes open fit BTEs. Bernafon has actually been one of the leaders in developing what you call SPIRA flex, which is a universal sound tube system. Can you give me some of the impetus behind how Bernafon came up with the idea?
Bandkau: Absolutely. If we go back now a good year-and-a-half to two years, at that time Bernafon was on the forefront of technology when it introduced the Swiss Ear, which was the channel-free technology. Swiss Ear was ideal for an open fit product, and we developed an open tube fit kit specific to the Swiss Ear product and were very successful with it.
Bernafon then transitioned into some additional new products and brought out another fit kit. We introduced new software and new accessory kits to go with it. So, now at this point we had a couple of products out and already two kits out to all of our customers. As everyone knows, this gets to be a bit cumbersome with parts to reorder, keeping it in stock, digging out the right box at the right time when your patient is there, picking out the right pieces, etc.
A good year ago, Switzerland listened to us and our request to go with the universal fit kit. That then led to the introduction of SPIRA flex universal fitting kit. It actually was introduced November 1 of last year, and it is now available throughout the U.S. marketplace. Basically, the SPIRA flex kit is a combination of the previous two kits, plus some additional pieces added to it. The idea was that there should be ONE kit that dispensing audiologists and hearing aid dispensers can have at their disposal at a quick arm's reach, to open that kit and know that all the pieces are going to fit the Bernafon products. That is the only box they have to open.
This kit easily fits 85 to 90% of all ears and hearing losses for the product that it attaches to. So, while we don't claim 100%, we certainly designed the pieces to have maximum fitting benefit. The SPIRA flex kit actually now fits five of our products. So you have one kit that now fits the ICOS and PRIO, the Swiss Ear and Symbio XT and the Neo.
Dybala: What are the components of SPIRA flex?
Bandkau: The specific components of the kit are basically three-fold. First of all, you've got the domes. We added the tulip dome (Figure 1) because of the success of that item in the marketplace. So, we have the tulip dome as a choice, or the regular dome (Figure 2) which comes in three sizes: small, medium, and large. The domes again are found to fit any ear size or loss for the product you choose to attach it to.
Figure 1. SPIRA flex tulip dome on a 1.3 tube
Figure 2. SPIRA flex regular dome on a 0.9 tube
And then, of course, the second component is the tube sizes. There are two different sizes: a 1.3 size tube (Figure 1) and 0.9 size tube (Figure 2). The tube size is generally determined by the hearing loss for the particular patient.
The 0.9 is recommended for the mild to moderate hearing losses and the recommended earpiece options that go with that could be any of the open domes, the tulip domes, the custom tips, or even a canal mold.
The 1.3 size tubing is actually designed more for the moderate to severe losses, all of those deeply sloping, high-frequency losses. The recommended earpiece to go with the 1.3 tube is the tulip dome, the custom tip, or the canal mold, which I am going to talk about in just a minute.
The third part of the kit includes the two adapters. Our adapter 'one' fits our channel-free products, which are Swiss Ear and Symbio XT, and the adapter 'two' fits our other products, which are the ICOS, PRIO and Neo. The adapters are an easy snap on, snap off exchange so that makes it quick and easy for regular tube exchanges. We do recommend that the Bernafon tubes be changed every three to six months. Our experience has been that many people can go six months, but there are some who need it as soon as three months, so three months is a good time for patients coming back in for a follow-up to change their tubes at the same time.
Figure 3. Adapter #1
Figure 4. Adapter #2
You can see in Figure 5 how all of these pieces, the adapter, the tube, and the tip, fit together to make the complete hearing instrument. It really is a completely modular design.
Figure 5. Modular design illustrating three parts of fitting kit
Dybala: I can see that.
Bandkau: In addition to those two tube sizes, all of our products do come with a standard ear hook, filtered or unfiltered (Figure 6). This way, the patient can always revert to the ear hook or to the ear mold that is most suitable for their hearing loss and/or ear anatomy.
Figure 6. Standard filtered earhook
Dybala: Tell us more about the custom ear tip you mentioned.
Bandkau: By March 1, Bernafon will be making its own custom tip ear piece to support our open fit products and our SPIRA flex universal fit kit. The custom tip ear piece (Figure 7) will be made with our SLA process, which is the process that is used internally that scans the impressions when they come in, puts that onto the computer and builds it digitally from there. There will be a choice of venting available and there will be a new order form going out shortly to our client base to let them know exactly what their choices are with the custom tip ear piece.
Figure 7. Custom tip ear piece
Dybala: How are professionals using these fit kits with patients?
Bandkau: Many Bernafon customers will start with the open fit and then move to a different size of dome either for response or for comfort, or for additional gain down the road. And then eventually, of course, they have the option of going to a custom tip ear piece.
Also, this gives new users who are coming into the marketplace really nice flexibility for mild to moderate high-frequency hearing loss. We know a patient's hearing is going to be changing over the next three to five years and this has great flexibility to assure them that this product is not only top of the line digital technology but that it's going to be flexible enough to be reprogrammed and support their hearing loss.
Dybala: How does all this work with your fitting software?
Bandkau: Within our current software, Oasis Plus 7.0, just check the box that says SPIRA flex, and when they check that box it will pull up every single hearing aid and model within that family that matches. The algorithms have been designed to match so that as you're fitting that particular model the software knows you're going to fit it as an open fit hearing aid. Your insertion gain curves are adjusted accordingly.
Dybala: So, the software is smart enough to adjust based on the physical tubing and dome that is used.
Bandkau: Absolutely.
Dybala: It sounds like Bernafon's really created a nice system that offers a lot of options for open fitting for your customers, which in turn means more benefit to patients.
If anyone wants additional information, you can look at the Bernafon web channel at www.audiologyonline.com/channels/bernafon.asp or you can go to the Bernafon website at www.bernafonus.com.
I also want to refer readers to the following PDF documents, the first of which describes the universal kit and the three-fold modular system (View SPIRA Flex Brochure). This second document outlines the product information you would need for fitting, including the specifications of each product (View SPIRA Product Sheet).
Margaret, again, thank you so much for coming on and talking with us.
Bandkau: Paul, thank you for the opportunity to get people up-to-date on what's happening with Bernafon, especially as it pertains to Bernafons' progressiveness in the open-fit segment of the market.
About Bernafon
The Bernafon Group operates with a worldwide network of 14 sales companies and independent distributors in over 40 countries, which allows us to offer our customers rapid service at all times. Find out more about our Research and Development and production facilities or contact your local Bernafon representative. www.bernafonus.com
Additional information can be found on the Bernafon Web Channel at Audiology Online: www.audiologyonline.com/channels/bernafon.asp
