How Signia’s Prescription-Grade Earbuds Help Hearing Aid Wearers Reconnect with the Conversation

New Signia Active Pro IX combines the advanced capabilities of full prescription hearing aids with the modern design of consumer earbuds, helping more wearers reconnect with the conversation.

 

AudiologyOnline: How does this newest form factor on the Signia Integrated Xperience platform empower more people with hearing loss to accept and wear hearing aids?

Jens Moeller: Signia Active Pro IX aims to expand the hearing aid market by providing prescription-grade hearing aids that exude the look and feel of consumer-style earbuds, appealing to those that might otherwise avoid traditional hearing aids.

Many individuals with hearing loss avoid wearing hearing aids due to their surrounding stigma. However, they commonly use earbuds as part of their daily digital routines, which is where the design of Signia Active Pro IX offers a modern, appealing solution that integrates seamlessly into peoples’ lives.

By incorporating best-in-class audiological technology, streaming audio connectivity, automatic directionality, and other advanced features in a sleek, low-profile design, Signia is breaking down the stigmas associated with the appearance and feel of conventional hearing devices, and empowering users with many levels of hearing loss to fully engage in dynamic conversations and thrive in noisy environments.

AudiologyOnline: How do these hearing aids double as consumer earbuds – and how was this innovation engineered?

Jens Moeller: Active Pro IX serves as both a prescription grade hearing aid and earbud, purposefully designed to reshape perceptions and blend hearing care technology with modern consumer electronics. It provides the functionality of an earbud while delivering all of the technological hearing aid benefits, and allows users to enjoy high-quality hearing enhancement within a sleek, discreet design that is perfect for daily life.

The device combines RealTime Conversation Enhancement technology to improve speech understanding and adapt to various conversation environments with Bluetooth connectivity for high-definition, hands-free streaming of phone calls, music, and other audio content. This design ensures users enjoy both advanced hearing assistance and the familiar functionality of modern earbuds.

AudiologyOnline: How was Signia’s Integrated Xperience platform engineered to help wearers hear better in noise? Are there any stats you’re able to share around this?

Jens Moeller: Signia’s Integrated Xperience platform features RealTime Conversation Enhancement technology, which analyzes the conversation surroundings, detects conversation partners, and creates a live auditory space, which can immediately adapt to changes in the environment. This enables users to take part in immersive group conversations effortlessly, no matter their location, movement, or the surrounding noise level.

Studies of group conversation show Signia’s Integrated Xperience platform can significantly improve speech understanding. In one case, 95% of participants experienced greater hearing clarity with Signia Integrated Xperience RealTime Conversation Enhancement than without.¹ An astounding 80% of participants preferred Signia Integrated Xperience in real-world noisy group conversations.² The platform also features the industry’s best signal to noise (SNR) ratio – providing an incredible improvement of 12dB (SNR) in a simulated noisy group conversation scenario compared to unaided.³

By providing a discreet and approachable form factor, Signia is increasing access to groundbreaking technology that ensures uninterrupted conversation engagement in noise, improving quality of life through hearing health for more than ever before.

AudiologyOnline: How does Active Pro IX help HCPs reach a new, previously untapped demographic of hearing aid rejectors?

Jens Moeller: By designing the Active Pro IX to appear as contemporary earbuds, Signia is enabling HCPs to reach a new and unaddressed group of hearing aid rejectors – individuals who require hearing care but shy away from conventional hearing aids because of their appearance or design.

Along with its top-of-the-line technology, Signia Active Pro IX offers consumer-friendly features such as Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free streaming and an IP68 rating for dust, water, and sweat resistance, making it the perfect fit for a wide variety of lifestyles.

AudiologyOnline: How do these hearing aids help people better engage with the world around them?

Jens Moeller: Signia Active Pro IX delivers the full power of its state-of-the-art Integrated Xperience technology, empowering wearers to fully reconnect with the conversation. With RealTime Conversation Enhancement, users can engage, interact, and participate in immersive group conversations regardless of their location, movement, and noise level.

Noisy group conversations are among the biggest unmet need for people with hearing loss. A missed word can lead to a missed opportunity to contribute, which can lead to frustration, isolation, and ultimately withdrawal.

Despite years of technological advancements, traditional hearing aids fall short of solving this problem. Their focus has been on reducing noise first and then preserving speech, but they don’t fully account for the natural interactions of a conversation, the effects of moving your head, and people coming in and out of the discussion. That changes with Integrated Xperience.

Signia Integrated Xperience leverages insights into the wearer’s head movements and changing positions of speakers to ensure uninterrupted engagement in even the most noisy, immersive environments – creating more engaging conversations that allow wearer’s to meaningfully contribute.

AudiologyOnline: What’s unique about these hearing aids versus others on the Signia Integrated Xperience platform?

Jens Moeller: Signia Active Pro IX stands out on the Signia Integrated Xperience platform by reimagining prescription hearing aids as consumer-style earbuds. This design appeals to a broader audience, including those who may resist traditional hearing aids due to their appearance or feel.

By combining the highest quality of design and technology, Signia is helping wearers to feel confident and comfortable in their hearing aids – marking a crucial step in the destigmatization of hearing loss and allowing users to unleash the power of conversation to lead more engaged and connected lives.

AudiologyOnline: Are these hearing aids a good choice for more active individuals? If so, why?

Jens Moeller: Signia Active Pro IX is designed for active lifestyles, fitting comfortably like an earbud for individuals who are frequently involved in physical activities and exercise. Also featuring an IP68 certification for resistance to dust, water, and sweat, this hearing aid is perfect for individuals who want to remain connected in conversations while exercising.

AudiologyOnline: How do the Bluetooth capabilities work?

Jens Moeller: Active Pro IX's Bluetooth capabilities allow for high-definition, hands-free streaming of phone calls, music, and more through devices integrating Bluetooth LE Audio. It supports Made for iPhone (MFI) Bluetooth streaming capabilities and Android ASHA for audio streaming as well.

AudiologyOnline: How do the Signia Active Pro IX hearing aids blend into user’s everyday lives?

Jens Moeller: With its low-profile, earbud-like design, this hearing aid seamlessly integrates into everyday lives by providing a stylish solution that enhances hearing without drawing attention, while offering advanced features like Bluetooth connectivity and RealTime Conversation Enhancement for effortless communication in various environments.

AudiologyOnline: How is Signia helping HCPs drive wider spread acceptance and destigmatize hearing aids?

At Signia, tackling the stigma associated with hearing aids through physical design has been a key priority. Alongside the ongoing refinement of traditional hearing aid designs, Signia has ventured into entirely new and innovative forms and technologies, challenging and overcoming the traditional stigma associated with hearing aids, and allowing HCPs present hearing aids as modern, appealing solutions that seamlessly integrate into users' lives and address their hearing needs with confidence.

^{1 Jensen et al. (2023). Power the conversation with Signia Integrated Xperience and RealTime}

^{2 Folkeard et al. (2024). Hearing at the Mall: Multibeam Processing Technology Improves Hearing Group Conversations in a Real-World Food Court Environment. American Journal of Audiology.}

^{3 Jensen et al. (2023). Improving the signal-to-noise ratio in group conversations with Signia Integrated Xperience and RealTime Conversation Enhancement. Signia White Paper}