Copenhagen, Denmark, November 1, 2017 – Oticon, industry leaders in advanced audiology and hearing aid technology, have appointed a Chief Audiologist. Thomas Behrens, Head of Audiology at Oticon and Director for the Centre for Applied Audiology Research at Oticon global headquarters, will step into the new role, bringing 20 years of experience.
Thomas Behrens has been an integral member of the Oticon family, part of the William Demant Group, since 1998. He is currently responsible for clinical research, professional communication and definition of the audiology in new products for Oticon. The research spans many areas of hearing science, involves both children and elderly people and typically counts 15 research projects globally on an ongoing basis. Prior to this, Thomas spent 10 years as Researcher and Project Manager at the Oticon Research Centre, Eriksholm. His areas of expertise include; spatial hearing, signal processing for hearing aids, technical audiology, outcome measures and methods for laboratory, as well as field trials. Thomas holds a master degree in Applied Signal Processing and a bachelor degree in Business Administration.
Research and development is the backbone of Oticon. Thomas Behrens has been a driving force behind the development of BrainHearing™, part of Oticon’s Cognitive Hearing Science Research, helping put substance behind Oticon’s belief that hearing care is important to general healthcare. Since 2015, Thomas Behrens and his team have successfully demonstrated, through research collaborations, that the newest Oticon Opn™ hearing aids can reduce load on the brain and improve recall, and shown that hearing aid technology should be designed not only to improve hearing, but also to assist the cognitive processes the brain uses to make sense of sound. Thomas Behrens has project-lead the team that invented the algorithm behind Open Sound Navigator™ (OSN) and was instrumental in delivering methods and professional communications for the first BrainHearing™ launch from Oticon. Most recently, his work on BrainHearing™ has seen Oticon Opn hearing aids topping independent hearing studies, showing that OSN technology helps users hear better in noise, and more effectively than traditional directionality technologies.
Commenting on the appointment, Ole Asboe Jørgensen, President of Oticon Brand, Global, said:
“Thomas Behrens has made invaluable contributions to Oticon for two decades. He is adept in BrainHearing™ research with enviable experience and knowledge of how audiology and technology can marry in order to advance hearing solutions. The new role will provide Thomas with an exciting opportunity to develop new research methods in order to strengthen our unprecedented position as an evidence-based hearing health care provider, and to encourage continual audiology innovation to achieve our goal of delivering hearing aid solutions that can make a real difference to people’s lives. We strongly believe that hearing care should be about more than simple sound amplification which is why we dedicate so much resource to the continued study of Cognitive Hearing Science and its effect on health care. Appointing a Chief Audiologist cements our commitment to the application of new, life-changing technologies in our hearing aids to deliver the very best solutions to our hearing aid users so that they can live a fully active and social life.”
About Oticon
500 million people worldwide suffer from hearing loss. The majority are over the age of 50 while eight percent are under the age of 18. It is Oticon's ambition that our customers - hearing clinics throughout the world - prefer to use our products for people with impaired hearing. Through passion, dedication and professional expertise, Oticon develops and manufactures hearing aids for both adults and children. Oticon supports every kind of hearing loss from mild to severe and we pride ourselves on developing some of the most innovative hearing aids in the market. Headquartered out of Denmark, we are a global company and part of William Demant Holding Group with more than 12,000 employees and revenues of over DKK 12 billion. Visit www.oticon.global or the Oticon Partners Page on AudiologyOnline.
