SOMERSET, NJ October 29 - Oticon, Inc. today introduced ADAPTO, a new hearing aid that prioritizes the human voice over other sounds in the environment, providing optimal adaptation to listening environments for people with hearing loss. Using a proprietary feature called VoiceFinder™, ADAPTO detects the synchronous harmonic signals of speech in noise environments and immediately processes these sounds for maximum understanding. When no speech is detected, ADAPTO automatically switches to a comfort mode, tuning out noise and irrelevant sounds to protect those with hearing loss from the listening fatigue that often results from constant 'unfiltered' noise.
ADAPTO's Open Ear Acoustics delivers natural sound quality through substantially increased real-ear venting, a state-of-the-art Dynamic Feedback Cancellation system, and intelligent low-frequency gain compensation. Unveiled at the 2001 Academy of Dispensing Audiologists Conference, the new hearing instrument uses a proprietary interactive fitting software, called Genie, to combine data in the audiogram with personalized information for a highly individualized fitting that reflects the user's processing ability and preferences.
'At Oticon, our goal is to give hearing care professionals the products they need to insure an optimum outcome for their clients,' says Mikael Worning, President of Oticon, Inc. 'With ADAPTO we have dramatically reduced the three main reasons for poor user satisfaction. ADAPTO delivers optimal speech understanding without overwhelming the user with other sounds, decreasing the likelihood of feedback or distortion of the user's own voice. Equally important, the Genie software program enables professionals to fit ADAPTO to meet the user's signal processing capabilities and hearing preferences.'
Detecting Speech in Noise
ADAPTO maximizes speech understanding without sacrificing comfort - even in background noise. The scientists and engineers at Oticon's world renowned Eriksholm Research Centre employed the latest advances in digital signal processing to enable ADAPTO to prioritize speech over noise, operating much like the human brain in a person with normal hearing. ADAPTO's VoiceFinder function zeroes in on the distinctive synchronous harmonics of the vowel sounds that dominate human speech. Using a highly efficient narrow-band filter bank to analyze the incoming sounds, VoiceFinder detects the presence of speech accurately and consistently.
When speech is not present, the VoiceFinder adapts to a more comfortable listening mode. By providing specific changes to amplification, compression ratios and release-time characteristics, it helps the user to minimize the annoyance and fatigue caused by constant ambient sound input.
Excellent and Natural Sound Quality
ADAPTO allows hearing aid users to experience a more natural perception of their own voices. Advanced technology enables hearing care professionals to use significantly larger venting on ADAPTO instruments than is recommended for typical hearing aids. The bigger vent size reduces the occlusion effect that can make eating and the sound of their own voices upleasant to them. ADAPTO BTE fittings with open ear molds are recommended for a large group of users. In-the-ear styles are manufactured with significantly larger venting schemes than is typical.
The increased venting is made possible by ADAPTO's Dynamic Feedback Cancellation system that constantly monitors the state of the instrument and cancels the feedback path. Unlike other feedback reduction methods, the Dynamic Feedback Cancellation System does not reduce gain so audibility and speech understanding are never compromised.
The new feedback cancellation system reacts to a wide variety of listening situations. This is true in situations where the alterations in the acoustic environment occur slowly, such as when an ear mold or shell gradually moves out of position or quickly, such as placing a phone by the ear. The Dynamic Feedback Cancellation system requires no calibration measurements and keeps battery consumption to a minimum.
Client-Focused Fitting
ADAPTO's new interactive fitting software, Genie, enables the hearing care professionals to involve the client from the start of the fitting process for a more individualized and successful outcome. The software features a Personal Profile section that combines information in the audiogram with highly individual information such as hearing aid experience, age, typical listening environments and real ear data, to recommend one of four advanced proprietary rationales: slow for older adults with sloping hearing loss; fast for sloping hearing loss; linear, for flat hearing losses and ski for ski-slope losses.
Among the factors considered in the Personal Profile are the richness and variability of a user's listening environment and the user's age, since research has shown that age is closely tied to cognitive function and the ability to process speech signals. The Genie fitting software also provides professionals with a variety of multi-media tools, including sounds and pictures, to engage clients in the fitting process and insure a more precise, individualized fit.
ADAPTO is available in a full range of cosmetically attractive, small styles ranging from behind-the-ear instruments to completely-in-the-canal models. The miniature chip technology used in ADAPTO allows for one of the smallest CIC instruments available today, weighing just one gram. ADAPTO hearing instruments are available exclusively through hearing care professionals.
For more information about ADAPTO, log on to www.adapto.oticonus.com.
For more information on Oticon click here.
