Salt Lake City—Sonic Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCI) continues its tradition of introducing small hearing aids with the launch of two new products—the Velocity™ miniBTE and the ion™ 400. The products will be officially released in conjunction with Sonic Innovations' 10-year anniversary celebration that kicks off at the American Academy of Audiology conference April 3 through 5 in Charlotte, N.C.
Sonic Innovations is the largest publicly traded U.S.-based hearing aid manufacturer. In 1998, the company developed its first product, the Natura™ hearing aid (the name was derived from the fact that so many subjects in the field trials repeatedly said how natural the hearing aid sounded). Natura™ was one of the first digital hearing aids in the marketplace.
The Velocity™ miniBTE represents the newest addition to the company's premium line of hearing aids, and is the smallest Velocity™ behind-the-ear model available. According to Sonic Innovations CEO Sam Westover, "The Velocity™ miniBTE is, to the best of my knowledge, the smallest fully featured behind-the-ear hearing aid available."
This product is designed for people with mild-to-severe hearing loss and includes 24-channel digital signal processing, digital noise reduction, fixed and adaptive directionality, auto-switching and a feedback cancellation system. It is available for open-ear and closed-mold applications.
According to Dr. Victor Bray, Sonic Innovations' vice president and chief audiology officer, "The Velocity™ miniBTE, like the rest of our current Velocity™ product line, represents the fourth generation platform for the company. The previous generation of Sonic Innovations' products had a 16-channel platform, and now, the new line has increased to a 24-channel compression system. With 24 channels of fast-acting compression combined with 24 channels of noise reduction, we've basically revved up the signal processing power on our hearing aid by 50 percent."
The Velocity™ miniBTE also incorporates an automatic feature that eliminates the need for the user to push a button when using the telephone. In addition, the Velocity™ is equipped with a voice alert system that verbally identifies specific programs. So, instead of alerting the user with a certain number of beeps, there is a verbal alert that actually says, "Telephone." Users can select whether they want a male or female voice, and this feature is now available in eight languages.
The Velocity™ miniBTE utilizes Sonic's latest adaptive feedback cancellation system, eliminating the high-pitched squeal commonly associated with hearing aids. "Should a sudden change occur, like placing a telephone next to the ear, this system reacts quickly to control feedback," Bray said.
The ion™ 400 is the newest addition to Sonic Innovations' smallest hearing aid line and falls into the category of micro behind-the-ear products. Like the Velocity™ miniBTE, the ion™ 400 has 24-channel digital signal processing and hands-free automatic features like adaptive directionality and feedback cancellation. The ion™ 400 is an open-ear model and is for those with mild-to-moderately severe hearing loss.
"The ion™ family of products is virtually invisible due to its incredibly small size. Now, with the automatic features in the ion™ 400, it's even more discreet since the user doesn't have to push any buttons when moving to different types of sound environments. The fact that we've been able to incorporate 24-channel digital signal processing into this hearing aid makes it one of the most sophisticated in the marketplace. In addition, the ion™ 400 is scientifically designed to be moisture resistant, making it perfect for those with active lifestyles," Bray said.
About Sonic Innovations
Sonic Innovations, Inc. is the largest, publicly traded U.S.-based hearing aid manufacturer. The company was founded with a mission to commercialize a unique digital signal processing platform for hearing aids. Sonic Innovations hearing aids were among the first of their kind clinically proven to increase speech understanding in noise for the hearing impaired. Sonic Innovations, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market System and can be found online at www.sonici.com or Sonic Innovations Web Channel at Audiology Online.
