Stäfa (Switzerland), February 21, 2017 – Sonova Holding AG, the world’s leading provider of hearing solutions, continues to set new standards with the introduction of a broad range of innovative products. The Group unveils its most extensive portfolio of rechargeable and discreet hearing solutions ever across its three core hearing aid brands, Phonak, Unitron and Hansaton. With Bolero™ B-PR, Phonak extends the Belong™ platform and its groundbreaking lithium-ion rechargeable technology to the new Bolero B family of behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing devices. Phonak is also unveiling its smallest custom device it has ever produced ‒ the Virto™ B-Titanium, a tiny custom hearing instrument manufactured from titanium. Unitron introduces its new Tempus™ platform by showcasing the Moxi™ Fit R ‒ the world’s smallest rechargeable hearing instrument in its class. Completing Sonova’s industry-leading rechargeable portfolio is Hansaton, which in December of 2016 launched the AQ™ HD S, its first lithium-ion rechargeable hearing system.
“Our new portfolio of rechargeable and discreet solutions clearly demonstrates why Sonova continues to lead the way in hearing performance, ease of use, and design,” said Lukas Braunschweiler, CEO of Sonova. “Only six months after the highly-successful launch of Audéo™ B-R, Phonak continues to build on this momentum with its first lithium-ion rechargeable BTE and new Virto B-Titanium, the tiniest custom device it has ever produced. Meanwhile, Unitron once again demonstrates its commitment to excellence with Tempus, their most advanced platform yet featuring Moxi Fit R, the world’s smallest rechargeable hearing aid in its class. By continuing to provide unique life-changing solutions to our customers, we demonstrate our unwavering commitment to push the limits of technology while time and again setting new standards for the industry.”
Phonak
According to a recent study1, results show that more than 9 out of 10 hearing aid wearers were “very satisfied” with battery life of their Phonak rechargeable hearing aids, with ease of use being identified as the number one advantage across both hearing aid wearers and hearing care professionals (HCPs). Furthermore, the study found that 88% of hearing care professionals would recommend Phonak rechargeable technology to their fellow colleagues. With Bolero B-PR, Phonak extends the Belong platform including its groundbreaking built-in lithium-ion rechargeable technology to a powerful BTE. Bolero B-PR comes with rechargeable technology that is proven to have a high satisfaction rating among both professionals and hearing aid wearers.
Sonova has been advancing the industrial use of 3D printing technology for many years. At the beginning of the millennium, Sonova was one of the very first companies to start digitally producing custom shells for in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aids and earpieces. Today, the company produces hundreds of thousands of custom-made products every year across the globe.
With Virto B-Titanium the company once again demonstrates its role as a leading technology innovator, combining the benefits of titanium with the latest 3D printing technology to produce the smallest custom instrument in Phonak’s history. Virto B-Titanium is the discreet custom option that’s the ideal solution for first-time hearing aid wearers. Titanium uniquely allows for a shell that’s half as thin as traditional custom shells, resulting in a deep, comfortable fit that sets new standards for discretion. The overall size is reduced significantly, thus increasing invisible-in-the-canal (IIC) fit rate by 64%.
Virto B-Titanium and all Bolero B models run on the new AutoSense OS™. This cutting edge industry- only system analyzes sounds every 400 milliseconds and draws upon multiple features, blending them to create over 200 distinct settings to precisely match sound environments as you go. The Phonak Bolero B-PR and Virto B-Titanium will be available in the U.S. by February 27, 2017, with most countries in Europe following in March.
Unitron & Hansaton
Unitron proudly introduces the new Tempus platform, which is more accurate and significantly faster at recognizing and locating the primary source of speech than Unitron’s previous platform. This is significant because people who wear hearing aids spend over half of each day conversing with others2, and struggling to hear in crowds and background noise is among their chief complaints3. The Tempus platform’s highly-intelligent SoundCore™ technology automatically focuses on the direction the speech is coming from, allowing wearers to more actively engage in conversations.
With Moxi Fit R, the first rechargeable hearing aid available on the new Tempus platform, Unitron addresses the 70% of patients who want the convenience of rechargeable hearing aids4 with the added benefit of being the world’s smallest rechargeable hearing device in its class. Moxi Fit R provides more than 24 hours of listening on a single overnight charge. It’s also an extremely flexible solution, capable of using both rechargeable and traditional zinc-air batteries whenever a back-up plan is needed. Eco-friendly Moxi Fit R replaces up to 100 regular batteries in a year, saving hearing aid wearers time, money, and the hassle of changing tiny batteries ‒ while helping to save the environment, too.
The Moxi Fit R will be available in the U.S. by February 24, 2017, with most countries in Europe following in March. In addition to the Moxi Fit R, Unitron’s Tempus platform will also be available in a full range of Stride BTE and Moxi RIC families at five technology levels.
Hansaton’s award-winning soundHD s312e and rechargeable AQ HD S were previously launched in December of 2016.
1 Nilsson M, Omisore D (2017). The Phonak rechargeable hearing solution: Part 2. Phonak Field Study News. https://www.phonakpro.com/cont
2 Hayes, D., 2016. Global Listening Environment Study https://unitron.com/gles
3 MarkeTrak 9: A New Baseline “Estimating Hearing Loss and Adoption Rates and Exploring Key Aspects of the Patient Journey” Hearing Industries Association 2015.
4 Copithorne, D. (2016) Rechargeable Hearing Aid Preferences: Survey Findings. https://www.hearingtracker.com
