Three New Power Solutions from Oticon

Smørum, Denmark
29 October 2015

On October 29th Oticon introduces three innovative power hearing solutions that set new standards for meeting the unique needs of people with severe-to-profound hearing loss. New Oticon Dynamo, Sensei SP and Plus Power are the first power solutions built on the ultra-fast Inium Sense platform that supports Oticon’s BrainHearing™ technology to deliver the clearest sound possible to help the brain make sense of sound.

Proven BrainHearing technology lets users enjoy a more natural listening experience and better speech understanding with less effort. The Inium Sense platform enables the new power solutions to provide higher gain and output, improved feedback control and a more personalized listening experience. A breakthrough new sound processing approach that combines Speech Rescue™ and Speech Guard E gives power users access to inaudible high frequency sounds and more speech details than ever before.

“People with severe-to-profound hearing loss who rely heavily on their hearing solutions can find it challenging to transition to a new technology,” said Heine Højvang Andersen, Senior Director, Power & Paediatrics for Oticon A/S. “At the same time, technology advances rapidly and can offer new benefits and major improvements that significantly enhance quality of life. Our newest power solutions build on Oticon’s trusted power legacy and unique BrainHearing technology to make that transition easier by helping users make better sense of sound.”

Oticon’s easy-to-use personalized fitting tool, YouMatic, helps users transition to the performance advantages of new Dynamo and Plus Power. YouMatic provides a tailor-made starting point to meet individual preferences, helping to ease the transition and increase user satisfaction.

Extreme Super Powers

Small and discreet, Dynamo and Sensei SP deliver the extreme power of 143 dB SPL MPO, 82 dB Full-On Gain and low frequency output. Dynamo uses innovative BrainHearing technology to meet the unique hearing challenges of people with severe-to-profound hearing loss and take power users’ listening experience to the next level. Sensei SP, the newest addition to the Sensei family of dedicated paediatric hearing aids, is built from the ground up for children with severe-to-profound hearing loss to ensure young brains are stimulated to learn.

Like all Oticon paediatric hearing aids, Sensei SP is hypoallergenic and meets the highest safety and reliability standards with nano-coating, a shock resistant design, IP58 classification and an LED that indicates the hearing aid is functioning.

Dynamo and Sensei SP benefit from Oticon’s effective feedback control system, Inium Sense feedback shieldSP. The new feedback system is optimised for severe-to-profound hearing loss to protect users from unwanted whistling and squealing, without compromising high sound quality. Inium Sense feedback shieldSP is active across the range from 500 Hz to 6500Hz to allow for effective feedback cancellation in the frequency region most at risk for super power users.

Innovative Sound Processing for Improved Speech Understanding

A unique approach to sound processing combines the strengths of Oticon’s innovative frequency composition, Speech Rescue™, and advanced compression system, Speech Guard E. Working together, they provide Dynamo and Sensei SP users with access to inaudible high frequency sounds and more speech details than ever before.

Speech Rescue™ “rescues” or keeps speech cues that might otherwise be lost by capturing high frequency sounds and copying them to a lower audible frequency region. Moving high frequency sound to a lower frequency region gives users full access to high frequency sounds, such as softer consonants “s” and “th”, and helps to improve speech understanding.

Speech Guard E then amplifies the high frequency sounds, bringing the softest sounds of speech into a narrow listening range while preserving the dynamic contrast of the signal. The nuances of speech are “guarded” or preserved to improve speech understanding in complex listening environments so that users benefit from the fullest sound experience possible.

Bimodal Fittings

As an industry first, Oticon supports better sound balance for patients wearing both a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. Today, more super power aids are being used along with unilateral cochlear implants. A new bimodal fitting protocol in Oticon’s fitting software Genie, developed by experts at Boys Town National Research Hospital, guides hearing care professionals to better balance the sound experience for bimodal patients.

Power Made Beautiful

Plus Power is the world’s smallest BTE13 power solution with an MPO of 138 dB SPL, providing a long-awaited discreet fit for people with severe-to-profound hearing loss. Despite its strikingly small size, Plus Power is a powerful solution that gives users full access to the benefits of the Inium Sense platform and BrainHearing technology.

With an innovative speaker and 30% more processing power from the Inium Sense processor, Plus Power enables power users to enjoy high fidelity sound that protects valuable speech cues from distracting noise for a comfortable listening experience. Soft Speech Booster gives users access to more of the soft sounds that exist in everyday speech. The new power style is the newest addition to the Alta2, Nera2 and Ria2 families.