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New algorithm automatically adjusts directional system for special situations
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

New algorithm automatically adjusts directional system for special situations

Josef Chalupper, Yu-Hsiang Wu and Jennifer Weber
The Hearing journal, Vol.64(1), pp.26-32-33
01/2011
DOI: 10.1097/01.HJ.0000393211.70569.5c
url
https://doi.org/10.1097/01.HJ.0000393211.70569.5cView
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

While directional-microphone technology has been used for over 40 years, there continue to be significant advances. One listening situation in which directional technology had not previously been successful was a speech-in-noise condition with speech presented from behind the listener. The Siemens SpeechFocus, which includes a reverse directional polar pattern, was introduced to improve speech understanding in this type of listening environment. Clinical trials at two independent research sites compared SpeechFocus with omnidirectional and conventional frontal adaptive directional. They found a significant benefit for SpeechFocus for understanding speech in background noise. This microphone mode provided an average improvement of ∼5 dB compared to omnidirectional, and ∼10 dB compared to frontal adaptive directional. As has been pointed out in several MarkeTrak reports, overall satisfaction with hearing aids is related to the number of listening situations in which users report that the instruments provide benefit. We believe that SpeechFocus has added one more listening situation in which patients will find significant improvement in speech understanding. © 2011 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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