Natural Sound for an Optimal Experience

Is a natural hearing experience your greatest wish for 2023? You’re in luck!

The first experience with a hearing aid is crucial. That is why one manufacturer has developed a hearing aid technology that offers people with hearing loss a quality sound that they will appreciate from the first time they listen to it.

This advanced technology, called PureSoundTM, provides sound clarity by reducing the “artificial” sound common in hearing aids. This is made possible by a second sound processing pathway that reduces the distortion caused by standard signal processing delays.

The Proven Advantages of PureSoundTM

Unparalleled Spatial Perception

In a survey1, 95% of wearers said that with PureSoundTM, it felt like spatial sound localisation was more realistic. A scientific study shows that this perception can be attributed to the fact that this technology allows for more precise acoustic reflections enabling listeners to identify listening positions more accurately.

Natural sounds contain cues that inform us about our environment. For example, the sound perceived on a one-on-one conversation in a small restaurant versus in a large hotel lobby will be different due to reflections (the way sound is reflected from surfaces in the room and how fast those reflections return to the listener). The hearing aid's sound processing delay can interfere with the timing of these reflections for the wearer, resulting in a sound that does not correspond to the room. But the ultra-low delay of PureSoundTM means that the timing of the room reflections is preserved for a more natural sound.

Better Speech Understanding

A 2020 study2 showed that the representation of sound signals in the brain is more robust with PureSoundTM than with standard-delay hearing aids. This improves voice identification, as well as speech clarity and comprehension.

Better Sound Quality in Various Environments

According to this study, 85% of participants with hearing loss and 100% of normal-hearing participants indicated an overall preference for PureSoundTM over conventional hearing aids. Twenty different scenarios were proposed, including listening to speech in quiet and noisier environments, the quality of their voice, and hearing ambient noises and specific sounds.

A possible explanation for these advantages is the natural quality of the hearing experience and the sound localization ability with PureSoundTM make the listening experience more enjoyable in any situation.

Talk to your audioprosthetist to learn more about hearing aid technology.

Janic

Lauriault

Audiologist

References :

1. BALLING et al. (2021). Sound Quality for All: The Benefits of Ultra-Fast Signal Processing in Hearing Aids. Hearing Review 28(9): 32–35.

2. SLUGOCKI, Christopher; Francis Kuk; Petri Korhonen; and Neal Ruperto. (2020). Neural Encoding of the Stimulus Envelope Facilitated by Widex ZeroDelay Technology. Hearing Review 27(8): 28–31.

- STIEFENHOFER, G. (May 17, 2002) Hearing aid delay in open-fit devices – coloration-pitch discrimination in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14992027.2022.2049380

- KORHONEN et al. (2022). Low Processing Delay Preserves Natural Cues and Improves Spatial Perception in Hearing Aids. Hearing Review 29(6): 20–25.

- BALLING, L. W.; & Helmink, D. (2021). Optimizing Sound in Signal Processing and Hearing Aid Fitting. Audiology Practices, 13(4), 12–17.

- SONG, J. H.; Skoe, E.; Banai, K.; & Kraus, N. (2011). Perception of speech in noise: Neural correlates. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(9), 2268–2279.

- BALLING, L. W.; Townend, O.; Stiefenhofer, G.; & Switalski, W. (2020). Reducing hearing aid delay for optimal sound quality: a new paradigm in processing. Hearing Review, 27(4), 20–26.

- KUK, F.; Ruperto, N.; Slugocki, C.; & Korhonen, P. (2020). Efficacy of Directional Microphones in Open Fittings Under Realistic Signal-to-Noise Ratios Using Widex Moment Hearing Aids. Hearing Review 27(6): 20–23.