Rexton iPhone app

If you have the latest version of the Signia, Rexton, or the KS8 hearing aids, they have what Signia calls a 3D Classifier7. It uses three inputs to analyze the listening situation you are in; Acoustic Information, Own Voice Activity, and Motion state.

The acoustic information is using the normal microphone inputs. Own Voice is a feature that has to be trained to recognize your own voice, by the fitter. It is used to adjust gain automatically to make your own voice sound better to you. It is also used to tell the hearing aids when you are talking, so it knows when you are in conversation and consider that in the 3D classifier. And the motion state comes from your phone motion detector. Your phone needs to be paired to the hearing aids for it to be considered.

When these are all combined Signia claims that it can identify 24 distinct different states that it adjusts the hearing aid for. I’m “hearing” a little more sizzle than steak here, but that is what they claim. But, the idea is good. They are basically using all this data to make the Automatic program more useful. I do find it pretty good, and often it is better than a more specific manual program.

The app I use is Smart Direct which is the Rexton name. They are not so good about describing what it can do. Signia calls it myControl5, and the functions are described better. It takes an iPhone to get the most out of it.

The bottom line is that out of the box this whole 3D Classifier is probably quite limited in what it can do. However, if you ask your fitter to program the Own Voice Processing, and if you get a Smart Phone with the correct app, then it becomes much more functional. My suspicion is that many patients, and even some fitters don’t know anything about it.

I have the Signia Silk NX so I’ve gone for form over function with a CIC so I don’t have the 3D feature but I do have Signia’s OVP (own voice problem) programming in the HA. The Aud programmed it after I asked him. It’s really good for me. Huge difference over about a week. I went from sounding like I’m in a styrofoam tunnel to natural voice. I have begun to suspect though that I think I’m also picking up just a touch less in general speech of others. Perhaps when they hit my own voice tones. It could be in my mind though.

Sierra - Thanks for that very informative narrative. I have the KS-8s and the HIS did set up the own voice feature. In fact, I have worn aids for many years and had a few fittings with several different brands. The HIS at Costco gave me the most complete and comprehensive fitting I’ve ever had. It was the first time I had ever been fit using REM. I believe I meet the criteria for the Motion Sense to work so I’ll give it a try and post if I can detect any difference in performance.

I think all you have to do to include the Motion Sensor input to the 3D Classifier is to turn it on in the app. I believe it was on by default, but the switch should be on the first page of the app settings.

I do find that the Live Listen in the iPhone MFi screen works better than the Remote Microphone in the app.