Signia Nx hearing aid technology sets new standards in natural sound and spontaneous acceptance

Erlangen, Germany, October 18, 2017

Signia Nx hearing aid technology sets new standards in natural sound and spontaneous acceptance

• Hearing aid wearers experience the most natural own voice thanks to revolutionary Own Voice Processing
• Ultra HD e2e and Bluetooth®(1) offer uncompromised hearing performance and seamless connectivity with direct streaming in one device
• TeleCare 3.0 empowers hearing care professionals to offer online appointments with full live remote tuning

At the 62th International Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians in Nuremberg, Germany, audiology technology leader Sivantos today presented its next generation Signia hearing aid technology: Signia Nx™. The technology is set to improve spontaneous acceptance of own voice by 75 percent of dissatisfied hearing aid wearers(2). With its introduction, Signia Nx hearing aids become the world’s first that process the wearer’s own voice completely independently from the remaining soundscape, including other people’s voices. This results in wearers perceiving their own voice as natural while also hearing the sounds of their surroundings appropriately amplified. Signia Nx’s patented Own Voice Processing (OVP™), powered by the new chip technology, makes this possible.

The Signia Nx hearing aid generation also enhances connectivity and streaming capabilities thanks to its Ultra HD e2e and Bluetooth® wireless technologies. Hearing care professionals (HCPs) and their patients will further benefit from Signia TeleCare™ 3.0, which empowers HCPs to conduct online appointments and remotely fine-tune their patients’ hearing aids.

A particular challenge: the sound of the own voice

One of the greatest challenges facing hearing aid wearers is that their own voice sounds unnatural due to gain. Many hearing aid wearers acknowledge that they are dissatisfied with how their voice sounds. This is particularly difficult for first-time wearers or those with mild or moderate hearing loss who complain that their voice sounds loud and unfamiliar. Up until now, HCPs have learned to accept this problem as the norm and their only recourse previously was to reduce gain, which negatively affects overall audibility, and open the venting, which reduces speech understanding in noise.

A smart solution: dual processing and top-notch-classification

Building upon the success of its primax™ platform, dual processing has been developed – of the own voice on the one hand and the remaining soundscape on the other – a key feature of the new Signia Nx chip technology. The acronym Nx stands for “natural experience,” referring to the natural sound quality the platform offers.

The chip’s dual processing capability helps replicate natural hearing behavior by dynamically scanning and processing the wearer’s own voice through patented OVP while simultaneously processing the remaining soundscape separately. As part of this process, the new technology offers three-dimensional classification in detecting acoustic changes, movements, and the wearer’s own voice. This key capability steers the automatic orchestration of the hearing aid features to meet the wearer’s needs in each specific situation. Signia Nx hearing aids offer users a new level of spatial awareness, precise localization and crystal-clear sound in all environments, no matter how loud.

A successful symbiosis: Ultra HD e2e and Bluetooth®

While many hearing aid wearers demand seamless connectivity, this should not be at the expense of overall hearing performance and sound quality. That is why the Signia Nx platform delivers the energy-efficient wireless technology Ultra HD e2e, the enhanced continuous binaural link that goes beyond synchronization to fully exchange data and acoustic information between the left and right hearing aid. This leading technology enables OVP and better-than-normal hearing in difficult listening environments(3).

Signia Nx devices’ Bluetooth® capabilities offer data and audio streaming from both smartphones and TV. Bluetooth® further drives precision hearing by leveraging smartphone motion sensors, tracking hearing activity, and facilitating full live remote tuning. The Signia Nx technology also features a latest antenna design, for example an antenna laser-cut along the body of the Signia Pure 312 Nx hearing aid, making it the smallest device with OVP and direct streaming.

Signia Nx’s chip technology rounds out the platform’s connectivity capabilities with the myControl™ app, which offers remote control with 360° microphone steering, relays motion sensor data, and displays noise exposure and voice activity, which are indicators of hearing health. And with an additional system, Signia TeleLink, the wearer can control the hearing aids remotely even when Bluetooth® is not available via smartphone, for example during airplane mode.

A wide-ranging service: TeleCare 3.0

With TeleCare 3.0 HCPs can proactively address the needs of their patients during the trial period with Signia Nx hearing aids. This unique service package offers online appointments via video calls, giving patients instant feedback and support after the first fitting at the practice. Using the latest version of Connexx™ programing software, HCPs can even perform full live remote tuning. As the adjustments can take place in the most natural environments of patients’ lives, such as in the living room with the TV on or even in the car while someone else is driving, the hearing aids can be better adjusted to the patients’ individual needs.

The award-winning myHearing app(4) from Signia transmits all remote adjustments to the hearing aids via the patient’s iOS or Android smartphone. These real time fittings, which are based on both patients’ subjective feedback and objective acoustic information collected by the hearing aids, keep trials on track while wearers go about their daily lives without having to travel to and from the HCP’s practice for fine-tuning.

The new multi-talents: Pure 312 Nx, Pure 13 Nx, Motion 13 Nx

The Signia Nx portfolio starts with two delicate receiver-in-canal models – Pure 312 Nx and Pure 13 Nx – and with a slim behind-the-ear device Motion 13 Nx.

They offer their wearers all the benefits of the new technology: replicated natural sound of own voice, excellent speech understanding, true-to-life spatial awareness, comprehensive connectivity with direct streaming and the HCP with TeleCare always at their side. The new, elegant hearing aids are available from November in the three performance levels 7Nx, 5Nx, 3Nx.

For more information: www.signia-pro.com/signia-nx69

(1) The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth SIC, Inc., and any use of such marks by Sivantos GmbH is under licenses. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.
(2) 2017 “First Fit Study” conducted at Hörzentrum Oldenburg examining the effect of own voice processing on spontaneous acceptance after first fit of hearing aids. More: www.signia-pro.com/first-fit-study5
(3) Two clinical studies have shown that binax provides better than normal hearing in certain demanding environments (University of Northern Colorado, 2014; Oldenburg Hörzentrum, 2013): Speech Reception Thresholds (SRT) in cocktail-party situations improved up to 2.9 dB for wearers with mild to moderate hearing loss using Carat binax or Pure binax hearing aids with narrow directionality, compared to people with normal hearing.
(4) CES Innovation Awards 2017 Honoree

About Sivantos Group

The business operations of the former Siemens AG hearing aid division have been combined into the Sivantos Group since early 2015. Sivantos can look back on almost 140 years of German engineering and countless global innovations. Today Sivantos is one of the leading hearing aid manufacturers worldwide. With its more than 5,000 employees, the group recorded revenues of 933 million euros in the fiscal year 2015/2016 and an operating profit (Adj. EBITDA) of 221 million euros. Sivantos’ international sales organization supplies hearing care specialists and sales partners in more than 120 countries. Particularly high value is placed on product development. Sivantos aims to become the market leader in the coming years with its brands Signia, Siemens, Audio Service, Rexton, A&M, HearUSA and audibene. The owners of Sivantos are the anchor investors EQT along with the Strüngmann family as a co-investor. Sivantos GmbH is a brand license holder of Siemens AG. More information can be found at www.sivantos.com6

Website:
https://www.signia-hearing.com/24

Pure 312 Nx Brochure:
https://www.signia-hearing.com/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/74/2017/11/Pure-312-Nx_consumer-leaflet_2017-09.pdf76

Pure 13 Nx Brochure:
https://www.signia-hearing.com/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/74/2017/11/Pure-13-Nx_consumer-leaflet_2017-09.pdf35

Motion 13 Nx Brochure:
https://www.signia-hearing.com/global/wp-content/uploads/sites/74/2017/11/Motion-13-Nx_consumer-leaflet_2017-09.pdf32

Signia myControl App for Apple iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mycontrol-app/id1205398170?mt=815

Signia myControl App for Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.signia.mycontrol12

Signia myHearing for Apple iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/signia-myhearing/id1142611703?mt=88

Signia myHearing for Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.signia.myhearing15

Here’s the US Release:

Piscataway October 18, 2017

Signia Nx delivers world’s first natural own voice solution to raise hearing aid acceptance

● Own Voice Processing (OVP) set to improve spontaneous acceptance by
75 percent1 by replicating the natural sound of the wearer’s own voice
● Patented OVP is powered by Signia Nx, the most advanced hearing aid platform
● New Signia hearing aids offer the most natural own voice with direct streaming and TeleCare 3.0

Audiology technology leader Sivantos today unveiled the solution to one of the major challenges in the hearing aid industry, the own voice issue. All hearing aid users experience a change in the sound of their own voice. Many of them, especially first time wearers, are dissatisfied with its loud, unnatural sound. This negative perception reduces initial acceptance, forcing hearing care professionals to compromise on audibility to improve the sound of the own voice.

The revolutionary OVP™ technology improves spontaneous acceptance of the own voice by 75%1 of dissatisfied hearing aid wearers. It processes own voice signals completely independently from of all other sounds, including other voices.

Putting audiology first to deliver the most natural own voice

In keeping with its long legacy of breakthrough innovations, Signia developers focused on the important own voice issue to deliver a vastly improved hearing experience for all hearing aid wearers. Putting audiology first to provide superior hearing with uncompromised sound quality, all new Signia hearing aids’ unique and state-of-the-art features are built on this strong foundation of industry-leading technology.

The soundscape processing of Signia Nx – the way in which all other sounds, including other people’s voices are processed – addresses another major issue in the industry: speech understanding in noise. Building on its proven predecessor platform, primax™, Signia Nx delivers “better than normal hearing”2 in challenging acoustic environments. This complements the natural own voice achieved by OVP.

Unique combination of leading binaural link and direct streaming

Signia Nx offers further unique advantages. No other manufacturer is able to combine direct streaming via 2.4 GHz Bluetooth®3 from iOS® devices and TV with Ultra HD e2e – the leading binaural link that enables OVP. This sophisticated wireless system continuously processes audio information and exchanges data between the left and right hearing aids for optimal hearing and spatial awareness. And with an additional system, Signia TeleLink™, the hearing aids offer remote control even when Bluetooth is not available, for example when in Airplane mode.

Revolutionary remote hearing care

The third unique advantage in addition to the most natural own voice and leading connectivity is the revolutionary Signia TeleCare™ solution. The latest version, TeleCare 3.0, enables full live remote tuning of Signia hearing aids with the powerful Connexx® fitting software. For the first time, hearing care professionals can conduct online appointments via video call after the personal first fitting at the practice. They can simultaneously use Connexx to adjust the hearing aids in real time and in the real-life situations that the wearer experiences, much like a virtual house call. The updated settings are relayed to the hearing aids via the patient’s myHearing™ App on their smartphone. This unrivaled technology provides a powerful new tool to keep hearing aid trials on track and convert patients with hearing loss into satisfied hearing aid wearers.

All the benefits of Signia Nx – a natural own voice, best hearing performance, direct streaming, and full live remote support – are available with the new range of elegant, high-performance Signia hearing aids. The RIC Pure® 312 Nx is the smallest hearing aid with OVP and direct streaming thanks to its laser edge Bluetooth antenna for complete discretion. The RIC Pure® 13 Nx delivers the longest streaming time for continuous connectivity. And the BTE Motion® 13 Nx offers the most versatile fitting options as well as an optional T-coil integrated into the battery door so that more people with hearing loss can enjoy the natural experience of Signia Nx.

I don’t think that level of detail has been released to anyone yet.

Dr. Bailey, I read earlier in the replies that the the Signia Pure 312 NX does not cover 2px 16/B and 1 px 16/8. Unfortunately, my Ph.D is not in audiology so I am not sure if this is a big deal or what exactly it means.