Unitron announced the introduction of Blu, an innovative new platform designed to keep up with the complexity of everyday life.
The new Blu platform helps “provide next-generation sound performance” according to the company. Powered by the new Sonova PRISMTM (Processing Real-Time Intelligent Sound Management) chip and Unitron’s new signal processing system, Integra OS, Blu delivers an “adaptable, personalized, and freeing hearing experience like never before.” Integra OS helps “optimize the listening experience to each client’s specific situation from highly complex to very quiet.”
“It is hard to know what experiences we may encounter throughout the day,” said Nicola McLaughlin, director of hearing instruments business at Unitron. “With our new Blu platform clients are provided with our most advanced sound performance and will be ready for life’s unexpected moments knowing their hearing aids will keep up with their unique lifestyle.”
With Blu and the Remote Plus app, clients can temporarily “boost clarity and comfort within the automatic program,” the company says. For special circumstances they can select from up to six optional, pre-set programs which they can further adjust to enhance speech, reduce noise, or focus the microphones to meet their lifestyle needs.
Compatible with Bluetooth products, Blu “helps allow wearers to interact seamlessly with their favorite devices.” With new tap control, Blu wearers can access virtual assistants, accept and end calls, as well as pause and play media while connected simultaneously to two Bluetooth devices, all with a double-tap to the side of the ear. In total, clients can pair up to eight devices, including both Android and Apple phones, tablets, and other Bluetooth devices.
“Our world is increasingly rooted in technology-based solutions. As more of us move to a remote work model, the amount of devices we are connected to throughout the day is growing,” said Sandra Fulton, vice president of group marketing at Unitron. “As our clients’ lifestyles evolve, so must Unitron’s products, and Blu seamlessly allows our customers to immerse themselves in all aspects of life with full confidence in their hearing aid compatibility.”
The new Moxi Blu family has been redesigned for “additional wearing comfort and ease of use,” and includes two lithium-ion rechargeable models. With Unitron’s Remote Plus app, clients can help maximize their hearing experience with in-app reminders and contextual how-to’s designed to “seamlessly familiarize clients to the new technology.” A no-commitment trial period with all Moxi Blu hearing instruments also ensure clients have peace of mind while selecting the right device for their needs.
“Confidence in not only the product, but in one’s ability to embrace life’s spontaneity and take in every experience from one moment to the next is vital,” said Fulton. “Unitron is proud to provide innovations that fit seamlessly into our clients’ lives.”
The new Moxi Blu hearing aids will be able to order/ship on May 4, 2021. For more information on the Blu platform, please visit: www.unitron.com/blu.
https://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.png00adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2021-04-19 10:42:422021-04-19 10:42:42Unitron has announced the introduction of Blu
Signia announced the launch of its newest lineup of Motion Charge&Go X hearing aids, which includes the Motion Charge&Go SP X – said to be the “first-ever rechargeable super power hearing aid that delivers uncompromised hearing with up to 61 hours of run-time per charge.” The Motion Charge&Go SP X, and its rechargeability, helps “ensure that even individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss can enhance their human performance through improved hearing in every situation.”
This joins two other all-new Motion hearing aids – Motion Charge&Go P X and Motion Charge&Go X – to complete Signia’s latest lineup of Motion Charge&Go behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing solutions that are said to address “all levels of hearing loss.”
“Those with moderate to severe hearing loss depend heavily on their hearing aids – and not just for catching the total at the grocery checkout line or the specials at a restaurant, but for the real connections and sounds that give life meaning,” said Dr Tish Ramirez, Signia’s Vice President of Professional Relations and Product Management. “Signia Motion X delivers industry-best rechargeability and connectivity to ensure wearers stay better connected to their world without any limitations. Motion X hearing aids don’t just provide better hearing, they help provide a better life.”
Motion Charge&Go SP X is said to have up to 61 hours per charge, according to Signia, and is “the world’s most powerful rechargeable hearing aid.” The Motion Charge&Go P X offers up to 30 hours per charge, while the Motion Charge&Go X offers up to 24 hours per charge.
Signia Motion Charge&Go X: A new era in hearing technology
Signa’s “first-of-its-kind acoustic-motion sensor technology” is said to recognize one’s movements and adjusts sounds accordingly to ensure hearing in any situation is as precise and personalized as possible. Signia’s world’s-first OVP is a cutting-edge technology that processes the wearer’s voice separately from other sounds, leading to higher user satisfaction with the sound of their own voice.[1]
The Signia app provides access to hearing aid controls, streaming capabilities, tinnitus therapy, the Signia Assistant for a more personalized listening experience, and 24/7 digital support, Signia Telecare for remote care support, Signia Face Mask Mode for better speech understanding through masks, and much more.
Furthermore, the Xperience fitting (XFit) strategy helps offer a choice between more linear and more compressive gain settings for those with moderate-to-profound hearing loss. With the Dynamic Soundscape Processing slider, the wearer can “easily find a preferred balance of sound for best performance.” Additionally, the AI-based Signia Assistant helps allow the wearer to be more involved in actively shaping the sound quality of their own hearing aid.
All three models of Motion Charge&Go X offer Li-ion charging, Bluetooth connectivity, and an optional telecoil. They are available in all performance levels and can be ordered with an optional charger upgrade that includes a UV Dry&Clean function.
“Signia has invested heavily in developing first-of-its-kind, industry-leading technologies – across rechargeability, connectivity, speech intelligibility, and more,” said Ramirez. “However, this investment has been made with the sole aim of creating hearing solutions that prove people don’t have to be limited by their hearing loss – and that with one’s hearing restored, there’s nothing holding them back from performing their best.”
https://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.png00adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2021-03-17 18:02:252021-03-17 18:02:25Signia Launches Motion X Hearing Aids
Widex Inc announced that it has been recognized by Digital Trends Media Group with a Tech for Change Award at CES 2021 for its WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids. Recipients were selected based on innovations intended to make the world a better place, as displayed during CES.
WIDEX MOMENT was selected for having pioneered “the first digital hearing aid to incorporate dual artificial intelligence engines to improve real-time listening,” according to the company’s announcement. Furthermore, the WIDEX MOMENT is said to leverage ZeroDelay technology to “reduce the standard sound delay from 7-10 milliseconds seconds to just 0.5 milliseconds to give people with hearing loss the most natural hearing experience available.”
“Hearing aids have historically delivered a ‘tinny’, tube-like sound due to the delay in digital sound processing; as the leader in natural sound, Widex could not stand for this,” said Søren Hvidberg Nielsen, President of Widex US. “Our engineers have worked tirelessly for five years to overcome this technical challenge, and with our breakthrough WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids we’ve now succeeded.”
Continued Nielsen, “These intelligent devices go far beyond simply boosting speech perception, offering wearers a true-to-life sound experience that’s been elusive until now. We are honored that Digital Trends Media Group recognized WIDEX MOMENT as an innovative, class-leading wearable and wellness device designed to make the world a better place through natural sound for all.”
Widex has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence to create a more personalized sound experience, which in turn leads to higher wearer acceptance and usage. WIDEX MOMENT leverages SoundSense Learn, an AI-based technology, to personalize hearing aid settings in two ways.
First, WIDEX MOMENT learns how users prefer to hear their surroundings by analyzing settings and guiding them through a series of A-B comparisons. Second, an AI-algorithm draws from millions of user settings stored in the cloud to help personalize the listening experience, according to the company.
Furthermore, WIDEX MOMENT also includes the PureSound ZeroDelay technology, a “parallel processing path that all but eliminates latency, resulting in a more natural sound without the ‘tinny’ distortions associated with other hearing aids.”
The WIDEX MOMENT is available now. Visit https://www.widex.com/en-us to find a hearing care provider in your area.
https://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.png00adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2021-03-08 18:17:102021-03-08 18:17:10Widex Moment Receives Tech for Change Award
By Laura Winther Balling, PhD, Oliver Townend, BSc, and Dana Helmink, AuD
Sound quality plays a key feature for overall hearing aid satisfaction as well as in everyday moments of real-life hearing. A large international survey of hearing aid users confirms the importance of sound quality, showing higher satisfaction with the WIDEX MOMENT™ hearing aids for overall sound quality, for specific situations of real-life use and for hearing aid users’ ability to participate in daily life.
As one of the major global hearing aid manufacturers, Widex has a long history of focusing on sound quality, designing all signal processing with the aim of achieving the best and most natural sound quality possible. For example, True Input Technology, with a linear transfer function up to 113 dB SPL and a linear input dynamic range of 108 dB SPL, was groundbreaking when launched,1 as was Variable Speed Compression, which offers the benefits of both slow and fast-acting compression.2
Most recently, WIDEX MOMENT™ launched with the focus on sound quality expressed in two main features:
TruAcoustics™ is an intelligent algorithm by which the acoustics in the individual ear canal is integrated in the parameter settings of the hearing aid, so the output at the eardrum is exactly right for the individual ear canal with the specific earware choice.3
Widex PureSound™ drastically reduces hearing aid delay and eliminates the delay-based distortions which are characteristic of other digital hearing aids.4
Innovations like these improve the sound quality in clearly audible ways and result in sound quality preferences in studies, such as the one reported by Balling et al.4 However, it is also an important assumption of the Widex design philosophy that good sound is not an isolated quality but a means to achieving higher hearing aid satisfaction across many situations in real life. With this broader view of sound quality, it is arguably the most important parameter for hearing aid satisfaction, along with speech understanding (especially in noise).
For these reasons, the survey reported below focused on satisfaction with sound quality in itself, as well as the experience in diverse situations of real-life hearing with Widex MOMENT hearing aid.
Survey Method
Our survey included 101 experienced hearing aid users recruited at local hearing clinics in 7 countries (US, Canada, China, Germany, France, Portugal, UK). They all wore the MOMENT mRIC R D rechargeable hearing aids and rated their satisfaction with them in comparison to their own existing hearing aids, which were from all major brands. Respondents were 60% male with a median age of 66 years (range 18-88). Close to half (45%) were work active, and they had a median of 6 years’ hearing aid experience (range 1-59 years).
Respondents fell into two groups: 39 of them had mild-to-moderate hearing losses going from 40 dBHL at low frequencies to 70 dBHL at high and had as their primary program PureSound™, which is particularly suitable for open fits and milder losses. The other 62 respondents had hearing losses up to 80 dB HL across frequencies (the mRIC M-receiver fitting range) and were fitted with the Universal program as their primary program. The MOMENT hearing aids were fitted with the ear tip recommended in the Compass GPS fitting software.
The survey used a cross-over design where respondents started a 7-week survey period by rating their satisfaction with their own existing hearing aids before being fitted with the MOMENT hearing aids and wearing them for 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, they rated their satisfaction with the MOMENT devices, before switching back to their own hearing aids, wearing those for 2 weeks and rating them at Week 6. For the final 2 weeks of the survey, respondents wore MOMENT and filled in a final set of questions about those at Week 7. This resulted in two ratings for own hearing aids (at Weeks 0 and 5) and two for MOMENT (at Weeks 3 and 7).
The questionnaires were filled in online using SMART-TRIAL software, using a format inspired by the MarkeTrak surveys,5 where respondents rate their satisfaction with their hearing aids on a 7-point scale ranging from “Very dissatisfied” (a rating of 1) to ‘Very satisfied’ (a rating of 7). Following the MarkeTrak approach, respondents who gave ratings in the top-3 satisfaction categories may be classified together as being “satisfied.” We asked questions about satisfaction both in general and in specific real-life situations.
The responses show that people are reasonably satisfied with their own hearing aids at the beginning of the survey period, but once they try the MOMENT hearing aids, their ratings of their own hearing aids in many cases become significantly lower. This in itself is evidence in favor of the MOMENT devices. However, the more interesting direct comparison is between the ratings of own hearing aids in Week 5 and MOMENT in Week 7, where respondents have had the most time to form an opinion about the new hearing aids.
We also estimated the age of the respondents’ own hearing aids based on the launch date of the device. Interestingly, we found no significant effects of this variable, indicating that the MOMENT advantages that we observe throughout are not simply explained by the contrast between older own hearing aids and new MOMENT devices, but by a genuine preference for the MOMENT sound.
Unless otherwise indicated, statistical testing of results was done using mixed-effects models that take into account the crucial fact that we have multiple responses per person. The significance levels for the relevant contrasts between own and MOMENT hearing aids are all below 0.0001, which means that potential concerns about repeated testing are unfounded.
Sound Quality Across Situations
As we would expect given the Widex design focus, the responses show a solid sound quality advantage for the MOMENT hearing aids, with significantly higher satisfaction for MOMENT than for own hearing aids (p < 0.0001). Looking at the average ratings plotted in the left panel of Figure 1, there is a 1-point advantage for MOMENT, with the average rating “Satisfied” for MOMENT and “Somewhat satisfied” for own hearing aids. Examining the distribution of answers in the right panel of Figure 1, we see many more “Very satisfied” and “Satisfied” MOMENT users. In total, considering the top-3 satisfaction categories, 91% of respondents are satisfied with the MOMENT sound quality.
Figure 1. Ratings of satisfaction with sound quality. The left panel shows mean ratings of satisfaction with sound quality as filled circles, with the whiskers representing ±1 standard deviation (SD) around the mean. The right plot shows ratings of own hearing aids in Week 5 and of MOMENT hearing aids in Week 7 of the survey.
An intriguing question is which aspects of sound and hearing aid use influence these high-satisfaction sound quality ratings. This is a complex issue that this survey cannot fully address, but it is informative to look at which other questions are correlated with sound quality satisfaction. In Table 1, such correlations are listed for the ratings of MOMENT at the end of the survey period. They are all strong correlations ranging between 0.522 to 0.698, and although there is some variation between individual situations, the correlations are all highly significant and of similar size. These correlations do not, of course, indicate causation but do suggest that sound quality plays a similar role across different situations.
Table 1. Spearman Rho correlations between sound quality satisfaction and satisfaction in specific situations for WIDEX MOMENT. (Notations: *** indicates significance at the p<0.001 level; a) Speech-in-noise situations; b) Outdoor situations; c) Listening through devices.
Another way of assessing the impact of sound quality on everyday satisfaction with hearing aids is analyzing the average satisfaction across the specific situations listed in Table 1 (excepting satisfaction with soft and loud sounds, which are not specific situations). A regression model shows that satisfaction with sound quality is a highly significant predictor of mean satisfaction across situations, accounting for more than 50% of the variance in satisfaction across situations (R2 = 0.51).
Sound Quality and Naturalness
In addition to the different listening situations, Table 1 also lists respondents’ agreement with the statement “I find that the sound is natural with the MOMENT hearing aids” on a 7-point scale. This shows one of the highest correlations with sound quality satisfaction, which means that those hearing aid wearers who are highly satisfied with the sound quality also perceive the sound as more natural.
In addition, naturalness ratings show a very similar pattern across weeks to sound quality satisfaction, as illustrated in Figure 2. Again, we see approximately a 1-point difference between the ratings of own and MOMENT hearing aids, and many more who “Agree” or “Strongly agree” that the sound of MOMENT is natural.
Figure 2. Ratings of naturalness of sound, with the left panel showing mean ratings per week and the right panel showing ratings for own hearing aids in Week 5 and for MOMENT in Week 7.
Satisfaction in Everyday Situations
As seen in Table 1, the survey included questions on a wide range of everyday situations. In Figure 3, these are grouped into four different more general categories, showing the distribution of ratings in Week 5 (own hearing aids) and Week 7 (MOMENT hearing aids).
Figure 3. Histograms showing distribution of ratings in Weeks 5 (own hearing aids) and 7 (MOMENT hearing aids).
The top-left panel shows the satisfaction with conversations in quiet, assessed by a single question. Level of satisfaction is generally high, as we would expect for this relatively easy listening environment. However, although the baseline is already high, the MOMENT ratings are still higher, with the most frequent response being “Very satisfied” and the difference to own hearing aids being highly significant (p < 0.0001).
Speech-in-noise ratings are shown in the top-right panel, based on a mean across questions on satisfaction in restaurants and with conversations in noise and during transport. These tend to be difficult situations for hearing aid users, which is also clear if we compare the general level of satisfaction with speech in quiet. This makes the significant advantage for MOMENT (p < 0.0001) all the more noteworthy: the most frequent mean rating for these questions is clearly in the “Satisfied” category for MOMENT, whereas ratings for own hearing aids are more spread out, with “Somewhat dissatisfied” as the most frequent. If we compare the own-vs-MOMENT hearing aid ratings per respondent, five times as many respondents are more satisfied with the MOMENT hearing aids compared with their own: 74% of respondents are more satisfied with MOMENT, 12% more satisfied with their own, and the remaining 14% give the same ratings to both.
The bottom left panel illustrates mean ratings in outdoor situations, again with a markedly differently distribution of ratings for own and MOMENT hearing aids (p < 0.0001). Part of the explanation for the MOMENT advantage could be that respondents experience the sound of MOMENT as more natural, something that is likely to play a larger role outdoors.
The final panel of Figure 3 represents the frequent listening situations where sound comes from a device, with TV likely being the most frequent for most people, but also telephone and music. As for conversations in quiet, the general level of satisfaction is higher here than for more difficult listening situations, but the MOMENT advantage remains, with a significant difference to own hearing aids (p < 0.0001). Collectively, the four types of situations illustrated in Figure 3 give a comprehensive view of the everyday lives of hearing aid users, and across all these situations MOMENT shows a solid advantage.
Participation in Daily Life
A common problem for people with hearing loss, reported both scientifically6,7 and by hearing aid users and their relatives to HCPs all over the world, is the difficulty of participating in everyday life. Therefore, the survey included a question inspired by the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA)8: “How satisfied are you with your ability to participate effortlessly in everyday life with [your own hearing aids/the WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids]?” The ratings for this question are shown in Figure 4, where both plots illustrate a similar 1-point MOMENT advantage that was also seen previously (p < 0.0001). An interesting statistic is how many people are satisfied (in the top-3 categories) with their ability to participate in everyday life; this number is 69% for own hearing aids but 90% for MOMENT. Conversely, only 6% of respondents indicate dissatisfaction with participation when wearing MOMENT, while the corresponding number is 20% for own hearing aids, in spite of the fact that the MOMENT devices are new to the respondents and they cannot be expected to be completely habituated to them yet.
Figure 4. Ratings of ability to participate in everyday life, with the left panel showing mean ratings per week and the right panel showing ratings for own hearing aids in Week 5 and for MOMENT in Week 7.
Overall Satisfaction
Finally, a question about overall satisfaction examines how all these different elements of real-life hearing come together in the respondents’ entire experience of wearing the MOMENT hearing aids, compared with their own. The responses to this question were tested in the same way as previous results, showing significantly higher ratings (p < 0.0001) for MOMENT than own hearing aids. The left panel in Figure 5 is a particularly clear example that respondents’ ratings of their own hearing aids change when they have tried MOMENT, as evidenced by the lower ratings in Week 5 compared to Week 0. More generally, Figure 5 confirms the MOMENT advantage that has also been clear in the more detailed questions, with the most frequent overall response to the MOMENT hearing aids being “Very satisfied.”
Figure 5. Ratings of overall satisfaction, with the left panel showing mean ratings per week and the right panel showing ratings for own hearing aids in Week 5 and for MOMENT in Week 7.
The Importance of Sound Quality in Real Life Hearing Aid Use
The results reported in this article show the importance of sound quality in many different moments of real life, confirming the Widex design philosophy that sound quality should be central. We see solid advantages for the MOMENT devices for sound quality satisfaction in general, as well as for ratings of a representative selection of real-life situations, and for the key factor of participation in daily life.
The results also show that sound quality should not be seen as a quality for experts only. The respondents in this survey were not selected to have a specific focus on sound quality; they represent a broad group of hearing aid users, with different lives and different (hearing) needs and wishes. Nonetheless, the results support the importance of sound quality, both as an overall phenomenon and as a continually relevant factor in many different situations of real-life hearing for many different people. So, although Widex does aim to fulfill the needs of musicians and other sound experts with great-sounding hearing aids, the target group is not limited to connoisseurs: the great sound quality of WIDEX MOMENT™ benefits everyone.
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GN Hearing announced the launch of ReSound Key, a full essential hearing aid line-up that provides “greater access to proven and award-winning hearing technology worldwide.” Based on “an advanced chip platform and GN’s Organic Hearing philosophy, ReSound Key promises clear, natural sound quality,” according to GN’s announcement.
Today, only one in five of those who could benefit from hearing aids are using them[i], leaving a large proportion to miss out on life’s sounds, communicating with family, and socializingwith friends. The ReSound Key is set to make “a huge difference to people with all types of hearing loss.” According to GN, the new hearing aids will help people “boost their confidence and connect with others and the world during times of social isolation; all with clear sound and leading rechargeability that offers up to 30 hours of power from one charge.” They can enjoy direct streaming using iOS and Android devices and Bluetooth Low Energy.
Not treating hearing loss comes at a personal cost, with implications for physical, social, emotional, and mental health.[ii],[iii],[iv] However, professional guidance is at hand, even remotely, thanks to the company’s telehealth solution, ReSound Assist Live. With this at-home service, hearing care professionals can program and adjust ReSound Key hearing aids via video consultations to help people grow with their hearing and nurture their relationships.
GN Hearing CEO and President, Gitte Aabo, explains:“At GN Hearing, we believe that everyone deserves great hearing. Treating hearing loss can radically transform lives, helping people to thrive and grow. The launch of ReSound Key gives more people access to the best care and professional guidance, which helps them feel more confident and stay in touch with others to participate fully in life.”
ReSound Key joins the ReSound ONE with M&RIE* and ReSound LiNX Quattro in “the strongest and broadest ReSound portfolio yet,” offering hearing solutions at all price levels.
ReSound Key helps to further enhance the individualized hearing experience and can connect to a range of wireless accessories for additional help in challenging listening situations. New integrated, streamlined fitting and software updates “ensure a seamless first fit and customer satisfaction,” GN says.
ReSound Key is available in 10 models, including the rechargeable Receiver-in-Ear (RIE) design, custom hearing aids, and Behind-the-Ear (BTE) options – even including high-power and super-power models for profound hearing loss. ReSound Key will roll out in markets around the world from February 1, 2021. The same technology and models are also available in the new Beltone Rely hearing aid portfolio.
Primary progressive aphasia is a rare neurodegenerative condition characterized by prominent language problems that worsen over time. About 40% of people with the condition have underlying Alzheimer’s disease. But a new study has found that people with the condition may not develop the memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The study is published in the January 13, 2021, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). A summary of the research was also published on the AAN website.
“While we knew that the memories of people with primary progressive aphasia were not affected at first, we did not know if they maintained their memory functioning over years,” said study author M. Marsel Mesulam, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “This has been difficult to determine because most memory tests rely on verbal skills that these people have lost or are losing.”
The study included 17 people with primary progressive aphasia associated with Alzheimer’s disease. They were compared to 14 people who had typical Alzheimer’s disease with memory loss.
Keynsham hearing centre
Researchers tested memory skills of the people with primary progressive aphasia by showing them pictures of common objects. After waiting 10 minutes, they were shown the same pictures along with others and had to indicate whether they had seen the picture before. This test was given once and then again an average of 2.4 years later. The people with typical Alzheimer’s disease listened to a list of common words and were later given the same words along with others and asked to choose the ones they had heard before. They were tested once and then again an average of 1.7 years later.
Both groups also had tests of their language skills. Brain scans were taken of the people with primary progressive aphasia to look at how the disease was affecting their brains, especially in the areas related to memory.
The people with primary progressive aphasia had no decline in their memory skills when they took the tests a second time. At that point, they had been showing symptoms of the disorder for an average of six years. In contrast, their language skills declined significantly during the same period. For the people with typical Alzheimer’s disease, their verbal memory and language skills declined with equal severity during the study.
Researchers had brain autopsies from eight of the people with primary progressive aphasia and all of the people with typical Alzheimer’s disease. The people with primary progressive aphasia had similar amounts of the plaques and tangles that are signs of Alzheimer’s disease as the people with typical Alzheimer’s, Mesulam said. Left sided asymmetry of brain shrinkage and a lower incidence of brain proteins known as ApoE4 and TDP-43 were identified as potential contributors to the preservation of memory in this rare type of Alzheimer’s disease.
“More research is needed to help us determine what factors allow these people to show this resilience of memory skills even in the face of considerable Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the brain,” Mesulam said.
Bristol Microsuction
Limitations of the study are the relatively small sample size and that autopsies were not available for all of the primary progressive aphasia cases.
Original Paper: Mesulam MM, Coventry C, Kuang A, et al. Memory resilience in Alzheimer’s disease with primary progressive aphasia. Neurology. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000011397.
Oticon Launches Oticon More at 2021 OticonNext Event
Oticon announced that over 5,000 hearing care professionals registered to join the company for its 2021 OticonNext “Discover More” Conference, the company’s “biggest ever launch event for a new product.” The live, virtual knowledge-sharing experience introduced participants to Oticon More, “the world’s first hearing aid with an on-board deep neural network.” This new hearing aid is said to build on Oticon’s “proven BrainHearing approach to deliver a full and precisely balanced sound scene that makes it easier for the brain to perform optimally.” Oticon President Gary Rosenblum and Oticon staff experts showed conference participants how Oticon More represents a “fundamentally new approach” to signal processing.
“Through the OticonNext Conference, we aimed to equip practitioners with the knowledge and tools they need to continue to bring life-changing technology to patients,” said Rosenblum. “Over the past decade, Oticon has pioneered new standards and advanced its portfolio of hearing solutions dramatically. From our newest addition, Oticon More, to our innovative power and pediatric solutions, we continue to offer hearing care professionals and their patients one of the industry’s most comprehensive portfolios of hearing technology.”
Rosenblum shared recent honors for the new hearing solution with conference participants. On January 11, the Consumer Electronics Association named Oticon More an honoree in the CES 2021 Innovation Awards in the Health & Wellness and Wearable Technologies categories. This is the fifth consecutive year that Oticon, Inc has been recognized by the international awards program that annually selects the best of the best in consumer electronics. The most recent awards bring to an even dozen the number of times Oticon has been honored by the CES InnovationAwards program.
Inspiration, Innovation, and Practice Support
Keynote speaker Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, provided guidance on how technology like Oticon More contributes to health and long life by enabling patients to maintain vital connections to people and the world. A panel discussion addressed questions from the online audience on Oticon More’s technology innovations, including the new Polaris platform. Following the conference, hearing care professionals were invited to explore The Zone exhibit hall to learn more about the variety of clinical and business support available through Oticon and the company’s business partners.
Interactive Webisodes Continue Knowledge Sharing
The conference’s interactive virtual format extends beyond the launch event with a series of post-conference educational webisodes that build on the knowledge gained at OticonNext. The live interactive sessions take a deeper dive into the audiology of Oticon More and the new research that shows the brain needs access to all sounds—not just speech—in order to work in a natural way. Scheduled for February and March, the five webisodes each last approximately one hour and require prior registration.
Learn more about Oticon More and the entire portfolio of Oticon hearing solutions with BrainHearing technology at: www.Oticon.com/More.
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Newly formed cochlear hair cells contain intricate hair bundles with many stereocilia (critical for sensing sound) and other components that are critical for proper function and neural transmission. Credit: Will McLean
An approach to regenerate inner ear sensory hair cells reportedly lays the groundwork for treating chronic noise-induced hearing loss by the company, Frequency Therapeutics, Woburn, Mass, and its co-founders who are drawing on research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Harvard Medical School, Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the February 21, 2017 edition of Cell Reports, the scientists describe a technique to grow large quantities of inner ear progenitor cells that convert into hair cells. The same techniques are said to show the ability to regenerate hair cells in the cochlea.
Hearing loss affects 360 million people worldwide according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Inner ear hair cells are responsible for detecting sound and helping to signal it to the brain. Loud sounds and toxic drugs can lead to death of the hair cells, which do not regenerate. Humans are born with only 15,000 sensory hair cells in each cochlea, which are susceptible to damage from exposure to loud noises and medications—leading to cell death and hearing loss over time.
According to a press release from Frequency Therapeutics, sufficient numbers of mammalian cochlear hair cells have not been able to be obtained to facilitate the development of therapeutic approaches for hearing loss. The new research built on previous work to control the growth of intestinal stem cells expressing the protein Lgr5 and targeted a different population of Lgr5 cells that were discovered to be the source of sensory hair cells in the cochlea during development (a subset of supporting cells or progenitors). The team successfully identified a protocol of small molecules to efficiently grow the cochlear progenitor cells into large colonies with a high capacity for differentiation into bona fide hair cells.
Jeff Karp, PhD
“The ability to regenerate hair cells within the inner ear already exists in nature,” said Jeff Karp, PhD, of BWH and Harvard Medical School in the press release. “Birds and amphibians are able to regenerate these cells throughout their lives, which provided the base for our inspiration to find similar pathways in mammals. With our collaborators at Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary, we were able to study a small molecule approach, that we developed at MIT and BWH, to expand progenitor cells from the mouse cochlea. We believe this technique represents a major advance for hearing loss research and will enable new physiological studies as well as genetic screens using drugs, siRNA, or gene overexpression.”
The research team first focused on optimizing the expansion of Lgr5 expressing cochlear progenitor cells. With the combination of a GSK3 inhibitor to activate the Wnt signaling pathway and a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor to activate gene transcription, the research team achieved a greater than 2000-fold expansion of cochlear supporting cells compared to previous approaches. This protocol was used successfully and with consistency to generate colonies of neonatal and adult murine cells, as well as primate and human progenitor cells. Furthermore, according to the researchers, the team achieved 60-fold enhancement of hair cell production from the progenitor cells compared to current methods.
The generation of new hair cells was achieved even in cochlear tissue that had been depleted of hair cells by exposure to an ototoxic antibiotic. Importantly, hair cells produced from the protocols exhibited the same physical features, gene expression, and functionality as typical cochlear hair cells, says Frequency Therapeutics.
“This work has opened an entire field of what we call Progenitor Cell Activation (PCA), which we believe has many regenerative applications beyond hearing loss, ranging from skin-related diseases and ocular ailments to gastrointestinal diseases and diabetes,” said Will McLean, PhD, co-founder and VP, Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at Frequency Therapeutics, and the lead author of the paper. “Furthermore, the approach creates a platform with potential to explore large populations of previously difficult-to-access progenitor cell types. Drug discovery for the inner ear was limited by the inability acquire enough primary cells to explore drug targets. This approach unlocks that ability for hearing research and a variety of other fields.”
“By using Progenitor Cell Activation to restore healthy tissue within the inner ear, we’re harnessing the body’s innate ability to heal itself,” said David Lucchino, co-founder, president and CEO of Frequency Therapeutics. “Frequency’s development of a disease modifying therapeutic that can be administered with a simple injection could have a profound effect on chronic noise-induced hearing loss, our lead indication, and we are rapidly advancing this program into human clinical trials within the next 18 months,” added Chris Loose, PhD, co-founder and CSO of the company.
Frequency Therapeutics was founded to translate what the company describes as breakthrough work in Progenitor Cell Activation (PCA) by its scientific founders, Robert Langer, ScD, and Jeff Karp, PhD, into new treatments where controlled tissue regeneration with locally delivered drugs could have profound therapeutic potential. The company has licensed foundational patents from the MIT and Partners Healthcare.
Hearing Review has published several articles on work involving Lrg5, including work involving a co-author of this study, Albert Edge, PhD, and related work on blocking the notch pathway.
https://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.png00adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2020-12-14 17:26:122020-12-14 17:26:12Study Shows Hair Cell Regrowth with New Drug
“After launching IQbuds² MAX at CES in Las Vegas in January 2020, Nuheara have gone on to win a succession of global accolades including three CES Innovation Awards, Australian Financial Review’s Best Product Innovation, and the Hearing Health Matters Innovator Award. The recognition from TIME puts IQbuds² MAX at the pinnacle of product innovation and we are honored to be amongst such outstanding inventions,“ said David Cannington, Co-founder and CMO of Nuheara.
Why IQbuds² MAX won TIME Best Inventions of 2020 Award
According to Nuheara, what makes IQbuds² MAX unique is the EarID clinically certified personalization system embedded in the IQbuds App. EarID helps allow consumers “to self-assess, self-fit, and auto calibrate their IQbuds² MAX to their own personal hearing profile using National Acoustic Labs NAL-NL2 hearing aid prescription algorithms.”
IQbuds² MAX was shortlisted earlier this year before being reviewed and critiqued by TIME’s technology columnist Patrick Lucas Austin. TIME is said to assess each entry using key criteria, including originality, creativity, influence, ambition, and effectiveness.
“Wireless earbuds are increasingly capable of blocking the noise of the outside world while you listen to some tunes,” said Austin. “But when you can’t hear the person right in front of you, it’d be nice if they offered a little help. The IQbuds2 MAX ($319) are on the case. They deliver on the audio front but also are the only wireless buds that feature both active noise cancellation and audio-processing technology capable of isolating human conversations, tuning out everything except the people or sounds you want to hear. Not only do they make it easier to hear your friends on the subway or at a noisy café, they can also help stem the debilitating effects of hearing loss—a condition that affects more than 466 million people worldwide.”
Aussie Hearables Company Takes Innovation Global
“When we founded Nuheara our mission was to improve people’s quality of life by enabling them to hear better with our products. TIME Best Inventions of 2020 highlight the very best products that are changing how we live. We couldn’t be more proud to be recognized in this way and it further validates our impact on people lives around the globe,” said Justin Miller, Nuheara Co-founder and CEO.
Steve Lukather, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer, has been playing rock and roll since he was nine years old. “And when I was young, I played really loud,” he explained recently. Over the years, like many musicians, Lukather began to suffer from hearing loss. “But I learned to live with it,” he said. “I wore ear protection for 20 years, but it kept still getting worse, and normal life was hard for me to grasp. At night, I’d have the TV on full volume.”
Something had to change. A respected, award-winning studio musician, Lukather is best known as a founding member of the rock band Toto and has toured extensively with Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band. He’s played on albums from artists such as Boz Scaggs and Michael Jackson. “This is a way of life for me,” he said. “My ears are so important.”
Widex announced that when Lukather mixed his most recent solo album, due out in February, he was wearing WIDEX EVOKE digital hearing aids. He recently upgraded to the new WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids, with PureSound technology. “It’s really been life-changing,” he said.
Lukather’s long journey to adopting hearing aids is not uncommon, especially among musicians. According to the National Institutes of Health’s Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from hearing aids. Yet, most people with hearing loss suffer through hearing problems an average of seven years before giving hearing technology a try.
“I was working so much, I never had time to really deal with it,” Lukather said. “My brain adjusted to the deficit the best it could.” And although he was used to wearing in-ear monitors when he performed, Lukather said he resisted hearing aids for years because he associated them with the large, bulky devices he’d seen other people wear.
After friend and Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford showed Lukather the small, in-ear hearing aids he wore (“I couldn’t even tell!”), Lukather was ready to take the next step and chose Widex for his first set.
“Suddenly, I’m hearing sounds I haven’t heard in 25 years,” Lukather said. “The new record sounds great. I worked on it with an engineer whose ears I really trust, and we were hearing the same things.”
According to Widex, “many hearing aids use generic amplification to address hearing loss.” WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids, however, help “enable personalised hearing treatments by leveraging real-time artificial intelligence technology, allowing the audiologist to tailor their performance to each wearer’s preferences.” MOMENT hearing aids also include PureSound processing to overcome artificial sound that can result when direct and amplified sound arrive at the eardrum out of sync.
Keynsham Hearing, Somerset
“Everyone has different hearing frequency deficits, so my hearing doctor adjusted the EQ [equalisation] for my particular pair,” Lukather said. “It took a while to get used to because I was hearing frequencies I hadn’t heard in so long. And I know some can be plastic-y sounding, but these WIDEX hearing aids are much better. And I can switch between settings depending on where I am and what I need to hear.”
WIDEX MOMENT hearing aids feature SoundSense Learn technology to help automate the process of creating personalised settings based on a series of A-B tests and cloud-based artificial intelligence. Users can store the settings as programs in their smartphones and activate them throughout the day. Widex studies show that“ hearing aid users prefer the personalised settings achieved through artificial intelligence, and that 80% would recommend the function to others.”
Lukather hopes his experience can influence others — musicians, people who love music, and anyone else with hearing loss.
“I know a lot of guys who are aware they could use hearing aids, but they’re afraid to try them,” Lukather said. “I get it. I’ve played loud for a half century; started to get tinnitus in 1986. I was a studio musician for like 25 years and had headphones on my head 14 hours a day, six days a week, getting feedback. It’s not unlike a boxer who takes one punch too many. I’m OK saying I needed a hearing device and other guys should be, too. What? Am I supposed to be surprised by it after 50 years of rock and roll? You can’t even tell I’m wearing them.”
He’s right.
Learn about Steve Lukather’s storied career and watch the video of his new single “Run to Me,” featuring Ringo Starr, at: www.stevelukather.com. Explore the new technologies behind natural, personalised hearing experiences at: www.widex.com, and talk to a hearing care professional today to determine if Widex hearing aids could make a real difference in your life.
https://keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Widex-Moment-hearing-aidsSomerset.jpg6811024adminhttps://www.keynshamhearing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo-300x79.pngadmin2020-11-16 11:35:562020-11-16 11:35:56Experience with Widex Moment Hearing Aids
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