Somerset, NJ — Oticon has announced the release of Oticon Chili, a new line of hearing instruments engineered to improve intelligibility by enhancing audibility and the processing of speech in noise for people with moderately-sever to profound hearing loss.
The company reports that Chili was developed at Oticon’s Eriksholm Research Centre near Copenhagen, and includes new advanced capabilities designed for more natural interactions and active lifestyles.
Oticon president, Peer Lauritsen, explained in the press statement, “Our goal for Chili was an ambitious one – to empower people with moderately-severe to profound hearing loss to live active, vital lives. The results of a dedicated, in-depth study of super power users, their families and friends and information from super power users who are routinely interviewed and tested by Oticon audiologists and researchers enabled us to identify their most important needs and desires.
Lauritsen added that the company’s goal was to understand the real life challenges and the impact of severe hearing loss on personal connections and social interactions and develop a product to address these needs.
To improve speech understanding, Chili includes Speech Guard, a unique amplification technique that helps to maximize audibility and speech recognition without the jumble and distortion power users can encounter.
Speech Guard is designed to provide a clear signal, reducing distortions and making it easier to follow conversations, even in complex environments where noise or more voices are competing for attention.
Chili also includes Oticon’s proprietary Dynamic Speech Enhancement rationale for super power users (DSEsp), which provides the desired insertion gain and MPO, while maintaining optimum loudness levels for speech input across the relevant frequency range.
For helping severe to profound hearing loss patients select and follow a particular speaker, Chili features a new Binaural Noise Management system, which automatically turns up speech on one side when the signal to noise ratio is significantly better, while attenuating noise on the opposite side to improve listening effort.
Chili also takes into account the need for connecting to modern communication devices.
Its embedded wireless connectivity capabilities allows users to switch easily between entertainment and communication devices using the Streamer remote control device.
With the Streamer, Chili becomes a hands-free headset for mobile phones and MP3 players. With the addition of the ConnectLine system, users can channel sound directly from the TV, landline telephone or music player with just the touch of a button. Connect(+ )adds Power Bass and Music Widening features for a richer, more open listening experience.
Oticon also designed Chili to be attractive and discreet, and easy to use with fast control features for instant muting, volume adjustment and program selection.
For more information on the new Oticon Chili visit oticonusa.com.
SOURCE: Oticon
