Widex introduces RECD for Mind M.

Widex introduces in-situ RECD for the m model in the mind series. In-situ RECD is already available for WIDEX BABY440 and the mind BTE 9 model.

The new model (4 000 9600 000) is integrated in Compass 5.1.1.

Why measure RECD?

The precision in fitting can be enhanced by performing an individual RECD measurement. This ensures that the hearing aid delivers the exact amount of sound pressure at the eardrum prescribed for the given hearing loss. It also takes into account the shape of the individual user’s ear canal.

How to measure in-situ RECD

Using a special RECD probe mounted on the hearing aid, in-situ RECD is measured as a part of the standard fitting flow in Compass.

3D TruSound, a further improvement on the TruSound strategy.

Widex introduced TruSound strategy a few years ago, this feature is probably the least understood or easily confused. This is mainly because it is a sub heading as opposed to a name for one single feature. With the Clear platform, Widex has again been able to improve on the TruSound strategy and is now introducing 3D TruSound. Again the name is really a sub heading as opposed to one single feature, it is actually eight features designed to bring a natural sound experience with excellent sound quality.

The components of 3D TruSound are:

InterEar TruSound compression                                                          Digital Pinna

InterEar Speech Enhancer                                                                 InterEar feedback cancelling

InterEar volume shift                                                                        Enhanced Bandwidth

InterEar program control                                                                   TruSound Softener

The first five features work to provide the most natural sound experience available, bringing true binaural processing of signal to hearing devices for the first time. The last three contribute towards the fantastic sound quality that Widex is now famous for. The InterEar features have only been made possible by the invention of the WidexLink technology by Widex R&D. I shall talk about WidexLink at a later date, but to give you an appreciation of the benefits that it allows you need to understand what it does. WidexLink allows the hearing aids to speak to each other on a constant basis, transferring massive amounts of data 21 times a second. That is right, large amounts of processing data, 21 times a second.

This allows the the InterEar TruSound compression to preserve the interaural time difference and the interaural level difference, by preserving these cues the sound is more natural. These cues along with the Digital Pinna allow almost natural localisation for the first time in hearing devices. The InterEar Speech Enhancer again uses the power of the combined processing strategy to improve on the speech Enhancers already impressive abilities with the streaming of data from ear to ear allowing the better application of noise reduction strategies. The InterEar feedback cancelling system again uses the data exchange of the WidexLink system to make more secure decisions on whether or not there is feedback in the system, it is a double check system to ensure that there is less chance of the feedback cancelling system attacking sounds that are not actually feedback.

The InterEar volume shift and program control are designed to allow the best basis for InterEar co-ordination and ease of use. The Enhanced Bandwidth that is available in the Clear platform gives a greater sound quality, the range in transmitted sound is from 70Hz in the low frequencies to 11.2 KHz in the high frequencies, in microphone sound the bandwidth is from 70Hz to 10.5KHz.

In Summary, the features within the 3D TruSound concept give the following benefits,

InterEar TruSound compression: Maintaining interaural level difference to aid localisation.

InterEar Speech Enhancer: Aid focus on dominant speaker in noise.

InterEar volume shift: For balanced hearing.

InterEar program control: For balanced hearing.

Digital Pinna: To aid localisation

TruSound Softener: More comfortable sound.

InterEar feedback cancelling: Better sound quality.

Enhanced bandwidth: Better sound quality.

These combined features are 3D TruSound, one of the components of Widexs’ renowned sound quality which has again been improved on with the dedication and innovation of the Widex R&D team.

The TruSound softener

Widex have introduced a new platform with the Clear family, it has some new and updated features. The Clear is a dramatic departure from most Hearing Aid strategies used to date, however it is a natural progression of ideas & strategies that Widex have been using for several years.

These strategies and features will be explained in a series of articles, in this is the first and we will discuss the TruSound Softener. Although Widex has always since the days of the Senso had a relatively effective feature to deal with impulse sounds, they decided to use the potential of the Clear chip to update it. The TruSound softener is a new algorithm for detecting and handling impulse sounds.

The TruSound  Softener improves the handling of sounds that are, very brief (<1 sec), very sudden, often loud and annoying when amplified through a hearing aid. These sounds can occur at all input levels, loud such as fireworks, hammer blows and slamming doors. Medium such as porcelain chinks, rattling cutlery and soft such as computer keystrokes and a ticking clock. These sounds are technically difficult to handle, because they share some of the characteristics of plosives in speech.

Widex developed TruSound Softener to attack those annoying transients without affecting transient speech sounds. The key is the ability of the analysis system in the Clear to recognise the differences between the transient sounds and deal with them in different manners. The true key is compression, adaptive compression. Widex is famous for its sound quality, while several factors contribute to this, a major part of the foundation is its’ use of slow acting compression.

There are great advantages to slow acting compression, it prevents temporal and spectral smearing and improves listener comfort producing a fantastic sound quality. However, fast compression is necessary in some situations. The TruSound Softener along with the TruSound AOC and the TruSound Stabilisers were designed by Widex to deal with these situations. Transient sounds are a special challenge for hearing aid manufacturers. The TruSound Softener is designed specifically to deal with impulse sounds. The Analyzer detects the specific characteristics of impulse sounds and activates ultra fast compression to deal with the sound in defined specific and relevant channels. There is no overall reduction of gain and indeed gain is reduced according to and taking into account the hearing loss.

The gain is adjusted instantaneously by the ultra fast acting compression which is then reduced quickly to bring it back to the default slow compression strategy. The strength of this feature is adjustable by the Dispenser allowing them to increase the strength to suit their highly sensitive Patients. In summary the strategy was designed to increase the effectiveness of the impulse sound reduction feature already present. It does so with instantaneous gain reduction which is possible because of the strength of Widex’s signal analysis. Transient sounds are attenuated whilst speech sounds are not affected.