Spheric Speech Clarity can help adolescents hear in the real world

When we talk about children and hearing aids, the focus is often on classroom listening challenges, and rightfully so. In schools, children are trying to learn and socialize in acoustically demanding environments. Cafeterias and gyms can make it difficult to hear a friend or teacher. Group work can also make conversation and collaboration harder.

But adolescents also have full lives outside of school. They spend time with family, see friends, take part in extracurricular activities and may have part-time jobs. Many of these non-school activities are also noisy and unpredictable. Hearing aid technology needs to support them in and out of the classroom, including in the noisy places where they spend much of their time.

To find out whether Spheric Speech Clarity noise management could help adolescents listen in the real world, our team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center conducted a study.¹

We found that 67% of adolescents preferred Spheric Speech Clarity over a traditional directional noise reduction program when in a particularly noisy environment*. When asked to rate how much effort it took to listen with different noise management options, the adolescents rated it to be about 15% easier to listen with Spheric Speech Clarity.

Helping adolescents hear in noisy, complex listening situations

Traditional noise management systems have often focused on directional microphones and noise reduction technologies to improve the signal to noise ratio in challenging situations. These approaches can be helpful, but they do not solve every listening problem especially when the noise is other people talking and when speech comes from multiple directions.

Spheric Speech Clarity, available in Infinio Sphere, takes a different approach. It uses a deep neural network that has been trained to recognize speech in complex listening environments. Rather than relying only on where sound comes from, it is designed to extract speech and enhance it above the competing noise.

For adolescents, everyday listening often involves changing noise and conversations that happen all around them. Spheric Speech Clarity was designed with these kinds of listening situations in mind.

Testing Spheric Speech Clarity outside the laboratory

The research team at Vanderbilt wanted to understand how Spheric Speech Clarity performs outside the laboratory. We conducted the study in collaboration with Phonak.

The study included 19 experienced hearing aid users between 9 and 17 years of age. Participants visited a noisy family restaurant and arcade, where they compared Spheric Speech Clarity on a setting of moderate (5) with StereoZoom 2.0, a more traditional directional noise management program.

The adolescents were shown how to switch between the two programs and were asked to compare their listening experiences during the visit. They did not know which program they were using. Their families were also blinded to the programs and the study hypotheses.

The location was chosen because it reflects the kinds of noisy environments many adolescents encounter every day. There were conversations happening around them, music playing overhead and constant game sounds. In other words, it was the kind of place where many families would expect listening to be difficult.

Study at a glance:
· Participants: 19 adolescents (9–17 years)
· Setting: Real-world entertainment venue
· Comparison: Spheric Speech Clarity vs StereoZoom 2.0
· Outcome: Preference and subjective listening effort

What did the adolescents say?

Most participants preferred Spheric Speech Clarity. Overall, 67% chose Spheric Speech Clarity over StereoZoom 2.0. Their ratings also showed that listening required 15% less effort with Spheric Speech Clarity.

The comments from participants help explain why.

One participant said that Spheric Speech Clarity “automatically fades the background noise.” She also said she “really liked being able to hear voices clearly.”

Another participant described what happened when her mother called her from behind. With StereoZoom 2.0, she said, “when my mom was shouting my name from behind me, it took me a couple of tries before I actually heard her yelling at me.”

With Spheric Speech Clarity, the same participant said, “I could hear game noises and music playing over speakers. I could hear other people talking around or to me, especially at a decent distance.”

These comments highlight an important point. Adolescents do not always want to block out the world around them. Sometimes they need to hear what is happening behind them or beside them. Spheric Speech Clarity may help support that kind of listening.

Implications for everyday listening

Classroom listening will always be important. Adolescents also need to understand speech well in the noisy places they go outside of school.

The results suggest that Spheric Speech Clarity can reduce listening effort in dynamic, real-world listening situations. For adolescents, this may make conversations easier to follow when sounds are constantly changing and speech comes from different directions. Because many of their most important listening moments happen beyond the classroom, reducing listening effort in everyday environments can make a meaningful difference.

Learn more

The full study findings are described in a Phonak Insight paper, including the laboratory results, real-world preference data and information about how adolescents adjusted Spheric Speech Clarity using the myPhonak app.

Read the Phonak Insight to learn more about how Spheric Speech Clarity performed with adolescents in complex listening situations.

* The study was done primarily at an entertainment venue that combines a full-service arcade with a restaurant and sports bar. The combination of continuous arcade sounds, music, and large crowds creates a dynamic, high-noise environment with multiple competing sound sources, making it an ideal real-world setting for evaluating speech understanding in noise.

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Reference:

1. Nelson, J., Picou, E., & Rich, S. (2026). Spheric Speech Clarity for adolescents: Optimizing preference and real-world experience. Phonak Insight, available at https://www.phonak.com/evidence.