SoundRecover2: 3 real-world problems it solves
The world is full of high-frequency sounds. Delightful as they are, they are the first sounds we lose as we get older. Some of these sounds are critical for speech understanding. Learn about the real-world benefits of the frequency compression algorithm, SoundRecover2.
Did you know that SoundRecover2 can lower high frequency sounds further than many competitor systems?
Lowering high frequency sounds low enough to be in reach for all degrees of hearing loss is not easy. It has taken decades of innovation.
The frequency compression algorithm SoundRecover2 gives your clients access to a whole new world of sounds. And more audibility of high-frequency sounds provides 3 real-world benefits:
1. Contributes to speech understanding by giving access to high-frequency speech sounds (e.g., /s/, /sh/, /f/).
2. Gives access to high-frequency sounds enjoyed in daily life (e.g., birds chirping outside, wind in the trees, distant church bells).
3 Awareness of important high frequency signals in the immediate environment (e.g. kitchen appliance bells, whistles and alarms).
Frequency lowering: What sets frequency compression apart?
The first hearing aids that could lower frequencies were linear systems, available for the first time in a body worn hearing aid in 1997.1
Linear frequency lowering transposes a slice of high frequency sound and presents it at a lower frequency. This simple method is still available in hearing aids today.1
But In 2005 a revolutionary technology, non-linear frequency lowering, became available.1 Known as frequency compression, non-linear frequency lowering compresses the inaudible high frequency range into the audible range at lower frequencies.
Phonak was a pioneer of this technology, offering the first frequency compression technology in hearing aids in 2008 under the name SoundRecover.1 Since then, frequency compression systems were carefully designed to preserve vowel sounds like /a/, /e/ and /u/ during lowering.
Especially if you have a hearing loss, hearing vowels is absolutely critical for speech understanding. And because vowels are also mainly low frequency, their importance really limited how low frequency compression could go. Phonak responded by developing SoundRecover2, a frequency compression system which only lowers the high frequencies when there are no vowels present.
In 2016, hearing aids with Phonak’s new generation of frequency lowering became available, giving your clients access to a whole new world of sounds.
Reference
- Danielle Glista, Susan Scollie, Marlene Bagatto, Richard Seewald, Vijay Parsa & Andrew Johnson (2009) Evaluation of nonlinear frequency compression: Clinical outcomes, International Journal of Audiology, 48:9, 632-644, DOI: 10.1080/14992020902971349.