Oticon Launches Powerful Hearing Aids for Severe-to-Profound Hearing Loss

Oticon, Inc. has introduced powerful hearing aids to its portfolio of advanced hearing solutions. Designed for adults and children with severe-to-profound hearing loss, respectively, Oticon Xceed and  Oticon Xceed Play provide a 360-degree sound experience, giving wearers more access to speech with less listening effort.* For individuals with single-sided deafness (SSD), the company has also unveiled Oticon CROS, a powerful new wireless solution that opens up a wearer to sounds from all directions.
 
Built on Oticon’s most advanced platform, Oticon Xceed and Oticon Xceed Play scan a wearer’s surroundings 100 times per second to support how the brain naturally makes sense of sound. Built-in BrainHearing technology analyzes sounds from all directions, distinguishes between speech and background noise, and enables wearers to identify where sounds are coming from, creating a fuller, more natural hearing experience. The result is that, compared to previous generations of hearing aids for severe-to-profound hearing loss, Oticon Xceed improves speech clarity by 10 percent, reduces listening effort by 10 percent, and increases short-term recall by 15 percent, even in challenging and noisy environments.*
 
“Traditional hearing aids for severe-to-profound hearing loss close down sounds in noisy settings. They typically focus on one speaker at a time—usually the person in front of you—while suppressing everything else as background noise,” said Gary Rosenblum, president of Oticon Inc. “But background noise contains important cues and speech details that, when removed, make it difficult and tiring to follow a conversation. Oticon Xceed and Oticon Xceed Play for children analyze it all and deliver clear, detailed sound that increases a wearer’s opportunities for engagement and learning.”
 
At the same time, new technology built into Oticon Xceed and Oticon Xceed Play significantly reduces the annoying static and whistling noises common with power hearing aids. Oticon’s new approach provides the brain with up to 20 percent more speech cues, without the high risk of feedback.**
 
Both Oticon Xceed and Oticon Xceed Play allow for easy wireless connectivity to modern smartphones and other smart devices so wearers can stream music, make hands-free calls and more. By syncing Oticon Xceed or Oticon Xceed Play with a mobile phone, wearers can utilize the Oticon ON app to regulate volume, change programs or simply turn off their hearing aids.
 
Oticon Xceed Play also offers a range of classroom connectivity options so children can connect directly to teachers, FM systems and classroom electronics.
 
Oticon Xceed and Oticon Xceed Play come in two modern, behind-the-ear (BTE) styles. Oticon Xceed Play hearing aids are completely hypoallergenic and available in 12 child-friendly colors.
 
Oticon CROS addresses the daily challenges faced by individuals with SSD—a condition in which someone has significant or total hearing loss in one ear. The system consists of a microphone that picks up sound from a wearer’s poorer ear and delivers it to a receiver on their better ear, enabling wearers to hear speech and sounds from all directions and creating a more natural, comfortable and less tiring listening experience.
 
At the same time, Oticon CROS is the only solution for SSD with TwinLink technology that combines superior audiological performance with audio streaming. This means wearers can simultaneously enjoy an in-person conversation while watching TV, for example.
 
Oticon CROS is compatible with Oticon Opn S, Oticon Opn Play, Oticon Xceed and Oticon Xceed Play hearing aids.
 
* Ng 2019, Oticon Whitepaper
** Ng & Rumley 2019, Oticon Whitepaper
 
Oticon is a hearing device manufacturers with more than 110 years of experience. Oticon has spearheaded a number of technological breakthroughs, which have made a significant difference for people with hearing loss. Oticon’s “brain first” audiological focus recognizes that speech understanding and comprehension are cognitive processes that happen in the brain. Oticon’s BrainHearing technology is helping to provide better hearing with less effort by giving the brain the clearest, purest sound signals to decode. Oticon designs and manufactures hearing solutions for adults and specialized pediatric instruments.