A new device developed by Oticon has looked to address some of the toughest challenges faced by hearing aid wearers through a range of technology firsts within the hearing device sector.
The Opn hearing aid was said to help people with hearing loss to hear more clearly and remember more with less listening effort. ‘Opn opens up a whole new world of sound, allowing users to manage multiple speakers in difficult situations such as dinner conversations, and to benefit from technological advances that were previously out of reach,’ said Oticon president Søren Nielsen.
BrainHearing technology uses an open sound approach, handling multiple speech and noise sources at once, even in complex listening situations such as restaurants. The company said Opn supported the brain’s ability to make sense of sound and could significantly reduce the cognitive load on the user. Tests were reported to have consistently showed that Opn increased speech understanding by 30% with 20% less listening effort required, which allowed wearers to remember 20% more of what had been said.
Oticon said Opn was also the first hearing aid to feature two dedicated communication systems. TwinLink technology consists of one dedicated system for optimised binaural processing and one system for direct streamer-free connectivity. This enabled easier communication without compromising binaural capabilities or battery consumption.
Compatibility with online automation standard If This Then That (ITTT), allows Opn to communicate directly with connected devices such as doorbells, smoke detectors and baby alarms.