INSPIRA Extreme (SA3286) with Sound Design Technologies' new iSceneDetect™ environmental classification, unrivalled 128-bands of Noise Reduction, superior feedback cancellation, built-in feedback path measurement capabilities, all packaged in a miniaturized ARK™ customizable VOYAGEUR™ hybrid sets a new standard of performance and features in preconfigured hearing aid DSP solutions.
iSceneDetect™, an innovative new algorithm from Sound Design™ Advanced Research enables programming of hearing aid to a single program setting which can be employed by the hearing-aid wearer in all environments instead of manually changing to a different memory with a change in the acoustic environment.
The brand-new iSceneDetect Environment Classification algorithm automatically senses wearer's environment and dynamically adjusts hearing enhancement algorithms (such as Feedback cancellation, Noise Reduction, Compression etc.) without any user involvement.
iSceneDetect 1.0 accurately predicts speech in quiet, speech in noise, wind, music, quiet and noise environments and make the necessary adjustments to the parameters in the audio path in a gradual smooth and virtually unnoticeable manner. This feature will enable the hearing aid wearer to have an instrument which will work in any environment with a single memory.
In-situ Feedback Path Measurement Tool
The Feedback Path Measurement Tool uses the onboard feedback cancellation algorithm and noise generator to measure acoustic feedback path of hearing aid during patient fitting. Real-ear measurements enable accurate analysis of the hearing aids feedback path in the wearer's ear and enables customization of hearing aid fitting to in-ear acoustics.
In-Situ Datalogging ~ iLog 2.0
iLog 2.0 Datalogging unlocks new capabilities for hearing-aid counselling and fine tuning. iLog increases the efficiency of fitting sessions by enabling focussed communication between the hearing instrument user and the hearing care professional. Two parallel methods of datalogging are used to record both detailed short-term hearing aid state information, as well as long-term statistics. The short-term method records detailed hearing aid usage patterns over a 6 week window at programmable intervals of 4 seconds to 68 minutes.
iLog 2.0 simultaneously records:
Battery level
Volume control setting
Program memory selection
Wearer's Acoustic Environment
Ambient sound level
Length of time the hearing aid was powered on
The long-term method tracks usage statistics over the life of the hearing aid, recording frequency of use for each program memory, wearers environment and overall lifetime use of the hearing aid.
ADM 2.0 is a two-microphone processing scheme for hearing aids. The ADM automatically reduces the level of sound sources originating from behind or from the side of the hearing-aid wearer by adjusting the null in the microphone polar pattern to minimize the noise level at the output of the ADM. The automatic steering of the null provides improved signal to noise ratio. The polar patterns change with the nature and location of the noise sources. The rear mic processing is automatically powered-off when not required to save current and offer extended battery life.
Adaptive Feedback Cancellation ~ AFC 3
AFC 3 estimates the portion of the hearing aid output signal that is due to feedback and adaptively cancels the feedback from the signal path as illustrated in Figure 3 using a LMS-based phase cancellation algorithm.
AFC 3 offers up to 30dB of Added Stable Gain with the use of a 40-tap FIR filter. The Added Stable Gain on AFC 3.2 was bench-marked to be greater than most competitive products, which were measured at the National Research Council, Canada. Furthermore, an innovative approach to entrainment management on the AFC 3.2 enhances the efficacy of the product without injecting any distortions to the signal path and offering imperceptible removal of feedback in most environments while maintaining leading edge adaptation speeds.
Adaptive Noise Reduction ~ ANR 3.2
ANR 3.2 is a pioneering solution from Sound Design that improves hearing in noise with two unique attributes:
Continuous monitoring and adjustment across 128 frequency bands
Advanced psycho-acoustic models to eliminate audible noise and reduce the amount of distortion inherent in all gain-adjusting algorithms
Utilizing Voyageur technology, ANR 3.2 offers independent noise reduction in an industry-leading 128 frequency bands. This allows for finer resolution removal of noise from a composite signal while enhancing the speech component with advanced psycho-acoustics employed in the algorithm. ANR 3.1 offers a versatile noise reduction scheme with up to 12 dB noise reduction. The perceived speech is maintained with excellent sound quality and utmost hearing comfort for the user.
