Do you still struggle to hear in noise? You’re not alone. Conversation nearly always involves listening in varying levels of background noise with competing speakers who are moving around.1 So, it’s not surprising that difficulty understanding speech in these environments is a commonly reported challenge among cochlear implant recipients.
In a recent clinical study, recipients found speech to be significantly clearer in everyday listening environments when they upgraded their current CochlearTM SPrint™, ESPrit™, Freedom®, Nucleus® 5 or Nucleus 6 sound processor to more advanced technology.2
The participants (or their carers) aged three to 49 were asked to assess the hearing benefits after a one-month take-home experience with the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor in their daily listening scenarios.
Compared with their older generation sound processor, recipients reported significant improvements in hearing speech in a variety of listening environments: one-on-one conversations, small groups, and large meetings.
It’s something that Kathleen experienced first-hand, when she upgraded her older generation processors to the latest technology.
“When I got my Nucleus 7, I was truly astounded at the improvement of technology over my Nucleus 5,” she says. “I can now carry on conversations with anyone, anywhere, even in a noisy room.”
The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor features ForwardFocus^ and SmartSound® iQ with SCAN – Cochlear’s most advanced sound processing technology. Switching on ForwardFocus using the Nucleus Smart App on her phone is something that Sue says has really helped her to enjoy being with friends and family.
“ForwardFocus really does improve the quality of sound to enable conversation in a social situation where I might have struggled previously,” says Sue, who upgraded her two Nucleus 6 Sound Processors. “To have that extra noise reduction … you can relax a bit more and participate in that conversation without struggling quite so much.”
For Marty, moving from a Nucleus 5 Sound Processor to a processor with SmartSound iQ with SCAN has made a huge difference in her day-to-day life. SmartSound iQ with SCAN is designed to automatically make hundreds of decisions to optimise your hearing performance as you move from one situation to the next, without you having to make manual adjustments.
“I love the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor,” Marty says. “I put it on SCAN and just go about my business.”
If you’ve had your sound processor for many years, you may be missing out on the opportunity to better manage your hearing in these challenging situations, whether that’s during school activities, work meetings or outings with family and friends.
If you’d like to find out more about the most recent research or upgrading your processor to the latest technology, contact your hearing health professional or talk to Cochlear Customer Service.
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References
1 Hey M, Hocke T, Böhnke B, Mauger SJ. ForwardFocus with cochlear implant recipients in spatially separated and fluctuating competing signals – introduction of a reference metric. Int J Audiol. 2019;58(12):869-878.
2 Zhang J, Morgan C, Deng XC, Wang Y, Lee M. Hearing Performance Outcomes in Cochlear Implant Users after Nucleus® 7 Sound Processor Fitting. ACI Alliance Conference Poster. April 2021.
^ ForwardFocus is enabled by your clinician and user-controlled via the Nucleus Smart App.
© Cochlear Limited 2021.
Please seek advice from your health professional about treatments for hearing loss. Outcomes may vary, and your health professional will advise you about the factors which could affect your outcome. Always read the instructions for use. Not all products are available in all countries. Please contact your local Cochlear representative for product information.
Views expressed are those of the individual. Consult your health professional to determine if you are a candidate for Cochlear technology.
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