Danish hearing aid pioneer Widex has ushered in a new generation of hearing aids that offers the industry’s most natural hearing experience that combines the latest in AI and machine learning with two ultra-fast signal pathways to create the ‘un-hearing aid, hearing aid.’
WIDEX MOMENT™ has broken new ground by addressing one of the great unsolved challenges in the industry – no matter how good the sound, it still sounds like a hearing aid.
The ‘tinny’ and ‘artificial’ sound of hearing aids – which often prevents their adoption by those with hearing loss – is produced when sound processed in the hearing aid reaches the eardrum a split second later than the sound that travels directly through or around the hearing aid’s ear-tip.
Widex is the first in the industry to eliminate that ‘out of sync’ sound for patients with mild to moderate hearing loss, without sacrificing the trademark Widex natural sound – which already has the lowest time delay compared to competitors.
According to Lise Henningsen, Global Head of Audiology at Widex, this launch marks a fundamental shift not just for the hearing aid industry, but also for a general consumer public plagued by hearing loss at increasingly young ages.
“To lose your sense of hearing is to lose a fundamental part of yourself, often resulting in increased social isolation, subsequent depression, and other downstream psychological and neurological effects,” stated Henningsen. “Though the traditional hearing aid has made tremendous strides in areas such as speech intelligibility, active noise cancellation, and more, a key frontier has been left uncharted – until today. WIDEX MOMENT doesn’t just allow you to hear better, it restores one’s sense of perfectly natural hearing, as you remember it before any loss occurred.”
The WIDEX MOMENT platform achieves this perfected hearing experience by leveraging two distinct signal pathways. The ‘classic’ Widex signal pathway is paired with a second ultra-fast signal pathway that adds extra gearing to the platform.
This Widex ZeroDelay™ Accelerator reduces the processing delay between microphone and receiver to below 0.5 milliseconds, enabling the two sound signals to meet at virtually the same time in the eardrum – thereby eliminating the artificial sound quality and creating a more natural sound experience. This new sound experience is called Widex PureSound™.
However, though WIDEX MOMENT breaks new ground in the area of sound purity, it doesn’t do so at the expense of other cutting-edge features – such as rechargeability and smart streaming – which offers robust connectivity to the devices one uses every day.
WIDEX MOMENT boasts the smallest lithium-ion rechargeable RIC on the market, ensuring that no matter one’s lifestyle wearers will never miss a moment.
WIDEX MOMENT also comes compatible with the SoundSense Learn smartphone app, which leverages breakthroughs in AI and machine learning to personalize one’s hearing experience and create hearing programs based on a wearer’s typical environments – a daily commute, an open-office floor plan, a favorite restaurant, and more.
The app gathers a variety of anonymous data such as how often the wearer adjusts the volume, which sound presets they most regularly use, and how many custom settings they create. Based on these real-world preferences, a complete personalized listening experience is created for the wearer. These adjustments and custom settings can then also be shared directly and securely with their hearing care professional, which helps the professional tailor their consultation more and improve their service.