Oticon Government Services participated in the Joint Defense Veterans Audiology Conference (JDVAC), the annual meeting of the Association of VA Audiologists and the Military Audiology Association, where its team members reviewed products and technologies available on the Veteran’s Administration hearing instrument contract.

The three-day conference provides opportunities for networking and collaboration between audiologists treating active-duty service members and those working with Veterans, according to the organization.

During a pre-conference training session, they also introduced Government Services audiologists to the Audible Contrast Threshold (ACT) test. The ACT supports the fitting of advanced adaptive features in Oticon Intent and Oticon Real with an upfront prediction of a person’s real-world ability to hear in noise, the company says.

Throughout the conference, the Oticon Government Services team offered training and hands-on experience with Oticon Real and the entire portfolio of technology with BrainHearing available in Government Services clinics. Oticon exhibit visitors explored the use of pupillometry in hearing research, a valuable tool that enables researchers to measure the effort people exert to understand what is being said in a variety of real-world listening environments.

Conference participants also explored the findings of a recent study that tested Oticon’s SuddenSound Stabilizer (SSS) with combat Veterans, a population whose combat-related noise exposure can result in a sensitivity to loud noises. SSS instantly attenuates sudden sounds that may otherwise startle the user without compromising on essential speech information in the signal. Researchers found that Veterans’ brain responses to sudden sounds were significantly reduced with SSS: 22% reduction in irritation while listening, 18% increase in comfort while listening and 19% reduction in brain response to abrupt sounds.*

Further reading: Oticon Focus on People Awards Recognizes 2023 Winners

Thomas Behrens, chief of audiology, Oticon A/S, and Sébastien Santurette, senior researcher at Oticon’s Centre for Applied Audiology Research, presented poster sessions on the Evaluation of Multi-Modal Sensor Integration for Automatic Steering of Listening Support in Hearing Aids and Individualized Fitting of Help-In-Noise Hearing-Aid Settings with the Audible Contrast Threshold. 

Two education sessions conducted by Senior Researcher Kasper Eskelund focused on Neural Tracking of Speech & Environmental Sounds with Multi-modal Sensor Integration in Hearing Aids and Transient Management Reduces EEG Responses to Sudden Sounds in Combat Veterans.

*Eskelund, et al., 2023 SuddenSound Stabilizer for veterans. Oticon Whitepaper.

Photo: Oticon Government Services