Oticon announced that the Oticon Own, a new family of custom hearing aids with BrainHearing™ technology, is now available through the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA), Department of Defense (DOD), and other federal agencies. Designed to provide “a fully customized fit for ultimate comfort, Oticon Own is the world’s first custom hearing aid with an on-board Deep Neural Network that works more like the brain because it learned through experience.” The hearing aids deliver Oticon’s “most advanced performance with the superior power, speed, and features of the groundbreaking Polaris platform,” according to the announcement.

“With Oticon Own, VA audiologists can now offer veterans a highly discreet product, with best-in-class audiology and technology and an IIC style that is invisible to 9 out of 10 users*,” said Mike Marcinek, Vice President, General Manager, Government Services and Pediatrics. “The complete Oticon Own line up expands the opportunity to deliver an exceptional listening experience in a reliable, comfortable ‘made for you’ solution to more veterans.”

Oticon Own In-The-Ear (ITE) hearing aids are customized to each individual user, offering “ultimate comfort and confidence to enjoy an active lifestyle.” Using miniaturization techniques, Oticon has accomplished its smallest in-the-ear design to date, the company says. 

In addition, the fitting range of Oticon’s new invisible-in-canal (IIC) and completely-in-canal (CIC) hearing aids can now be fitted to level 90, while the Oticon Own in-the-canal (ITC), in-the-ear half shell (ITE HS) and in-the-ear full shell (ITE FS) can be fitted to level 100.

Oticon Own includes “the advanced audiological performance of Oticon’s proven BrainHearing technology.” It is the “first custom hearing aid with an on-board Deep Neural Network (DNN).” Trained with 12 million real-life sound scenes, the DNN in Oticon Own recognizes a wealth of sounds, their details and how they should ideally be heard in a natural way, the company says.

The custom solution includes three features: MoreSound Amplifier™, helping to “precisely balance amplification,” MoreSound Optimizer™, helping to “proactively eliminate feedback,” and MoreSound Intelligence™. Using pupillometry to measure listening effort, with MoreSound Intelligence on, the pupil size of Oticon Own users was reduced by 30%†. Oticon Own also includes Oticon’s Tinnitus SoundSupport™ which helps provide relief sounds for tinnitus sufferers, according to the company.

Many Oticon Own styles are Made for iPhone® and compatible Android™ devices††, offering direct, high-quality streaming, so that users can enjoy their favorite music as well as take calls through their hearing aids. Select iPhone® and iPad® users can enjoy hands-free communication thanks to Apple support for bi-directional hearing aids**. 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® Low Energy Technology is introduced for the Oticon Own ITC, ITE HS, and ITE FS styles, making the Oticon Own ITC the “smallest, fully featured ITE hearing aid in the Oticon portfolio.” 

Oticon Own is available in five styles and five colors.

For additional information about Oticon Own and Oticon’s entire portfolio of products and accessories available through the VA, visit: https://www.oticon.com/solutions/for-veterans.

*Rumley et al. (2022). Oticon Own evidence. Oticon whitepaper

**Hands-free communication is available with iPhone 11 or later running iOS 15.2 or later and iPad running iPadOS® 15.2 or later.

†Reduction in listening effort is measured with peak pupil dilation.  Rumley et al. (2022). Oticon Own evidence. Oticon whitepaper 
††Only available in styles with 2.4 GHz. Android devices need to support ASHA to allow direct connectivity to Oticon More. iPhone and iPad devices need to support two-way hands-free communication. Please visit: Oticon.com/support/compatibility for more information and to see which devices are compatible.

Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch® are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Android, Google Play, and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.

Source: Oticon

Images: Oticon