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TRANSPARENCE™ with ADRO™

Unlike conventional digital technology, Transparence™ uses ADRO™ adaptive dynamic range optimization to optimize amplification in the reduced dynamic range of the hearing impaired and analyzes the distribution of energy in time, separately in 32 channels of 250Hz each. Transparence processes the signal according to the output level (not the input level as with traditional compression systems), i.e., the level that the user will actually hear.

The Transparence Hearing Aid

Transparence™ adapts every four milliseconds to different acoustical situations and to the needs of the fitted person by using fuzzy logic calculations, calculations that are naturally used by the human brain. (Transparence hearing aids provide automatic, natural and flexible adaptation for comfortable and clear hearing, currently the closest thing equivalent to normal hearing.)

ADRO Hearing Aid Technology

Clinical tests show that ADRO™ provides more intelligibility compared to multi-channel compression. It is especially effective in difficult acoustical situations and was clearly preferred by the users for its comfort.

Provides a significant advance in hearing aid effectiveness. Clinical trials show that in hearing aids using ADRO:

* Soft sounds are more audible
* Loud sounds are more comfortable
* Speech intelligibility is increased
* Overall sound quality is improved
* Speech intelligibility in noisy environments is improved
* Environmental sounds do not overwhelm, but are pleasantly audible in the background.

The technological advantages of adaptive dynamic range optimization ADRO™ were objectively evaluated during two clinical trials conducted at the Cooperative Research Center for Cochlear Implant and Hearing Aid Innovation in Melbourne, Australia. The purpose of these trials was to test the performance of ADRO™ and to compare it with that of multi-channel compression systems, in quiet and in noise.

How Does ADRO™ Work?

ADRO technology initially breaks the input sound wave into 32 separate frequency channels. Using 'fuzzy-logic' rules that are determined for each listener based on their audiogram, ADRO hearing technology alters the signal so that the output of each frequency channel will be within the listener's perceptual zone.

ADRO is a simple and elegant solution that can be tailored for all current and future digital hearing aid clients. It is intuitive to fit, and is the first hearing aid technology to truly exploit the power of DSP hardware. Clinical trials conducted at the CRC for Cochlear Implant and Hearing Aid Innovation have demonstrated the efficacy, sound quality and comfort of ADRO processing. ADRO is a registered trademark of Dynamic Hearing Party.

What is Fuzzy Logic?

Our brain uses different calculations to process the information that it receives. Without realizing it, we evaluate situations according to criteria that are strict but also intuitive. In this way, we implement fuzzy logic calculations to evaluate concepts such as “comfortable”, “too loud but bearable”, etc.

However, we know that these notions in fact depend not only on the decibel sound level of what we hear, but also on other factors:
*Energy variations over the short and middle term (sound produces energy whose level varies constantly...example: high level for vowels, but low levels for consonants).
*Spectrum (all of the frequencies that make up a sound). To be correctly heard, sound that is amplified by a hearing aid must respect the frequency spectrum, otherwise the sound will be perceived as distorted.
Fuzzy logic makes it possible to put these concepts into an equation, and therefore in the form of algorithms and allows for variances in the statistical values. It is in this way that fuzzy logic provides more accuracy in hearing comfort.

Fuzzy logic was discovered and modeled in 1960 by the mathematician Lotfi Zadeh. It has many applications today in robotics, shape recognition, computers, and now in hearing aids!