Phonak applies formal clinical procedures to safeguard the quality of new products. The Field Study News provide summarized information on recent field study results:

Secure ‘n Stay - A study on application with children (November 2008, PDF, 102 kB)
Wearers of hearing instruments, regardless of age, should enjoy improved hearing without the worry that arises from fear of losing their hearing instrument. This is an issue particularly during physical activity. Securely holding the hearing instruments on the ear is important for both adults and children, especially for adults who are physically active and lively children. Secure ‘n Stay was developed for active Naída users. It holds the HI securely on the ear, is easy to set up and once in place, allows access to manual controls of the HI. It is recommended for all active adults and children 6 years and older. Twelve children above the age of 6 participated in this study designed to ensure the safety and applicability of Secure ‘n Stay for pediatric applications. Secure ‘n Stay holds the HI firmly on the ear while engaging in sports, game-playing or even hanging upside down from a tree.

SoundFlow - Seamless adaptation to every soundscape (October 2008, PDF, 80 kB)
For several years Phonak has been the only company worldwide to use a “multi-base” automatic system. This is an automatic system that not only activates individual parameters such as directional beamforming or noise cancellation in a hearing program, but also independently switches between defined hearing programs. This successful and reliable principle has been further improved with the new automatic system called SoundFlow, which is now employed by products based on the CORE audio-processing platform. Depending on the classification of the listening environment, SoundFlow mixes the individual hearing
programs for the best hearing comfort and optimized intelligibility. This adjustment is made continuously, in realtime
resulting in a unique blended program for each situation. 15 test persons with normal hearing were enlisted to assess speech comprehension and the presence of audible program switching in SoundFlow. SoundFlow shows considerable improvements with regard to both the audibility of program switching and speech comprehension compared to the previously multi-base automatic system "AutoPilot."

Naída UP Better speech clarity - unparalleled in its class (September 2008, PDF, 156 kB)
Naída's unique combination of SoundRecover, PowerProcessing, and BassBoost provide an extraordinary level of audibility and clarity. SoundRecover offers better auditory perception of high-frequency signals, whereby consonants such as "s/f/sh" can be successfully heard, identified, and differentiated. Tests of the new Naída family of hearing devices yielded high spontaneous acceptance and a particularly positive evaluation of sound quality despite additional high range information applied in the audible range. A significant benefit of Naída V UP with SoundRecover with regard to speech intelligibility compared to three competitor products was able to be shown in the Freiburg monosyllable test in a quiet environment and the Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA) in a noisy environment.

Exélia and ZoomControl: Beneficial user control of hearing focus (August 2008, PDF, 277 kB)
Thanks to the real time streaming made possible by the Communication Optimized Real-audio Engine (CORE) platform, ZoomControl enables the end user to select four different focus directions. ZoomControl was scrutinized and compared to the standard Exélia speech in noise program with VoiceZoom in the standardized Oldenburger Satztest (OLSA), an adaptive noise test to detect changes in speech reception thresholds (SRT). The patient’s orientation was changed in 90° steps and ZoomControl was used to select the direction towards the speech signal.

The results show distinct and significant improvements in speech reception in noisy environments when comparing ZoomControl against VoiceZoom when speech is not presented from the front.

Audéo Field Study News: Breaking the rules of Amplification (September 2007, PDF, 248 kB)
The present Field Study News focuses on the userbenefits provided by Audéo, the new Personal Communication Assistant by Phonak. Audéo includes the new feature CrystalSound, especially designed to improve speech intelligibility and sound quality for users with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. 27 volunteers took part in a field trial and were fitted with Audéo for several lab tests as well as a real-life testing period. Results indicate that participants could communicate easier and more efficiently in noisy environments. Apart from communication in noisy environments, Audéo also helped in other listening situations, in particular when listening to music.

MyLink: Outstanding FM benefits now for ITE users too (February 2007, PDF, 443 kB)
The new Phonak MyLink FM receiver brings, for the very first time, all FM advantages to the ears of BTE (behind-the-ear) and ITE (in-the-ear i.e. custom products) hearing instrument users; provided it incorporates an activated T-coil. This field study was performed in order to evaluate customer satisfaction and benefit with this new Phonak ‘world’s first FM receiver with neck loop and MicroLink technology inside’. The tests were conducted on 14 ITE users, mainly first time users of FM systems. Results show outstanding efficacy of the induction loop strategy to provide high quality FM support to custom products users.

BassBoost: benefits for speech-in-noise comprehension. Providing low-frequency amplification to patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss. (January 2007, PDF, 572 kB)
Additional low frequency amplification provided by the Phonak BassBoost feature was surveyed in Savia Art devices regarding effects on speech intelligibility in noise. The Oldenburger Satztest (OLSA), an adaptive speech in noise test, was used to detect changes in speech reception thresholds (SRT) when BassBoost was activated. Results were benchmarked to competitive product selected for its overall technical similarity to Savia Art. The results show that when provided with additional low frequency gain and output, there was a significant improvement in speech reception in noisy environments.