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Welcome to
Advanced Wireless Processing for Enhanced
Binaural Hearing
Presenter:
Leanne Powers, AuD
Educational Specialist
Sivantos, Inc.
IHS Organizers:
Ted Annis
Senior Marketing Specialist
Carrie Pedersen
Member Services Supervisor
Housekeeping
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Agenda
Overview of wireless technology

e2e wireless™ & e2e wireless 2.0

Bluetooth® and Near Field Magnetic Induction
 Functionality and benefits
Introducing e2e wireless 3.0 and binaural processing

Binaural processing and features




Virtual 8-microphone network
 4-mic network for CIC and IIC
Narrow Directionality
Spatial SpeechFocus
eWindscreen binaural
Research, benefits and application of features
Q&A (enter your questions in the Question Box any time)
OVERVIEW OF WIRELESS
TECHNOLOGY
Overview of Wireless Technology
e2e Wireless
Siemens Hearing Instruments binaural hearing system
e2e wireless
 Creates a Personal Area Network (PAN) with NFMI
 Near Field Magnetic Induction (NFMI) transmission allows for ear to ear
communication while streaming
 Lower battery consumption than RF transmission
 No effect on hearing instrument battery consumption
German Future Award 2012
Overview of Wireless Technology
Siemens Use of Wireless Technology
e2e wireless
 Two hearing instruments work
together as one hearing system using
NFMI
 Couples signal processing & ensures
that volume level, listening programs,
and microphone modes are always in
sync
 Simplifies wearer operation: “touch
one, control both”
Research Results Revisited
HINT scores improved 1.5 dB nearly a 20% improvement in sentence
recognition (Hornsby & Ricketts, Vanderbilt Study, 2005)
Research Results Revisited
The case for e2e wireless:
 Left/Right localization error is largest when an omni-directional
microphone mode is used for one side and a directional on the other.
Keidser, et al, 2006
 After being First-Fitted to prescriptive targets, some wearers make gain
adjustments between ears resulting in relatively large gain
“mismatches”
Hornsby and Mueller, 2008
 Two-thirds of wearers preferred linked instruments and a highly significant
positive correlation for linked associated with “sound quality”
Smith, et al, 2008
Research Results Revisited
 For wireless transmission of
telephone, bilateral
presentation resulted in
significantly improved speech
recognition over unilateral
 Bilateral wireless conditions
allowed for significantly
better recognition than the
acoustic or telecoil condition
Picou and Ricketts, 2010
Benefits
Ease of use
 Sync of volume and program control reduces patient effort by 50%
 Splitting of controls allows more discrete, precise adjustments
Improved localization due to directional
 Localization errors are reduced by 50%
Improved speech intelligibility with matched directional mic modes
 Improved speech understanding
Binaural advantage for phone calls
 Up to 5.7 dB SNR compared to unilateral
e2e Wireless 2.0
e2e wireless 2.0
 Ability for streamed signal
 Allows for wirelessly compatibility
with Bluetooth-enabled devices
Bluetooth
 Wireless streaming with e2e for
video, audio, phone
 Wireless programming- ConnexxLink
Bluetooth® Basics
What is Bluetooth?
 Bluetooth is a wireless communication platform for
electronic devices to share information like
voice, music, and video over a secure, globally
unlicensed short-range radio frequency
 Uses frequency-hopping and changes frequencies
1600 times/second
 A pseudo-random sequence is utilized and is known only to the
transmitter and the receiver, hence the need for pairing devices
 This pairing helps to ensure a secure and interference-free
connection of wireless transmission
History of Bluetooth
 In 1994, a group of engineers from
Ericsson invented Bluetooth
 In 1998, a group of companies formed
the Bluetooth Special Interest Group
(SIG)
 The SIG is devoted to maintaining this
technology
The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Siemens AG
is under license. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners
History of Bluetooth
 Bluetooth was originally intended to
be a wireless replacement for
cables and wires to connect devices
like phones & headsets
 Bluetooth does much more…it
allows for connectivity between
TVs, music players & even home
healthcare devices
Bluetooth - Versions and Protocols
Versions:
• easyTek uses Bluetooth version 3.0
• miniTek uses Bluetooth version 2.1
easyTek & miniTek use the following profiles:
• HSP/HFP for the phone (Bluetooth Phone program)
• A2DP for media audio, Transmitter and VoiceLink (Streaming Audio program)
Pair, Connect, Stream…
Pairing = Introducing 2 Bluetooth devices to each other
• Both devices must be Bluetooth-enabled to pair
• Not all Bluetooth-enabled devices are designed to be paired to each other
• Both devices must be supported by the same profile
Connecting = After pairing, when 2 devices actively participate with each other
Streaming = Sending information from one device to another
• Must be within 3 meters (32 ft.) of each other
• Although you may be paired and/or connected to more than one device, you
can only actively stream from one device at a time
Bluetooth®
 Multiple devices can be paired to one streamer, making it easy to switch
between different devices
 The streamer is able to interrupt/pause the audio from a device in order to
bring the audio signal from an incoming phone call
Practical Benefits of Using
Bluetooth® and Hearing Aids
 The hearing aids can become a wireless
headset – stream movies, podcasts,
GoogleMaps, etc.
 The streamed signal can be amplified
and shaped to match the wearer’s
amplification needs
 The volume of the stream signal may be
controlled by the streamer or the
hearing aids
 Stereo signals are streamed in stereo
Universal Connectivity
+ Line-in Connection
 Transmits audio signal in stereo to both
hearing instruments from a non-BTenabled device; some MP3 players are
not BT
 Delivers on-the-go convenience
 10 hours extended streaming time
TV Transmitters
 Transmits audio signal in stereo to
both hearing instruments
 Allows for comfortable listening
level for wearer and companions
 Overcomes issues of distance,
ambient noise, and reverberation
3rd Party Bluetooth®
 Allows for streaming from a Bluetooth
enabled device, i.e. computer or tablet
 After 3rd party device is paired to the &
the Bluetooth function is enabled, the 3rd
party device will find the streamer
 Streams audio signal directly to the
hearing instruments
 Watch a movie or use Skype™ to visit
with a friend!
Remote mics
 Remote Microphones are intended to
improve speech understanding in background
noise by taking advantage of spatial separation
between the signal of interest and competing
noise
FM: Additional Benefits
 Transmitting speech from DM
transmitter to DM receiver plugged
into most streamers
 Increases the speech level while
decreasing interfering background
 The result: better speech
understanding and improved sense
of self-confidence in hearing ability
DAI possible with small instruments
like RICs, customs, even CICs
 9 hours extended FM/streaming time
2014 Battery Current Drain Benchmark
Study by Siemens
Siemens
Pure 7mi
(Mi)
mA
5.5
Siemens
Pure 7bx
(Mi)
5.0
4.5
Microphone only
4.0
Streaming + Microphone
3.5
binaural wireless audio
3.0
2.5
2
2.0
1.5
1
1.0
0.5
0.0
1
Microphone only:
binax’s current drain is not higher
Streaming (to aids) + Microphone
binax’s current drain is not significantly higher
2
Binaural wireless audio
binax has a much lower current drain
Others: binax has a higher current drain. Remember: they
don’t have binaural benefits
e2e Wireless 3.0
High Definition Sound Resolution “HDSR”
NEW: transmission of audio signals
transmission of data
(e.g. volume, programs)
 Virtual 8 microphone network
 Transmission of data and audio signals
 Best binaural listening experience ever
e2e Wireless 3.0
virtual 8 microphone network
NEW: transmission of audio signals
transmission of data
(e.g. volume, programs)
virtual 4 microphone network
NEW: transmission of audio signals
transmission of data
(e.g. volume, programs)
High Definition Sound Resolution HDSR
Key Points From Abstract
Definitions
Binaural beamforming: Refers to transmitting audio signals from one hearing
instrument to the other in a bilateral fitting system.
Narrow Directionality: The name of an enhanced binaural beamforming
algorithm in Siemens binax instruments.
Spatial SpeechFocus: A self-steering binaural beamforming algorithm
designed for situations where the targeted speech originates from the side or
behind the wearer.
Binax Narrow Directionality
Narrow Directionality is designed to enhance the speech signal coming from a
target speaker located among multiple other competing or interfering
speakers around the listener.
It improves the speech signal from the
target speaker in two ways:
1) By quickly reducing other competing
speech signals outside the beam
angular range
2) By boosting the level of the target
speaker signal within the beam
Monaural Processing and
Binaural Processing
“Narrow directionality is built on top of
our existing monaural directional
microphone system to tackle even more
challenging noisy situations.”
Shown is a simplified block diagram of binax Narrow Directionality system composed of a
monaural processing stage followed by a binaural processing stage, which takes as inputs
the local signal (the monaural directional signal) and the contralateral signal (the
monaural directional signal transmitted from the hearing instrument from the other side
of the head i.e. via e2e wireless audio link)
Insights of Narrow Directionality Processing
Taking a closer look at our system, binaural processing is composed of three
essential components:
1) The binaural beamforming
2) The binaural noise reduction
3) Head movement compensation module (+/-10 degrees)
Binaural Beamforming and
Binaural Noise Reduction
1) Monaural directional output characteristic
2) Binaural Beamforming output characteristic
3) Binax Narrow Directionality: Binaural
Beamforming combined with Binaural Noise
Reduction
Narrow Directionality gives the hearing impaired
wearer the perception that he is focusing on the
person he is directly looking at (like a magnifying
glass) as illustrated on the right.
It should be noted that the adaptation of the
binaural noise reduction gain is fast enough
(within milliseconds) to rapidly amplify or
attenuate depending on the acoustic situation
and of course without any background noise
increase.
Automatic Control of Narrow Directionality
Criteria for activation of Narrow Directionality:
 In quiet no directionality is used
 For lower levels of noise monaural directionality is activated
 As the noise level increases narrow directionality engages and its effects are
increased accordingly until it reaches full directionality for high noise levels
 Classification of acoustic environment is taken into account, for example
narrow directionality is not initiated for loud music
 Signal to noise ratio by frequency is also considered
Automatic Control of Narrow Directionality
An example of frequency-dependent activation of binaural Narrow
Directionality effect
Research
Subjects:
 Normal hearing (better than 25 dB)
 Mean age of 58.1 yrs.
 Hearing Loss (Sloping mild-moderate)
 Mean age of 65.8 years
Signal
 Target signal > HINT
 Competing signal > HINT sentences +
speech babble at 72 dB SPL
Instruments:
 Binaural fitting of Pure 7bx with
DoubleDomes
 First Fit using binaxFit and default
parameters
Perform Better Than Normal Hearing
 Two clinical studies have shown that binax provides better than normal hearing in certain
demanding environments (University of Northern Colorado, 2014; Oldenburg
Hörzentrum, 2013)
 Speech Reception Thresholds (SRT) in cocktail-party situations improved up to 2.9 dB for
wearers with mild to moderate hearing loss using 7bx RIC hearing instruments with
Narrow Directionality, compared to people with normal hearing
Hörzentrum Oldenburg
HINT
1.0
0.0
-0.2
-1.0
-2.0
-3.1
2.9 dB
Improvement
-3.0
-4.0
-5.0
Narrow Directionality
Normal Hearing
Speech Reception Threshold [dB]
2.0
better
Speech Reception Threshold [dB]
Univ. Northern Colorado
0.0
OLSA
-1.0
-2.0
-3.0
-4.3
-4.0
-5.0
-6.3
2.0 dB
Improvement
-6.0
-7.0
-8.0
Narrow Directionality
Normal Hearing
Narrow Directionality
Benefit: Solution for challenging listening environments
Standard Directionality
Narrow Directionality
Standard Directionality
Attenuates noise from the sides to behind
the listener, but not in the listener’s angle
of focus
Narrow Directionality
 Narrows directional microphone focus
 Results in better-than-normal hearing in
demanding environments as found in two
independent clinical studies
 Up to 25% better in speech understanding
in noisy situations
 Automatic in Universal Program
 Promotes spatial awareness
 Energy efficient
Value: Narrow Directionality is so effective that clinical studies have shown
hearing impaired listeners using this technology can hear speech better
than normal hearing individuals in demanding listening environments.
Advanced Beamforming in 360 Degrees
Spatial SpeechFocus
 True directivity to all four directions
while preserving spatial cues
 Useful if wearer cannot turn his head
 Automatically adapts the focus
Both interaural time difference (ITD) and interaural level difference (ILD) are
utilized to create beamforming algorithm that can focus to the right and left
as well as front and back, using a Wiener-filer based approach to suppressing
signals coming from an undesired side. Attenuation in the non-focused area
can be as much as 10 dB.
Advanced Beamforming in 360 Degrees
Spatial SpeechFocus
Figure 8 and 9 show different types of polar plot measurements
made possible with Spatial SpeechFocus.
Figure 8 shows the area of
focus for 500 Hz in red and
2K Hz in green when the
hearing aids are in left
focus.
Figure 9 shows the interaural
level difference at 2K Hz in
omni compared to left focus
mode. Notice that when in leftfocus the interaural level
difference is maintained for
the right ear although it is
attenuated, which preserves
spatial cues.
Advanced Beamforming in 360 Degrees
Spatial SpeechFocus
Independent research recently was completed at the University of Iowa.
In this research, the participants (n=25) were surrounded by background
noise, and the target speech signal, the Connected Sentence Test 9 was
presented from either 90°or 180°locations.
Testing was conducted with the Spatial SpeechFocus algorithm “on”
versus “off.”
The findings revealed a significant benefit with the algorithm “on” for
speech recognition for both target speech locations, with an average
improvement of 22%.
See more at: http://www.hearingreview.com/2015/10/speechfocus-360-10-questions/
Spatial SpeechFocus
Benefit: Speech understanding from all directions
 True directivity to all four directions, front,
back, right and left, while preserving spatial
cues,
 Automatically activated in the Universal
Program when car environment is detected
 Available when activating a dedicated
Stroll Program
 Automatically focuses on the dominant
speech source
 Situation-based wearer control via easyTek
and easyTek app
 Energy efficient
Value: Spatial SpeechFocus allows your patients to focus on speech coming from any
direction, front, back, right, or left, without turning their head.
Spatial Configurator – Direction
Benefit: Situation-based wearer control
Spatial Configurator Direction
Automatic
Manual
Manual
Manual
 Manual override of Spatial SpeechFocus
 Works in the Universal program
 Manual selection of four listening directions,
front, back, right, or left
 Operation via easyTek & easyTek App and
coming soon with the TouchControl App
Value: Patient-based access to manually
select the focus in any environment
Spatial Configurator – Span
Benefit: Situation-based wearer control
Spatial Configurator Span
manual
override
automatic




Manual override of Narrow Directionality
Works in the Universal program
More-targeted or more-broad listening
Access via easyTek & easyTek App or the
rocker switch
Value: Situation-based patient control that
meets their listening needs in any
environment.
eWindScreen Binaural
Benefit: Audibility and comfort in wind
 Wind noise reduction based on
strategic combination of
microphone signals
left
right
microphone
NEW: Replacement of poor signals
receiver
 Responds quickly & efficiently
 Reduces disturbance without
reducing speech intelligibility &
spatial awareness
 Automatic in Universal Program
 Energy efficient
Value: eWindScreen provides an effective solution for patients who seek the
best possible audibility and listening comfort in windy conditions.
Binaural OneMic Directionality
Benefit: Enhanced performance for single-mic instruments
Natural Directionality (pinna)
Enhanced Natural Directionality
Standard CICs
Omnidirectional technology, using the
natural directionality of the wearer’s pinna
Binaural OneMic Directionality
 World’s first directionality for single-mic
instruments, such as IICs & CICs
 Enhances natural directionality
 Automatic in Universal Program
 Promotes spatial awareness
 Energy efficient
Value: For patients who prefer tiny CICs or IICs, binaural OneMic Directionality offers automatic,
adaptive, 48-channel directionality to help them better focus on speech coming from the front.
Hearing Review – May 2015
Directional Microphone Measurements
Directivity Index (DI)
 A ratio that is derived by comparing the output of the hearing aid for a signal
presented from 0 degree azimuth, to the average output of the signals presented
from all other surrounding azimuths.
Articulation Index-weighted Directivity Index (AI-DI)
 The AI-DI calculation gives greater weight to the frequencies that contribute most to
speech understanding (e.g., the DI of 2000 Hz is given more weight than the DI of
500 Hz).
Sequential AI-DI (sAI-DI)
 A modification of traditional DI measures to account for the dynamic and adaptive
properties of modern hearing aids (e.g. binaural signal processing). As with the DI,
the AI calculations are applied to the sDI, to obtain the sAI-DI to provide a better
estimate of the directivity for speech understanding.
Directional Microphone Measurements
Interpreting sDI and sAI-DI measurements
 Allows us to quantify directional technology performance for modern adaptive
hearing aids
 Allows us to compare directional performance of different hearing aid styles
and form factors within a portfolio
 Allows for comparison across manufacturers with similar technology
 Provides a relative prediction of SNR benefit for different products
Binaural OneMic Directionality sAI-DI
Binaural OneMic directionality
sAI-DI = 5.1 dB
Narrow Directionality sAI-DI
Narrow Directionality (RIC)
sAI-DI = 9.2 dB
Narrow Directionality (ITC)
sAI-DI = 10.5 dB
References
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Powers TA, Beilin J. True advances in hearing aid technology: what are they and where’s the proof? Hearing Review.
2013;20(1):32-39. Available at:
http://www.hearingreview.com/2013/01/true-advances-in-hearing-aid-technology-what-are-they-and-where-s-the-proof-ja
nuary-2013-hearing-review
Mueller HG, Weber J, Bellanova M. Clinical evaluation of a new hearing aid anti-cardioid directivity pattern. Int J Audiol.
2011;50(4):249-54. Branda E, Beilin J, Powers T. Directional Steering for Special Listening Situations: Benefit Supported by
Research Evidence. September 2014. Available at:
http://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/directional-steering-for-special-listening-12974
Kamkar-Parsi H, Fischer E, Aubreville M. New binaural strategies for enhanced hearing. Hearing Review. 2014;21(10):42-45.
Available at: http://www.hearingreview.com/2014/10/new-binaural-strategies-enhanced-hearing Powers T, Froehlich M.
Clinical results with a new wireless binaural directional hearing system. Hearing Review. 2014;21(11):32-34. Available at:
http://www.hearingreview.com/2014/10/clinical-results-new-wireless-binaural-directional-hearing-system
Froehlich M, Freels K, Powers T. Speech Recognition Benefit Obtained from Binaural Beamforming Hearing Aids: Comparison
to Omnidirectional and Individuals with Normal Hearing. May 28, 2015. Available at:
http://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/speech-recognition-benefit-obtained-from-14338
Herbig R, Barthel R, Branda E. A history of e2e wireless technology. Hearing Review. 2014;21(2), 34-37. Available at:
http://www.hearingreview.com/2014/03/wireless-hearing-aids-history-e2e-wireless-technology Varallyay G, Pape S, Meyers
C. (2015, June) Automatic Steering: The Director of the binax Soundtrack. June 15, 2015. Available at:
http://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/automatic-steering-director-binax-soundtrack-14353
Cox RM, Alexander GC, Gilmore C. (1987) Development of the Connected Speech Test (CST). Ear Hear. 1987 Oct;8(5
Suppl):119S-126S - See more at:
http://www.hearingreview.com/2015/10/speechfocus-360-10-questions/?ref=fr-title#sthash.tGcwjD1X.dpuf
Questions
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Contact: Leanne Powers, AuD
[email protected]
https://www.bestsoundtechnology.com
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