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Erlangen, April 13, 2016
AudiologyNOW! Conference, April 13 - 16 in Phoenix, Arizona
New hearing aid platform primax enables
relaxed listening
 Clinically proven1: significantly reduced listening effort
 Understanding speech and listening to music at a new level
 Exclusively in the new hearing aids from the Signia brand
At the "AudiologyNOW!" conference of the American Academy of Audiology
(AAA) in Phoenix, USA, Sivantos is presenting its new hearing aid platform
primax for the first time. It forms the basis for the models of the hearing aid
series Ace, Pure, Motion and Insio from the new brand Signia. Clinically proven1,
hearing aids with primax technology significantly reduce hearing effort
throughout the day for hard-of-hearing people by highlighting speech in a wide
variety of listening situations. The new dedicated music programs take music
enjoyment to a whole new level, and will satisfy even professional musicians.
There are many hearing situations in the course of a day where listening is not easy even for people with normal hearing. For example, when several people talk over each
other, when there is a lot of background noise, or when the quality of a phone call is
sub-optimal. In these situations, hearing aid wearers usually have it even harder. In
fact, those with hearing loss are often so tired from simply trying to hear that they are
exhausted by the end of the day. Not so with the new hearing aids from the brand
Signia with primax technology, because they make listening easier in a wide variety of
situations. Understanding the conversation partner requires less concentration, which
noticeably reduces the listening effort. In addition, music is now also transmitted in HD
quality, thus allowing it to be experienced in all its nuances by people with hearing loss.
Sivantos Group
Corporate Media & Public Relations
Erika Weigmann
Reference number: 2/2015/tp
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Hearing better is not enough
The primary objective in the development of the new hearing aid platform was to make
it possible for hard-of-hearing people to understand speech as easily as possible.
Whether at a family gathering in a small group or with a large group of guests, whether
in a noisy open-plan office or in a reverberant museum, whether on a busy train
platform or on a busy street: hearing aids with primax technology automatically focus
on the conversation partner and significantly enhance their voice over all other
competing noise.
The SpeechMaster masters every speaking situation
The most important innovation for this is the SpeechMaster. It continuously evaluates
all acoustic signals coming into the hearing aids. Is there a voice present? Where is it
coming from? How far away is it and what ambient noises are interfering with it? And it
orchestrates the hearing aid processing to highlight the voice of the target speaker
accordingly. The result is audible: the conversation partner can be heard effortlessly.
Clinical tests measuring the brain activity in various hearing situations have shown that
wearers of hearing aids with primax technology can understand much more easily.
HD music programs enable complete music enjoyment
Whether attending a live concert or listening to a recorded album, whether rock, pop or
classical music, the newly developed high definition (HD) music programs take into
account individual musical preferences and offer dedicated settings for a consistently
full and rich sound. Another special program is designed specifically for hard-of-hearing
singers or musicians during their live performances.
EchoShield and TwinPhone programs solve acoustic problems
Certain hearing situations are particularly troublesome for hearing aid wearers. For
example, in larger spaces with reverberation, such as in hallways and foyers, the
EchoShield function of primax reduces the annoying effects of reverberation while
making speech clearer and effortless to understand.
Making phone calls can also be challenging for hearing aid wearers, especially if the
phone is a non-Bluetooth device or if the accessory easyTek is not available. With
primax, the telephone just needs to be held up to the ear. The sound from the ear piece
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is then automatically transmitted into both hearing aids simultaneously via the new
TwinPhone program.
Innovative solution for CROS and BiCROS
Another innovation offered by the primax platform helps people with an un-aidable
hearing loss in one ear. With a CROS Pure device on this ear, the acoustic signals on
this side are transmitted wirelessly to a hearing aid with primax technology on the other
ear. If this has a normal hearing, this solution, named CROS, helps the individual not to
miss sounds from the un-aidable side. If the individual has an un-aidable hearing loss
in one ear, and a significant hearing loss in the other, a BiCROS solution improves
hearing of sounds from both sides. This way, even people with single-sided deafness
can hear effortlessly.
Redefining the ease of listening
The primax technology and its innovations follow and build up the development of the
Siemens hearing aid platforms micon and binax. With micon (introduced in 2012)
hearing aids offered a hitherto non-existent natural sound impression. As clinically
proven2, binax (introduced in 2014) users could for the first time hear even better than
people with normal hearing in particularly challenging listening situations with lots of
ambient noise. primax combines these proven technologies and supplements them
with new features for reducing listening effort. Listening is therefore measurably less
strenuous throughout the day. This not only promotes communication with others, but
also personal well-being. More information about the hearing aids with primax
technology can be found at www.signia-pro.com/primax
Contact for journalists:
Erika Weigmann
Phone: +49 9131 308 3449; E-mail: [email protected]
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Press images:
Signia hearing aids with primax technology
significantly reduce the listening effort for
hearing impaired people by increasing
speech comprehension even in demanding
acoustic situations.
Copyright: Sivantos
Even in a noisy open-plan office Signia
hearing aids with primax technology automatically focus on the conversation partner
and highlight his voice.
Copyright: Sivantos
In larger spaces, such as hallways, Signia
hearing aids with primax technology reduce the annoying effects of reverberation
while making speech clearer and effortless
to understand.
Copyright: Sivantos
With its newly developed high definition
(HD) music programs, Signia hearing aids
with primax technology offer dedicated
settings for a full and rich sound.
Copyright: Sivantos
4
Signia hearing aids with primax technology
offer a special program for hard-of-hearing
signers or musicians during their live performances.
Copyright: Sivantos
With the TwinPhone program in Signia
hearing aids the phone call is transmitted
automatically from one hearing aid to the
other as soon as the phone receiver is held
to one ear.
Copyright: Sivantos
All photos are available for download at: www.sivantos.com/media
About the Sivantos Group
The business operations of the former Siemens AG hearing aid division have been combined into the Sivantos Group
since early 2015. Sivantos can look back on more than 130 years of German engineering and countless global innovations. Today Sivantos is one of the leading hearing aid manufacturers worldwide. With its more than 5,000 employees,
the group recorded revenues of 835 million euros in the fiscal year 2014/2015 and an operating profit (EBITDA with
normalizations) of 206 million euros. Sivantos' international sales organization supplies hearing care specialists and
sales partners in more than 120 countries. Particularly high value is placed on product development. Sivantos aims to
become the market leader in the coming years with its brands Signia, Siemens, Audio Service, Rexton, A&M, HearUSA
and audibene. The owners of Sivantos are the anchor investors EQT along with the Strüngmann family as a co-investor.
Sivantos GmbH is a Trademark Licensee of Siemens AG.
More information can be found at www.sivantos.com
1 Study conducted at the University of Northern Colorado, 2015, examined the effectiveness of the new features of
primax by collecting and analyzing ongoing EEG data while subjects performed speech testing. For both primax features SpeechMaster and EchoShield, the objective brain behavior measures revealed a significant reduction in listening
effort when the feature was activated.
2 Two independent clinical studies have shown that binax can even exceed normal hearing in certain challenging hearing situations (University of Northern Colorado, 2014; Oldenburg Hearing Center, 2013).
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