Oticon Intent Deep Neural Network and Software

Описание: In this video, Dr. Egan explains how Oticon's latest hearing aid technology works and gives insights to their programming software!

Transcript:

Hi, I'm Dr. Egan from Now Hear This® and today I'd like to tell you about Oticon's latest hearing aids, the Oticon Intent, the benefits inside their hearing aid chip, and we'll take a look at their programming software a little bit later on. The Oticon Intent hearing aid is part of a series we’re doing right now. Dr. Shopovick just talked about Phonak and their programming software and how that works, and now we’re going to pick up with Oticon. What’s unique about Oticon is their deep neural network (DNN) that actually “thinks” to help you hear better. It might sound technical but think of it like a very smart assistant for your hearing aids. This DNN was trained to listen to millions of real-life sounds—speech, music, background noise, and more—before it was ever put on your ears in the clinic. Just like your brain learns from experience, the DNN has been trained to recognize different types of sounds and understand what’s most important, usually the person you’re talking to.
What makes Oticon Intent special is that it doesn’t treat all situations the same. It makes sense of what you’re doing by sensing your behavior—whether you’re moving, sitting still, turning your head, or talking. This is called “user intent sensing,” which is where the name Oticon Intent comes from. It helps the hearing aid understand where your attention is focused. So, if you’re in a busy restaurant but want to listen to the person in front of you, Oticon Intent helps your brain by reducing the noise around you and keeping the speech in focus—without cutting you off from your environment entirely. It’s a much more personalized way to hear, using both sound processing and an understanding of your behavior to give you the right balance of awareness and clarity. In short, Oticon Intent learns like a brain, listens like a brain, and works like a brain—so you can stay better connected to the people and moments that matter to you. This approach is different from how the Phonak Sphere works, and you’ll notice some differences in the software, which I’ll turn to now.
Looking at the software, under the fitting section there’s a fine-tuning page. Every hearing aid manufacturer has something similar, and the sound equalizer you see there is what we use to perform real ear measurement. Real ear measurement is the number one most important step when programming hearing aids, regardless of the brand, so I highly recommend you watch one of our videos on that topic if you’re not familiar with it. Now, more specifically, Oticon has a feature called Sudden Sound Stabilizer. This is especially helpful for new hearing aid users who are readjusting to the sharper sounds of life, such as clanking pots and pans, dishes, or the doorbell. This can feel overwhelming at first, but this feature makes them more comfortable early on and can be adjusted back as someone gets used to them—since they are important sounds to notice.
Another useful section is Sound Intelligence, where we can create custom programs. The deep neural network is always working, but let’s say you’re in your car and want to hear if the engine is making a strange noise or if your air conditioning is kicking on and off. We can fine-tune a custom program here to control how much background suppression is applied. This is done through the program manager section, allowing us to tailor the hearing aids to different real-life situations.
That’s a quick look at how the Oticon Intent chip and programming software work. If you have questions, feel free to call our clinic. I hope you learned something from this video, and of course, have a wonderful rest of your day.