Oticon Insider Information
Oticon are owned by the Danish company Demant A/S who also own the hearing aid manufacturer Bernafon. Demant also own the hearing aid retailer Hidden Hearing. If you've been to Hidden Hearing and been recommended Oticon or Bernafon hearing aids then it's perhaps a little more than coincidental.
The Oticon OPN range of hearing aids has received the best reviews by our audiologists compared to all other ranges from all manufacturers.
Who are Oticon?
Oticon is one of the world's most advanced producers of hearing aids. For over a century they have been creating high quality hearing aid technologies for individuals with hearing loss.
The tale of Oticon starts with the efforts of one man to help his own wife's hearing loss. Their motto of "People First" has guided the business ever since. Whether developing the latest in hearing technology or helping individuals better access hearing aids, Oticon puts the customer first, every time. ⠀
They launched their latest model in March 2019. Called the Opn S, this model builds on the original to give an even better experience. On the same model family, they also launched their first ever lithium-ion powered rechargeable listening device.
Special features
Oticon hearing aids are some of the most well-respected in the industry. Here are some of the technologies that they are renowned for:
Velox Processing platform
Velox offers significant improvements over its previous Inium Sense platform by combining a more powerful chipset with new sound processing software. Velox provides 50 times faster data processing to analyse and balance external sounds and make it easier to follow quickly changing conversations in public places.
It scans, analyses and responds more than 100 times per second to its immediate environment, helping the OpenSound Navigator software to balance voice sources and eliminate noise between the words you want to hear.
BrainHearing technology
This is one of Oticon’s standout features. It allows your 360 degree environment to be scanned by the hearing aid, offers more full assistance for how the brain processes noise, and allows enhanced real-time processing to help your ear deliver healthier sound signals to the brain.
It may seem like all hearing aids do this would do, but there are many hearing aids that can only pick up sound from one direction. This means they often receive the sound of what your head is pointed towards. BrainHearing enables omnidirectional listening, which is the same way the human ear receives sound.
BrainHearing delivers audio with the clearest, purest possible signal— the best way your brain can comprehend it. Furthermore, because BrainHearing technology retains the most important sounds in speech, your brain does not need to struggle to fill in the gaps in noisy environments.
Oticon ON app
With this app, you can integrate Oticon's Opn hearing aids and the IFTTT (If This, Then That) platform. This enables consumers to incorporate their Opn hearing aids with 'internet of things' technologies such as light controls, home alarms, smart thermostats, TV recordings, text messages, and more. Here are some of the ‘recipes’ you can access with the use of Oticon ON app, the Opn hearing aid and the IFTTT platform:
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Get a notification in your hearing aids when the doorbell rings.
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Play a spoken notification when your battery is low.
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Have your hearing aids switch to a preferred listening program based on your GPS location.
Notable models
Opn S
Oticon followed up their very popular Opn range with a substantial upgrade, the Opn S. This model builds on the success of the previous model with a much faster sound processing as it is powered by the new advanced Velox S platform. These improvements combine to align voice comprehension on par with ordinary hearing abilities.
One of the latest features is the OpenSound Optimizer technology. This provides you the option to add up to six decibels of gain without the danger of feedback. This helps the Opn provide up to 30% more speech cues to the brain. Whenever a patient feels they need an extra boost, they can turn on the OpenSound Booster. This helps them in particularly noisy environments to hear and communicate better.
The Opn S is Made For iPhone, offering direct connectivity to Apple devices for streaming content. Other smartphones can be connected with the ConnectClip accessory. The Opn S also offers a new sleek rechargeable option in the Opn miniRITE R, a lithium-ion powered hearing aid able to last an entire day on just one overnight charge.
Opn Play
Opn Play hearing aids from Oticon form part of Oticon's dedication to paediatric hearing care. For hearing losses in kids ranging from mild to severe, four different styles are available. Styles include traditional behind - the-ear form factor (BTE) ; miniRITE (receiver-in - the-ear) or miniRITE T (with a telecoil); and miniRITE R, which contains a lithium-ion rechargeable battery.
Opn Play comes in a range of twelve colours along with colourful stickers that allow kids to customise their hearing aids as they see fit. This model of Oticon hearing aid also works well with with the Amigo FM classroom microphone and children's transmitter in classrooms and the ConnectClip microphone, which facilitates children's communication with caregivers and teachers.
Siya
Oticon Siya hearing aids provide a wide variety of designs and levels of technology. They are a more accessible price point for those who want to enjoy the benefits of the Velox processing platform.
The Behind-the-ear styles are the Siya miniRITE, the Siya BTE13 PP, and the Siya miniRITE-T. And there are several in-the-ear models ranging from the small and discreet all the way up to larger and more powerful styles.
Alta2
The Alta's ultimate objective and function is to provide its customers with natural sound. You have more customization choices than ever with the Oticon Alta2. No matter what your hearing impairment level, the Alta2 will fit comfortably and snugly on or inside your ear.
This is a hearing aid for hearing loss at all stages. The Plus Power model is for those with severe hearing loss. Since the Alta's last iteration, its capacity to pick up secondary sounds like whispers has increased by 20 percent.
The Alta2 connects wirelessly to cell phones, tablets, TVs and other Bluetooth audio devices with the Oticon ConnectLine accessory.
