Hello naisho,
Let me introduce myself. I am Philippe Pango, Chief Technology Officer at Vitasound Audio Inc., the manufacturer of the Neuro-Compensator hearing-aid. Sorry for the late reply. I happened to bumpo into this forum only recently. I will try to address all your comments below, hoping to clarify further the concept of this new hearing aid. Please, do not hesitate to reply if you have any question,
So it's basically a highly improved digital hearing aid that's been pre-set by software that they took a long time to map out known sound spectrums, and then programmed the aid to filter down unnecessary sounds and boost the spectrum it thinks the person would want to be on.
Well,
It's quite different from what you are describing. Basically, for the past several decades, all hearing aids (whether analog or digital) have been using the sample amplificaiton strategy which consists in using a particular formula to calculate how much gain should be applied at certain frequencies. This is the so-called "Wide Dynamic Range Compression" algorithm, which is running in 99.9% of all hearing aids in the world today.
Our approach is quite different. Basically, using our software, your dispenser or audiologist would upload your hearing test to our computers (yes, these are located in Canada). Then, we create a computer model of your auditory system, modeling how your auditory system converts all types of sounds into the actual neural response that is received at the brain level. In simple words, we can simulate how your ear(s) converts sound into the actual series of electrical pulses that are sent to your brain.
Then, we compare this neural response to the response a normal and healthy ear would send to the brain. Finally, we calculate the amplification parameters in the hearing aid such that, the aid would force your nerve to send the proper (electrical) stimuli to your brain, thus the name "Neuro-Compensator". I hope that makes sense. As you can see, a Neuro-Compensator is programmed based on a completely different criteria.
Interesting, but sometimes I don't like the way how "automatic" is done from personal experience. It doesn't look like you would be able to customize it on your own unless you were an audiologist or trained employee from there.
The optimization that is calculated by our super computers is delivered to the audiologist as a "first fit". Then, your audiologist has all the freedom to adjust certain parameters to address the users' specific needs: noise reduction, directional microphone, feedback manager. the software even includes a 10-band equalizer.
Still worth a try despite this. Wonder how much one costs..
One sucky thing is it mentions it is a Canadian only company. So the states would have to wait a bit if it caught on.
We grew really fast over the last year. The Neuro-Compensator is already available in certain states in the US. Feel free to
contact us in the US too.
It reminds me of something the government spying agencies would use.
I know. Alghtough it is just a hearing aid that works, "Neuro-Compensator" sounds like a high-tech gadget designed for Mr Spok.
Philippe
