Speech Enhancer

Noise reduction is a feature that receives top priority from Widex.
 

Noise reduction is not just noise reduction

Most top-range hearing aids have some kind of noise reduction system. But noise reduction strategies vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

A recent investigation has shown that most noise reduction systems simply dampen the low frequencies to reduce noise. The risk involved in doing this is that speech cues can also be dampened along with the background noise

The Widex Speech Enhancer system, on the other hand, is able to reduce noise so that it is under the hearing threshold of the listener while at the same time boosting regions with speech by applying extra gain in these regions. 


The formula for Widex Speech Enhancer system
 

The aim is to improve speech intelligibility

The difference between existing noise reduction strategies reflects a difference in focus. Some systems aim to make the sound as comfortable as possible to listen to for the user. Other systems aim to provide improved speech perception.

The primary aim of the Speech Enhancer in Widex hearing aids is to provide the highest possible speech intelligibility while still providing a comfortable listening experience.

The Speech Enhancer uses the standardised measure of the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) to work out the optimal gain for speech understanding in the current listening environment, taking the client’s hearing loss into account.
 

InterEar Speech Enhancer