Signia AX Firmware New Feature Update

Quite often hearing aid wearers can find it extremely challenging to hold conversations in noisy environments such as large conference halls, restaurants, outdoors, and many more situations they may find themselves in throughout their day.

With their latest AX Platform Firmware release, Signia is further enhancing the award-winning Augmented Xperience (AX) platform to champion this real-world challenge comprehensively. As a result, first-time and experienced wearers are very likely to be satisfied with their hearing aids.

Auto EchoShield

This innovative feature adds a new dimension of automated sound control through real-time, real-world analysis of the room’s acoustics. This result’s is an excellent hearing experience without those irritating echoes, "boominess," or blurred sounds.

By automatically analyzing the rooms acoustics, Signia AX adapts the signal processing accordingly. Hearing aid wearers enjoy a much improved listening experience in any room and environment regardless of the type of the room’s acoustics. This includes rooms and spaces with high ceilings and sound reflecting tiled floors, large auditoriums, and similar areas. The user experience is comfortable and optimized for improved speech clarity and excellent room appreciation in high and low reverberation environments.

Auto EchoShield builds on the way Signia AX’s dual pathway processing separates speech from background noise. Thanks to real-time analysis, the room acoustics’ contribution to the background noise is assessed and addressed in an instant. Auto EchoShield is always active, assessing different kinds of reverberant rooms so that different environments sound engaging but not overwhelming.

Own Voice Processing 2.0

One of the most unique features in the hearing aid industry, this individualized algorithm automatically adjusts the sound of the wearer’s own voice independently from all the other voices and sounds the hearing system hears. Signia pioneered its original Own Voice Processing (OVP) to help hearing aid wearers feel comfortable with the sound of hearing their own voice through their hearing aids This leads to quicker acceptance of the hearing system by the wearer, as our own voice can sound quite different when heard through an amplifier.

Signias patented split processing technology of Signia Augmented Xperience is the perfect platform to take the ground-breaking OVP technology to the next level. When the hearing aid wearer’s own voice is detected, Own Voice Processing 2.0 fully dedicates one processor to handle that speech signal, while the other processor controls the acoustic environment and adjusts itself accordingly with no compromise between the two.

This way, the wearer’s own voice sounds more natural preventing any distraction. The wearer can perceive their own voice as sounding less loud and full, leading to more engaging conversations. This is possible for both closed and open fitting rationales.

HandsFree for Apple iOS

The new HandsFree feature lets the hearing aid wearer use their Signia AX hearing aids for hands-free calls via Bluetooth® with their iPhone in different environments – even in noisy ones. This gives them freedom of combine mobile phone calls with other activities or to listen to music or podcasts via their hearing aids, without having to physically hold the handset.

Using the split pathway processing of Signia AX we have mentioned already, background noise is reduced, allowing the hearing aid wearer to hear clearly what is being said on the phone. And the hearing aid’s built-in microphones lets the person on the other side of the call hear the wearer’s voice in high quality.

These exciting new features are available with the full range of Signia AX hearing aids, depending on their technology level. A firmware upgrade will be required through the Connexx fitting software platform and is available through your hearing aid audiologist.