Hear on both sides with single-sided hearing loss
Hearing with CROS systems
CROS systems help people with one-sided hearing loss, or single-sided deafness (SSD) to hear and access a fuller soundscape. With CROS systems, the individual can experience, follow and participate in conversations again - regardless of on which side of your conversation partner is located.
Who can benefit from CROS?
Without two working ears, your brain has difficulty working out the precise origin and location of sounds. Experiencing difficulty with locating sounds in your everyday world is an extremely exhausting, isolating and even frightening experience. Imagine sitting in an important meeting with multiple participants and not being able to pinpoint who is talking or having to cross a busy street uncertain about which direction traffic is coming from. Imagine having to constantly worry about how to position yourself at a social gathering knowing that these situations are ever-changing,If you are deaf (no hearing sensitivity) in one ear and have normal hearing sensitivity in the other and face challenges like these every day, a CROS system may be an option for you. CROS solutions can also be used if you are deaf in one ear and experience reduced hearing sensitivity in the other. This is known as a BiCROS solution.
How do CROS systems work?
A CROS solution consists of:• A transmitter with a microphone that wirelessly transmits the sound from the poorer ear to the better ear.• A hearing aid that picks up the sound and plays it in the better ear.Because it picks up sounds on your deaf side, CROS systems help you hear all the sounds around you. That means that you can listen to sounds from your deaf side without turning your head, enabling you to feel part of the full sound picture.
There are a variety of highly advanced CROS systems that can genuinely transform the lives of people with SSD or one-sided hearing loss available today. We have especially enjoyed working with the Oticon and Widex CROS & BiCROS systems which you can read more about below.
WIDEX CROS
The latest technological innovation from Widex, EVOKE™ is the first hearing aid to feature advanced machine learning in real-time. EVOKE™ is based on an entirely new chip platform and is the first product inspired by the Widex Real-Life Hearing™ philosophy, and its benefits can be experienced by people with one-sided hearing loss or SSD. It is designed to meet the wearers listening intent in each moment of real-life, through a finely balanced combination of personalisation and advanced automation.
Real-Life Hearing™
Hearing happens in real life, in specific moments and in real-time. Like with normal hearing, people with single-sided hearing loss are also exposed to a dynamic soundscape, consisting of a wide range of different sounds and at different levels. So we believe that it’s important to have a hearing aid that adapts and optimises itself seamlessly and instantly to the changing soundscape and the intent of the listener.
Hearing in the moment
The Widex Evoke is the first hearing aid to learn from a wearer’s personal preferences and adapt future listening experiences in real-time based on these preferences. The process of personalisation is driven by SoundSense Learn, a real-time machine-learning algorithm that quickly and intuitively optimises the instrument to meet the listening intent of the user. This means that every time every-time you use EVOKE, it evolves.* It also utilises a built-in SoundSense Adapt technology which remembers all the changes you make and intelligently applies them to similar situations – even if you’re in a completely new environment.
The automation in Evoke is driven by Fluid Sound Technology which consists of a Fluid Sound Analyzer which reacts to the ever-changing environment around you. The analyser automatically categorises the acoustic environment and incorporates large numbers of commonly encountered listening environments with a variety of different sound classes. In turn, a Fluid Sound Controller has access to more hearing aid parameters than any previous model when it automatically optimises the technology to meet the listening intent of the wearer, in the moment.What this means in the context of real-life is that when environmental noise is distracting, you may want your hearing aid to filter out anything that can distract you from hearing speech. But in quiet situations, you would want to hear all the subtle, fine details. The Fluid Sound Controller sets the optimal sound for different sound environments so that the EVOKE quickly adapts and optimises itself according to the changes in your life.EVOKE is so intuitive that it even knows the difference between classical and pop music or how a meeting sounds different than a party. And it keeps up with you indoors and out – mapping your environment and adjusting accordingly.
You can learn more about the benefits of combining automation and personalisation in Evoke here.
OTICON CROS
Oticon CROS is a new introduction from Oticon and it completes a strong family of products on the Velox S platform. It brings proven benefits of the advanced signal processing of OpenSound Navigator to people with single-sided deafness.These proven benefits include:-better speech understanding--less listening effort-improved memory recall
More access to speech
Oticon CROS features the revolutionary feature, OpenSound Navigator™, designed to help in noisy environments by continually scanning the environment, balancing sound levels and removing unwanted noise.It is the only hearing solution that gives you 360° access to sound and dual streaming technology. This highly advanced technology helps you to actively engage in conversations in all types of listening environments with more ease.The result is that Oticon CROS gives you better access to speech in both simple and more challenging listening environments. The benefit is that you no longer have to worry about where to place yourself in social gatherings since you can pick up sounds from all directions.
50% improvement in speech awareness
TwinLink dual-streaming provides wearers with improved environmental and speech awareness while streaming.A 2019 internal study explored the benefit of having dual streaming capability within a CROS solution. Results of the recent Oticon CROS dual-streaming study showed a 50% improvement in speech awareness when streaming while transmitting sound from the poorer ear side to the better ear.**Participants in the study listened to news stories through a ConnectClip with the Oticon CROS transmitter turned on and turned off. When the Oticon CROS transmitter was on, participants were 50% more aware of the spoken words in the noisy environment.With TwinLink, Oticon CROS brings a unique, one-of-a-kind feature and advantage to people with single-sided deafness by facilitating easier communication in many day-to-day life scenarios.**
Hear sounds around you while streaming
Oticon CROS is the world’s first solution offering TwinLink which makes it possible to connect to external audio streams while simultaneously having access to sounds on your poorer ear side.One of the many benefits of the TwinLink system is that you can watch television or listen to music while carrying on a conversation with someone positioned on your poorer ear side.
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We are very impressed with the benefit that so many of our patients are reporting with the Oticon & Widex CROS technology. Why not experience it for yourself?
Get in touch to arrange a consultation and learn more about the life-changing benefits of CROS solutions for single-sided hearing loss.
Real-life Hearing Aid Benefit with Widex EVOKE. Hearing Review. January 28, 2019***Callaway & Aaby Gade 2019, Oticon whitepaper