Study demonstrates significant listening advantages with Earlens hearing technology

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Earlens Corporation, Inc.

May 13, 2021, 14:34 ET

MENLO PARK, Calif., May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A landmark study conducted by the world-renowned audiology team at The National Centre for Audiology at Western University in Ontario, Canada was just published in Trends in Hearing.

The peer-reviewed study evaluated the benefit of the extended bandwidth of the Earlens direct contact hearing technology and found that the broader range of sound proved superior in all outcome measures, demonstrating clinically meaningful benefits for patients. Those benefits included the ability to:

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Average Binaural Detection Thresholds for Frequency-Modulated Tones in Sound Field for All Participants (N¼15). Error bars indicated one standard deviation from the mean. Conditions include unaided listening versus listening with the direct drive hearing aid, programmed either with settings for use in a trial period (full bandwidth) or with narrow bandwidth test condition with gain restricted above 5000 Hz.
Average Binaural Detection Thresholds for Frequency-Modulated Tones in Sound Field for All Participants (N¼15). Error bars indicated one standard deviation from the mean. Conditions include unaided listening versus listening with the direct drive hearing aid, programmed either with settings for use in a trial period (full bandwidth) or with narrow bandwidth test condition with gain restricted above 5000 Hz.
Mean Percentage Correct Scores for Consonant Recognition in Noise and Word-Final Plural Detection in the Full Versus Narrow Bandwidth Conditions (N¼15). Error bars indicate one standard deviation. There was a significant difference between the two bandwidth conditions for both outcome measures.
Mean Percentage Correct Scores for Consonant Recognition in Noise and Word-Final Plural Detection in the Full Versus Narrow Bandwidth Conditions (N¼15). Error bars indicate one standard deviation. There was a significant difference between the two bandwidth conditions for both outcome measures.
Revolutionary Earlens® Contact Hearing Solution (PRNewsfoto/Earlens Corporation, Inc.)
Revolutionary Earlens® Contact Hearing Solution (PRNewsfoto/Earlens Corporation, Inc.)

    • Better understand sentences in situations with louder background noise
    • More accurately recognize consonant sounds that are critical for distinguishing words

Not surprisingly, patient satisfaction also proved in favor of Earlens, with the majority of patients preferring the fuller bandwidth over the narrower bandwidth associated with their acoustic hearing aids.

Dr. Drew Dundas, a co-author of the paper said: "The findings reinforce the importance of an extended bandwidth in delivering what people with hearing impairment have been requesting for years—better hearing in challenging environments. Hearing aid wearers often complain that they can hear speech but can't understand it. That is why Earlens is such a game-changing technology. By directly vibrating the eardrum, Earlens accomplishes what traditional hearing aid manufacturers have attempted to achieve through complex algorithms, which will always be constrained by the limitations of physics."

Based on the hearing benefits observed, the authors conclude that the findings support the value of restoring audibility across an extended bandwidth in hearing aid fittings for patients with mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss.*  

About the Study
Trends in Hearing (Trends) is a peer-reviewed open access journal publishing original research and reviews that focus on human hearing, hearing loss, hearing aids, auditory implants, and aural rehabilitation.

"Detection, Speech Recognition, Loudness, and Preference Outcomes with a Direct Drive Hearing Aid: Effects of Bandwidth" is available at the journal website.

About Earlens

Earlens is a privately held medical technology company committed to transforming the hearing experience for millions of people who suffer from hearing loss.

The company has developed the Earlens® Contact Hearing Solution, which was named a TIME Top 100 Invention of 2020. The Earlens system directly activates the hearing system, delivering the broadest bandwidth available today and superior sound quality. This revolutionary, nonsurgical hearing solution uses a small lens to vibrate the eardrum, replicating the natural hearing process. The Earlens® Contact Hearing Solution received FDA clearance in 2019 for a second generation of the Earlens technology. For more information, please visit www.earlens.com

*Folkeard et al. "Detection, Speech Recognition, Loudness, and Preference Outcomes With a Direct Drive Hearing Aid: Effects of Bandwidth." Trends in Hearing, April 19, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/2331216521999139

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SOURCE Earlens Corporation, Inc.

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http://www.earlens.com