Introducing BrainHearing™

Explore our unique BrainHearing philosophy

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What BrainHearing means

Oticon has always taken the approach of developing hearing aids that support the brain in how it
makes sense of sound.

At Oticon we walk a certain path – we support the brain in making sense of sound. Rather than only focusing on the ears, we think brain first. It’s a journey of constant discovery – one that we’ve followed for decades – where we explore brain-related territories in audiology. We call this unique thinking BrainHearing.

Scientific research makes it clear that our brains need access to the full sound scene. We need to give the brain more from its surroundings. This unique way of thinking is the foundation for the life-changing technology we develop and for setting new standards in treating hearing loss.

Hearing science has shown that the brain needs access to the full sound scene in order to work in a natural way

1.

The brain’s hearing centre

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2.

The hearing process

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3.

From hearing problem to brain problem

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4.

The BrainHearing perspective

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The brain’s hearing centre
comprises two subsystems

Two subsystems work together inside the brain to help the brain make sense of sound:
the orient subsystem and the focus subsystem.*

 

icon_1
Orient subsystem

The orient subsystem always comes first. When we hear, it scans all surrounding sounds – no matter their nature or direction – to create a full perspective of the sound scene. It then creates an overview of the sound objects around us.

icon_1-2Focus subsystem

The focus subsystem helps people select which sounds to listen to. Once we have an overview of the sound objects around us, we use the focus subsystem to identify the sound we want to focus on, listen to or switch attention to, while filtering out irrelevant sounds.

A good neural code is key to
making sense of sound

When sounds reach the inner ear, they are converted into a signal that is sent to the brain. This is what we call the neural code which is sent via the auditory nerve to the brain’s hearing centre – the auditory cortex. There, these neural codes become meaningful sound objects,
which the orient and focus subsystems can use.

 

icon_number_1Orient subsystem

Needs a good neural code to create an overview of the sound objects and begin separating sounds to determine what is going on in the surroundings. This provides the brain with the best conditions to decide what to focus on and listen to.

icon_number_2Focus subsystem

Navigates through the full perspective of the sound scene. It identifies the sound it wants to focus on, listen to or switch attention to, and irrelevant sounds are filtered out.

Two subsystems

working together continuously and simultaneously

While maintaining focus, the brain actually distracts itself on purpose by checking in on the rest of the environment four times every second. This allows our focus hearing to switch attention if something important appears in the sound scene.

When the two subsystems work well together, the rest of the brain can work optimally, which makes it easier to recognise, store and recall sounds, and respond to what is happening.

As depicted in the graphic below, the orient subsystem scans the sound scene and the focus subsystem focuses on sounds of interest.

Sound processing by the brain involves a constant interaction between the orient- and focus subsystems. It is a continuous process that makes sure our present focus is always prioritised.

Continuously and simultaneously

The research behind
the subsystems

Watch our Senior Research Audiologist and Ph.D., Elaine Ng share the insights into the methods behind the recent research.

Inadequate treatment of hearing loss can turn a hearing problem into a brain problem

Downgrading input to the brain and failing to treat the hearing loss in the correct way can have a variety of consequences. Some of these include increased listening effort and mental load, reorganised brain function, and an acceleration of cognitive decline and brain volume shrinkage.

 

Hearing problems can lead to brain problems

The brain needs access to the full perspective of the sound scene to work as it should. Not receiving this can lead to brain problems.

Brain problems can become life problems

When access to the right input is limited, a hearing problem can lead to problems in life.***

A hearing problem can lead to

brain problems

  1. Increased listening effort

    With less sound information, it’s harder for the brain to recognise sounds. It has to fill in the gaps, which requires more listening effort.

  2. Increased mental load

    Having to guess what people are saying and what’s happening increases the mental load on the brain and leaves less mental capacity for remembering and performing.

  3. Reorganised brain functionality

    Without enough stimulation in the hearing centre, the visual centre and other senses start to compensate, which changes the function of the brain.

  4. Accelerated cognitive decline 

    Increased mental load, lack of stimulation and reorganised brain functionality is linked to accelerated cognitive decline, which affects the ability to remember, learn, concentrate, and make decisions.

  5. Accelerated brain volume shrinkage

    All human brains reduce in size with age, but the shrinkage process accelerates when the brain has to work against the natural way it processes sound.

          
Downgrading sound input to the brain and failing to treat the hearing loss in the correct way can have a variety of consequences.**
And so, brain problems,

can turn into life problems

  1. Social isolation and feelings of depression

    People with untreated hearing loss can end up avoiding social gatherings because they’re unable to cope with complex sound environments.

  2. Poor balance and fall-related injuries

    Untreated hearing loss can affect balance, increasing the risk of fall-related injuries three-fold.

                 
A limited sound scene without access to the right input can lead to problems in life.***

Changing perspective
to change lives

To ensure hearing aids deliver the right input to the brain, they must be able to deliver a good neural code and have access to the full sound scene. Slide to view our perspective to help the brain work naturally.

Conventional perspective

Conventional technology suppresses the natural sound input and delivers a poorer quality neural code to the brain

Brainhearing perspective

The best way to support the natural hearing system is to provide access to the full sound scene to people with hearing loss

When you suppress the sound
scene, you suppress the hearing system

With its directionality, gain reduction, speech prioritisation and traditional compression, conventional hearing aid technology restricts people’s access to the full sound scene.

This limiting approach suppresses the natural sound input and delivers a poorer quality neural code to the brain. To optimally treat hearing loss, we need to work with the brain and provide it with the full sound perspective to support the two hearing subsystems.

It's time to

think beyond conventional technology

That’s why we need to work with the brain and provide it with the full sound perspective
to support the two hearing subsystems.

When hearing aids suppress sounds, the ears send a poor
neural code to the brain.

Providing the full sound scene supports the natural hearing system

To create the full perspective of sounds and the ability to maintain strong focus, hearing aids must be able to ensure that all relevant sounds are accessible, clear, comfortable and audible in any situation. This will ensure they deliver a good neural code to the brain that it can easily decode. And with a high-quality neural code, people can handle the full sound scene.

The story behind

our BrainHearing philosophy

Our journey to deliver life-changing technology to support the way the brain processes sound naturally.

Oticon has always taken a different path in order to support the brain in how it makes sense of sound. Rather than focusing on sound or the ears, we think brain first. It’s a constant journey of research and discovery, as we, together with Eriksholm Research Centre, explore new scientific audiological territory.

Where other hearing aid manufacturers have used a ‘less is more’ approach to sound processing, we have taken a different path.

We believe the brain needs access to all sounds – not just speech from the person standing in front of the listener – because the brain benefits from having as much sound information as possible to work with. Providing the full sound environment is the best way to ensure the brain can perform naturally.

Our BrainHearing philosophy continues to inspires us to develop innovative technology that significantly improves the lives of people with hearing loss.

Generations ahead with BrainHearing

Each milestone of our BrainHearing journey is supported by evidence of the user-benefits, such as improved speech understanding, better memory recall, enhanced access to all sounds, and – with our latest innovation in 2024 – intention-based personalisation.

*The above illustration represents the development of our BrainHearing technology and not the technology, features and accessories of any one device. 

Like to know more?

Download the whitepaper to discover even more about BrainHearing

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* O’Sullivan et al. (2019); Puvvada & Simon (2017).

** 1. Pichora-Fuller, M. K., Kramer, S. E., Eckert, M. A., Edwards, B., Hornsby, B. W., Humes, L. E., ... & Naylor, G. (2016). 2. (Rönnberg, J., Lunner, T., Zekveld, A., Sörqvist, P., Danielsson, H., Lyxell, B., ... & Rudner, M. (2013). 3. Sharma, A., & Glick, H. (2016). 4. Uchida, Y., Sugiura, S., Nishita, Y., Saji, N., Sone, M., & Ueda, H. (2019). 5. Lin FR, Ferrucci L, An Y, Goh JO, Doshi J, Metter EJ, et al.

*** 1. Amieva, H., Ouvrard, C., Meillon, C., Rullier, L., & Dartigues, J. F. (2018). 2. Lin, F. R., Metter, E. J., O’Brien, R. J., Resnick, S. M., Zonderman, A. B., & Ferrucci, L. (2011).