Unwanted noise can be distracting, confusing, and simply irritating. Sonic puts multiple Noise Reduction Technologies* to work to enable better speech understanding and greater comfort.
1) Speech Priority Noise Reduction
A hearing device’s first job is to help people better understand speech. However, most conversations have some kind of noise in the environment. Our latest technology, Speech Priority Noise Reduction works to separate speech from surrounding noise by constantly monitoring incoming sounds.
The system takes a modulation “fingerprint” of the signal. Sounds that are highly modulated—with a variety of high and low sounds—are most likely speech are preserved.
Sounds that do not show modulation—like the steady hum of a fan—are most likely noise and reduced.
Comparison of speech and noise amplitudes for the phrase “Everyday Sounds Better” with accompanying signal-to-noise ratio (‘SNR’) for a traditional noise reduction system and Speech Priority Noise Reduction (‘SPNR’).
2) Impulse Noise Reduction
Impulse Noise refers to unexpected loud sounds, like the clinking of silverware or jangling of keys. Once an impulsive sound is identified, Impulse Noise Reduction suppresses the sound without modifying other parts of the input that may contain important speech cues.
3) Soft Noise Reduction
Soft noise refers to the whirring of a fan or the soft rumble of a refrigerator. Soft Noise Reduction reduces these quiet but distracting sounds without modifying the amplification of important speech-related signals.
4) Wind Noise Reduction
Wind Noise Reduction makes time spent outdoors more enjoyable by preventing the amplification of wind sounds. When wind is detected, this feature quickly sets the lowest frequencies to an optimal omni-directional response and applies maximum attenuation across all frequencies, providing instant relief.
*Sonic products may feature one or more Noise Reduction technologies; see product specifications for details.