Quality Control of CE-Certified Phonak Hearing Aids - 2019_19

Sonova AG20 enrolled

Overview

Phonak Hearing Systems pass through different development and study stages. At an early stage, feasibility studies are conducted to investigate new algorithms, features and functions in an isolated manner. If the benefit is proven, their performance is then investigated regarding interdependency between all available algorithms, features and functions running in parallel in a hearing aid (pivotal/pre-validation studies) and, as a result, they get optimized. Afterwards, and prior to product launch, the Phonak Hearing Systems undergo a final quality control in terms of clinical trials. This is a pre-validation study, investigating optimized algorithms, features, functions and wearing comfort. This will be a clinical evaluation which will be conducted mono centric at Sonova AG Headquarters based in Stäfa (Switzerland).

In this study one CE-labeled Phonak Behind-the-ear (BTE) devices is investigated including CE-labeled compatible accessories. The experimental device will be investigated regarding its performance of speech understanding in noise with and without an accessory existing of an external microphone to pick sound at a certain target. A secondary objective of this study is the investigation of the Overall system stability in daily life situations. The experimental device contains direct connectivity functionality. Another objective of this study is the investigation of the subjective occlusion effect of different acoustic couplings. This will be a clinical evaluation which will be conducted mono centric at Sonova AG Headquarters based in Stäfa (Switzerland).

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Interventions

Phonak Bolero M90-MDEVICE

The Phonak Bolero M90-M is a Behind-the-Ear Hearing aid with direct connectivity functionality from Phonak which will be fitted to the participants individual Hearing loss

Roger SelectDEVICE

The Roger Select is an accessory which can be connected to a compatible hearing aid. It offers an external microphone which streams signals directly to the connected hearing aid.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 99 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Adult hearing impaired persons (minimum age: 18 years, mild to moderate Hearing loss) without hearing aid experience * Good written and spoken (Swiss) German language skills * Healthy outer ear * Ability to fill in a questionnaire (p/eCRF) conscientiously * Informed Consent as documented by signature * owning a compatible smartphone * Hearing loss in range of N2-N3 (ISO 60118-15) Exclusion Criteria: * Contraindications to the MD in this study, e.g. known hypersensitivity or allergy to the investigational product * Limited mobility and not in the position to attend weekly appointments in Stäfa (Switzerland) * Limited ability to describe listening impressions/experiences and the use of the hearing aid * Inability to produce a reliable hearing test result * Known psychological problems * Central hearing disorders

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Speech intelligibility in noise

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the speech intelligibility in noise of the investigational device alone versus the active comparator. Speech understanding in noise will be evaluated with an objective and validated test procedure, the Outcome measure will be the value of speech intelligibility in percentage at a certain signal to noise ratio.

Time frame: 1 week

Secondary Outcomes

Subjective Sound quality perception

The secondary objective of this study is to investigate the overall sound quality perception of the investigational device for daily real life situations. The sound quality perception will be measured with a subjective satisfaction rating scale ranging from 0% to 100%.

Time frame: 4 weeks