Electroencephalography (EEG) and subjective tests conducted at Hörzentrum Oldenburg and Fraunhofer IDMT (Branch Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology) found, that both listening effort and memory effort were reduced, when using a Phonak device with StereoZoom, compared to a competitive device with an alternative noise reduction microphone approach. The effect was particularly prominent in challenging listening situations where listening effort was reduced by 18%. Read the full report: https://bit.ly/2DIXBW6

1. Less listening and memory effort in noisy situations
with StereoZoom
Field Study News

2. Introduction
Listening effort is an important benefit dimension in
our hearing aids as we are learning that its reduction
means you do not need the same amount of cognitive
resources to hear.
2

3. Introduction
Challenging listening
situations require a narrow
beam to improve speech intelligibility and
to reduce listening effort for hearing aid
users.
3

4. Introduction
StereoZoom uses binaural,
directional microphone technology to
create a narrow beam in especially
challenging listening situations.
4

5. Study motivation:
Use an objective measure to
show differences in listening effort
when using different hearing aid algorithms under
the same environmental conditions.

6. Methods
Environmental conditions
Noise signal: diffuse cafeteria noise 65 dB SPL.
Participants listened to a speech signal presented at 0°
Objective measure
Brain activity was recorded from a custom-made elastic
Electoencephalography (EEG) cap.
Subjective measure
Participants answered the following questions on a scale of 0-10
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7. EEG results – brain activity
7
StereoZoom
Competitor
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.5
2.7
2.9
3.1
3.3
All Listening Conditions
SpectralDensity
EEG measures show that brain activity (associated with listening effort) with StereoZoom
was lower than the competitor across both poor and good listening conditions (p=0.044)

8. Subjective rating results – listening effort
8
StereoZoom
Competitor*
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
All Listening Conditions
Listeningeffortrating
P<.05
Listening effort with StereoZoom was lower than competitor across both
challenging and easy listening conditions (p.=.046)

9. Subjective rating results – memory effort
9
StereoZoom
Competitor
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
All listening conditions
Memoryeffortrating
Memory effort with StereoZoom was lower than competitor across both
challenging and easy listening conditions (p=.041)

10. Phonak Field Study News
Winneke, A., Latzel, M. & Appleton-Huber, J. (2018)
Less listening - and memory effort in noisy situations with StereoZoom.
READ THE FULL REPORT