Unitron Announces Next Generation Sound Processing Platform

Era Platform Powers New High-fidelity Quantum and Moxi Product Families

April 06, 2011 - Kitchener, Canada – Unitron, a global provider of world-class hearing innovations announced today the release of Era™, the company’s next generation sound processing platform, representing a significant technological leap forward for the company in high-fidelity sound. Era lays the groundwork for the company’s new Quantum™ and Moxi™ product brands, scheduled for market release in late Spring. 

Designed by Sonova and purpose-driven by Unitron, the Era platform offers double the processing speed enabling high-resolution sensors for precise analysis of the most complex sound environments; double the capacity and memory providing the delivery of more natural sound quality; and small chip technology with extensive computational capability. 

“This next generation platform, the most innovative in the industry today, is the outcome of a close research & development collaboration between Unitron and our global parent Sonova,” says Michael Tease, Unitron president and CEO. “Our innovation strategy is motivated by a passion to provide people with enhanced speech understanding. Market-leading technology, such as the Era platform, allows us to meet that objective and deliver a portfolio of intuitive hearing instruments that are truly focused on making a difference in the lives of those with hearing loss.”

The Era platform offers four new signature features which will be leveraged across Unitron’s high-fidelity Quantum and Moxi product families. These signature features include:

• Automatic performance with SmartFocus™ - With the Era platform, Unitron has advanced automatic technology by enabling the custom blending of the hearing instruments’ response based on high-resolution sensing and precise classification of the complex sound environment. The Automatic Program is further enhanced by clinically¹ proven SmartFocus, now always at work in the background, for improved speech intelligibility or comfort providing a truly effortless way to enjoy all of life’s sounds. 
  
  
• Pinna Effect - The location of hearing instrument microphones alters the natural sound quality enjoyed by people with normal hearing. The Era platform’s Pinna Effect uniquely corrects for the location of the hearing instrument microphones in ITEs and BTEs. 
  
  
• Natural Sound Balance - Natural Sound Balance is an integral part of Unitron’s open-fit strategy. It continuously monitors the combination of unamplified and amplified sounds entering the ear canal and makes precise adaptive adjustments to preserve one clear, balanced signal. 
  
  
• Best in class wireless - The Era platform offers the most advanced broadband wireless capabilities, offering a fast and stable wireless connection to various devices and for programming.

Quantum and Moxi will be released with Unitron’s new TrueFit™, fitting software designed with input from hearing healthcare professionals to ensure simplified, successful fittings.

“I am excited to introduce our customers to the incredible advancements in high-fidelity sound, further speech intelligibility and automatic performance enabled by the new Era platform,” says Rodney Schutt, president and CEO, Unitron U.S. “These advancements are not only market leading. They are further proof of our commitment to focus on what matters — client acceptance and satisfaction. When our customers fit Unitron hearing instruments, they can be confident that the technology will address the real-life hearing challenges of the clients in their care."

The Era™ platform will be showcased within the Unitron booth at AudiologyNOW!, taking place in Chicago from April 6-9, 2011. Conference attendees are also invited to participate in Unitron’s ‘Favorite Sound’ program, by dropping by the Unitron booth to contribute a photo and their favorite sound to be featured in an impact movie for release in May during Speech and Hearing month.

¹Source: (Study conducted at two sites, University of Rochester and Louisiana Tech University, testing how hearing instrument wearers fit with SmartFocus™ perform in speech in noise. Results from the two study sites revealed a 1.8 dB (16%) improvement in speech intelligibility in noise in a vented fit and a 13.5% improvement in an open fit.)

About Unitron

Unitron is a global innovator of technologically advanced hearing instruments. We care deeply about people with hearing loss and work closely with hearing healthcare professionals to make advanced, purpose-driven solutions available to everyone. Headquartered in the Waterloo Region, Canada, Unitron, a member of the Sonova Group, meets the needs of our customers through 18 international offices and through distributors in a further 46 countries. For more information, please visit us on the web at unitron.com.