BrainHearing™ — Listening with less effort1

Better hearing starts with your brain

Your ears pick up sounds, but it’s your brain that actually lets you understand them. 

Your brain is your natural sound filter

It’s responsible for deciding which sounds are important and for making sense of everything you hear. That’s why our BrainHearing philosophy is all about supporting your brain so it can do its job and make listening easier.

BrainHearing

The way you hear

When sound reaches your brain, there are four fundamental functions your brain carries out to make sense of it:

  • Orient according to the position of sounds
  • Separate sound sources
  • Focus on what's important
  • Recognise what each sound is and give it meaning

All of this happens simultaneously in your brain. 

 

Making sense of sound

Research shows that the brain needs access to the full sound scene to help it make sense of what it hears.2,3  If your brain doesn’t get the sound information it needs, it can’t do its job, and listening takes more effort.1

The BrainHearing technology in Ponto 5 opens up your full 360° soundscape – for access to more sound than ever before.

 

Hearing health is brain health

When your brain has access to more sound, this can help you feel more empowered, even in challenging listening situations.
You get the option to shift your focus, to switch conversations and to follow what's going on.

What’s more, good hearing helps your brain stay fit throughout your life – and helps avoid many other health problems.4,5,6  

BrainHearing technology

A 360° always-open approach

Unlike traditional technology, OpenSound Navigator™ continuously adjusts to provide access to clear speech and other sounds from all around you – in quiet and noisy environments.

3 steps in a split second

Analyse

Scans the 360° sound environment more than 100 times per second to accurately identify and separate noise from speech.

Balance

Rapidly reduces loud noise levels from specific directions while preserving speech. Preserves background sounds without disturbing your listening environment. 

Noise removal

Attenuates remaining background noise so quickly and effectively, it can even remove noise between individual words.

Research confirms that this open soundscape gives the brain what it needs to create a better listening experience.1 It is proven to significantly improve speech understanding* and reduce listening effort.**

BrainHearing technology

Revolutionary feedback prevention

Get close to what you love – including hugging, wearing your favourite hat, or resting against a couch – without worrying about distortion.

What traditional sound processors lack

When something or someone comes very close to a traditional sound processor, it can cause annoying whistling sounds called feedback. Traditional technology manages feedback by reducing sound amplification, but this can lead you to miss out on speech understanding.7

OpenSound Optimizer™ to the rescue

By analysing amplified sound 56,000 times per second, and using a patented breaker signal, OpenSound Optimizer detects and stops audible feedback before it occurs.  This means you don’t have to compromise on the dynamics of sound and can get more stable, consistent and clear sound all day.†

 

Sound without surgery

Get the benefits of BrainHearing technology without implant surgery. The Softband 5 is a comfortable and practical solution that gives you impressive sound transmission from your Ponto sound processor.

Explore Softband 5

For parents

If your child has a hearing loss, we understand how important it is for you to get the best solution for their needs. Find out if Ponto 5 with BrainHearing technology could be the right solution.

Learn about Ponto for children

Meet other users

If you’re considering Ponto with or without an implant, it’s natural to have a lot of questions. Find out about the journey to better hearing by reading or watching real user experiences.

See their stories

†For prescribed fittings, according to best practice and during normal use8
*Increased speech understanding when comparing performance with OpenSound Navigator ON relative to OpenSound Navigator OFF. Measured for the Ponto Mini style and Ponto 5 SuperPower style.1,9
**Measured for the Ponto Mini style1

1. Data on file at Oticon Medical - Clinical study BC102
2. O’Sullivan, et al. (2019). Hierarchical Encoding of Attended Auditory Objects in Multi-talker Speech Perception. Neuron, 104(6), 1195-1209.
3. Puvvada, K. C. et al. (2017). Cortical representations of speech in a multitalker auditory scene. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(38), 9189-9196.
4. Amieva, H., et al. (2018). Death, depression, disability, and dementia associated with self-reported hearing problems: a 25-year study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 73(10), 1383-1389
5. Lin, F. R., et al. (2011). Hearing loss and incident dementia. Archives of Neurology, 68(2), 214-220
6. Lin, F. R., et al. (2012). Hearing loss and falls among older adults in the United States. Archives of internal medicine, 172(4), 369-371
7. Callaway, Susanna (2019). Introduction to OpenSound Optimizer™. Oticon Whitepaper
8. Data on file at Oticon Medical
9. Data on file at Oticon Medical - Clinical study BC109