#135

I’m guessing the first units will be just in the small sealed RIC shape, but I don’t have rollout info on subsequent models.

#136

Yeah, I can see how the accelerometer alone would suck up enough more juice on the aids to force Oticon to go to the 13 size battery.

1 Like
#137

Not really. Conventional micro accelerometers are piezo-ceramic and make volts when you bounce them.

Oticon Announces Oticon Intent™, the World’s First Hearing Aid with User-Intent Sensors
#138

improve charging times??? maybe less then 3hrs for a full charge.
Fast charge 15"?

#139

For 138 posts we talk here about bells and whistles - DNN, 4D, BTLE, …
At the bottom a hearing aid is an amplifyer - with a mike and a speaker. So i did, what i use to do first - read the tech data sheet.
As i use the 85rite, i only compared those, but with the other horns it’s quite similar as they all depend on the microphones.
Measured with the ear simulator
my more’s have input noise of 21db [directional 29}
and the intent have 22db [directional 30]
Measured with the coupler
more: 17db [directional 27]
intent: 19db [diectional 30]
So they didn’t decrease the omnipresent hisss - they even create more noise.
Of course - a lot of people won’t notice it, especially those with a flat audiogram, but for me (the typical old-age deaf) it’s there, as soon as i even turn the simple controls to “brighter” or even adjust the curve, so that i can understand a lawyer hurrying down a contract.
I know, this is due to the silicon microphones that in turn are less sensitive to humidity (and are cheaper to manufacture :wink: ). But it shows that oticon unfortunately follows the trend to add software based “hitech” toys and neglect the underlying hardware.

2 Likes
#140

No, modern micro accelerometers are all Silicon MEMS based. A 3D capacitive sensing structure that is co-packaged with a sophisticated controller die. So they do consume power, but they are very efficient drawing only µA of current at 1-3V.

Oticon Announces Oticon Intent™, the World’s First Hearing Aid with User-Intent Sensors
#141

Fair enough if they are using discrete MEMS devices: I haven’t seen the chassis (obviously) rather than sensing directly from the mic output, which you’re ’paying for’ already.

#142

Just saw a couple of new videos.

And

Based on this new design I wonder if they can easily offer a non rechargeable model…

3 Likes
#143

Thank you both for sharing this knowledge. I definitely learn something new about micro accelerometers today.

1 Like
#144

Thank you for sharing these videos. Interesting…

1 Like
#145

Yes, ditto on thanks to @Luga for the links to the new videos.

A few things kind of jumped out at me from the videos that I didn’t see or might have missed in the textual announcement:

  1. The Intent is actually smaller in size that the Real and More.

  2. The frequency bandwidth of the Intent is now from 80 all the way up to 10 KHz in range. I could be wrong, but I thought previous Oticon aids only go up to around 8 KHz.

  3. The new receiver (they call it MiniFitDetect. They’re self calibrating automatically and are guaranteed to be within 1 dB accuracy upon power up. And what’s also cool is that when connected to Genie 2, the size and wire length and other pertinent information stored in the memory of the receiver is transmitted via an 8-pin connector back through the aids to Genie 2. While this is pretty cool, it would make these new smart receivers become incompatible with the earlier versions of Oticon aids. Not that this is a big issue, but you can’t just exchange existing receivers you have on the More or Real (that may become your backup once you have the Intent) with the Intent anymore.

  4. Size 13 rechargeable battery (instead of size 312 like before) gives you 5 years of use, 33% less in charging time, faster charging (a full day charge in 1 hour). Probably because of this faster charging feature, the charger now is a contact charger, not contact-free induction charging anymore. So again, not compatible with previous models’ desk charger and smart charger.

2 Likes
#146

Wrong, the 10,000hz bandwidth was part of the portfolio since de Epoq XW
Alta, agil, Opn S1 , More 1, Real 1 and the sensei pro Bte 90

#147

They will be using the same accelerometers that are used in phones and smart watches. They are extremely accurate and very cheap (~$2 in high volumes). This is an example of a typical Accelerometer/Gyro combination (you or I can buy them for a few bucks, Dermant would have much better buying power.)

https://mm.digikey.com/Volume0/opasdata/d220001/medias/docus/2957/BST-BMI323-FL000-00.pdf

1 Like
#148

I am disappointed they switched back to contact charging (incompatible with the current induction chargers.) I personally have no need for ‘fast charging’ as 99+% of the time I am only charging them overnight anyway.

2 Likes
#149

good observation!
signia also uses contacts and I don’t like it, the devices don’t fit immediately

#150

But if you look at the shell, there are no external contacts.
In the video it appears the contact is from the shell to the battery internally.
Still, it will not be compatible with the existing family of chargers.

According to the faq for the rechargeables, you just drop them in, no need to push to engage external contacts on the Intent.

1 Like
#151

The contact in the video clip screenshot below only appears internal because it’s the break-out illustration. But if you look at the bottom of the shell part that’s on the left side in the picture, you’ll see some kind of hole/opening that lines up with where the contact points (highlighted inside the white circle) such that this contact point will probably protrude out through the hole so that it’ll make contact with the pins inside the charger which we cannot see in their charger illustration.

image

I’m assuming that they changed back to the contact charging approach for 2 reasons:

  1. This way they can achieve the 33% reduction in charging time and 1 hour charging time to reach a full charge, especially in light of having to charge up a much larger size 13 rechargeable battery now.

  2. If they had stuck with the induction charging now to a larger size 13 battery, and want to get a 33% reduction in charging time, they would have had to upsize the induction coil used for charging inside the hearing aid. That would have made the hearing aid bigger than before, probably too big by then.

With contact charging, they can kill 2 birds with 1 stone and not only be able to achieve their goals in 1 above, but also get a reduction in size as seen in the picture below. That area at the bottom that they manage to reduce (the dashed white outline is the old size of the previous models) is probably where the charging induction coil is in the previous models.

image

I wonder if they just use some kind of magnetic setup to allow the aid to snap into the right place to ensure that contact is made properly with the charger.

1 Like
#152

Some of that casing modification was forced by the old shell set issues with capillary issues to the battery compartment and perspiration.

I like the reduction in volume/length though.

1 Like
#153

Does anyone have any idea if there might be a plan to release these with disposable batteries?

I’m in the market for new aids, was looking at the Real 1 until I saw the rumours swirling here. The hardware looks to be a good enough upgrade to wait for, but I’m disappointed it’s only rechargeable and may look to other manufacturers if they don’t do disposable. It just doesn’t fit for me -traveling a lot, I want something that lasts longer than a day, doesn’t need another device to charge with - or at least offers a nice travel charger (the Oticon one doesn’t look compatible and is expensive and big).

Here’s hoping!

#154

You’re right even with the contact charging there is still a magnetic connection in the charger to ensure they are in correctly