Not sure why you’re saying that Bernafon = Sonic = Philips = channel free (or band free). Maybe way back 20+ years ago like you said, but now they all can be fine tuned up to 24 channels.
Below are the screenshots for the Philips HearSuite, Bernafon Oasix NXT and Sonic ExpressFit Pro (an older 2017 version). As you can see, all 3 fitting softwares allow channel-specific fine tuning.
Bands are not equal to channels - basic audiology 101
Sonic = bernafon = Philips are channel free
Oticon does not transfer its tech to other group
Companies
Trust me there is nothing innovative here
For those who had been fitting a while a remember
Sonic used to have this feature over a decade ago
If not more I recall my clients went crazy 
I had a few I hear voices wonder if it is the same thing
Citation please.
I believe Bernafon also keeps some tech to itself such as frequency lowering, according to information from this forum.
@user246: I’m curious → where is your practice situated?
no one care for frequency lowering (the group call it frequency composition)
anybody remember AVR sono??? (sonovation)
That is one form of lowering. How do youhandle word recognition issues due to high frequency loss?
I know on my current Rexton aids the frequency lowering was automatically enabled based on my audiogram I believe Rexton, at least, can be classed as someone, refuting your statement.
You probably shouldn’t speak for everyone because I do care for the Oticon frequency lowering a lot. It’s named Speech Rescue. It’s not just frequency composition but it’s also frequency transposition combined with frequency composition. It works WONDERFULLY for me because I have severe to profound high frequency loss. I use it in every single one of my programs on my OPN 1.
OK, since you’re being technically precise with the terminology, I will give you that bands are not the same as channels technically. Bands are basically the “handles” created and made available for fine tuning adjustment in the fitting software. A multiple-channel HA can provide different number of fitting band selections that the HCP can choose in how detailed they want to make their fine tuning adjustment to be frequency-wise. But the channels are the frequency resolution of how a hearing aid is designed to do their signal processing internally.
As for your insistence that Sonic and Bernafon and Philips are all channel-free, below are some snippets I found on all 3 brands which suggest that they all use multi-channel processing technologies.
The first screenshot below says that the Bernafon Alpha has 64 channel processing (at the very bottom line of the screenshot.
The second screenshot below is a snippet of the SoundMap technology in the Philips 9030 that mentions a multi-channel design.
The third screenshot below is a snippet of the Sonic Radian Speech Processing whitepaper about its Segmented Estimation approach → in this section alone, it shows 6 mentions of the keyword “channel”.
You are the very few people who can actually benefit most people do not really feel a difference
I remember a while ago widex did lowering for most
Of its fitting it was terrible
Many of the people I had fitted can’t tell a noticeable
Difference
The specs report bands no channels for a very reason they are “channel free” - this was also confirmed by
People from bernafon, last instrument I fitted was the Serena I’m so glad we no longer carry those.
The old ones were ok, the Neo (anybody remember the tengo?)
That one was ok
You know avr sonó took a decade to try to convince
People it worked and they got nowhere
Until phonak came up with sound recover near identical
Feature and the rest is hearing health care history
I’ve never said there was, although I’ve known about it for some time and did try one of bernafons models a long time ago, i didn’t think anything of it, as in no better then anything else available.
@user246: Let me be blunt. I personally doubt your credentials as an audiologist.
doubt all you want my friend … I’m not giving profesional advice here. I had fitted quite a few, and im talking from what I have seen, bernafon and channel free is garbage so does sonic. It used to be OK, when they had the velocity, but that company was always in trouble loosing money.
it actually does, a while ago they had a feedback datalogging I thought it was somewhat useful
but I think they dump it for a reason. I haven’t check their stuff lately, until the Serena / safira
it was mostly meh
So Oticon dies transfer technology to other group members.
Not sure I agree with your take on this; the Brite 502/503 series were a great little design when RIC weren’t massively established. Only slightly let down by a receiver wire issue. The Swiss-Ear was a great novel product too.
From Zerena on they dropped the ‘channel free’ designation and have used the Oticon chips in a conventional Channel/Band configuration. This defined the merged DeMant companies using common platforms like now. Just as we’ll see the Real/(Bernafon X) iteration in the next month.
the brite , the rounded thing… Damn that’s a long time ago, well in all fairness the deltas did
had wire issue problem.
they share chips from the time of the NEO (do you remember that one?) Jump 1 chip
The chip is the same the signal processing not, this was confirmed a while a go by someone
I know, after the Serena im glad I dont have to work fitting those.
