Widex introduces WIDEX MOMENT, the world’s first hearing aid to deliver a truly natural sound experience

[rasmus_braun]

Update: Read reviews for the Widex MOMENT on HearingTracker!

Widex introduces WIDEX MOMENT, the world’s first hearing aid to deliver a truly natural sound experience

09 March 2020

Widex today introduced WIDEX MOMENT™, the first generation of hearing aids that sound completely natural. This is achieved through Widex’ patented ZeroDelay Technology™.

WIDEX MOMENT™ breaks new ground by addressing one of the great unsolved challenges in the industry – no matter how good the sound, it still sounds like a hearing aid.

First time hearing aid users often describe the sound as ‘tinny’ and ‘artificial’. This happens when sound processed in the hearing aid reaches the eardrum a split second later than the natural sound that travels directly through or around the hearing aid’s ear-tip.

Widex is first in the industry to eliminate that ‘out of synch’ sound for patients with mild and moderate hearing loss, advancing further the trademark Widex natural sound – which already has the lowest delay time compared to competitors.

The WIDEX MOMENT™ chip platform achieves this with two distinct signal pathways, both built on the natural sound of Widex signal processing, but significantly different in processing speed and sound design.

The ‘classic’ Widex signal pathway is paired with a second ultra-fast signal pathway that adds extra gearing to the platform. This Widex ZeroDelay™ Accelerator reduces the processing delay between microphone and receiver to below 0.5 milliseconds enabling the two sound signals to meet at virtually the same time in the eardrum.

This ZeroDelay Technology™ eliminates the artificial sound quality and instead creates a more natural sound experience. This new sound experience is called Widex PureSound™.

“PureSound is a revolutionary innovation in hearing aid sound,” says Lise Henningsen, Head Audiologist at Widex.

“PureSound delivers a sound so natural that it will remind users of how they used to hear and make hearing with a hearing aid far more enjoyable. This is a huge leap for the industry, and we’re confident that fitting people with WIDEX MOMENT™ will result in more satisfied customers,” she adds.

Because WIDEX MOMENT™ has two signal pathways, it keeps all the classic Widex universal program features such as Fluid Sound Analyzer and Controller, corresponding noise reduction, wind noise reduction, variable speed compression, fine tuning compression and gain calculations, and Feedback Dynamic Cancellation Optimizer.

“The combination of fast and ultra-fast processing means the WIDEX MOMENT™ hearing aid family addresses all hearing losses from mild to severe,” adds Lise Henningsen.

The smallest lithium-ion rechargeable RIC – powered by Artificial Intelligence

WIDEX MOMENT™ is available in six different styles, including the smallest rechargeable lithium-ion receiver-in-canal device on the market.

“Users are calling for rechargeability and streaming options, but they also want discreet devices that offer up the best and latest technology. With the mRIC we’re delivering on all these vital parameters, and we’re enabling users to personalise their sound in the moment with advanced SoundSense Learn technology,” says Wibke Madsen, VP - Brand Director Widex.

SoundSense Learn is the AI algorithm that guides users to personalise their hearing and create hearing programs with their smartphones precisely, something no humans can replicate to the same degree of accuracy.

The SoundSense Learn smartphone app was introduced in the WIDEX EVOKE™ hearing aids in 2018 and uses AI powered by machine learning to guide the users in optimizing the settings to their exact needs. The app gathers a variety of anonymous data such as how often they turn the volume up or down, which sound presets they use and how many custom settings they create – including those made with SoundSense Learn.

Any settings users create via the app can be shared directly and securely with their hearing care professional back in the clinic through the Real-Life Insights feature Sharing these data helps the professional tailor their consultation more and improve their service.

About Widex

At Widex we believe in a world where there are no barriers to communication; a world where people interact freely, effortlessly and confidently. With sixty years’ experience developing state-of-the-art technology, we provide hearing solutions that are easy to use, seamlessly integrated in daily life and enable people to hear naturally. As one of the world’s leading hearing aid producers, our products are sold in more than one hundred countries, and we employ 4,000 people worldwide.

[Raudrive]

Thanks for sharing this information.

[MDB]

Tough to tell from that image, but it doesn’t appear to have the old Widex look. Perhaps influence from Signia?

[John_Green]

Interesting. If it is true. I don’t buy the idea that the crappy sounds my Marvels produce is because of processing delay. I am also skeptical of artificial intelligence in hearing aids. I would like to hear one of these set up for my loss and make my own mind up. If it really has natural sound, it should dominate the market. Considering my past experiences with the VA, I am doubtful I could get them to get these for me regardless of how good they sound. I’ll be on the look out for a review here on these.

[eric.cobb]

Good Lord Almighty I wish companies would stop marketing like this.

I know they’re all proud of their achievements, but “natural sound” is when your hearing was normal. There is no such thing when adding a device to the ear, and I also find it hard to believe that there is “Zero processing time.” A hearing aid has to take sound in as an analog, convert it to digital, rearrange it, convert it back to analog, then get it into your ear. That is always going to take a few thousandths of a second.

[hass5744]

If I haven’t learned anything it’s to not believe a manufacturers claim. The only way to tell something is to try the aid yourself. I don’t see any manufacturer saying our hearing aids sound robotic.

[eric.cobb]

My point is stop trying to be king of the hill…

X manufacturer can create something this week that Z manufacturer can more or less replicate next month. No one manufacturer is head and shoulders above any other manufacturer right now, they are all building products that perform well.

When every manufacturer is saying their product does something that no one else’s does, it creates a huge amount of confusion and frustration in the public at large, and ultimately, “Analysis Paralysis.”

I don’t even had out brochures unless a patient insists because guess what? They all say theirs is better than everyone else’s which is not true.

They need to start talking about the importance of caring for hearing, and all the bad stuff that can happen if you don’t choose to treat your hearing loss. A rising tide floats every boat in the harbor. If the manufacturers would get together and create a unified message, people like me that do this for a living would all be better off, the manufacturers would be better off, because I believe that patients would be more inclined to treat their hearing loss.

[ziploc]

As a musician the promise of a more natural sound is great. But as a general HA user I would much prefer an emphasis on improved speech recognition (especially in noise) compared to Widex’s most recent models.

[hass5744]

You sound like my audiologist. Thank you for your honesty

[hold4triple]

And your point is well taken but of course HA manufactures will continue to “spin” their HA descriptions as if John Q. Public has no clue what a HA does or how it differs from last year model. Personally I’ve always felt HA’s should have the same (brand name) year in year out, possibly with a noted symbol additive for a noted technology upgrade. But HA manufactures want to confuse the public and make them think that a 2020 HA model is a complete upgrade from the same 2019 HA model. Hey - just change the name from ultra quality xxx HA in 2019 with natural incoming sound to supreme quality xxx with fantastic incoming sound for 2020. Of course the HA hasn’t changed one bit from year too year but of course the advertising department added three more staff members to spin the spin.

I’m not saying HA’s haven’t improved over the years - but its a slow process and just because some company claims its 2020 HA offers “better hearing” doesn’t mean you really get an benefit at all versus the previous HA model.

[PRR]

Thanks, Rasmus.

@John_Green

I don’t buy the idea that the crappy sounds my Marvels produce is because of processing delay.

I’ve worked with delayed audio for decades. It matters some, but not like some audio-$ellers claim.

This “innovation” actually seems to address “vented” fittings. The bass comes through the vent. Treble comes after processing delay. Where they overlap you can have peak/dip interference, true; as illustrated in that over-glamorous video. (I would not look good in that purple dress.)

Here is the classic case without delay in the aid:

The dip at 450Hz is the direct path and the aid path out-of-phase. If noted, it can be fixed by flipping wires (in days when aids had wires).

With more delay (snazzy digitals) you can make many more peak/dips.

And a less-delay path will be less dippy.

If you shift them around you have a “phaser” for swirly music. If stationary, you don’t hear it in broadband music. But speech is sparse and if more than a couple speech tones fall in dips, much intelligibility is lost.

But I do wonder how this works when 9/10 of the aid and the claims is a HEAVY processing path which, to minimize battery drain, must be “slow”. If direct sound is 0mS, and they zip part of the sound in 0.5mS, but the process sound is 10mS, how do they bring them together without dippy cancellation and “hollow sound”?

BTW: if you wonder what-all is inside a modern HA, they have TMI in a woefully under-exposed image, which I have lightened-up:

[grantb5]

Fancy pants block diagram. It’s likely only a couple of chips at best.

[PRR]

@grantb5

only a couple of chips at best.

We long ago lost any connection between number of functions and number of chips. And many of those HA functions actually happen in one DSP, are only conceptually separate algorithms.

I think if a HA has more than one chip they are losing money.

However I suspect BlueTooth and audio DSP CMOS are two chips because the speeds are so radically different (kHz vs GHz).

[eric.cobb]

Especially considering that the majority of advances in digital hearing aid tech have come pretty much solely in the form of smarter algorithms, and faster sampling rates.

As far as I know, and I may be wrong, there have been no quantum leaps forward in components, receivers and microphones for over a decade.

[hold4triple]

Well people like to compare what an iPhone does for say $1000 versus what a new HA does for say $2000 plus. Yea I know we are comparing apples and oranges but obviously HA’s (in general) have not progressed as fast as other technology over the last ten years. The emphasis now seems to be more in streaming, battery power and reduced size versus some radical change to improve actual hearing. I think the most frustrating part for long term HA users is dealing with background noise while wearing a HA. That problem has existed for ever and yet no one yet has found a reliable solution to improve HA use in noisy locations.

[cvkemp]

If there is one think I have learned over the years is that marketing runs the companies and not the engineers, or even the CEO. Marketing seems to say what they want so they can sell the most.
And there is no such a thing as zero processing time, and there will never be such a thing.

[eric.cobb]

Nice.

In your opinion, what is the weakest link in “natural” sound reproduction in hearing aids aside from processing delay? My vote would be for microphones, but I am not an acoustic engineer.

[cvkemp]

Eric I some times ask myself and I have even asked my Audi. What is natural sound? It has been so long that I no long know what really sounds natural.

[tinkyp]

I don’t have any issues with background noise and have worn Widex for over 20 years. The Evoke 440s are amazing for this. The speech recognition frequently is better than that of normal hearing in noisy situations, it always sounds natural and I love wearing them. I have a significant hearing loss but no one would know that.

[tinkyp]

Natural sound for me is having the little hearing that I have feeling like it has been made louder and then hearing perfectly without feeling like I am wearing hearing aids. I get that from Widex only. I have tried Phonak, Starkey and Resound and they sounded like hearing aids. So I have now worn Widex for over 20 years because I don’t want to feel like I need or am wearing hearing aids.