title: Multifocal amplification, a decisive step in recruitment compensation.
abstract: After several years of intense research the people at the Eriksholm Research Center in Denmark have found a new amplification principle that compensates for Loudness Recruitment in sensorineural hearing losses. This new amplification principle has been the basis for the development of the world's first fully automatic non-linear hearing aid: MultiFocus. The non-linear amplification has been found superior to the traditional linear amplification in every sense and improves life quality for the hearing impaired due to: increased listening range, improved speech intelligibility in noise, less or no problems with own voice, less occlusion problems, always correct loudness in different listening situations. One may conclude that from now on the hearing impaired can concentrate on what they hear rather than concentrate on hearing. Though simple, the fitting method for a non-linear hearing aid is different from that of a linear hearing aid. For the hearing aid fitters the challenge is to get familiar with this new way of fitting.
authors.affiliation: Oticon A/S, Hellerup, Denmark.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ahlbom
mesh_terms: D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D001299:Audiometry; D003638:Deafness / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D012001:Hyperacusis / Q000534:rehabilitation*