What Is Lyric Hearing?

Better Hearing and Sound Quality with Lyric Hearing Aids

Lyric is a unique hearing aid in that it is placed deep into the bony portion of the ear canal. Lyrics small speaker resides 4 mm from the ear drum. The deep ear canal placement provides a number of sound quality benefits as follows:

• Improved drectionality and localization (ability to tell where sounds are coming from). This is because its deep placement in the ear canal allows the Pinna (outer part of the ear) to interact naturally with incoming sounds. The acoustic transformations produced by the pinna as sound enters the ear canal contribute to the ability to accurately determine where sounds are coming from in the environment. We can better make use of the timing and intensity cues to localise where sounds are coming from and also to separate speech from the competing sounds in the environment. We are therefore better able to selectively attend to the source (desired talker of interest).
• The deep canal placement minimises the occlusion effect (the blocked feeling in the ear canal). This is because the deeper canal placement extends into the bony portion of the ear canal and there is less residual volume between the end of Lyric and the ear drum. This in effect reduces the trapped vibrations that cause the occlusion effect.

• Lyric Hearing aids are less likely to feedback (the whistling sound traditional hearing aids can make) for several reasons as follows:

–         The speaker or receiver of Lyric sits closer to the ear drum and therefore requires less output to accommodate comparable degrees of hearing loss. This decreases the chance of feedback occurring.

–         A reduction of the occlusion effect due to the deep canal placement of Lyric eliminates the need for vents and as a result there is one less pathway for sound to leak out and for feedback to occur.

–         Lyric requires less amplification between 2000-3000 Hz due to the contribution of amplification by the ears natural anatomy, which is the frequency range that most commonly contributes to feedback.

–         Lyric resides mainly in the hard-walled bony portion of the ear canal with less of the hearing aid in the cartilaginous portion of the ear canal compared to traditional hearing aids. Therefore there is less opportunity for the device to move and create a gap between the ear canal and the device around which sound can escape and produce feedback.

–         Lyric is anchored in the ear canal with two soft, compliant “seals” that conform to irregular shapes and contours of various ear canals, even when the ear changes shape during chewing and talking. This prevents slippage of the device which, with traditional hearing aids, causes gaps to form between the aid and the canal wall resulting in sound leakage and feed-back.

• Improved High-Frequency Gain (ability to hear high pitched sounds) with the deep canal fitting. The increase can be up to 15dB in the high frequencies and is caused primarily by a combination of two factors.
• Reduced residual ear canal volume between the receiver and the ear drum
• The microphone location deeper in the ear canal allowing for Pinna effects
• Additional Advantages
• Security of fit and retention
• Comfort: 94% of Lyric users rate Lyric’s comfort as better than their prior hearing aids
• Reduction of wind noises as no exposed microphones.
• Ability to use ear-level listening devices, such as a telephone, headphones, or stethoscope, with little to no feedback or inconvenience.