The signal processing power available with digital technology promises a great number of benefits for people with hearing impairment. Although the areas where improvement is needed are clear and possible solutions are obvious, digital technology has not yet provided "better-than-analogue" solutions. In particular, digital technology has not yet provided significantly better solutions to the most important end user requirements: speech intelligibility in noise, and user comfort. Researchers have commented on the limited potential for digital Signal Processing alone to effectively improve hearing in noise, and have suggested that the best solution will be a combination of digital signal processing and multi-microphones. To date such combinations have not improved performance or provided any other user benefits such as ease or convenience of use. Currently available digital hearing instruments incorporating acoustic directional microphones, or analogue directional processing do not improve speech intelligibility in noise beyond the performance of completely hybrid analogue/digital systems such as AudioZoom. This presentation describes how Phonak have applied new digital technology to resolve these problems by adopting fresh approaches to hearing instrument control, digital signal processing and multi-microphones. Although clinical trials are not
yet completed, initial test results show higher spontaneous user acceptance, and greater utility than existing hearing aids.