Certain speech sounds are also transient. For example, the English plosives /p, b, t, d, k, g/ have a transient part. It has been a very important goal during the development of the TruSound Softener that transient speech sound must never be attenuated by the algorithm.
Thanks to the Speech and Noise Envelope Characteristics Model in the Steep Gradient Detector, which is the detection mechanism in the TruSound Softener, transient noise sounds can be identified and handled efficiently and securely without speech sounds being affected in any way.
Transient sounds require special treatment
Because transient sounds are so brief, the system has very little time to react before it is too late. What is needed, therefore, is a compression system that is capable of instantaneous gain reduction. This is what we have achieved with the invention of the TruSound Softener.
With the introduction of the TruSound Softener in Widex CLEAR440 and SUPER440, instantaneous gain reduction becomes possible because transients are detected already in the broadband signal. This gives the system time to warn the compression system that it has to switch to a new, extremely fast-acting compression mode which can reduce gain instantly.
Gain adjustment according to the individual hearing loss
Widex’ overall fitting strategy is that soft sounds should be audible, speech should be intelligible, and loud sounds should be loud but not uncomfortable.
Our efforts to provide a comfortable listening experience must therefore never result in the hearing aid users being deprived of transient sounds.
Gain is therefore reduced relative to the user’s individual hearing loss to provide the users with a comfortable, yet realistic rendition of the sound environment they find themselves in.