Our industry-leading bandwidth has implications for speech perception in people with hearing impairment, not least for children.
An extended bandwidth provides access to a larger number of speech sounds, as several consonant sounds contain high frequency spectral information. This increased access to speech is highly important for language development in children.
Gaining access to more speech sounds may lead to a significant improvement in the development of their speech and auditory skills.
Another area where a broad audio bandwidth makes a clear difference for hearing aid users is when they listen to music. The high frequencies provide ambience and brilliance to the sound.
Thus, the sound experience will be richer with an upper limiting frequency of 11.2 kHz when listening to a hi-hat or cymbals, for instance. Similarly, an audio bandwidth stretching as far down as 70 Hz in the music program will produce a fuller bass.