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Personalization is something that consumers of today want and expect.
With regard to hearing health care,
a more personalized process actually highlights the value of the hearing care
professional,
and the patient also gives higher satisfaction ratings for the process itself,
for the interaction with the hearing care professional, and with the final
outcome.
The information from the audiogram guides the fitting in very
specific, but limited ways.
The new technology in Alta
actually reveals new dimensions of how the sound should be presented
to each individual
in order to have the best possible outcome.
In the past, we've relied on fine-tuning to increase the level of patient
satisfaction.
We view fine-tuning as a way of adjusting the fitting, correcting things
that may not be
completely accurate or completely correct for the patient.
In reality, we believe that the patient may be judging the sound quality
with a different set of criteria than the hearing care provider. It really may
not be that it's an inaccurate fitting,
it is that the patient is prioritizing different parameters.
The Alta fitting process is designed to proactively include the patient's input.
It is very clear to the patient, right from the beginning,
that their perceptual auditory experiences
are what is driving the way the instrument functions.
A major aspect of the Alta fitting process is to go from an acceptable fitting
to an excellent fitting,
to take an initial fitting of a product that state of the art technologies and
further refine the sound to best match the preferences of the patient.
Within Alta, there are many options to change the sound processing approach
on several performance dimensions,
and no single combination of settings will be optimal for all patients.
One of the new features in the Alta personalization process is YouMatic.
It is the control system within Alta
and is part of the Genie software.
YouMatic is a game-changer.
It shifts the discussion to a more proactive process, asking the patient to
do some simple, but meaningful listening samples.
The sound samples are based on A and B comparisons.
When we use
sound samples,
it takes the words out of the conversation
and we get a clear understanding
of how a patient needs to have the sounds presented to them.
We conducted beta testing with Alta and the Alta fitting enhancements.
We measured on the top ten predictors of overall patient satisfaction.
When we looked at overall satisfaction, we see a dramatic shift in satisfaction.
We attribute this to both great technology
and very good fitting experience.
When we look at overall benefit,
the number one predictor of overall satisfaction, we see again
Alta has kicked up satisfaction significantly.
The last example, overall clarity.
This is an aesthetic dimension.
How clear does it sound?
Again dramatic increased results from the combination of Alta's excellent
technology and an excellent fitting approach.
The most important take away from all of this is the value that the hearing care
professional brings by guiding the patient through the personalization
process.
Alta is the most advanced instrument that Oticon has ever designed.
The patient can now hear the way they like without having to sacrifice
how they need to hear,
and this brings a new level of patient satisfaction.