Hearing Aid manufacturer Oticon has created the 'Agil' hearing aid which they say takes the work out of organising, selecting and following speech giving people with hearing loss more energy for critical cognitive function.

People of all ages are investing in electronic games and gadgets, mental exercises and memory joggers in an effort to preserve their cognitive function well into old age. According to Oticon, however, the Oticon Agil is a more practical and attractive option for maintaining an edge for people with hearing loss.

For people with hearing loss, the brain works overtime to translate signals and understand speech, especially in noisy environments such as restaurants, business meetings and social gatherings.

Oticon claim the Oticon Agil is the first hearing instrument designed to enable people with hearing loss to minimize the cognitive energy expended in typical listening environments without compromising sound quality and speech understanding.

With the breakthrough multidimensional sound processing of new Oticon Agil, speech understanding becomes more immediate so that more cognitive energy is readily available to engage in day-to-day interactions.

People with hearing loss often struggle to hear and identify sounds, using considerable energy to follow even the most casual of conversations. It takes them more time and more energy to reflect on the meaning of sounds, to remember the flow of a conversation and to respond before the conversation has moved on.

The Oticon Agil has been designed to process sound the way the human auditory system does naturally, preserving the fidelity of natural speech and spatial cues so that less energy is needed to translate and interpret the meaning of sounds.

In understanding the brain first organises sounds and selects those sounds that are most important. Once a sound is identified, the brain then follows it naturally, enabling the individual to comfortably interact in the listening environment.

Hearing loss distorts sounds therefore disrupting this process for people with hearing loss.

Oticon Agil features new technology called 'Speech Guard' which is designed to preserve natural speech cues making it easier for the auditory system to identify individual speech patterns and “lock on” to a speaker and ignore competing sounds.

When two Oticon Agil hearing instruments are worn, a wireless link allows them to share information about the listening environment and optimize their performance in such a way that the user has access to important sound details.

Staying connected to modern life through today’s high-tech communication and entertainment devices is another way that hearing impaired people maintain an active, vital lifestyle and Oticon Agil have taken this into consideration in their design.

The Oticon Agil connects wirelessly to mobile phones, MP3 music players and a variety of other communication and entertainment devices via the Oticon Streamer which features Power Bass and Music Widening which they claim makes listening to sounds richer and more enjoyable.

The Oticon Agil family of hearing solutions come in two style options: a small mini behind-the-ear device that is almost invisible on the ear and a tiny CIC model that is worn completely in the ear canal.

Oticon Agil is designed to offer people with hearing loss a simple and effective solution that significantly improves speech understanding while conserving cognitive energy so that they can continue to live an active life.