Tip of the Week: Upgrading from the Baha 3 Sound Processor to Baha 4


Baha-4-Sound-Processor-upgradingEvery Wednesday, Mark Flynn, PhD, Cochlear’s Audiologist and Director of Research and Applications, gives his best Baha tips!

What to expect when upgrading from from Baha 3 to Baha 4:

Many Baha 3 users ask what the difference is between the two sound processors, and what they can expect when going from their existing system to the new Baha 4 Sound Processor.

The first thing you should notice is an immediate improvement of the sound quality. The improved signal processing makes listening in challenging situations, such as restaurants or busy streets, more comfortable.

At the heart of the Baha 4 Sound Processor is a scene classification program which is able to detect what type of situation you are in and match your listening needs to different acoustic environments. For example, if someone is speaking in a noisy environment, it will focus on extracting the speech from the background noise. Alternatively, if the situation is one with mostly noise and very little speech, the system will then focus on keeping the background noise as comfortable and unobtrusive as possible.

The Baha 4 Sound Processor is compatible with the 2.4GHz wireless technology. This means that you are able to connect to other audio sources via the Mini Microphone or TV streamer, or with your mobile phone via the Phone Clip, and have the audio streamed directly to your sound processor. Additionally, a remote control is now available so you can adjust the volume and program settings.

In most cases, the result of these technological improvements has been significantly improved hearing performance in even the most challenging listening situations. We were very happy to see that in testing, 90% of people preferred the Baha 4 Sound Processor over the Baha 3 Sound Processor. In most cases users noticed an improvement in their hearing experience immediately.