Oticon Intiga Satisfaction Survey 2012

Oticon Intiga
Satisfaction Survey 2012
Oticon Intiga satisfaction survey shows that
Intiga is very easy to adjust to for first-time users.
Improved speech understanding,
great sound quality, comfortable when
worn and easy to handle are all part of why
Intiga users perceive immediate acceptance and
immediate benefits from their hearing instruments.
Hearing care professionals report high satisfaction
with the Intiga hearing solution and they are
very likely to recommend Intiga to their colleagues.
Julie Neel Weile, M.A.
Clinical Research Audiologist
In the fall of 2011, a new hearing instrument in the
Design category of Oticon’s portfolio was launched.
Oticon Intiga was created to appeal especially to
first-time users with great focus on design and
aesthetics while unwilling to compromise on performance and sound quality.
Oticon Intiga comprises audiological features that
ensure immediate acceptance and immediate benefits for persons new to amplification. While keeping
a small size, Intiga offers fully wireless function and
features as Speech Guard and Spatial Sound with
binaural compression and spatial noise management.
Oticon’s new First Fit Algorithm was introduced with
Intiga. It helps the user adjust to the amplified signal
by emphasizing medium level input in mid and high
frequencies where speech information is predominant. Changes encompass reduction of low-level
input and loud level inputs across frequencies are
now attenuated a bit more to ensure that sound is
not uncomfortable for the first-time user (Figure 1).
Updates to Oticon’s automatic adaptation
manager – the First Fit Algorithm
LF
MF
HF
Loud
Medium
Soft
Figure 1: Schematic overview of the changes in
the settings of Step 1 in the Adaptation Manager.
Results from Clinical Study 2011
The acceptance and benefits of the Oticon Intiga
hearing instrument was documented by a two-site
study in Germany and the United States with 42
first-time hearing instrument users participating
(Behrens 2011)1).
Oticon Intiga was shown to provide advantages very
important for new hearing instrument users; immediately perceived benefits of amplification and minimal side effects. Immediate acceptance and immediate benefits of amplification and instrument use was
tested from the very first day of hearing aid experience and through the first month of use. Participants showed immediate positive acceptance on
important parameters such as good physical comfort, comfort of loud sounds and sound of own voice.
Furthermore, participants indicated that they were
happy with their decision of obtaining hearing aids
and were likely to become long-term users of amplification. These positive reactions were maintained
throughout the test period.
Immediate benefits were also objectively measured.
Laboratory measures of speech understanding in
speech noise and steady-state noise and listening
effort were explored. Intiga improved speech understanding in both types of noise significantly for the
first-time users. The significant improvement was
present from the very first day of use and sustained
and even improved through the test period of one
month. Listening effort was likewise significantly
improved by Intiga; the amplification enabled the
participants to expend less effort when listening for
speech in noise in a range of SNRs.
Follow up Survey 2012
A new follow-up survey investigates how Intiga has
been received in everyday use by end-users and
hearing care professionals from seven markets.
Distribution of respondents across countries
Hearing Care Professionals
First-Time Users
Australia
Canada
France
Germany
United Kingdom
United States
Australia
Netherlands
United States
Figures 2 and 3: Distribution of hearing care professionals and first-time user respondents.
Responses from experienced users came from US and Australia only.
Intiga Satisfaction Survey 2012
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Survey participants could complete questionnaires
online or by pen and paper. Intiga users were asked
about similar parameters as in the Behrens et al.
study.
This included:
• physical comfort of the instruments in the ear
• comfort of loud sound
• performance regarding speech understanding in
quiet
• performance regarding speech understanding in
challenging situations
• adjustment to hearing instrument use
• sound quality
• the instrument itself (design, handling & robustness)
• their satisfaction with the instrument
Ratings were given on a scale from 0 to 10, with
anchor points at the extremes. Here 10 indicated a
very positive rating, and 0 indicated a very negative
rating. Anchor points changed to fit the questions.
For hearing care professionals, the questions concerned first fit, fitting software, and satisfaction on
their own and their client’s part.
Respondents/Background
Respondents in the hearing care professional group
are mostly audiologists (80%) and/or owners (43%).
Just over two thirds work in an independent clinic
while the remaining third work in clinics that are part
of a chain or different setups.
Forty-one percent of the first-time users participating in the study were between 61 and 70 years old.
The first-time users in the study are quite new to
amplification. A third of them have worn their hearing instruments for less than 5 weeks, a third for 5 to
15 weeks, and a third have worn Intiga for more than
16 weeks. This usage pattern reflects the recent
timing of the release in the fall of 2011.
The majority of the participants are diligent users;
most of them (67%) are wearing the instruments all
day long, one fourth most of the day with some
breaks, and 11% only wear the instruments when
they need to. Approximately half of the respondents
are employed.
A note on the age distribution of
first-time users
Respondents wearing Intiga are representing a
younger hearing instrument user group compared
to users participating in a prior user study on Delta
collected from 2006 to 2008 by Oticon Inc. in the US.
Figures 4 and 5 show the age of Intiga users and
Delta users. For Intiga, the number of the participants represented in younger decades has increased,
especially between 61 and 70 years of age.
Oticon Intiga
Oticon Delta
<30 years
2%
31-40 years
2%
<30 years
1%
41-50 years
5%
<71 years
51-60 years
42%
20%
<71 years
31%
61-70 years
41%
61-70 years
29%
Figures 4 and 5: The age distribution of participants in the Intiga and Delta surveys
31-40 years
0%
41-50 years
10%
51-60 years
17%
Easy to achieve successful first fit with Intiga
With a mean rating of 8.2, hearing care professionals
indicate that, with Intiga, it is easy or very easy to
achieve a successful first fit with first-time users
(figure 6). This may in part be attributed to the
adjustments to the Automatic Adaptation Manager
(First fit Algorithm) that helps ease the first-time
user into amplification and the known Oticon features such as Speech Guard and the VAC algorithm.
The successful first fit yielding a positive initial
response may contribute to of hearing care professionals perceiving that their clients are highly satisfied with Intiga (mean rating of 8.2).
Oticon Intiga was awarded the iF product design
award 2012. IF design praised the discreet design
with the clean and unbroken shell surface with
an organic shape that follows the physical outline
of the ear providing a close and comfortable fit making it almost invisible behind the ear.
First-time users find that their adjustment to the
Intiga instruments has been very easy (mean rating
of 8.6) indicating that the fitting experience with
Intiga has been positive and uncomplicated.
Important aspects for first-time user
acceptance
First-time users find that the appearance of the
hearing instrument is highly satisfactory rating it
9.3 out of 10.
Very easy
First fit
10
9
Mean rating
8
7
6
5
4
3
HCPs achieving successful first fit
First-time user adjustment to
Intiga instruments
2
1
0
Very difficult
Figure 6: The mean rating for questions “How easy or difficult has it been achieving a successful first fit with firsttime users (e.g. by using step one in the adaptation manager)?” and ”Please rate how easy or difficult your adjustment to the Intiga instruments has been (how easy or difficult it was getting used to the Intiga instruments)”.
Intiga Satisfaction Survey 2012
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Minimal hassle, physical comfort and natural sound
are central aspects in achieving satisfied users of
amplification, especially first-time users. Because
the acquisition of hearing instruments is a hurdle to
overcome, the ease of use and initial comfort is even
more essential for first-time users (Kochkin 2000)2).
reflected in the high daily use time by first-time
users. Approximately ninety percent of the participants wear their instruments all day or most of the
day, only with short breaks.
Ninety-four percent of first-time user participants
find that Intiga is very comfortable in the ears (mean
rating of 8.7). Physical aspects such as the new
curved speaker, the organic shape of the instrument
and the open dome to couple the instrument to the
ear all contribute to this comfort. Handling the Intiga
is reported to be very easy by 96% (mean rating of
8.7). As the Intiga has a 10A battery, one might
anticipate that first-time users would experience
some handling difficulty. This does not appear to be
the case. Another aspect of comfort relates to sound
quality. Eighty-six percent of participants rate the
sound quality as very natural (mean rating of 8.3).
Loud sounds are rated comfortable (mean rating of
7.5) contributing further to the comfortable sound
quality. The immediate acceptance of Intiga is also
This survey confirms the very positive findings of
immediate acceptance and immediate benefits of
Intiga that was shown in the two-site clinical study
(Behrens et al. 2011).
Immediate acceptance and
immediate benefits
Oticon Intiga is very easy to adjust to (rating of 8.6).
Very easy handling, great sound quality and great
physical comfort in the ear contribute to this ease of
adjustment.
Clients report significant (p<0.001) improvements in
speech understanding both in quiet and in challenging situations when wearing Intiga compared to not
wearing hearing instruments (a score of 8.8 versus
5.4 in quiet and 7.9 versus 4.0 in noise) (Figure 7).
To what extent can you understand speech
in quiet and in noise with Intiga and without Intiga?
Perfectly
10
9
Mean rating
8
7
6
5
**
}
4
3.4
**
}
3.9
3
2
1
0
Not at all
In quiet
In noise
Figure 7: Mean ratings of speech understanding in quiet and in noise with and without wearing
Intiga hearing instrument. Speech understanding with Intiga is rated significantly higher than
without Intiga in both quiet and noise (t-test, significance level of p<0.001 indicated by **)
On average first-time user participants rate speech
understanding with Intiga 3.4 points higher in quiet
and 3.9 points higher in noise than listening without
hearing instrument. This difference indicates a high
perceived benefit from the Intiga instruments.
Satisfied clients make satisfied hearing care
professionals
Both first-time users and experienced users participating in the survey are very satisfied with their
Intiga hearing solution (mean rating 8.6).
So are hearing care professionals. In fact, their satisfaction with Intiga leads them to be very likely to
recommend Intiga to colleagues and friends. Adding
to this, the Intiga users are very likely to choose
Intiga again today if given the choice (mean rating of
8.8). Figure 8 shows the ratings of satisfaction from
both end-users and hearing care professionals.
Easy first fit and highly satisfied users who perceive
immediate acceptance and immediate benefits are
important factors that contribute to the Oticon
Intiga receiving top marks in this satisfaction survey.
Satisfaction
Extremely
satisfied
More likely
10
9
Mean rating
8
7
6
End-users (first-time
users and experienced)
Hearing care professionals
5
4
3
2
1
0
Not at all
satisfied
Overall
satisfaction
Recommend to
others
Choose Intiga
today
More unlikely
Figure 8: Mean ratings of overall satisfaction with Intiga and how likely participants are to recommend
Intiga to others by end-users (both experienced users and first-time users) and hearing care professionals.
REFERENCES:
1) Behrens, T., Kreisman, B., Schulte, M., & Weile, JN (2011).
“Meeting the First-Time User Challenge.” Hearing Review 18(13): 18-29.
2) Kochkin, S. (2000). “MarkeTrak V: “Why my hearing aids are in the drawer”: The consumers’ perspective.”
The Hearing Journal 53(2): 34, 36, 39-41.
Intiga Satisfaction Survey 2012
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