The Resound Nexia hearing aid was launched in February 2024. It was the first hearing aid from a global manufacturer to offer Bluetooth LE 5.2 and Auracast and is one of the smallest rechargeable receiver-in-canal hearing aids on the market currently.
We have been putting the Resound Nexia Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) hearing aid through it’s paces these past few weeks to see how well it does in the real world. We also interviewed Thomas Olgaard, Principal Engineer for GN Hearing ahead of writing this blog too. You can check out this interview in the video below:
What makes the Resound Nexia unique?
The Resound Nexia was the first hearing aid to feature Bluetooth LE audio and Auracast. Since it’s launch, Resound have been on a mission to inform and educate audiologists on the benefits of this technology and how it will change the way we all access wireless audio.
What is Bluetooth LE audio?
Bluetooth LE audio is designed to offer better energy efficiency, improved audio quality, and offers some great features such as:
- Broadcasting (aka Auracast) – designed for public spaces, such as airports, to allow users to connect their hearing devices to a single audio source. E.g. your flight departure details.
- Multi-stream – Improves synchronization, spatial awareness, and sound quality when streaming to a pair of devices.
- Hearing aid support – better integration, lower power consumption, and superior sound quality.
Resound were the first hearing aid manufacturer to develop a TV streamer and wireless microphone that uses this technology.
How will Bluetooth LE audio help you?
Bluetooth LE will:
- Replace the Loop system in public buildings. The loop / telecoil system has been around for decades and is designed to help improve accessibility in public buildings such as banks, cinemas and theatres. It is invaluable to those with hearing aids but there are often issues with how they are implemented meaning they are not always switched on, or functioning or perhaps staff aren’t trained adequately. These new Bluetooth systems will be cheaper to implement at scale and will be easier to maintain and use.
- Improve battery efficiency when streaming which will give you more hours of continuous hearing aid usage before needing to recharge.
- Will improve clarity of conversations when on the phone and when streaming audio which will generally improve the user experience.
Strengths of Resound Nexia
Expansion adjustments
The ability to adjust the amplification of soft, low-level environmental sounds is called ‘Expansion’ and is a useful feature which isn’t always freely adjustable in modern hearing aids. Fortunately, Resound give us full control with the Nexia range.
Adjusting expansion not only helps reduce low-level environmental noise, but it also helps to reduce internal amplifier noise too.
As my low frequency hearing is very good, I’m always able to hear some level of amplifier noise with any hearing aid I wear. With a quick tweak of the expansion on my Resound devices, I was able to reduce amplifier noise to an almost negligible level.
Feedback Management
There is nothing that cheapens a hearing aid more than screeching / whistling as a result of poor feedback management. But fortunately, feedback cancellation is one of the strongest features of the GN Resound Nexia hearing aid. Resound feedback management systems have always been a step ahead of the competition and the Nexia continues this trend.
Tap Control
A nice new feature in the lineup is ‘Tap Control’. This allows the wearer to answer a call by simply double tapping on the hearing aid. Frantically trying to find the button on the back of the hearing aid whilst the phone is ringing is now a thing of the past.
App control
The Resound app has been refined over the past decade or so and is one of the most intuitive apps on the market for hearing aids. It offers a lot of freedom such as creating programs, customising gain output, and running firmware updates on the devices.
I am able to push through settings remotely to the hearing aids which makes it an ideal choice for busy individuals or for those that are housebound.
Limitations of Resound Nexia
Environmental Optimizer II
Something to be mindful of is the environmental optimizer II feature. This adjusts the gain of the hearing aid automatically depending on the situation you are in. I have had some clients report that this feature is quite noticeable and not necessarily in the most positive way. Sometimes the classifier may change mid conversation and the client is able to detect a noticeable change in volume, which they can find distracting. For others though, it is a particularly useful feature, as it means less manual volume adjusts if set up appropriately.
As default, it is active, but I have a tendency to deactivate this feature during the evaluation period and then activate it if required based on the clients subjective feedback.
Steaming audio quality
When streaming I found it a bit too tinny and unfortunately, in Resound’s latest fitting software update, you can no longer adjust the gain settings for streaming programs.
Fear not though, I found a loophole using the app. Whilst streaming music from your phone, open up the app, and click on ‘sound enhancer’ where you can then tweak the sound. I found increasing bass and middle up to full and reducing treble to -3 was a good setting for me. I then saved this as a favourite program called ‘streaming’. Now when I’m streaming, I simply select this program to get the quality I want.
Who are Resound Nexia ideal for?
The Resound Nexia are a diverse hearing aid with capabilities for anyone from a mild to a severe hearing loss. I would say they particularly stand out for individuals with mild-moderate hearing loss because the expansion will help to reduce amplifier noise which is a common complaint for individuals in this category.
As well as that, the Resound Nexia is ideal if you are quite technologically focussed and for individuals that perhaps struggle to get to the clinic in working hours.
Summary
The Resound Nexia proves once again that Resound are a small but mighty company that relentlessly push the boundaries of innovation.
With the integration of Bluetooth LE audio in to their product portfolio they are ensuring that their customers are getting access to the latest technological advancements.
I feel this product will be particularly attractive to those with mild-moderate hearing loss and with a keen eye for technology driven features such as telehealth, and connectivity.
Contact us by clicking the button below to learn more about, or set up a trial of, the Resound Nexia hearing aid.
