Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor

The Cochlear™ Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor is the world’s smallest and lightest behind-the-ear sound processor.¹ Designed to take comfort to the next level, it’s 15% smaller and 13% lighter^# than its predecessor. Designed to help your patients hear their best, the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor features smart hearing technology. Enhanced SmartSound® iQ 2 with SCAN 2 technology more accurately senses changes to their listening environment and automatically adjusts to provide clearer sound.^2-5,# The improved ForwardFocus^† feature powerfully reduces distracting background noise.⁵ Now with the option to automate or manually control ForwardFocus, you and your patients can choose how best to manage background noise and focus on face-to-face conversations. The Nucleus 8 Sound Processor is designed to be the world's first cochlear implant sound processor to provide direct audio connectivity to consumer electronics devices via the new Bluetooth® LE Audio Technology once it becomes available.^6-8,¥ This technology will deliver better sound quality than previous generation Bluetooth Classic. Bluetooth LE Audio technology will make it easier for your patients to bring sounds closer -- in more places and from more devices than ever before.^7-9,¥ They’ll be able to connect directly to what’s being broadcast at public venues such as airports, schools and theaters with Bluetooth Auracast™. Building on the direct streaming capabilities of the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor, the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor is also compatible with Apple, Android™ and Cochlear True Wireless™ Devices.* With our Connected Care solutions, you can monitor your patient’s progress, optimize their hearing outcomes, and deliver quality care remotely. With Remote Assist video appointments, you have access to the world’s first solution offering remote programming of a sound processor through an app on your patients’ compatible smartphone.^10,12 Empower your patients to hear their best in everyday moments with the Nucleus Smart App, so they can independently fine tune their listening settings and keep track of their hearing information. Inspired by the needs of your patients, the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor is designed to help them hear their best. Built to withstand tough environments, it’s splash-proof and dust-proof, with the highest available water-resistance ratings in a sound processor (IP68).^13,**

The Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor is compatible^± with the following Nucleus implants:

• Nucleus Profile™ Plus (CI600 series)
• Nucleus Profile (CI500 series)
• Nucleus Freedom® (CI24RE, CI422)
• Nucleus 24 (CI24M, CI24R)

The Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor is 15% smaller and 13% lighter than the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor.^& For patients looking to upgrade from a Nucleus 6 Sound Processor, they can experience a 32% reduction in size and a 34% reduction in weight.^1,+

The Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor features our latest hearing performance technology - SmartSound® iQ 2 with SCAN 2. SCAN 2 provides an 8% improvement in classifying the sound environment in noisy situations and an 11% improvement in classifying all sound environments compared to previous generation SCAN.^5,** No matter where your patient’s day takes them, it more accurately senses changes in your patient’s listening environment and automatically adjusts their hearing settings to deliver clearer sound.^2-4 The Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor comes with improved ForwardFocus.^± Designed to more powerfully reduce distracting background noise and help focus on speech in front, ForwardFocus technology provided an average 5dB SRT improvement in speech understanding in a clinical trial.^4,†

Yes. The Nucleus 8 Sound Processor is compatible with Apple, Android™ and True Wireless Devices™.* This means that your patients can make phone calls, stream music, rehabilitation activities, educational programs and more, directly to their sound processor. And as the first cochlear implant sound processor that’s ready for next-generation Bluetooth® LE Audio technology, it will be easier for your patients to bring sounds closer – in more places and from more devices than ever before.^9-11,¥ With Bluetooth Auracast™, they will be able to connect directly to what’s being broadcast at public venues such as airports, conference centers and theaters. And whether they’re listening to music, taking a phone call, or watching their favorite film, Bluetooth® LE Audio delivers better sound quality than previous generation Bluetooth® Classic to help your patients get the best possible audio experience.^9,11

Bluetooth® LE Audio is the next generation of Bluetooth audio. Building on 20 years of innovation, LE Audio will enhance the performance of Bluetooth audio, adds support for hearing aids, and introduces Bluetooth Auracast™, which will eventually offer new audio experiences designed to enhance your patient’s engagement with others and the world around you.¹⁴

Bluetooth® Auracast™ is a new Bluetooth capability will give your patients the ability to^¥:

• Share their audio: Invite others to share their audio experience.¹⁴

• Unmute their world: Enjoy televisions in public spaces such as gyms, waiting rooms and sports clubs.¹

• Hear their best: Hear their best in the places they go. Designed to improve accessibility and promote better living through better hearing, Auracast is expected to become the next major assistive listening technology.¹⁴

Whether your patients are listening to music, taking a phone call, or watching their favourite film, Bluetooth LE Audio will deliver better sound quality than previous generation Bluetooth® Classic. This means your patients can have the best possible audio experience.^9,11 For example, with Bluetooth Auracast, a student in university, will be able to find the LE Audio Network showing in their lecture hall, and connect to it via their smartphone, much like we connect to available Bluetooth devices today. Once connected to this network, this will allow the audio to stream to their sound processor so they can better hear the lecturer in front.

Yes, the Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor can be paired with up to five compatible* Apple or Android™ devices and have the Nucleus Smart App installed on all of them. However, the Nucleus 8 Sound Processor can only be actively connected to one compatible device at a time. It’s important to remind your patients to turn Bluetooth® off on the device they are not connecting to because the connection is maintained as long as the devices are in range and Bluetooth is on.

Yes, the Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor is IP68 rated, which is the highest available water-resistance rating in a sound processor.¹³ If your patient is caught in the rain, splashed with water, or even in a dusty environment, their sound processor will remain protected.**

Yes, the Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor is compatible with the Cochlear™ Wireless Mini Microphone 2+ and the Wireless TV Streamer. True Wireless means that your patients can enjoy their favorite TV shows and hear their best in noisy environments without the need for neck loops or additional wires.

Yes, the Cochlear™ Remote Control (CR310) is a hand-held device that allows your patients to control and adjust the commonly used functions of their Nucleus® 8 Sound Processor. With the Remote Control, they can easily change programs, turn telecoil on and off, control audio streaming from True Wireless™ Devices and, if enabled by you, adjust the volume or sensitivity of their processor. If your patient is a bilateral Nucleus 8 Sound Processor recipient, their remote can control both processors at once.

The Cochlear TV Streamer and Amazon Fire TV devices are different means of providing streaming of television audio. The main differences between these devices are:

• When a Cochlear device is connected to an Amazon Fire TV device, there will be no audio output for others, i.e., the Amazon Fire TV Cube for example, can only be used by the Cochlear recipient when connected. - The Amazon Fire TV devices have Alexa voice assistant allowing for voice control commands.
• Amazon Fire TV televisions have ASHA natively inbuilt, meaning no intermediary accessory is needed for direct streaming.
• A recipient cannot simultaneously be connected to their Fire TV device and their smartphone for direct streaming. They will need to disconnect from their Fire TV device and reconnect to their smartphone to receive a phone call, phone notifications, or to make adjustments in their Nucleus Smart App. They can be connected to the Cochlear TV streamer and their smartphone simultaneously, allowing them to easily answer phone calls when received.

At launch, February 25th 2023, ASHA enabled Fire TV products are: Amazon Fire TV Cube 2nd Generation, Amazon Fire TV 3rd Generation, Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series, Amazon Fire TV Omni Series and Amazon Fire TV 4-series. For any updates to Amazon compatibility, or to respond to customer queries on Amazon compatibility, please visit or direct customers to the Amazon website: Accessibility Features for Fire TV - Amazon Customer Service.