Nucleus® smart sound processing technology

Whether you're in a restaurant, playground or office, let your sound processor do the work by automatically adapting to your environment.

A man wearing an implant dances at a party with his friends

What you'll find on this page

  • Why two microphones are better than one.
  • How SmartSound® iQ with SCAN* technology adapts to the environment.
  • How data logging helps a hearing health professional.

Our technology makes hearing easier — especially in noise

Every day you're moving through different hearing environments. Your sound processor should give you the best possible hearing, no matter where you are.

Cochlear™ Nucleus® sound processors feature our latest smart sound processing technology to help you automatically adjust your hearing in any surrounding.

Features include:

  • Dual microphones to help filter out background noise.1

  • Automatic sound processing to help make hearing easier.1-3

  • Technology that helps you hear more clearly during face-to-face conversations when there's background noise.4,5

  • Data logging to give your hearing health professional information about how you use your device for possible program adjustments.

Two synchronised microphones help filter out background noise

Having more than one microphone on your sound processor can help you focus on what you want to hear.

Cochlear's dual-microphones deliver better hearing performance compared to a single microphone.1 The two microphones help automatically filter background noise, so you hear more of what you want.

Recipient Mathias and his family sit together on a mountain top after their hike

"With the Cochlear implant I don't have a problem understanding my family, my wife and my daughter."

- Mathias, Cochlear™ implant recipient

Sound processors that adapt to your environment – automatically

Our SmartSound® iQ function with SCAN* technology is designed to replicate natural hearing. It captures sound and adapts to your environment without the need for manual adjustments.1-3

How it works:

  1. Dual microphones capture and filter sound.
  2. The industry's first automatic scene classifier, SCAN, analyses your surroundings and identifies the listening environment as one of six scenes, such as quiet, noisy or windy.
  3. The SmartSound iQ function then automatically optimises the sound and adjusts the setting for different hearing conditions to provide your best hearing.

The Nucleus 7 and Kanso 2 Sound Processors also feature ForwardFocus**, an option designed to help you hear better in challenging and noisy environments.4,5

Once your hearing health professional enables ForwardFocus, you switch it on in the Nucleus Smart App when you want to reduce noise coming from behind and focus on the conversation in front of you.

Data logging: vital information for your hearing health professional

Life is busy. Some days it's tough to remember how you're using your sound processor. But data logging technology automatically tracks usage and records the information which can then be accessed by your hearing health professional through programming software.

Your hearing health professional can review the data for trends and important information that shows how the system is working for you.

They can make any adjustments accordingly, to be sure you're always hearing your best.

For parents and carers, data logging adds confidence that your child is getting the most benefit from their Nucleus system.

It also means your hearing health professional can download information about your child’s hearing, such as:

  • How many hours per day you or your loved one is using the cochlear implant.

  • The different sound environments you or your loved one experience in a day.

  • The volume levels you or your loved one use throughout the day.

Track how you or your child hears

Another special feature of the Nucleus Smart App^, the Hearing Tracker feature, gives you direct access to your usage information. This is available with the Nucleus 7 and Kanso 2 Sound Processors.

With the Hearing Tracker in the Nucleus Smart App, you can monitor important information about how you or your child is using the sound processor.

The Hearing Tracker shows:

  • Time in speech: The amount of time you hear in speaking environments is a goal that helps you monitor how you're using your sound processor.

  • Coil Offs: This is the number of times the sound processor was disconnected from the implant on a given day, telling you how many times it was removed.#

It's helpful to establish a baseline number of coil offs to try and minimise them. For parents, you can monitor how often your child removes their sound processor.

Disclaimer

Please seek advice from your health professional about treatments for hearing loss. Outcomes may vary, and your health professional will advise you about the factors which could affect your outcome. Always follow the directions for use. Not all products are available in all countries. Please contact your local Cochlear representative for product information.

For a full list of Cochlear’s trademarks, please visit our Terms of Use page.

Views expressed are those of the individual. Consult your health professional to determine if you are a candidate for Cochlear technology.

* SNR-NR, WNR and SCAN are approved for use with any recipient ages 6 years and older, who is able to 1) complete objective speech perception testing in quiet and in noise in order to determine and document performance 2) report a preference for different program settings.

** ForwardFocus is a clinican-enabled, user-controlled feature. It should only be activated for users 12 years and older who are able to reliably provide feedback on sound quality and understand how to use the feature when moving to different or changing environments. It may be possible to have decreased speech understanding when using ForwardFocus in a quiet environment.

# The coil offs feature in the Nucleus Smart App is not available for Nucleus 22 implant recipients.

^ The Cochlear Nucleus Smart App is available on App Store and Google Play. For complete smartphone compatibility information, please visit www.cochlear.com/compatibility

Apple, the Apple logo, Apple Watch, FaceTime, Made for iPad logo, Made for iPhone logo, Made for iPod logo, iPhone, iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

Android is a trademark of Google LLC. The Android robot is reproduced or modified from work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.

For a list of compatible Apple and Android devices go to www.cochlear.com/compatibility

References
  1. Mauger SJ, et al. Clinical outcomes with the Kanso off-the-ear cochlear implant sound processor. Int J Audiol. 2017, Apr; 56(4): 267-276. [Sponsored by Cochlear].
  2. Mauger SJ, et al. Clinical evaluation of the Nucleus 6 cochlear implant system: performance improvements with SmartSound iQ. Int J Audiol. 2014, Aug; 53(8): 564-576. [Sponsored by Cochlear].
  3. Wolfe J, et al. Benefits of Adaptive Signal Processing in a Commercially Available Cochlear Implant Sound Processor. Otol Neurotol. 2015 Aug;36(7):1181-90.
  4. Cochlear Limited. D1660797. CP1150 Sound Processor Interim Clinical Investigation Report. 2020; Jan.
  5. Cochlear Limited. D1376556. CLTD 5709 Clinical Evaluation of Nucleus 7 Cochlear Implant System. 2018;Jan.