July 8, 2009
New Passport™ Premium Hearing Instrument Exemplifies Unitron’s Commitment to Purpose-Driven Innovation

Baulkham Hills, NSW, Australia - Unitron today announced the worldwide availability of Passport™, the Company’s new premium hearing instrument. Introduced at AudiologyNOW! 2009, Passport offers an extraordinary array of advanced technologies to promote clearer, more empowered hearing.

Passport exemplifies Unitron’s commitment to purpose-driven innovation: its signature feature, smartFocus™, customizes adaptive parameters to deliver exceptional, personalized sound quality in every situation.  An ideal complement to Passport’s intelligent adaptive features and interactive learning capabilities, smartFocus gives wearers real-time control over four adaptive parameters - microphone strategy, speech enhancement, noise reduction and overall gain – in listening situations where they may desire added fine-tuning ability.  Discreet and easy adjustments can be made with a single control located directly on the hearing instrument or on the Smart Control remote.

Passport also remembers wearers’ setting preferences based on their smartFocus and volume control adjustments in various situations, and intelligently applies these changes in the automatic program when encountering similar listening environments. Learning is further accelerated through the learnNow™ button on the Smart Control, which allows wearers to instantly capture their specific adjustments to the automatic program.

Passport’s purpose-driven feature set also includes wireless connectivity and programming through the Unifi™ Wireless System, which provides straightforward access to wireless features and technology. Simple controls and automatic binaural synchronization maximize ease of use and discretion.

With Passport, Unitron continues its track record for unparalleled choice with the introduction of three new styles:  wireless Moxi ™ 13 CRT (Canal Receiver Technology) and Moda™ 13 Slim Tube, which offer all the advantages of a 13 BTE in a compact size; and the all-new Shift™ – the ultra-small 10A CRT BTE with Passport’s core feature set. Shift puts state of the art technology into a beautiful design, offering an array of shell and spine colors.

Passport’s smartFocus™ Provides the User Control Many Wearers Desire

In the preliminary findings of a third-party study comparing wearer response to hearing instruments offering user control versus fully automatic hearing instruments, Passport’s smartFocus feature clearly responds to wearer desire for added control in challenging listening situations.

In the subjective analysis, study participants were asked to compare their hearing experience with a fully automatic Passport hearing instrument, whose adaptive features had been established in clinical fittings, versus Passport with smartFocus and learning capabilities enabled.  The study’s preliminary findings show that the vast majority of participants said the smartFocus feature improved their listening experience in terms of clarity and comfort.

Commented Donald Hayes, Director of Audiology, Unitron, “The early study results offer convincing evidence that hearing instrument wearers share an overwhelming preference for added situational control to achieve their desired listening outcomes, particularly in challenging listening environments.  Passport’s smartFocus was developed to respond to this preference, allowing wearers to fine tune their hearing instruments in real time and then to instantly teach them their listening preferences for every situation.”

Passport was introduced in select markets during May, 2009; global availability of Passport and Shift begins June 15, 2009.

About Unitron
Unitron is a global innovator of technologically advanced hearing instruments. We care deeply about people with hearing loss and work closely with hearing healthcare professionals to make advanced, purpose-driven solutions available to everyone. Headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada; Unitron, a member of the Sonova Group, meets the needs of customers through 16 international offices and through distributors in a further 53 countries. For more information, please visit us on the web at unitron.com/au.

Contact:
Unitron Australia
Phone: +61 2 8858 1800
Toll Free: 1800 212 313 (within Australia)
Email: info.au@unitron.com