Phonak, the world-wide market leader in FM technology, introduces Roger, a new digital standard that bridges the understanding gap, in noise and over distance, by wirelessly transmitting the speaker’s voice directly to the listener. Available for the education market from June 14, Roger surpasses all of today’s FM and equivalent digital systems. It offers a scientifically proven* breakthrough in signal-to-noise ratio and finally eliminates the hassle of frequency management.

Educational audiologists and teachers of the deaf have traditionally specified FM and equivalent digital systems for students with hearing loss. The result: Many thousands of children have been able to better hear and understand the teacher in class. However, despite FM technology having enjoyed serious performance gains in recent years, for instance via the introduction of Dynamic FM in 2007, the Phonak engineers dreamed of more and wanted listeners to enjoy even greater understanding, at all noise levels. And they dreamed of offering teachers and audiologists wireless systems that were significantly easier to use and set-up.

A wireless revolution

Built upon a new proprietary Phonak microchip and speech-in-noise algorithm, Roger overcomes the challenges that FM and digital system users face today. It is proven to help students hear and understand more of the teacher’s words than ever before, and Roger systems are truly simple to use.

• Maximum performance
  Roger offers the industry’s best ever speech-in-noise performance, with proven improvements of up to 54%1 over FM, and 35%1 over Dynamic FM technology.
• Zero hassle
  Nothing is easier to use than Roger. Unlike with FM systems, there are no frequencies for audiologists to program and manage (so no software is required), and teachers can quickly connect devices such as Roger receivers with a single click.
• Full compatibility
  Roger is the most compatible system of its kind. It works with virtually every behind-the-ear hearing instrument, cochlear implant and soundfield room amplification system. Roger inspiro is also the only teacher microphone capable of talking to Roger, FM and soundfield systems simultaneously.

Roger systems run on the 2.4 GHz band and employ adaptive algorithms to avoid interference and optimize operating range. Unique intelligent frequency-hopping technology selects only free frequencies, ensuring interference-free performance in every class. A virtually unlimited number of Roger networks can also be used in a single building. In addition, because the 2.4 GHz band is freely accessible worldwide, this means no license is necessary – allowing Roger users to enjoy improved speech understanding wherever they travel in the world.

“I was amazed by the performance of students who used Roger. They were able to hear and understand the speaker in noise levels that would not have been possible using previous FM system technology,” says Dr. Linda Thibodeau, Professor at the University of Dallas and the Callier Center for Communication Disorders.

Maarten Barmentlo, Group Vice President Marketing for Phonak adds, “For students with hearing loss understanding the teacher can be a real challenge. Roger meets this challenge head on, bringing the cleanest ever speech signal directly into the student’s hearing instruments or Cochlear Implants, and delighting educational audiologists by finally removing the need to manage frequencies.”

Schools that currently use Dynamic FM technology by Phonak can benefit from a particularly easy Roger upgrade path. They simply upgrade their existing inspiro Premium teacher microphones to Roger for free - via quick firmware update – and add Roger receivers.

* Comparison of speech recognition with adaptive digital and FM wireless technology by listeners who use hearing aids. Professor Linda Thibodeau PhD.