Latest Sennheiser Wireless Headphones Said To Compensate for Hearing Loss

Recently launched wireless headphones from Sennheiser are said to compensate for age-related hearing loss, the company said Thursday. Sennheiser worked with the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT) on the RS 195 ($449), which uses personalized sound adjustments that can be adapted to each user’s preferences and individual hearing levels, the company said. Users can optimize the sound quality and speech intelligibility to reproduce details of TV shows and music, the company said. The headphones were designed to deliver high-quality audio, it said. People have their own preferences for speech intelligibility, and being able to make individual sound adjustments can benefit anyone, said Jan Rennies, researcher-Project Group for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology, Fraunhofer IDMT. From the age of 50 on, people begin to experience gradual hearing loss, Rennies said, adding that the signal processing used in the RS 195 headphones “significantly increases speech intelligibility.” In addition to modes to suppress TV noise and switchable modes for speech and music, the headphones have seven presets with different sound profiles that compress, accentuate or reinforce high, mid- and bass ranges, Sennheiser said. “The sound is not just louder, but can be adjusted to the specific needs of each user,” said Annegret Meyer, vice president-sales Europe Hearing Care, Sennheiser. Battery life of the headphones is 18 hours, the company said.