If you had to pick one word to describe desirable qualities in a hearing aid’s fitting software, what would it be? Easy tops the list, of course. But there’s another word that our digital ecosystem team uses frequently when they talk about the importance of fitting software: consistency.

It makes sense when you consider that the software is one of the primary ways a hearing care professional interacts with any hearing aid brand they fit. A consistent user experience across products and launches promotes familiarity, efficiency and ease of use. But anyone who has been in the industry for a while will remember that consistency wasn’t always a given. 

In the pre-digital era, fitting hearing aids meant using tiny screwdrivers to adjust trimmers and fumbling through a wall of cables to connect devices to the software. This approach evolved in the mid-to-late 1990s with the move to digital.

Even in the early days of digital, products were treated separately in the fitting software. Galen Dunning, Director, Software Solutions at Unitron, explains how that contributed to the issue of inconsistency.

“Each product had a distinct set of controls,” says Dunning. “It was a single fitting software, but using the interface felt different depending on which hearing aid you were programming.”

Back then, the fitting software felt more like an extension of the hearing aid than its own product. Every time a new platform launched, the fitting software interface would get updated to match the look and feel of the platform branding. 

According to Stacey Gent, Senior Product Manager, Digital Ecosystem at Unitron, longer launch cycles made this approach feasible. Hearing care professionals had more time to spend getting familiar with software changes. Then go-to-market acceleration changed everything.

“As the speed of launches increased, providing a consistent fitting software experience became that much more critical,” says Gent. “Hearing care professionals couldn’t stay on top of the changes if we were regularly overhauling the software.” 

Our team’s mindset shifted, from providing controls for each new product to delivering consistency, familiarity and fitting ease across every experience.   

These days, Unitron TrueFit™ fitting software stays as consistent as possible from generation to generation. We add new functions and features with each new product launch, but the workflows and tools remain familiar over time. This approach helps to make the software simple and intuitive to use from fitting to fitting. 

Now, rather than behaving like an extension of the hearing aids, fitting software is a critical pillar of the care journey. The software is designed to provide hearing care professionals with the tools and insights they need to deliver personalized hearing experiences to clients.

“The faster someone can get into the fitting software, do what they need to do and get out, the more time they have to focus on other activities that help clients be successful – like counseling around putting on hearing aids, charging and keeping them clean,” says Dunning. “Those of us who work in software every day could potentially lose sight of that, but it’s really important.”

With Unitron TrueFit software, we’re committed to making hearing aid adjustments simple. While it’s still important to give hearing care professionals control, they don’t need to spend an excessive amount of time to achieve a great first fit thanks to our First Fit workflow.

“Hearing care professionals can fit Unitron hearing aids in as few as four clicks,” says Gent. “As they get more feedback from a client on their listening experience, they have the power to make more specific changes to personalize the hearing aids to individual needs.”

We also have a variety of Experience Tech Tools in our software ecosystem, all made possible thanks to our fitting software and Remote Plus app. The software and app work together to support a smooth fitting experience and help with data-driven decision-making that’s rooted in the realities of each client’s unique lifestyle. 

Giving hearing care professionals the right controls to easily provide each client with an optimal fit is a lofty goal. An underpinning “easy for you” brand philosophy helps to guide our teams forward. Prioritizing the right choices also requires deep expertise, tough choices and a whole lot of teamwork. 

“It’s very challenging to take these complex needs and features and transform them into an end-product that’s simple and easy to use,” says Nicola McLaughlin, Senior Director of Marketing at Unitron. “There’s an enormous amount of thought, validation and debate that goes on in the background to accomplish our goals.” 

Regular input from hearing care professionals on the fitting software and ease-of-use insights from trainers and sales teams help to round out perspectives. Despite the variety of quality inputs, our team also believes that there isn’t always a single right answer. 

There’s a phrase professional writers know well: killing your darlings. It refers to eliminating any characters, scenes or other word-clutter that the writer might feel attached to but doesn’t move the story forward. The same principle can be applied to innovations in fitting software.

“We need to be willing to make sacrifices to avoid complexity,” says Dunning. “The goal is to make the experience easier for the vast majority of people, and we can’t do that if we aren’t willing to make the hard choices.”

Beyond our entire team getting behind these tough choices, hearing care professionals who believe in Unitron products also need to trust in the process. 

 “Hearing care professionals can feel confident that any changes we make in our fitting software will be well balanced,” says McLaughlin. “We have high listener satisfaction rates, and we intend to keep it that way, no matter how fitting software evolves in the future.”

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For 60 years we’ve been solving meaningful challenges for the people who wear hearing aids and the hearing care professionals who help them along their hearing journey. This article is one in a series featuring insights from our internal experts who spend their days making sure you and your clients always love the experience. Easy to wear, easy to hear and easy for you – that’s the Unitron way.