Phonak applies formal clinical procedures to safeguard the quality of new products. The Field Study News provide summarized information on recent field study results.

MicroLink: Maximum support in demanding environments. (April 2004, PDF 150 kB)

SmartLink: better access to mobile phones for the hearing impaired (October 2004, PDF 70 kB)

Suggested Scales of Development and Assessment Tools
The following scales of development and assessment tools are provided as a reference

The Screening Instrument for Targeting Educational Risk
(S.I.F.T.E.R.)/The Preschool S.I.F.T.E.R.

The S.I.F.T.E.R. is used by the teacher to rate the child in comparison to other children in the classroom on 15 items. The responses are plotted on a chart which indicates pass, marginal or fail for each of the five areas of academics, attention, communication, classroom participation, and school behavior. If a child fails in a specific area, they should be referred for further evaluation. The Preschool S.I.F.T.E.R. was developed to be used with preschool children and is similar to the S.I.F.T.E.R.

Available through: The Educational Audiology Association: http://www.edaud.org

The Listening Inventory for Education: an Efficacy Tool (L.I.F.E.)

The L.I.F.E. is designed to determine amplification benefit and considers input from both the student and the teacher. The protocol also provides suggestions for intervention accommodations designed for the specific situations that are identified as problems.

Available through: The Educational Audiology Association:  http://www.edaud.org