What's the difference between Oticon Opn and Oticon Opn S?

The previous answers have laid out the key differences. I would just add that any improvements described are based on claims from the manufacturer. To my knowledge, nobody with zero financial interest in the product has independently confirmed any of the claims, much less completed a peer-reviewed study on it. What is clear to me after about one year of experience fitting patients with these hearing aids is that the Opn S does have incredibly good feedback suppression. This can lead to superior results in terms of providing gain at frequencies with severe hearing loss.

With regards to the rechargeable option, in my opinion, the abandonment of Z-power in the Opn S was inevitable due to the reliability issues of Z-power, but in my experience, patients tend to prefer Z-power over a non-interchangeable rechargeable cell, because of the flexibility. When the battery has no charge left, an Opn S hearing aid cannot be used again until charged. So when a hurricane hits, and power is lost patients will have to find an alternate way to recharge Opn S hearing aids. However, Oticon did take the most sensible approach among all the manufacturers that have adopted Li-Ion technology and allow the Li-Ion cell to be swapped out easily with the use of a small diameter pin tool. So when the Li-Ion cell will no longer provide power for a full day's use, at least the entire hearing aid does not need to be sent to the New Jersey to be replaced. The provider can do it in the office.

Oticons new OPN "s" are revolutionary for individuals with moderate to severe sloping high frequency hearing loss. The OPN "s" utilizes Oticons break-through patented algorithm allowing for increased gain at high frequencies with little to no feedback response. This allows users with high sloping loss to be fit with little ear canal occlusion. An open fit allows lower frequency sounds "bass" to naturally enter the ear canal without the need to occlude the ear and process those octaves digitally. This can also play a role in patients that may otherwise require compression of higher frequencies. Long story short, little to no feedback "squealing", much less occlusion, and a more comfortable fit with more natural sounds.

Otion OPN S is the latest technology from Oticon. OPN has been shown to provide improvement in speech understanding, reduced listening effort, and increased memory recall. OPN S has been proven to be a static improvement over OPN. In short, ONP S has all of the features of OPN with improved outcomes and a newly designed rechargeable system.

Better hearing and understanding one on one and in groups. Smaller hearing aid than before with a new recharging system. These are the major benefits of the new Opn S. 

There are three new advantages.  The newest technology works faster than the original version.  The speed at which the hearing aid processes allows for easier listening, especially when it becomes noisier. 

Second, control of feedback or unwanted whistling has significantly improved.

Lastly, in the highest level of S technology there is a new rechargeable option that uses a lithium ion battery. This allows for longer battery life than the zPower solution which is available in the original series.

When we compare products, our patients have reported these differences.

The OPN and OPN S are the same programming and processing platform; however the OPN comes in a disposable battery format or it's compatible with the ZPower rechargeable battery pill, while the OPN S product has a lithium ion encased rechargeable battery. Both models have smart phone compatibility via Bluetooth with streaming capability (android devices will require a Connect Clip).

The biggest difference in this Velox chip OPN (S) is the new ability to anticipate feedback......  it's processing speed { rated at 56,000 times per second per MFG ratings} where the OPN does not process as quickly.

Gives full 360 degree ability to identify noise and better seperate speech,   Better open fit scenarios with out feedback with up to 6dB stable gain and optimized for rechargeable batteries