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Selective hearing: AI-powered listening device picks a voice out of a crowd

Nick Lavars May 16, 2019

Hearing aids can have trouble separating a voice a listener wants to hear from all the background noise. Through a new form of artificial intelligence scientists believe they have come up with a solution that could be of huge benefit to those with hearing impairments.

How we pick out single voices from noisy environments is referred to by scientists as the ...

Wearables

Camera-connected hearing aid would "think" to help users hear

Ben Coxworth December 11, 2018

When trying to hear what another person is saying, hearing aid users are often stymied by loud background noises, such as the voices of other people in the same room. Scientists at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University are working on a solution, in the form of a "smart" camera-connected hearing aid.

The scientists have already developed a 3D mouth-tracking algorithm

Health & Wellbeing

Starkey's latest hearing aid doubles as a health tracker

Paul Ridden August 28, 2018

Starkey Hearing Technologies has transformed a single use device into a multi-purpose hearing aid, adding physical activity and cognitive tracking smarts to a device that essentially moves health trackers away from the wrist and wraps them around the ears.

The Livio AI hearing aid can track physical activity and cognitive health, take phone calls, interface ...

Wearables

Audiologist-grade IQBuds Boost: Intelligent hearing aid tech in Bluetooth earbuds

Loz Blain March 8, 2018

A small Australian company is hoping to blow multi-thousand-dollar prescription hearing aids out of the water. This US$449 pair of over-the-counter, Bluetooth hearing augmentation earbuds can test and adjust to your hearing, connect to your phone, and separate voices from background noise.

Nuheara IQbuds Boost bring hearing aid technology into Bluetooth hearing augmentation earbuds

Science

Spider silk might make for more sensitive hearing aids

Nick Lavars October 31, 2017

The ultra-fine nature of spider silk has provided inspiration for scientists developing sensitive new types of microphones. Further down the track, these new devices could be put to use in advanced hearing aids and phones that pick up sounds at much lower frequencies.

Spider silk could hold the key to more sensitive microphones

Wearables Review

Signia Pure primax hearing aid: "Audio radar" that zeroes in on what you want to hear

Will Shanklin July 19, 2016

Hearing aids aren't an easy product type to review, but we have some long-term impressions of our time using the new Signia primax hearing aids, with automatic "audio radar."

We used these high-tech hearing aids for a couple of months – here's what we learned

Good Thinking

Student-designed aid for the deaf converts speech to AR captions

Ben Coxworth October 27, 2015

Speech-to-text systems already exist, as do augmented-reality displays. Now, a group of tech-savvy teens have combined the two technologies to form the Live Time Closed Captioning System. Once up and running, it could revolutionize the way in which deaf people communicate with the hearing world.

The LTCCS augmented reality display could be clipped onto users' existing glasses, prescription or otherwise

Wearables Review

Review: Soundhawk smart listening system

Will Shanklin June 2, 2015

Soundhawk is an ear-worn "smart listening system," which the company insists isn't a hearing aid. We took those claims at face value, to see how it stacks up as an audio enhancer for people with "normal" (or close to it) hearing. Read on for Gizmag's review.

Gizmag reviews the Soundhawk – a next-gen hearing wearable designed to help people hear better in ...

Health & Wellbeing

Mouthpiece could let the deaf "hear" through their tongues

Ben Coxworth January 16, 2015

In order to regain their sense of hearing, many deaf people currently opt for cochlear implants. Such devices are expensive, however, plus they must be surgically installed. That's why researchers are developing an electric retainer that transmits spoken words to the user by buzzing their tongue.

CSU researchers Dr. John Williams (left), Dr. Leslie Stone-Roy, and graduate student JJ Moritz

Science

Fly-inspired tech could find use in better hearing aids

Ben Coxworth July 23, 2014

The Ormia ochracea fly has a unique hearing mechanism that allows it to precisely determine the location of a chirping cricket. Scientists have now duplicated that mechanism, with hopes that it could find use in hearing aids.

Ormia ochracea has excellent hearing, and is hated by crickets everywhere (Photo: Jpaur)