Transforming Hearing Aids Into Multifunctional Health And Communication Devices

With over 466 million people suffering from disabling hearing loss globally according to the World Health Organization, and the number expected to rise to 900 million people by 2050, hearing aids are crucially important medical wearable devices. Untreated hearing loss has been linked to increased risks of social isolation, depression, dementia, fall injuries, and other health issues. However, partly due to a historical stigma associated with assistive devices and its single-function nature, only a small fraction of people who need help with hearing have actually adopted the devices. In this talk, we will present a new class of multifunctional in-ear devices with embedded sensors and artificial intelligence. In addition to providing frequency-dependent amplification of sound to compensate for the wearer’s hearing loss, these devices continuously classify sound and enhance speech, serve as a continuous monitor for physical and cognitive health, an automatic fall detection and alert system, as well as a personal assistant with connectivity to the cloud. Furthermore, these ergonomically designed devices stream phone calls and music with an astounding all-day battery life, translate languages, transcribe speech, and remind the wearer of medication and other tasks. Rapid progress in sensors and artificial intelligence is bringing an amazing array of new devices, applications, and user benefits to the world. Now, these advanced technologies are transforming the traditional hearing aids into multipurpose devices, helping people not only hear better, but live better lives in many more ways.