AI and Hearing Aids – the Synergy

When someone mentions artificial intelligence (AI), it might arouse thoughts of your favorite sci-fi movie. But today, AI is a reality that we all better get used to. This is especially true when it comes to hearing aids. Gone is the time of one-size-fits-all hearing aids that merely increase the volume of sounds around you. AI is at the root of modern hearing aids.

Artificial intelligence – what exactly is it?

AI is a type of technology that makes use of complex algorithms to generate new results from inputs of data. In doing this, AI algorithms participate in a type of learning, appropriately called “machine learning”. With AI the user doesn’t need to program every specific result because the algorithm does that on its own.

In the instance of hearing aids, AI algorithms can help your hearing aids adjust to your personal requirements depending on your behaviors, lifestyle, habits, and level of hearing loss. This makes your hearing aid more successful at improving your hearing.

How can you hear better with AI?

This may feel a bit abstract initially. Hearing aids do seem to have a basic function, after all. How can adding AI to the mix improve things? Well, imagine a recording studio with the soundboard full of switches and knobs. (Perhaps you’ve seen them in movies.) Your hearing aid includes one of those! (It’s minuscule.) Better quality of sound can be attained by modifying these settings. With hearing aids that are powered by AI, these settings are changed automatically without needing you to do anything.

These smart devices use a rich neural network to emulate human brain responses. As a result of this, these hearing aids respond in real-time to conditions without being programmed to do so.

This might sound like futuristic science, but it’s the same fundamental technology that allows streaming services to recommend programming based on your viewing history. AI is also found in cars and the emails auto-sorted into your inbox. These devices become more adept at making correct decisions the more you use them.

AI hearing aids – new innovations

Hearing aids nowadays are helping you hear even better with new advancements in AI technology. Some of the most relevant examples include the following:

• Noisy room filters: New AI algorithms can help to filter out room noise in a number of loud or echo-prone settings. A hearing aid can have a difficult time with cross-talk, for example. But even in a loud environment, you’ll be capable of hearing more clearly what the individual across from you is saying as AI filters out unwanted information.
• Edge mode: This is a user activated, AI assist mode. Basically, you can activate something called edge mode whenever you’re having a tough time hearing. When this is initiated AI will begin working on clearing up what you’re hearing.
• Helping you hear through facemasks: Conversations were undoubtedly tougher during the pandemic when everybody was wearing a facemask. You can remain safer and hear better at the same time as AI algorithms can amplify the voice beneath the facemask.
• Acoustic environment classification: Distinctive audio properties come with each individual room you go into. Your hearing aids can deal with some of those properties, but others it doesn’t do so well with. You will hear better in just about any setting with AI technology making practical automatic adjustments.

This is most likely only the beginning of the advancements scientists and manufacturers are making.

How is AI employed in the field of audiology?

AI has become somewhat of a buzzword these days. Everybody’s heard it, which is okay, but the difficulty is that AI does different things depending on the applications. So in terms of the field of audiology, how does AI integrate.

First off, it means that scientists are looking for ways to make hearing aids even more useful to patients. New technologies, like machine learning and deep neural networks, are a big part of this research. But hearing aids aren’t all there is to it. In the future, AI might be able to help with detecting hearing loss or even helping patients prevent future hearing loss.

Patients will find AI in more and more of their devices as the technology becomes more dependable.

The advantages of AI-assisted hearing aids

AI is being integrated into hearing aids not because it’s the hot new fad, unlike other industries. Some significant advantages to patients are offered by these machine learning algorithms. Here are some of those benefits:

• Health tracking and fall prevention: When you’re using a hearing aid and you take a tumble, your AI-assisted device can detect the severity of your fall. In some cases, these hearing aids might be programmed to automatically notify authorities or loved ones in the event of a severe fall. AI can also make your health information easier to interpret, helping you know when you should be moving more, eating better, or just hydrating more.
• Social engagement: In terms of managing social interaction, people who utilize AI-assisted hearing aids tend to be more successful, according to some studies. This is likely because the speech they hear is clearer in a wider variety of environments. But that doesn’t automatically mean AI will make-or-break your social life. It most likely just helps people better maintain the relationships they already have.
• You have more control over how you hear: You can activate AI or turn it off with most AI-assisted hearing devices. This means hearing aid wearers will have more control over the clarity of sound they hear. And this normally translates into hearing better more often.
• Helping you listen to devices: Microphones from cell phones, speaker phones, televisions, and other myriad devices can cause your hearing aids to feedback. This feedback can be filtered out by machine learning algorithms so the sound you want to hear is the only sound you will hear.

What this means for patients

These benefits frequently result in real-world advantages for those with these AI-assisted hearing aids. Imagine you were at a party having a discussion. If you had an older-style hearing aid, it would just boost the volume up. This isn’t useful because the conversation you actually care about will get overpowered by background noise. An AI hearing aid is intelligent and will be able to identify and boost a person’s voice while lowering undesired noise.

AI learns to identify sounds and generates a location-by-location algorithm. These algorithms help when you return to a specific location or sound profile. In order to better define and amplify important sounds, some AI hearing aids are programmed with day-to-day sounds.

Here are some other practical advantages to AI-assisted hearing aids:

• You will feel less frustrated because you will be able to hear better.
• The cognitive burden will be decreased.
• You will have improved quality of life.

In other words, it’ll be simpler to follow along with your favorite shows, hang out with your favorite friends, and take care of your favorite brain.

Cost vs. reward

There was a time when AI was not available in the vast majority of hearing aids due to the costs involved. An algorithm is, after all, an intricate math equation. However, in part because of the preponderance of the technology, prices for AI hearing aids are beginning to go down.

This doesn’t mean that every hearing aid you want might have AI, or even that those hearing aids will automatically be less costly in the near future. Clearly, the decision making is in the hands of the patient. But AI functions are becoming more widely obtainable and common.

Deciding what’s best for you

For someone who lives alone and doesn’t go out much, hearing aids with AI might not be worth the additional cost. But AI makes a huge difference for individuals who are socially active and go out into loud situations a lot.

For someone who uses traditional hearing aids and still gets exhausted easily in social scenarios, AI hearing aids would be very helpful. AI-powered hearing aids decrease the listener’s exhaustion and make social situations more enjoyable. AI technology can also send alerts to your phone when the doorbell rings, alert others that you have fallen, and track your steps. Hearing aids will keep improving as AI technology improves.

Want to find out how AI hearing aids can work for you? Schedule an appointment with us right away.