The Synergy of Hearing Aids and AI

When someone mentions artificial intelligence (AI), it may arouse thoughts of your favorite sci-fi movie. But today, AI is a reality that we all need to get used to. With regard to hearing aids, this is especially true. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all hearing aids that merely increase the volume of sounds around you. Modern-day, high-end hearing aids utilize AI.

Artificial intelligence – what exactly is it?

AI is a type of technology that uses sophisticated algorithms to generate new results from inputs of data. AI is capable of using an algorithm to engage in a type of learning known as “machine learning”. As soon as the algorithm is working correctly, there’s no need to “program” the AI to produce each separate result.

Depending on the extent of hearing loss, lifestyle, and habits, AI in hearing aids can make adjustments depending on your behaviors and your needs. This makes your hearing aid more effective at improving your hearing.

How does AI help hearing aids work better?

This may feel a bit abstract at first. After all, hearing aids seem to have a fairly straightforward function. How can things be improved by adding AI to the mix? Well, you know that row of big knobs and switches that people use to mix music in recording studios? (Maybe you’ve seen them in movies.) There’s a little tiny one of those inside of your hearing aid. Changing these settings can produce better quality sound. With hearing aids that are powered by AI, these settings are changed automatically without needing you to do anything.

This AI hearing aid imitates human brain response using a deep neural network. Without even being programmed to, these devices respond to real-time situations because of this.

This is the same technology that allows streaming services to suggest movies according to your viewing history, though it most likely sounds like space-aged technology initially. AI is also encountered in cars and the emails auto-sorted into your inbox. The more you use these devices, the more reliable they become at making correct decisions.

New improvements in AI hearing aids

Presently, hearing aids are integrating multiple brand new advances in AI to help you hear even better. Here are a few of the best examples:

• Edge mode: This is an assist mode which can be initiated by the user. Essentially, when you have a difficult time hearing, you can activate something called Edge Mode. When this is triggered AI will start working on clearing up what you’re hearing.
• Helping you hear through facemasks: Conversations were certainly more difficult during the pandemic when everybody was wearing a facemask. AI algorithms can automatically amplify those voices behind the facemask, helping those with hearing aids hear better and remain safe simultaneously.
• Noisy room filters: New AI algorithms can help to filter out room noise in a variety 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 able to hear more clearly what the person across from you is talking about as AI filters out unwanted information.
• Acoustic environment classification: Unique audio properties come with each specific room you walk into. Your hearing aids can handle some of those properties, but others it doesn’t do so well with. With AI technology, your hearing aid can effortlessly make automatic corrections that allow you to hear better in just about any setting.

Hearing aid producers and scientists are continuously innovating new hearing aid technologies, so this may be just the beginning.

AI for the discipline of audiology

AI has become a bit of a buzzword these days. Everybody’s heard it, which is good, but the difficulty is that AI does different things depending on the applications. So, what does AI mean for the field of audiology?

First off, it means that scientists are looking for ways to make hearing aids even more helpful to patients. New technologies, such as machine learning and deep neural networks, are a big part of this research. But it isn’t just hearing aids. In the future, AI may be able to help with detecting hearing loss or even helping patients avoid future hearing loss.

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

AI-assisted hearing aids and their advantages

In contrast to some other industries, AI is not being incorporated into hearing aids just because it’s the popular new fad. Some considerable benefits to patients are offered by these machine learning algorithms. Among those benefits are the following:

• Health tracking and fall prevention: When you’re wearing a hearing aid and you take a tumble, your AI-assisted device can determine the seriousness of your fall. In some cases, these hearing aids may be programmed to automatically alert authorities or loved ones in the event of a major fall. Should you be hydrating more, exercising more, eating better? AI can make your health data easier to interpret.
• Helping you listen to devices: Your hearing aid can get feedback from lots of devices, like televisions, cell phones, speaker phones, and a myriad of other devices. This feedback can be filtered out by machine learning algorithms so the sound you actually want to hear is the only sound you will hear.
• You have more control over how you hear: Many AI-assisted hearing aids give you the option to turn those algorithms on or off. So the quality of sound users hear will be more in their control. And this usually translates into hearing better more frequently.
• Social engagement: Studies have found that those who use AI-assisted hearing aids are more successful in terms of managing their social engagement. This is likely because the speech they hear is clearer in a wider variety of environments. But that doesn’t necessarily mean AI will make-or-break your social life. Likely, it simply helps those who are already social better preserve their relationships.

What this means for patients

These benefits frequently become real-world advantages for individuals who use these AI-assisted hearing aids. Imagine you are having a discussion at a party. An older hearing aid would make everything louder. And sadly, background noise also gets boosted making it difficult to hear voices. An AI hearing aid is intelligent and will be capable of identifying and boosting a person’s voice while dulling undesired noise.

AI learns to recognize sounds and generates a location-by-location program. If you return to a particular location or sound profile, AI can initiate these algorithms. Other hearing aids with AI are programmed with day-to-day sounds in order to better define and amplify important sounds.

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

• You will have improved quality of life.
• You will feel less frustrated because you will be able to hear better.
• Your brain will experience a decreased cognitive load.

You will be able to spend time with friends again, watch your favorite shows, and take good care of your brain, in other words.

Reward vs. cost

There was a time when AI was not available in the vast majority of hearing aids due to the costs involved. After all, the device itself has to do some extreme calculations (an algorithm, of course, is basically a very fancy math problem). However, in part because of the preponderance of the technology, prices for AI hearing aids are beginning to go down.

That isn’t saying that those hearing aids will absolutely come down in price soon and you still may end up wanting a model that doesn’t have AI capabilities. Obviously, patients will still need to make important choices. But AI features are becoming more readily obtainable and common.

Finding out what choice is best for you

Hearing aids with AI might be too much for someone who lives by themselves and stays put a lot. To somebody who is socially active and finds themselves in scenarios with lots of competing sounds, however, it makes a big difference.

For someone who uses traditional hearing aids and still gets exhausted easily in social situations, AI hearing aids would be very helpful. AI-powered hearing aids decrease the listener’s exhaustion and make social situations more enjoyable. When the doorbell rings, or when you have a fall AI technology can alert you or a loved one and it can even track your steps. Hearing aids will keep improving as AI technology improves.

Want to see how AI hearing aids can help you? Schedule an appointment with us right away.