Transforming Hearing Aids: How AI and Deep Neural Networks Enhance Your Listening Experience

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is changing nearly every aspect of our daily lives, and hearing aids are no exception. Artificial intelligence has made its way into hearing aids, offering automatic, clearer conversations in difficult environments. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a way we teach computers to perform tasks that normally need human judgment. 

Understanding Deep Neural Networks (DNN)

Hearing aids can also have something called a Deep neural network, or DNN. Think of DNN as many layers of simple decision makers working together. The network is trained on examples, so it learns to recognize patterns, such as the difference between speech and background noise. DNN can make quick decisions, such as deciding which sounds are speech and which are noise, so the processor can treat them differently.

Practical Applications of DNN in Hearing Aids

Manufacturers use DNN in a few practical ways in hearing aids. One common use is sound scene classification. DNN listens and decides what kind of environment you are in, for example, quiet, conversation in a small group, or a busy restaurant. That decision helps the hearing aid apply the right mix of amplification, noise reduction, and directionality automatically. Two major manufacturers, Oticon and Phonak, have recently introduced new devices that utilize AI/DNN to enhance hearing in various environments. 

Spotlight on Oticon Intent: Pioneering AI Technology

Oticon Intent has a new DNN 2.0, which was trained on an even larger library of real-world sound scenes, allowing the hearing aid to provide clarity of speech in the presence of background noise more accurately. DNN 2.0 is trained to recognize what should be emphasized, and it has been improved to create better clarity of speech for users to listen with ease. The Oticon Intent is also the world's first 4D sensor technology, which captures both sound and motion data. 

The Oticon Intent hearing aid uses motion and position sensors to pick up how you are positioning your head and body and how that relates to the type of communication situation you are in. The goal is to detect whether you are trying to listen to a person in front of you, someone to the side, or if you are moving through a busy place and need broader spatial awareness. With these advances, the Oticon Intent is designed to make listening easier and more natural in all environments. 

Phonak Audéo Infinio: Redefining Speech Clarity

The Phonak Audio Infinio places emphasis on adaptive automatic control and is the world's first hearing aid with a dedicated deep neural network chip (DEEPSONIC). The AI/DNN-enabled chip provides instant speech separation from noise in all directions. The Audéo Infinio Sphere family includes a new dedicated chip to support better clarity of speech and extraction from noise. Phonak also continues to use its AutoSense OS, which automatically applies appropriate feature settings for different environments that you are in. Phonak combines DNN-driven speech clarity features with the adaptive AutoSense platform to improve understanding in complex listening settings.

Choosing the Right Hearing Aid for You

Both hearing aid manufacturers aim to make speech clearer and reduce the effort your brain needs to follow conversations. Oticon Intent tries to learn where you want to focus by reading your motion and posture as well as the sounds around you. 

Phonak Audéo Infinio focuses on classifying the sound scene and continuously applying settings that have been successful for people in similar situations. Both hearing aids aim to reduce the time you spend adjusting controls on your phone application and can help improve your hearing in noisy places. The exact benefit for any one person depends on the severity of the hearing loss and the important listening environments for each individual.

Both Oticon Intent and Phonak Audéo Infinio bring distinct engineering approaches that aim to help you hear speech more easily in everyday life. If you are considering an upgrade, contact your audiologist to have a trial and experience your real-world listening environments with AI and DNN hearing aids.