Phonak launches AI-based hearing aid device

Phonak, a brand of Switzerland-based multinational hearing solutions provider Sonova, has launched a new family of hearing aid devices based on its innovative Infinio platform in China, aiming to help more people with hearing loss in the country.

As understanding speech amid background noise remains the biggest challenge for people with hearing loss, the devices are the world's first hearing aids powered by a dedicated real time artificial intelligence chips with speech-from-noise separation, according to the company.

Development of the new products took about five years, as self-development of new chips for the devices was very challenging, said Andi Vonlanthen, senior vice-president of Hearing Instrument Research and Development, Sonova.

"If we use normal chips that everybody can buy, the hearing devices may not run for more than one hour — the new chip we are using now has lower power consumption," Vonlanthen said during the recent launch event in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

Phonak's proprietary Deepsonic chip is a first of its kind, providing real-time AI processing to instantly separate speech from background noise, according to the company.

"Unlike existing technologies, Deepsonic offers dynamic and real-time adjustments, allowing users to engage in conversations from any direction," Vonlanthen said.

The product will become the perfect solution for people with hearing loss in the Chinese market, which has a huge number of hearing-impaired people and a growing elderly population, according to Vonlanthen.

Booming technologies such as AI will play a bigger role in improving hearing aid devices, according to Vonlanthen.

"We have to find new technologies to further improve our products — about five or six years ago, we realized that AI would be the right technology to do that," Vonlanthen said.

With an increasingly aging population, the number of elderly individuals with hearing loss has rapidly increased in China. However, the rate of hearing aid placements in the Chinese market is less than 5 percent, according to Bu Xingkuan, an expert on deafness prevention at the World Health Organization.

"How to make technology truly serve people and improve the accessibility of hearing technology for individuals with hearing loss has always been a challenge faced by the hearing health industry," said Bu.

Currently, hearing loss is widespread in China, yet its impact on health is greatly underestimated, according to Lu Wei, chairman of the hearing rehabilitation committee of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine.

"The application of AI in hearing aids has not only brought breakthroughs to the industry, but also provided more avenues for the development of AI technology in the field of hearing health," Lu said.

New technologies like AI will reshape the hearing industry across the entire chain, from assisting in diagnosis and rehabilitation intervention to health management, according to Lu.